Greetings!

[Schtumps]

Hi folk's!
After months of lurking around the place,i figured it was about time i registered and introduced myself.
Have spent endless hours reading threads on the forums here,and it seems to be a very "decent" place,with a nice blend of banter and informative,helpful posts.
Which lets face it-Im going to need...

Was halfway through writing a "proper" introduction when i realised no one wants to read this wall of text,so i shall instead present you with the short version

Mid-40s, 5 Children (all grown up now..Mostly..), and even a few Grandchildren!
Married,and was happily plodding through life when i had a stroke.
Cue instant mid life crisis.
After months of discussion with the good wifey,and an awful lot of reading/watching,it has been decided that we want a total change of life-To the point where she has actually agreed to (almost) ditch it all and head off cruising!
(One condition is that we must have a "land base",so will need to consider a small property somewhere.That isnt too bad though-Our current house is in West London,and is far bigger than we will actually "need".)

Now-The really fun bit...
Neither of us have ever sailed a day in our life.
While i spent some time messing around on the water in my youth with powerboats/ribs etc,the only time the wife has ever been further than paddling toe-deep was when she was a teenager on a car ferry across the channel.
And apparently she was sick as a dog...

This could prove highly entertaining...

Help!

[boatpoker]

Sailing lessons for your wife, get her involved as an equal partner or your dreams are doomed. Best of luck.

PS. My wife changes the oil, does beautiful epoxy work and even lets me drive the boat once in a while

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Schtumps.

[Sandero]

Originally Posted by Schtumps

Hi folk's!
After months of lurking around the place,i figured it was about time i registered and introduced myself.
Have spent endless hours reading threads on the forums here,and it seems to be a very "decent" place,with a nice blend of banter and informative,helpful posts.
Which lets face it-Im going to need...

Was halfway through writing a "proper" introduction when i realised no one wants to read this wall of text,so i shall instead present you with the short version

Mid-40s, 5 Children (all grown up now..Mostly..), and even a few Grandchildren!
Married,and was happily plodding through life when i had a stroke.
Cue instant mid life crisis.
After months of discussion with the good wifey,and an awful lot of reading/watching,it has been decided that we want a total change of life-To the point where she has actually agreed to (almost) ditch it all and head off cruising!
(One condition is that we must have a "land base",so will need to consider a small property somewhere.That isnt too bad though-Our current house is in West London,and is far bigger than we will actually "need".)

Now-The really fun bit...
Neither of us have ever sailed a day in our life.
While i spent some time messing around on the water in my youth with powerboats/ribs etc,the only time the wife has ever been further than paddling toe-deep was when she was a teenager on a car ferry across the channel.
And apparently she was sick as a dog...

This could prove highly entertaining...

Help!

Welcome.... I wouldn't ditch it all and try to go for some mythical and not easy to achieve challenge.

Anything is conceivable, many things conceivable are possible. BUT there is a lot of steps to get there. So you really have to "transition" to the point where leaving your present land based life behind is sensible.

Of course even if you get there... and I can't see it taking less than 5 or 6 years... you don't know if the new life will be what you expected it to be and the adjustments you make fit comfortably. So you need to have an escape.. or re assess your goal.

I am sure you will get all manner of advice... but none of it will be good because no one will know all the facts which inform decisions and opinions/advice.

having said that.... my advice would be:

Study up on live aboard cruising full time yachts. See what works for others, the gear, the skills, the spares, the space, the costs and so forth. Presumably you will end up with a similar boat... and more tangible near term goals.

The you need to decide how to get into the boat... find it, buy it, equip it. I strongly suggest that YOU do the outfitting because when you are out there... it's up to you.... Rarely can you pull into a service station to get something repaired. Repairs and maintenance of boats is very very different from things on land. You need to become technically self reliant as much as you possibly can. All achievable for a motivated intelligent person. But it takes time.

And it takes time to learn to sail, to sail the boat you will own, to learn about weather, to EXPERIENCE weather at sea. And experience is something that involves TIME. You can read experience... you can acquire someone else's experience. You need to get that from the school of hard knocks.

The bad news is this take time and money... The good news is that when you are really ready to go... you will be a different person, competent, more knowledgeable, and confident and at the same time prudent and prepared. And don't forget the finances...

As you get your sailing stuff together... you will be unloading your land based stuff. But you'll want to leave a safety if something changes and doesn't work out.

And then you are ready to "consume the world" out there accessible from the sea.

Good luck!