Newlyweds buy a boat sight unseen and go cruising in the Caribbean: A Video Journal

[zboss]

Well, congrats... I am jealous. We just completed our first extensive shakedown cruise through the Keys and the Bahamas that took almost two years to complete. Now we are THAT couple holed up for a year earning cash to fix/replace/upgrade what we discovered needing fixing, replacing, and updating. Also, saving for retirement. At this point in our career, we would not be getting a significant increase in our Social Security even IF we worked until retirement age.

I'm 45 and we are constantly reminded how far ahead of the game we are by our fellow cruisers. They all say "keep working" but we all know how fast 10 years goes by. It been very emotionally trying for my wife and I to make such good friends just to see them sail off. That's not really talked about that much. Nor do we ever really discuss the sadness you see when a 20-something couple take off and have to come back after two years and the see how gutted they are when returning to work again.

Producing videos of sailing and getting support through Patreon is no different than doing video's on Gardening Techniques, or Cooking Shows, or whatever. Its not really any different than the Pardey's or Shards selling videos, or the Doyle's selling cruising books. Its a product that is sold for what people are willing to pay.

[Red Herring]

Two thumbs up to you guys! I look forward to more vids

[hamburking]

Just watched episode 4, uploaded a few hours ago. Excellent. Loved it. Thank You for posting. Can't wait for the next one.

Not only am I envious of your adventure, but you are both so young and beautiful.

For me, and many on this forum, we are...well...old. But we weren't always old. Your videos remind me that once I was young and handsome, and my wife so pretty, and we would sail about without a care. And then stuff happens...you buy a house, work 25 years to pay for it, have kids along the way, loved ones pass away...and then one day you look in the mirror and an old man stares back with tired eyes with skin tags all around. And the beautiful, young sailors we once were are no longer in the mirror, but hey...there they are in your video, catching fish and watching hermit crabs.

Please keep those videos coming. You may think they are about snorkeling and fixing things...but somehow you have captured the fun and excitement of being young, and reminded us...reminded me...that living is so much more than just being alive.

[MondayNever]

Originally Posted by hamburking

Just watched episode 4, uploaded a few hours ago. Excellent. Loved it. Thank You for posting. Can't wait for the next one.

Not only am I envious of your adventure, but you are both so young and beautiful.

For me, and many on this forum, we are...well...old. But we weren't always old. Your videos remind me that once I was young and handsome, and my wife so pretty, and we would sail about without a care. And then stuff happens...you buy a house, work 25 years to pay for it, have kids along the way, loved ones pass away...and then one day you look in the mirror and an old man stares back with tired eyes with skin tags all around. And the beautiful, young sailors we once were are no longer in the mirror, but hey...there they are in your video, catching fish and watching hermit crabs.

Please keep those videos coming. You may think they are about snorkeling and fixing things...but somehow you have captured the fun and excitement of being young, and reminded us...reminded me...that living is so much more than just being alive.

Thank you so much, truly. I read this aloud to Cat a moment ago (while we're close hauled in a 20 knot breeze in drake channel) and we both had a good laugh but were quite touched by your sentiments. We're trying hard to not be the young that youth was wasted upon.

Thanks as well to everyone else. I'd respond to each of you individually but I'm trying to type on a phone in 6 foot seas while we've got line of sight on the St John AT&T tower.

New video is up, btw! Our first couple of weeks cruising.

[Dauntlessny]

yes. Congratulations and have fun.

Trust your own instincts and while you will make some mistakes, at least they are your mistakes.

[OneTwoSail]

Just watched all your videos and have subscribed

Looks like you're having a great time, the wife and I will hopefully be calling you up on the radio somewhere in the world in three years time at the grand old age of 40!

[chowdan]

So you guys definitely need to keep the content flowing, regardless if you don't want to do it for money

I am not sure how old you two are nor do I know what you did to get to this point, however I am 25, and my SO is 23, by the time we set sail in 4 years, our financial state will be in very good shape. Sure we can afford a house or afford high end apartments/condos that cost 3k/month, but we have made conscious decisions to find cheap, not so nice, but homey apartments to rent. Sure we could continue to work beyond the 4 years and into retirement and be sitting on a few million in savings with 0 investments

I really hope that other person was a troll, or is very jealous, but I have a feeling you guys have similar ideologies. Why work to have a fat bank account when you can save as much as possible, as fast as possible to be able to go out and spend a good few years on the water, experiencing the world that you live in? II always hated the world 'yolo', but it completely is true.

On a side note, what type of boat did you guys buy? Seems like you guys never mentioned that in the video/post.

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by chowdan

On a side note, what type of boat did you guys buy? Seems like you guys never mentioned that in the video/post.

Oh...I know that one... Its a CS 36 Merlin. Late 80's. There are two versions of the CS36, the classic and the more modern merlin. CS stands for Canadian Sailcraft. They are very well built boats, and common up here on the great lakes. My only concern is the 6' draft. Otherwise a terrific boat.

CS 36 Merlin

I think they briefly mentioned it in one of the episodes...I hope I'm right, otherwise I've just made a complete *** of myself.

[chowdan]

Originally Posted by hamburking

Oh...I know that one... Its a CS 36 Merlin. Late 80's. There are two versions of the CS36, the classic and the more modern merlin. CS stands for Canadian Sailcraft. They are very well built boats, and common up here on the great lakes. My only concern is the 6' draft. Otherwise a terrific boat.

CS 36 Merlin

I think they briefly mentioned it in one of the episodes...I hope I'm right, otherwise I've just made a complete *** of myself.

That definitely looks like their vessel! Really nice boat with nice lines! 6ft draft is definitely a bit deep but beautiful boat!

[MondayNever]

Originally Posted by chowdan

So you guys definitely need to keep the content flowing, regardless if you don't want to do it for money

I am not sure how old you two are nor do I know what you did to get to this point, however I am 25, and my SO is 23, by the time we set sail in 4 years, our financial state will be in very good shape. Sure we can afford a house or afford high end apartments/condos that cost 3k/month, but we have made conscious decisions to find cheap, not so nice, but homey apartments to rent. Sure we could continue to work beyond the 4 years and into retirement and be sitting on a few million in savings with 0 investments

I really hope that other person was a troll, or is very jealous, but I have a feeling you guys have similar ideologies. Why work to have a fat bank account when you can save as much as possible, as fast as possible to be able to go out and spend a good few years on the water, experiencing the world that you live in? II always hated the world 'yolo', but it completely is true.

On a side note, what type of boat did you guys buy? Seems like you guys never mentioned that in the video/post.

I'm 30 now but was about 25 when I started thinking about this whole thing, as well. It shaped how I looked at financial decisions, long before I was specifically saving up sail. Low overhead, minimal possessions. Sounds like you're already on that track.

Hamburking is correct - 1989 CS36 Merlin, bit with the 5' draft shoal keel.

A lot of the nitty gritty info is in the blog - we didn't really have any clear vision of how the videos would flow when we started, but they are intended to be more fun than in depth analysis of financial and boat maintenance decisions.