Get a Boat - Try Cruising Reality !

[Cheechako]

There are a lot of self labeled "newbies", potential cruisers etc on this forum who had, have or will have dreams of cruising away. For the inexperienced, I say get a boat, dont spend forever making it perfect and go cruising locally/short term etc before you make a life comittment.
I know I wanted to sail off into the sunset long before I'd extensively explored local waters! I assume I'm not alone...
I've seen familes broken apart, marriages ended, "best friend pets" given away, great jobs given up, all toward realizing the dream.
Evidently the Pardey's have been collecting some interesting info for 14 years: (seen in a recent magazine)

* The sucess rate of a planned cruise of 6-18 months is 35-45%
* Of those who intend to sail around the world is 10-20%

Not trying to discourage, just keep it in perspective. I highly recommend cruising!

[Blue Crab]

Nice post. And truer words were never spoken.

And a tip of the hat to the Pardeys. I've bought a couple of their books twice.

*The sucess rate of a planned cruise of 6-18 months is 35-45%
* Of those who intend to sail around the world is 10-20%

And that's with all these new-fangled electronics! Think what sailors the older guys were.

[belizesailor]

Good advice.

My first "cruise" was only was only a few months long and a few hundred miles, but it was 100% successful. I've watched many prepare for the ultimate trip for years and end up never leaving the dock.

I've always viewed "sailing around the world" as a very artificial objective on which many fixate for reasons I don't understand. I've spent 6 years just here in the NW Carib and still have not covered it all. At this rate a circumnativation should only take me another century or two!

[Greenhand]

We are taking it like limbo. We bought a pocket cruiser to start learning on, but before we move up, we will see just how long we can go with the bare basics. He thinks nine days, but has yet to fill me in on how we can carve out such a long trip outside of hurricane season.

I lived footloose and fancy free throughout my 20s and am happy to spend a decade or so being stable and saving up money for an early retirement. I would, however, remind folk that our decision to get any boat now will delay our final departure by at least a year.

[sailorboy1]

I only got into sailing to cruise and am getting ready to start my 5th year of training. But I think a lot of people who ask the "I want to be a cruiser" question are thinking too hard about it, and doing it too soon.

Just go out and sail! I becomes clearer as you do so.

[AiniA]

I agree that you do it as a serious of (semi-)logical steps - nothing about sailing is really logical of course. We decided to go to the Eastern Caribbean for the winter and see how we liked it. After that the question was, "what next?". People kept asking us what our plans were and we did not have an answer - no one said anything about plans.

I made a list of options for wife that ranged from "OK, we spent a winter here we can sell the boat and get something smaller" to "Let's do a circumnavigation". I said anything on the list would be fine. She very much surprised me by choosing a circumnavigation. We have had a great time visiting places I could not imagine ever visiting like Easter Island, Pitcairn, remote parts of French Polynesia, Suwarrow, Vanuatu (like I could ever have picked it out on a map and I taught geography for many years).

I think it is entirely possible to overthink the whole business and even to over-prepare.

[rebelreck]

I will be happy to go from one end of Lake Michigan to the other. The rest will come later.