I think it helps.
I've been lurking around here for a couple of months and wanted to introduce myself. I've never been on a
boat. I don't even know anyone who owns a
boat. I live 5 hours from the ocean. Yet I've decided that
buying a boat and sailing around the world is my new goal in life. Like I said. Insane.
Insane but not (totally) stupid. I have what I think is a pretty decent outline. I plan on
buying a boat in 2 years. Hopefully by that time I will have some sailing under my belt, either by taking courses or getting on boats however I can. My goal is to buy a boat that I can
live aboard while both getting her ready for a
long term cruising and
learning to sail her. Starting with
day sailing (hopefully with an experience sailor or two onboard), then overnight trips, then longer trips, until I'm comfortable enough to cut the cord. At that point I'll
cruise the southeast and east coasts until I feel like I'm ready and I'm bored with the US, and then
head for the
Caribbean and then wherever.
A little background about myself. My father was an
electrical and then general contractor, so I grew up building things. I'm handy enough that I bought a trashed out foreclosed house and my parents and I have almost completely remodeled it ourselves. I personally have an IT background but now I run my own small business that I can pretty much do anywhere I have an
internet connection. I understand that might limit my cruising destinations some unless I want to spend an arm and both legs on sat
internet, but I have a few years to worry about that.
As far as what kind of boat? Again I have a few years to figure that out and I haven't decided if I want a "project" boat or buy the best boat I can afford. I hope to have a 40-50k
budget for just the boat and upgrades. And I know I want the biggest boat that I can comfortably sail myself. Right now I'm leaning towards "project" (and from reading the board I know there will be 73626848626784 people saying I shouldn't be). The main reason though is that I have some pretty specific, and probably quite odd, requirements. For example, I need a wired
network on my boat and I'm not sure how hard that would be to add to a boat without taking the
interior apart anyway. Plus I have pretty modern taste so I would probably want to refinish most things in 95% of the boats out there. And then there's the fact that there's something extremely satisfying about taking something that looks like crap and making it look amazing.
Why do I want to do this? Why not? No seriously. I love to travel. I've always wanted to spend my life travelling the world, but I've come to realize that I'd rather jump on a boat and go instead of taking what trips I can afford here and there. I'll admit I'm not doing this because of a love of sailing. While I think I will enjoy the sailing, I don't think it'll ever be something I do because I love it. Mostly it's a means to an end. It's a way to get from point A to point B, C, or D depending on the
wind in a way that I can afford to do continuously. And besides, what's the worst that could happen? I could spend $50k, hate the lifestyle, have to sell the boat and move back to land. IMO if that's all it takes to scare somebody off from trying it, they're not cut out for it begin with.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Comments appreciated (you don't have to tell me I'm insane though, I already know this).
Advice very appreciated. I have tons of questions but those will be asked in the appropriate places.