Following My Dream-7 Years Out

[biker6977]

I signed the contract- I will be starting my new position Oct. 20th- I have one month of temp. housing then I will have to have my boat found and ready to move on to! Looking looking looking- small live aboard- it will be just me- doesn't even need a shower as the marina has nice facilities including laundry, showers, grills and a small store.
We took our first sailing lesson Saturday and fully enjoyed it! I believe hubby enjoyed even more than I did- he was on the phone that evening telling friends and family about it. We got to me Gunkylump- Randy and Beth- what wonderfully nice people! They will be coming over tomorrow evening for a crab boil. They have a beautiful Stevens 47 that is in the same marina we are taking lessons from. We stopped by after our lessons for a few mintues and hubby couldn't stop talking about the boat when we left. Looks like my desire for a 28-38 footer is out the window! But if it makes him happy then he can have whatever boat he wants- He has also taken a new position- unfortunately he will be moving 7 hours to the west while I move 7 hours east- I will be able to come home quite often but he will only be able to make it home 3-4 times a year. Not ideal situation but we are keeping our end goal in mind and these positions will allow us to set aside money and make the dream reality in 5-7 and possibly 3-5 years.
btw- we need to get a steering wheel boat- I just don't get that whole tiller direction thing- gotta work on that! hubby did great- though I must say I have the knots down- he has the steering down- team work!

[a64pilot]

Tiller will come very easy with almost no practice, remember you'll most likely have a tiller on your dink if it has an outboard. Go borrow someone Jon boat with an outboard and practice with it.
Don't rule out tillers especially in your price / size range, they come with some advantages too.

[biker6977]

Yes, tiller it will be for now. We have a jon boat and I never got the hang of it. My snark also has one but I've yet to put it in the water as it needs some repair. It is at the top of my list to learn to do. It seems counter intuitive and I had to think way to hard- I am not going to point the rudder in the direction I want to go and not the handle- I think that will fix my issue. Now the real fun part- looking for a boat.

[a64pilot]

Tiller is intuitive, now a stick steer boat where you push the stick froward or pull it backward like an air-boat, I never have figured that out, I always push or pull a little to see what happens, then adjust. Forward and backward is supposed to be up and down, not left and right

[biker6977]

stick steer? that sounds like a helicopter! I won't even go near that! Our fishing boats have steering wheels and the tiller is just back asswards for me- or it could possibly be my brain that's backward :-)

[a64pilot]

How about this, do you realize that to turn you motorcycle left, that you push or pull the handle bar to the right?
Tillers just like a bike

[biker6977]

hmm- I don't know- I'll have to think about that- bikes are intuitive to me- tillers not so much....

[Coops]

Originally Posted by biker6977

hmm- I don't know- I'll have to think about that- bikes are intuitive to me- tillers not so much....

It's called countersteer. You push gently with your left hand on the handlebars as you lean the bike over to turn left. You are absolutely correct about it being intuitive, you never actually think of doing it, but if you got through the corner then you did it.

Coops.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by biker6977

I got a face to face interview Friday Sept 12 for the position!!! If I get it I will be purchasing a small 26-30' live aboard and moving into a marina in Bainbridge GA. I might make this dream a reality sooner than expected!!!!!!!!

Congratulations regarding your successes! I've been following this thread with interest in your goals. We are long term liveaboard/cruisers just free from work and pretty much fulltime cruising since 2002. All of are earlier liveaboard years allowed us sailing on weekends and hollidays from coastal marinas. This choice of the marina in Bainbridge, Georgia represents quite a compromise by not offering any sailing or am I wrong? Does Lake Seminole give you a bit of room? You must be keeping your land transportation for Bainbridge living and work. This might be a great opportunity to adapt to life aboard and save some money, but then I think there would be so much more in having a sailboat where you can actually do some sailing. I hope your job opportunities will soon get you to a coast.

[a64pilot]

Good news is you can get to the gulf from Lake Seminole, without a truck involved

[biker6977]

Originally Posted by Coops

It's called countersteer. You push gently with your left hand on the handlebars as you lean the bike over to turn left. You are absolutely correct about it being intuitive, you never actually think of doing it, but if you got through the corner then you did it.

Coops.

Yes, I've been riding for years and taught my girls the push pull for turning but transfering that to a tiller that is different. I need to patch the plastic coming off my snark and practice

[biker6977]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

Congratulations regarding your successes! I've been following this thread with interest in your goals. We are long term liveaboard/cruisers just free from work and pretty much fulltime cruising since 2002. All of are earlier liveaboard years allowed us sailing on weekends and hollidays from coastal marinas. This choice of the marina in Bainbridge, Georgia represents quite a compromise by not offering any sailing or am I wrong? Does Lake Seminole give you a bit of room? You must be keeping your land transportation for Bainbridge living and work. This might be a great opportunity to adapt to life aboard and save some money, but then I think there would be so much more in having a sailboat where you can actually do some sailing. I hope your job opportunities will soon get you to a coast.

I will be able to sail on the weekends - it's a fairly good size lake with a river leading to the coast. Hubby will be taking a job that will only allow him to come home 4-5 times a year so I will spend my weekends practicing- I"ll have to learn how to stow everything so as not to end up with a mess
I"m quite excited! The slip is much cheaper than rent and I will be selling my beloved Z4 and getting another bike- cheaper fuel and I will put the left over money on my student loan. We will both be living as frugally as possible, we are both ready to head to sea but have to get things in order. I have often wanted a life style of freedom and am so glad that hubby is on board with this full bore now. He was a natural sailing- of course he's had a jon boat since he was little and is used to tiller steering. All the boats I"m looking at have tiller so I will be forced to learn it. So many changes and all in the right direction. Surprisingly when I told my daughter she'd have the house to her self she was disappointed- most because my husband is an awesome cook and now she'll be forced to cook for herself. We're very excited!!!!!!!

[Hudson Force]

That's great news and I suppose this is cutting the seven year plan down to near nothing! I would not have any concerns about the tiller. You'll be quick to adapt and the tiller gives your far more feedback to the action of the boat under sail compared to the wheel. This will be important while honing your sailing skills.

[biker6977]

The plan has been cut down by a few years- we're looking at 3-5 now. This will be a great way to get feet wet (or not wet)
We'll look for our forever boat in a few years and hopefully have a better idea what we want, need, don't need by them.
I"m totally excited and nervous- totally new way of life- a new adventure!

[Coops]

The tiller is a lovely way to steer. You feel what is happening far more than the seeming vagueness of a wheel, to me anyway. I have had both and up to a certain length of hull I would always prefer a tiller.

Half an hour of pointing the tiller in the opposite way to where you want to go and you will feel that you have been doing it all your life.

Coops.