Where Do We Begin?

[grecophile]

Hello everyone, we first started looking for a sailing boat last summer. But, as with all things I guess, other distractions got in the way. We are now beginning our quest once again.
Our pipe-dream is to have a live aboard sailing boat in the greek islands, hopefully in around seven years time. We have very little sailing experience. The only thing which I did many years ago, was a basic dinghy sailing course on an inland lake.
But it does seem quite daunting, trying to find out what to do first. We have to chose a boat for our family, insure it and moor it. Again I'm not sure where to begin on this score. We have some savings, but as our mortgage has now finished, we'd like to look into the possibitities of a marine mortgage. i don't know whether anyone has experience here? Also, I need to get my theory and practical training sorted.I'd be more than happy to help out to get any sort of experience. I do work shifts, so attending a regular shore based lecture sessions can sometimes be a liitle tricky. so, perhaps a correspondance course may be more appropriate for me.
If anyone wants to chip in here please feel free.

Many Thanks
Dave & Sue Carey

[Ocean Girl]

Welcome to the forum,
It sounds like a beautiful plan - research, learn, buy, learn, go
I bet some good navigation classes, radar classes, etc. could be done online. Good luck, and I hope to see you all moored out there when I go explore Greece.
Happy sailing,
Erika

Here is a neat website - you can get the whole family to start learning their knots Animated knots by Grog

[grecophile]

Hi Erika,
thanks for the words of encouragement. I hope to see you in the agean sometime soon.

Regards

Dave

[Pblais]

Dave and Sue,

Lots of folks come here with the same idea. You start with the idea you might want to do something such as you wrote about. The getting there from where you are to the starting line is the planning part of the deal. There are a great many things to be done and a lot of learning. Planning is a skill to improve as well as basic sailing and advanced sailing techniques. You need to master some skills and then find a way to implement them with the money limitations and somehow roll into an adventure that is fun. A great many ways that can be done won't be fun. You don't want those ways.

Getting in touch with the art of sailing seems to me to be the first place to start. Just getting a feel for being on the water and perhaps doing it in a structured way that can boost skills and excitement. You need to get feel of how good it gets. It makes it easier doing all the rest of the hard work. A sailing course for adults is perhaps the biggest boost you can invest in. Learning more starts to get you thinking about a boat from a sailors perspective and not just a tourist. As you grow you will find the things you know you need and you understand more about the details.
It is much more than just getting a boat. You need to take all the basics and make them into your own personal experience to get a boat that suits your abilities and desires. It's perhaps less important which boat you get and more all the details of why you choose it over another one you could also get. The idea is to learn enough to be able to pick your own boat and know it's the right one. It's how you get the very best one assuming ours is really not for sale. Success in the beginning is the motivation to continue ahead. Making it fun at the start means it's fun the whole way.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Dave and Sue,
Welcome aboard! That's the way all of us started. Just the inkling that we'd like to do some sailing, then cruising.
Kind regards,
JohnL

[OceanBound]

I’ve only started sailing this year, this is how I went about it....
I done a few sailing course's $600Au for the 2 course's and it was well worth it. Next I done a navigation course this was over 3 weeks cost $200AU.

From there I went to a yacht club put my name down to crew on racing yachts the phone didn’t stop ringing.

I live 4hrs drive from the ocean, I’m now sailing every second weekend.

And I will be purchasing my first yacht in 2 months time. I’ve never let anything stand in the way of my dreams. You just have to make a decision and head in that direction. And then things just seem to fall into place.


PS and read as many books as you can too