Following My Dream-7 Years Out

[markmccain]

Any time . Only having one car does create some logistical issues. When you guys are living in different states or even different countries it might not work quite as well.

[biker6977]

Originally Posted by markmccain

Any time . Only having one car does create some logistical issues. When you guys are living in different states or even different countries it might not work quite as well.

Amazingly it works if we're in different countries- most have wonderful public transit- Japan and Korea, Germany all have great bus and train systems and is much easier to get around without a car than with one- kind of like New York City

[biker6977]

We had company over last night as we do many evenings for dinner, this time I spent the evening listening to Hubby talk about our plans and looking on the internet at boats. It was quite refreshing- it's going to be a long 5 years until we're on that boat......

[s/v Beth]

Welcome to the nuthouse Biker and others. I have a few hints on buying a boat and support what you are doing in my blog. I took open water lessons from Bluewater Sailing School and found them to be a good outfit 8 years ago. Don't know about now, as the instructor was in his 80's, was a true pirate and is probably gone.
I happen to have quite an extensive sea library and have 3 copies of Annapolis book of Seamanship, which I will let go for 10 bucks plus shipping. PM me if anybody wants them. Best all around book about sailing I have seen. My landlubber friends keep on thinking I need more copies, maybe they know something I don't!

[biker6977]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

I happen to have quite an extensive sea library and have 3 copies of Annapolis book of Seamanship, which I will let go for 10 bucks plus shipping.

What edition are the books? I see there is a forth edition out- not sure what has changed over the years.

Newt- would you mind sharing a list of your books- at least the ones you feel are "must have" reading?

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by biker6977

I have a little Snark (don't laugh) that I will play with in the lake across the street.

That fact you have the Snark tells me you're serious. That's the way to do it for now. 7 years? You might want to bump it up a little. A lot can happen in 7 years. Maybe try a charter of 2...welcome to the forum.

[FollowingCs]

Originally Posted by biker6977

We are both engineers and pretty darn logical- I'm hoping this helps- though I've been told my desire to do this is totally not logical

It's funny how many people do this ARE engineers and very logical. How logical is it NOT to follow your dreams, and live a life less ordinary.

Engineers also see the problem in front of them, lay out all the variables and find a solution.

~ Following C's ~

and fellow engineer...

[biker6977]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

That fact you have the Snark tells me you're serious. That's the way to do it for now. 7 years? You might want to bump it up a little. A lot can happen in 7 years. Maybe try a charter of 2...welcome to the forum.

We are certainly serious, I have signed us up for sailing classes in Pensacola, I had hoped to start in August but they are full through Sept. so that will have to do. I have also signed us up for the couples seminar at the Miami sailboat only show in Feb. 2015.

We are looking to get the boat by year 5 and head out by year 7 but as we are both now working towards it I am hoping it will be sooner. I alone was looking at 10 years out due to finances but with both of us on the same path with the same goal that is now much sooner obtainable.

I do hope that once we take sailing class that it will spur us on that much more to do this sooner.

My husband mentioned it to my father in law this week- that didn't go over well. We purchased the home we are in with the understanding he would move down with us- that was 5 years ago. He comes to visit and fish in the fall for a month and occasionally through out the year for a week here and there but has never sold his house and I don't see him moving as he has lived in the house he's in since a child. He is a man that needs structure and does not like change. The conversation was good for my husband though as he grew up hearing his father say- next year I'm going to Alaska, next year I'm going to get a boat/ motorcycle/ etc. and all these years later he has done none of them. My husband fights desperately to avoid being his father but grew up listening to his parents to the extent of not joining the service when he wanted to, going to college and studying something he didn't want to and living a life his father laid out for him. He is finally breaking those ties mentally and I couldn't be prouder or happier.

[chuckr]

You are where we were over 10 years ago. Never been on sailboat and on a lark took a lesson in dec 2000. Liked it. So in March of 2001 went to Fla Yachts and Charters and took 2 more lessons and the capt chris made us work as a team - not capt and crew - and we learned to sail a bit better - then chartered a couple of times and in 2003 bought a new Jeanneau DS40. We had moved to miami by then and sailed Biscayne Bay almost every weekend.
at age 60 i lost my job and did some part time consulting and took SS at age 62, sold the house and got rid of the cars and all the stuff, paid off the boat and set out. That was 7 years ago. Since then we have sailed the east coast of the usa 2 1/2 times, all the Bahamas twice, then fla to mexico and south to colombia, across the caribb to jamaica and down to trinidad and on the way back up took a right at antigua and ended up in the azores. Now in the med for the 2nd year we are in albania and headed to croatia.
as you we did a lot of planning and looking but the smartest thing we did was get a new boat. Our boat is now 10 years old and still going strong but we keep her up.
good luck and any way we can help please let us know as we have been there done that

[biker6977]

Originally Posted by chuckr

You are where we were over 10 years ago. Never been on sailboat and on a lark took a lesson in dec 2000. Liked it. So in March of 2001 went to Fla Yachts and Charters and took 2 more lessons and the capt chris made us work as a team - not capt and crew - and we learned to sail a bit better - then chartered a couple of times and in 2003 bought a new Jeanneau DS40. We had moved to miami by then and sailed Biscayne Bay almost every weekend.
at age 60 i lost my job and did some part time consulting and took SS at age 62, sold the house and got rid of the cars and all the stuff, paid off the boat and set out. That was 7 years ago. Since then we have sailed the east coast of the usa 2 1/2 times, all the Bahamas twice, then fla to mexico and south to colombia, across the caribb to jamaica and down to trinidad and on the way back up took a right at antigua and ended up in the azores. Now in the med for the 2nd year we are in albania and headed to croatia.
as you we did a lot of planning and looking but the smartest thing we did was get a new boat. Our boat is now 10 years old and still going strong but we keep her up.
good luck and any way we can help please let us know as we have been there done that

THANK YOU! The encouragement is wonderful and appreciated. We are looking at boats and I believe in my heart that it will be sooner than 5 years before we get one. It won't be new but it will be new to us. I know what we have in mind as wanting but are still reading, listening and learning and hope to know the type of boat we NEED in the next year or so and we can begin looking in earnest. I am already sleeping better knowing that one day I will no longer do the regular routine and but have the sunrise and sunset from a boat.

[Greenhand]

One of the nice things about a new to you boat is that you spend time really getting to know your systems before you start cruising. We haven't even had ours for three months yet and there have been already been two stretches of no sailing. First, due to the exhaust manifold being at the shop for rebuild and second because it took us forever to get the pieces to come apart at the steering pedestal in order to rebuild it.

[s/v Beth]

Originally Posted by biker6977

What edition are the books? I see there is a forth edition out- not sure what has changed over the years.

Newt- would you mind sharing a list of your books- at least the ones you feel are "must have" reading?

Biker! (I have a Suzuki Boulevard) I have :
Almost all of Lyn and Larry's books
Calder's Mechanical and Electrical manual
Practical Sailor's Review's (both the book they put out and the magazine)
Sailmakers Apprentice (Marino)
American Practical Navigator (Bowditch)-early ones are better for sailors, my is 1962.
This Old Boat (Casey)
How to sail around the world (Roth)
Basic Coastal Navigation (Larkin)
The Seaworthy offshore sailboat (Vigor)
Self steering for sailing craft (Letcher)
There are others, but that will keep you reading for 5-10 years! That is the core of my library.

[biker6977]

Thanks Newt- I had a Nomad 1500 until last friday- money went into getting bills paid and meeting the money goals for our early retirement aboard the yet to be purchased floating abode
I have a feeling all sparetime will be used towards our goal- which is good with me, the sooner the better

[YoloSF]

Welcome! We're pursuing our dream too, and learning a lot along the way. You can follow our story on couchsailors.com and see what preparing for a circumnavigation entails. I think you'll like my girlfriend's point of view since she had no sailing experience before we started!

Best of luck!

[Enrique100]

I applaud your measured approach to the whole thing - I suppose we are taking our time too. Wife and I started sailing lessons over 2 years ago, but got confident enough to do a 2 week charter in the BVI earlier this year. We still sail regularly, just daysails through a local club. Now we have money in the bank for a boat but saving more so we have the reserves we need for the unexpected and the recurring expenses. Don't want to blow it all on a boat and then have nothing left. We are probably not planning on long-term cruising until our daughter is 18+, that means another 13 years for us. But taking short trips is fine with us so that's where we'll start once we'll get our own, and probably charter as much as possible.

BUT... and don't take this the wrong way, I don't mean to be insensitive or really grim about this whole thing - but 7 years, that's probably about a fifth of the time you have left on this planet. I *might* consider bumping that up a bit while you are in good health, husband is in good health, etc. Maybe get an extra job for now - sell off a few things if necessary, live a simpler life, reduce your expenses as much as possible, do what you can to move things up financially. Things happen, just saying. Best wishes.