Regards fellow sailors.
Iv read many of the
forums posts and now am a
member to share my story in attempt to get some direction as I make the transition. I will make this short and sweet as possible.
Im 29 yr South African working as a rotational (2month on 2 month off)
marine engineer. Sailing experience:
RYA yachtmaster (expired), recreational.
My wife is 30 yr American & French citizen, soon to be unemployed. Sailing experience: very liitle, has great sea legs and very keen. (I proposed to her on a week sailboat
charter at 30 weeks pregnant in Mallorca, Spain)
My son 16mo. I could write for days... <3
STORY: We both clearly are passionate for the sea; career, spearfishing, divemaster, sailing, surfers,
fishing, outdoor/ wildlife enthusiasts etc. Plan was to retire on a
boat for as long as we felt necessary however we feel with the unique circumstances at
work, why not rotation-ally
live aboard for 4 years before my son goes to
school in 4 years time. (And then again when we retired) Combination of property overpriced in FL, complacency with my time as a youth makes me want to be out on the
water, spending QUALITY time with the
family.
PLAN: Buy a
boat cash,
cruise 2 months during off rotation and then tie/ lay up,
work 2 months,
cruise 2 months etc.
Wife and son can stay onboard or fly back to
Florida and live with Granny and friends whilst Im away. (she is from FL)
OUTPUT FROM FORUM:
Please feel free to give me your
advice if Im dreaming or if this is feasible. Id like to use the boat a lot so
charter and shares is not feasible. The main unknown for me is the spider web of
buying, registering, flag, name, vat,
docking,
insurance, permits, licencing. etc as a south african
Reference these bulletins to build a better picture:
- Boat value $60-80k, a production 38-42'
bavaria or benny cc. preferably kitted for
liveaboard (may be looking at 100k) In my mind thats a house deposit.
- cruising ALL of the
caribbean (passport permitting)
- will have passive
income sufficient for paying for the boat to sit whilst not being used. ST Thomas as a base? $1k pcm?
- Wife has duel citizenship (Aid in paperwork/
purchase etc?)
- I will only have RSA passport although married (financial reasons i wont apply for citizen) but I do hold Schengen visa (entry into all EU if we cruise there) and a
USA tourist/ business visa.
Is there a link or is best bet just starting from scratch with a
broker regarding the
buying. I feel like with cash and the help of my wife's
USA citizenship we can make it somewhat an easy process. Feel like boats in
Greece may be on the
cheap at the moment
Thank you all.