Anybody Can Buy a Boat, Getting Away is the Hard Part

[multihuler]

We only get one life to live, the average person will go to work, wait for retirement age and die. The dream of sailing away and living a life of adventure is almost gone. the Pacific ocean is becoming a Nuclear garbage dump from Japan and the gulf of Mexico is dying due to the dispersant, killing the sea from the bottom up. The fact it isn't in our local news is proof that people sit on the couch and watch life go by. Everyday someone dies in a car wreck and someone sails around the world, the 16 year old kid that just sailed around the world said as he was passing the horn, " If I die I will have no regrets and I would rather die here with no regrets than live till I am 70 with regrets". So those of you that sit on the couch and write about risks that you wouldn't take don't worry the adventurers are listening anyway. Happy sailing!

[Normanby]

Originally Posted by multihuler

We only get one life to live,

A couple of billion Hindus and Buddhists would beg to differ...
Sorry to nit pick, but I'm getting tired of seeing "YOLO" everywhere. Maybe we do, maybe we don't, I guess I'll find out.

Meanwhile I agree with the general sentiment; getting a boat ain't so tricky, re-jigging one's life to go cruising long-term, now that takes some doing!
Nearly there myself, just putting the finishing touches on chiseling the teenager out of the nest.

[Group9]

Be nice if re-incarnation turns out to be the way things work. But, I don't think I am going to piss away this life betting on that.

Getting away from the dock is the hardest thing. I originally planned on leaving on my cruise in April, 2010. I actually untied the dock lines and left in August, 2010. You can only fix and prepare so much. But, if you really want to do it, and some point you have to leave.

[multihuler]

What if what we were taught is all wrong? What if the US government is the bully? What if the hippies that stopped the Vietnam war were right? and that wars are all about profit? Why are there so many religions? Why do people believe in them?, Why do church organizations have so much money? Why do people send their kids to churches that molest children? What if the product to improve our life gave us the cancer? Why do people invest in the stock market when it is at the all time high, knowing it is being manipulated? Why do ball players make more than educators? I give up, I am selling my dock lines to pay for my departure. NOBODY GETS OUT ALIVE and you DON'T get to take it with you!

[barnakiel]

In my book it does not count if one sits on the couch or is rounding the Horn. To each their own. No merit in either.

I think if one finds it difficult to go sailing, maybe one should not.

We simply bought a boat and went sailing. Nothing difficult in that.

b.

[bbowers2004]

As long as were getting something from the experience , different strokes for different folks.

[Lonestaralaskan]

All I can offer is that I recently read a book called Live on the Margin and it changed the entire way I think about life/work/retirement. If you are wondering how/when you can get away, read that book.

[gjordan]

It is a good thing that it is hard to get away, or it would be much too crowded out there. _____Grant.

[nautical62]

I find it's not just living the dream, but the dream itself.

I remember selling my first cruising sailboat after about 7 years of absentee ownership and use. For me, it wasn't so much that I immediately missed the actual cruising, to me it was more that if I'm not looking forward to the next cruise, and longer cruises down the road, then what am I looking forward to?

Thinking about nothing but more work, is not nearly as fulfilling as dreaming about ever more exciting cruising opportunities. In fact, I found it quite depressing.

Needless to say, within 6 months of selling my first boat, I was already shopping for the next one.

[Tony B]

You can only get away if you really want to.
Those that stay behind may not be 'staying behind' because staying behind is viewed from the perspective of getting away. Not everyone wants to get away. Some people are more adventurous than others and some people are more comfortable in a known environment. Some of us need roots and some of us don't.

I'm sure that if there was such a thing as a landlubbers forum they would have similar posts from there perspective. "Why do people need to getaway"? "You can't run from your own thoughts." "How come we are the lucky ones that are happy with reality?" It all depends in your perspective.

Multihuler: ... So those of you that sit on the couch and write about risks that you wouldn't take don't worry the adventurers are listening anyway. Happy sailing! "...

I don't think there are many that sit on the couch and write, or even think about us.
Unless a topic like this comes up, I don't think about them.

Neither is right and neither is wrong.

[chris_gee]

It would not occur to most 16 year olds to sail around the horn. Certainly less than one in a million do. I doubt many regret not doing so. I find those who trumpet their own personal decision, implicitly or directly criticising those who make different decisions rather tiresome.

[multihuler]

Originally Posted by Tony B

You can only get away if you really want to.
Those that stay behind may not be 'staying behind' because staying behind is viewed from the perspective of getting away. Not everyone wants to get away. Some people are more adventurous than others and some people are more comfortable in a known environment. Some of us need roots and some of us don't.

I'm sure that if there was such a thing as a landlubbers forum they would have similar posts from there perspective. "Why do people need to getaway"? "You can't run from your own thoughts." "How come we are the lucky ones that are happy with reality?" It all depends in your perspective.

Multihuler: ... So those of you that sit on the couch and write about risks that you wouldn't take don't worry the adventurers are listening anyway. Happy sailing! "...

I don't think there are many that sit on the couch and write, or even think about us.
Unless a topic like this comes up, I don't think about them.

Neither is right and neither is wrong.

Reality? Japan is not only destroying itself, they are destroying the Pacific and we are fighting the war on oil and hiding it in a religious war. It is called denial. I will stop venting, the goal was if we can each wake up one person then can we say we tried? PS, cancer sucks and I am not looking forward to my grand kids getting it I am going to the southern Bahamas and invite my kids/grand kids, it is the best that i can do

[Tony B]

Go for it.

[Tony B]

Originally Posted by chris_gee

It would not occur to most 16 year olds to sail around the horn. Certainly less than one in a million do. I doubt many regret not doing so. I find those who trumpet their own personal decision, implicitly or directly criticising those who make different decisions rather tiresome.

+1

The original post seemed to me to be more of 'couch potatoes vs. adventurers' kinda post. Now the OP has changed it to a somewhat political post.

I'm gone.

[multihuler]

Hmmm, Not meant to be political. A crime has been committed, protect yourself and your family. Live like it is your last, the adventure part of it is the bonus