Greetings from a newcomer

[thabart]

Greetings all. I am a newcomer to this forum, and to sailing. I have been sailing a number of times and have found it to be refreshing and enjoyed every minute of it. I am 50 years old and have never had a dream/goal in life. Just kinda take what life throws at me and did my best with it.

However, in the past year or so I have had a dream/need take hold of me and I am putting a plan together to buy a boat and use it as a charter business. The plan is fluid right now as I am learning all I can about boating and seamanship.

It is weird actually having something driving me forward but life is funny sometimes.

I am happily married and a father of four, with a brand new grandchild born two days ago. My wife is fully on board with the new direction. I am putting together a 10 year plan to pay down debt, fix credit ratings, get certifications for boating, etc.

Glad to find this forum and looking forward to getting to know others here:-)

Tim

[Jim Cate]

Welcome to the asylum, Tim! There is a lot of expertise and knowledge available on CF, along with a lot of BS. OFten hard for a newbie to tell apart,so pay attention to the sources as you wander through the forum.

[QUOTE]However, in the past year or so I have had a dream/need take hold of me and I am putting a plan together to buy a boat and use it as a charter business. The plan is fluid right now as I am learning all I can about boating and seamanship.[QUOTE]

An observation relative to the above: Learning to sail and the basics of seamanship is pretty easy. Learning to run a charter biz is not. There are not very many successful individually owned and operated charter boats that make it long term, and the ones that do make it work like hell to stay afloat. IN your place I'd be spending some time talking to such operators and finding out what is different about their approach, compared to the guys who are not making it.

Yours is a common dream path... we hear it often here on CF. It ain't as easy as it sounds!

Good luck,and enjoy sailing, even if you don't follow through with the charter plan.

Jim

[thabart]

Thanks for the welcome. I’m under no illusions about the difficulty of the gos. I appreciate the advice and look forward to learning and getting to know other members.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Tim.