Setting Sail 8-3-2015

[kevin7500]

Hi! We (Kevin & Danielle) have recently decided to include sailing into our plan to flee Michigan. Now we only have five years to learn to sail, find the "perfect" boat and part with most of our junk.

After spending some time reading other introductions I have concluded that I am one very lucky man! We had been investigating buying a small piece of some Caribbean island to relocate to. When I asked Danielle "What do you think about learning to sail and living aboard instead?", her response was simply "sounds exciting".

It gets even better. I mention finding an early 70s, 34 foot whatever that has a junk engine and an interior that has never been updated for $2500 and the conversation goes something like this. Me: "We can put it in the driveway....really, the neighbors won't even notice." Her: "Can you get it seaworthy?" Me: "Sure, if you commit to learning to Captain." Her: "That seems fair."

So the adventure begins. I did a visual survey of the sub-division and realized that most of my neighbors already have boats and campers parked along their driveways. I think convincing the rest of the family that we aren't crazy will be more difficult. They already think we are a bit careless since last summer I earned my pilots certificate and we flew from Michigan to Cat Island in the Bahamas this past June in an old Piper Warrior.

Oh yeah, we want to tour the island chain in the Carribean and the coast of Central America for a couple years to get significant experience before heading through the Panama canal and beyond.

Gotta go.....the clock is ticking!

[Adax]

Hey welcome to the forum.You sound like a great team and that will set you up speedily on the way to realising it. Hope you get that boat. And do read a lot.Lots of info on boat restoration out on the web. Might save you some bucks .But then you probably already know this.

Kumgang my partner and I had a similar kind of conversation,when he was still dreaming about a boat and sailing off somewhere. Now the boat is here, I am busy reading everything I can and in September I will set foot on the boat for the first time.Oh and that is first foot on a sailboat ever ...

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good to have you here and you have a great partnership so things should work well for you.
kind regards,

[kevin7500]

I just took my first step today and ordered The Annapolis book of Seamanship.

Also, we are headed to Saugatuck, MI for their Venetian Festival this weekend. Is anybody going to be in the area?