Have I Bumped my Head?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Smoov1000

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I have done a lot of research but have yet to find a specific answer to our question. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

As always my advice is to get enough sailtime in to be sure you like sailing before jumping too deep financially

[pete33458]

Agree with the previous post. At least take some sailing lessons on a one-week onboard learning charter and make sure you like being on the boat. Other than that, go for it! Pete

[jwing]

Originally Posted by Smoov1000

I have done a lot of research but have yet to find a specific answer to our question. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not picking up on the question to which you want a specific answer.

However, if you want to know if it is reasonable for a middle-aged couple, with zero sailing experience, to sail from Florida to The Bahamas, the answer is: It depends on the couple. Based on the fact that you pose the question to a cruising forum instead of starting your adventure by learning how to sail well enough to answer the question for yourself, my guess is that you probably don't have the right personality for cruising in The Bahamas.

[darylat8750]

If what you enjoy is learning new things then go for it. If you want to only do what you have already learned to do then cruising is probably not for you.

I agree that taking a sailing lesson should be the first move. And definately do a learning charter. But if you enjoy being on the water but the sailing doesn't excite you there are alternatives. While this forum is primarily sail oriented there are power boats that can be less expensive to operate than the ones with big engines and if you chug along at 6 - 8 mph you see more than the fast boats do.

Also note that there are many people who spend many months a year on a boat and don't cruise in the sense of sailing around the world or even sailing longer distances but still get great satisfaction in the more local use of a boat. We spend more than half the year on our boat and have spent time in the Western Caribbean, crossed the Gulf of Mexico to FL, traveled up the East Cost via the Intracoastal Waterway. (Check out Americas Great Loup. www.greatloup.org ) We have travelled through some of the canal system in the US and Canada and down the rivers to Mississippi.
5 years and still a lot to see and do in the US and hope to make it to the Eastern Caribbean in the next year or two.

When one of our friends said "What makes you think you can do this?" My response was "I can read and I can still learn. What makes you think I can't?"

Go For It!

[brookiesailor]

I don't think you are ever to old to learn something new. I would just make sure you keep the learning before the goal and don't set off until you feel comfortable on making medium length passages by yourself, or take a knowledgable person with you.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[ElGatoGordo]

All the above and I'll add my opinion on learning. Buy a cheap small boat, just big enough for two. Think big dingy. You'll learn how to really sail by SAILING, and with a little boat you'll do that a LOT more. You'll understand the way the wind works and how you, the boat, and the environment interact by FEELING it. And you'll be free to try with very manageable consequences.

GO FOR IT!!

[jwcolby54]

Originally Posted by darylat8750

I agree that taking a sailing lesson should be the first move. And definately do a learning charter.

Folks, it is just a fact that many places don't do sailing and therefore no lessons convenient. I grew up in Yuma AZ. LOTS of water sports. NO sailing!!!

Fishing, skiing etc. NO Sailing. 180 miles to San Diego. 180 miles to Phoenix where there does appear to be sailing on a lake 40 miles out of town.

So folks, I understand that this is a sailing forum and so we often think that you can sail (and learn to sail) everywhere but it is a simple fact that it is easier in some places than others. In some it is damned difficult.

I bring that up because in every single thread like this responders start out with "go take a lesson and then..."

So when someone says "it isn't easy for me to...", accept that perhaps it isn't easy for them... And yet they still want information, NOT advice to go take a lesson.

Thanks for letting me share...

[Casey V]

My wife and I learned to sail At J world when we were 60 and loving every mile we spend on our sail boat.
That was 6 Years ago
Do not buy a little boat, it is just as easy to sail a 40 ft than it is a 26 ft, it will save you from upgrading later.
Sailing Toucan our 380 Catalina in Lake Huron.

[saltshaker]

You have bumped your head and gone absolutely bonkers.

But crazy people are the only ones that have any fun, the sane ones sit on the couch and watch tv and wait for their next vacation so they can visit the same hotel they do every year.

If you have some extra cash you could take one of those vacations in florida or the islands or somewhere where you stay on a sailboat for a few nights and learn to sail.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by jwcolby54

Thanks for letting me share...

Sounds that in your world asking for advice means don't give any if you don't feel it makes sense to recommend to people with sailing dreams to go take a sailing lesson.


BTW - I grew up in El Centro, if you really want to sail driving to San Diego even from yuma isn't that big a game stopper

[capnjack.morton]

I decided to buy a boat and drop out 40+ years ago after a week on a charter schooner as a counselor for a rich kids camp. Read Eric Hiscock and Chapmans, had a willing fiancee, and enough money to pull it off in a modest but adequate boat. Great decision, that led to over 50,000 miles at sea, and how I made most of my living for the remainder of my life.
Do not let the naysayers talk you out of it. If it turns out it's not for you, you'll discover that soon enough, but only if you go for it. And if it is for you, you'll join the very select group of folks who truly do what they want. DO IT!

[jheldatksuedu]

Buy a cheap boat and forget the insurance, take a few day cruises to learn the ropes, study, read, plan, ask questions and then jump in with both feet and do it. Then after you have learned something consider a better boat.

[jwcolby54]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Sounds that in your world asking for advice means don't give any if you don't feel it makes sense to recommend to people with sailing dreams to go take a sailing lesson.


BTW - I grew up in El Centro, if you really want to sail driving to San Diego even from yuma isn't that big a game stopper

And anyone with a 2001 412 foot hunter obviously has the money to just fly off to somewhere to spend weeks doing just that.

Good on ya Sailorboy.

In the meantime lots of little folks maybe not so much. Of course such little folks really shouldn't be wasting your time, I do understand.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Smoov1000

Thanks to all who responded to my post. I wanted to believe it was a great idea, in spite of what my family and friends have said. We are going to keep moving forward on this dream. Sure to keep you all posted..

Thanks again,

You will not be the first,. nor the last, who has a family that says things like that.

They do NOT have your dream, nor your ambitions. Buut that's life, people are different.

Ever had one of 'em say: "Hey, you shouldn't buy THAT car, you should buy the one I did."?

It's a fact of life.

Do a search on this forum about some of the quotes in your OP. Same stuff, over & over again.

Live YOUR dream, don't let the idiots hold you back.

OK, OK, they're not idiots, just limited in their ability to think outside the box.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by jwcolby54

In the meantime lots of little folks maybe not so much. Of course such little folks really shouldn't be wasting your time, I do understand.

Maybe you should get off the sofa where you have been reading your sailing books and posting on the internet, and instead go learn to sail.

Sailing dreamers dream and post on forums. But people who want to learn to sail go find a way to sail.