Jon decides to go sailing

[alitaptap]

Best advice/experience I can give:


"no money"?


Go to the library and "borrow" a copy of "Vagabonding Under Sale" (William I. B Crealock, 1971(?))


[quick synopsis]

After de-mob at the end of WWII Crealock and 3 others decided to do (almost) what you are suggesting.


They learned the basics by helping each other prepare a boat for an adventure of similar proportions, starting from England . . . a lot of trial and error because there was no Cruiser's Forum back then!


Eventually, after messing around the Pacific Islands for some time, one of the four (Chamberlain) set up a boat building business in Taiwan where he designed and built numerous "Vagabond" brand, 42 & 47-foot cruising yachts (1960's - 80's). Most are still afloat today.


Chamberlain's son grew up in the boat factory in Taiwan and kept the sailing spirit in his blood - I raced with him for eight years aboard 37-foot Sorcerer (originally Ted Irwin's La Pantera) in the Philippines. He now lives in Guam.


There are worse ambitions in the World than setting off into the blue . . . and you never know where it will take you

[kmacdonald]

Sounds like Jon has his head on straight and is well on his way to a bright future. Start slow and taper off------right Jon?

[Rob Curtis]

Hi Jon. I do not want to admit it but here goes. You kind of sound like me a few years ago. I am worried. You may like to try sailing first.

I went very quickly from white water to blue water to green water. I even like yellow. I like low tide, lots of feeding birds to watch. Spectacular scenery.

Low water, I still make trip reports, I still have a life boat. I am well prepared to stay out all night if things get rough.

It only takes a 30 knot wind, 6 meters of water at high tide, waves about one meter in height, the same length of your sail boat apart, a current, and empty fuel, to knock down a 7 meter 1 ton sail boat multiple times.

Please try inshore waters, you may end up with a change of heart, which can happen in a heart beat according to Cyndi Lauper

[VTCrider]

I admire your courage. It's totally doable. The borrow the boat thing might be hard but I wouldn't give up...EVER!!

[LauraleeG]

The easy thing is to ask the questions while surfing the internet watching YouTube videos and seeing ads for bikini clad women frolicking in the sun and sand.
The obvious answer to your comment is: get a book, read about sailing and boats, head down to the local pond, or buy a dinghy with a sail and just start there.
You start at the bottom and work your way up. The work separates the dreams from the fantasy.
You can’t start off on tropical beaches , you start off hanging about the local marina.
It’s easy math.

[Dogscout]

How many of these threads are there in an average year?

[Lightwave99]

Great plan! But if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. So look after the practical side as well. You will learn so much. Fixing a beater boat to the point it is actually seaworthy takes know-how. It's not quite so "simple" as a previous poster said. I say this as 1/2 of a couple who built our own boat and have modified it and maintained it over the years. You want something you can trust.



You also need to learn how to sail and how to navigate. Very, very important. Enroll in a sailing course that gives you hands-on experience in sailing, or, as a previous post advised, offer to crew specifying you are totally inexperienced. You will get experience racing and maybe delivering boats which will teach you a lot.


Suggest you google Ben & Ashley on Nahoa. That will inspire you to follow your dream, but it will also make you realize how big and rough the big ocean can be. We all want to see you come back!



Happy voyaging and happy thoughts.

[kmacdonald]

A clueless newbie with no sailing experience restoring a beater to blue water cruise in sounds like a great plan. Notify the Coast Guard before you set off.

[Lightwave99]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

He's not going to make it.

What a miserable, curmudgeonly attitude! Pay no attention, Jon! Follow the wise advice (where offered) in this thread.

[Lightwave99]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

A clueless newbie with no sailing experience restoring a beater to blue water cruise in sounds like a great plan. Notify the Coast Guard before you set off.

You must have gotten up on the wrong side of this morning! Alll accomplishments have to start somewhere. Jon's dream is a worthy one. Today it is not easy to find a job. Plus once you get a job, if you have no goal, you can just get sucked into becoming a cog in the wheel of the great system--spend, spend, spend, get married, reproduce, spend more, get a mortgage, and you are tied down and miserable for the rest of your life... like a few people who have responded to this post!

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by Lightwave99

What a miserable, curmudgeonly attitude! Pay no attention, Jon! Follow the wise advice (where offered) in this thread.

Yes Jon, join the Navy. Learn a skill and work your a$$ off for 30 years. That's how it's done.

[Buzzman]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

... The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow, by A. J. McKinnon. Somewhere in England to the Black Sea via the European canals, after the English Channel crossing, in a Mirror dinghy.
Ann

Indeed, an excellent source of inspiration, and written by an Aussie!!

Here's some inspiration form another couple of Aussies - dreamers like the OP, without a clue and bumbling their way into the whole 'sailing thing'.

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...er+and+the+man

On their first 'voyage', a Hobie cat sail to Fraser Island, through ignorance and inattention, they holed their boat on their own anchor, but were able to eventualy rig a 'fothering' solution with - yep - duct tape, and lived to tell the tale.

They then subsequently received a homebuilt 'wharram-style' cat for $1 from just such an old salt as others in the thread have imagined might be out there.

They then spent a few weeks realising WHY it was theirs for a dollar, as the true extent of the rot became more apparent - but they fixed it themselves, hilariously hands on, and continued on their way.

So: naivete - check; no money - check; no experience - check.

See..??? It IS do-able....provided you are prepared to work hard at it.

[Wotname]

Jon - a man of few words! Still visiting CF a week after starting the thread and presumably still reading the posts.

So is there anything here that floats your boat, Jon?

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Jon - a man of few words! Still visiting CF a week after starting the thread and presumably still reading the posts.

Or just checking back in to see how many responses he has garnered in a week?

[Old fella]

Since Jon is missing, I’ve only got an h28, but I really want a cat. So if any of you can give me one, that would be great. Don’t waste my time offering me 50 footers though, 35ft would be just right. Must have new sails, and very low engine hours, and if you could fuel it up before you hand it over to me, well that would be cool too. I want to thank you in advance for all the offers I’m about to receive. Sorry Jon, you should have come back sooner. Now it’s all about me.