After months of lurking, I finally signed up

[Synesthesia]

Hello all, thanks for making this site such a great resource! I found this site months ago when searching for something and have been checking in ever since. I've always loved the ocean and spent a lot of time at the beach, until I moved for school. Since I found a job (and then found another one) I'm still here, which I hate. The traffic is terrible, it's expensive, and landlocked. I had planned to move by now, but stuff happens. When I moved to a place (in the same area) I threw away a ton of stuff, and it felt great! I realized I could easily get rid of more. It started me thinking more seriously about something I'd wanted to do since I was a kid, which is have my own sailboat to travel with and live on it, at least for awhile.

I'm from Newport and have been on a decent amount of boats before. I knew how to sail a bit when I was a teenager but I'm pretty sure I've forgotten most of what I learned. So I figure I have a tiny idea of what I'm in for, mostly I know that I am immensely lacking in knowledge and no matter how much work I think it'll be, it'll actually be more. Since it's been forever since I've taken a real vacation I just started saving to take a barefoot cruise (or something like it) next year to relearn basics. Provided I don't do a 180 and hate it I'll then start researching boat-friendly places to move.

[Sandero]

Newport RI is about as good as it gets! And lots of boat work and resort industry work as well.

[D&D]

Welcome aboard Synesthesia...

Keep those dreams in focus...and you will find a way!

[brittann]

Check out Barefoot Offshore in the Grenadines looks like a great school with a great price. I will be taking one of there week long ASA courses in the near future. They also leave some time for vacation stuff too.

[Synesthesia]

Thanks for the welcome!

brittann, that's actually the company I'm leaning towards! The week-long course is definitely what I would go for.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good to have you here.

[rebel heart]

I lived in Newport, RI for a while. Over on Spring Street, by the park and post office. Great town.

[boatman61]

Welcome to CF.

[Synesthesia]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I lived in Newport, RI for a while. Over on Spring Street, by the park and post office. Great town.

Were you at the war college? It may sound weird but I never really thought about how many military people passed through Newport until I was living in the DC area working as a security clearance investigator while I worked through grad school. I worked mostly DoD cases and just in the two years I did that I met a bunch of folks who had been there.

I miss Newport a lot, but on the other hand I have gotten used to certain conveniences here. I've tried explaining to my mom the amazingness of the SuperTarget/Target Greatland that's 10 minutes away and she just doesn't understand. When I finally get out of here, I sure as hell won't miss the high cost of living, traffic, or the insane tree pollen counts that caused me to develop allergies in my 20s. Ugh.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Synesthesia

Were you at the war college? It may sound weird but I never really thought about how many military people passed through Newport until I was living in the DC area working as a security clearance investigator while I worked through grad school. I worked mostly DoD cases and just in the two years I did that I met a bunch of folks who had been there.

I miss Newport a lot, but on the other hand I have gotten used to certain conveniences here. I've tried explaining to my mom the amazingness of the SuperTarget/Target Greatland that's 10 minutes away and she just doesn't understand. When I finally get out of here, I sure as hell won't miss the high cost of living, traffic, or the insane tree pollen counts that caused me to develop allergies in my 20s. Ugh.

Yep. I met a lot of guys and it's neat to see where all my classmates have headed off to. Some are out, some are actually CO's of full on war ships now.

[flysci]

Welcome, and good luck making it happen! That's how I started - a week long ASA course at Bluewater Sailing in Ft Lauderdale.
So, do you hear colors?

-Margo

[Synesthesia]

nope, I don't suffer from the condition, just have always thought it was fascinating