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deanowens1966 · 22-08-2014, 12:53

Well, after making a couple of posts and a couple of comments I figured I needed to come in here and just say hello to the rest of the forum.

I have a small amount of sailing experience several years ago. I bought a 25' Piver trimaran from the Boy Scouts in San Diego in 1993 and did some minor cruising into Mexico. When I got fed up with no title being delivered to me in 6 months I demanded my $700 back. I returned the boat and planned on buying another, but life intervened.

My most recent sailing experience was renting a 22 foot Capri in San Diego for my wife's and my anniversary in 2010. That was an absolute HOOT! We slept on the tiny boat and had a great time.

I have been reading this forum for years and am certain that there are others in here who are, like me, land bound but not wanting to remain so. In the short time I've been a member, I've met a number of people online and even discovered that there is a gentleman on here I used to work with. Small world.

Central Tennessee has a lot going for it as far as sailing goes. Lots of fairly deep bodies of water that actually link up to the big water. This is one reason my Aussie wife and I chose to live here. When we were looking for a place to settle after getting married 15 years ago, we had a pretty strict criteria.

1) No state income tax
2) The ability to fly directly to Los Angeles or San Francisco to be able to hop on a flight to Australia.
3) reasonable access to a waterway where we could put a boat and go to the ocean. When we defined the ocean we included the Gulf of Mexico.
4) Reasonably valued property.
5) have access to a major east-west or North South interstate system.

We met some nice people from central Tennessee and visited them for Thanksgiving. We fell in love with central Tennessee. It met every one of our criteria and more.

The boat
Our first choice for a boat was going to be a catamaran. We liked at the stability at anchor or on a mooring. We also liked the Caverness space inside. The wife, being from Australia, had done some gunk holing and did a little bit of sailing on a catamaran around the great barrier reef. As I mentioned before, I had owned, though for a brief period, the trimaran. I like how fast a tri can move but it's space limitations negate any of the benefits. In my opinion.

I have studied more and more and after the post I made it in the monohull forum, I have come to the conclusion that the boat that I'm looking for has one hull. And has other characteristics that I'm not going to mention here.

Honestly, I do dream of sailing. I would like to be able to spend A great amount of time just exploring the South Pacific. My ultimate goal isn't to circumnavigation, but to circle the Pacific. Leaving from San Diego, working across Polynesia into the cook islands and then to Fiji, Vanuatu and Australia. Taking a break and then heading north through the Philippines and to Japan maybe for a brief stop in Korea before sailing to Alaska.

I would really like to meet people who have the same dream and I located in the central Tennessee area.

Until next time, Fairwinds and following seas!

Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

**Hudson Force** · 22-08-2014, 13:45

I've met others, not just those doing the "loop", that have come out of Tennessee to join the ocean cruisers. 'seems to be a common spawning ground! Welcome to the community. Keep us posted of your adventures!