Visit our Popular Forums

mjfbinks · 19-06-2017, 12:57

I made a mistake after the Atlantic had been running through my veins for so many years of thinking it might be a worthwhile experience to try living somewhere else and I need to get back to the Ocean, I need to update my knowledge and experience. Briefly, here's my story and some background. This is one dream I can't and won't let go of; any help, assistance, or advice would be most heartfeltly appreciated.
Yes, I said Kansas, it's a nice place to visit and the people are decent folks.
I'm originally from the Jersey coast, as in New Jersey; that's where I got the bulk of my boating experience. After growing up nearly being born at sea on a 26' Cris Craft, or so I'm told, I spent endless hours on my Dad's boat, a 36' Luhrs. I also spent a few years in Florida; both East and West coast, as a matter of fact, I spent a year a formal study in Stuart, Florida preparing for my Master's Ticket which I took and received when I got back to New Jersey. After growing up the "bug" had long since bitten me and there was no turning back from "the life", after all, at this point in my young life I realised, I had spent more time offshore than on shore. In the years that followed, I sold boats; following the boat show circuit mostly in Atlantic City, I built fibreglass boats for a couple of years and did some local deliveries. Work was stop and go for the most part. Then, I ended up taking a job cleaning up offshore oil spills which was brutal; think about it, heating oil moves in the dead of Winter when people need it, well where was I in the dead of Winter? You guessed it, freezing nearly to death cleaning up a spill. After dozen or so years of this and a lot of other history that really isn't pertinent, I decided to buy my own boat which was a wonderful, small, 22' or so Sailboat that I had the greatest time with.
Now, after looking for love and #1, something I swore I would never do again, then, #2, finding what I thought was love, I left the coast and moved to Kansas. That was the year of President Obama's election and I should have known better; the first few years in my relationship was wonderful but then things started to slide in the wrong direction. Now it's the first year of the Presidency of Donald Trump and I'm realising what an awful mistake I've made. I'll be Sixty this August first, I don't know where time goes but like they say, time stands still for no man; it's weird, it seems the older you get, the faster it goes.
In any event, I'm trying hard to find my way back to the coast and the one love that never betrayed me never hurt me; the Ocean. Right now I'm trying to bail myself out of roughly $20,000 so this is going to take a couple of years and a lot of planning. I need to update my knowledge and experience but I have to make this happen. I refuse to have my last hurrah being held captive in a place like Kansas. When I do get there, I am hoping to find a boat on my way back. Even though funds are tight right now, I plan on having a budget of somewhere under $20K for the boat itself, most likely closer to $15K but, will be looking for a sailboat that can be single handed fairly easily and between just under 30' - just under 40'. I'm pretty good at most repairs.
If you've ever been where I'm at or had a dream that you just couldn't let go of then hopefully you can relate to where I'm at. Please help me capture my dream again. Any thoughts or advice would be truly appreciated as well as any possibilities of crewing with you for short periods of 2 - 3 weeks at a time or so would help me getting my sea legs back again as well; God forbid, I've lost them. Speaking of God, I am a Catholic Christian, I don't drink at all, no longer smoke anything and do zero recreational drugs. I've been known to be very handy on deck, not very proficient with engines but I have also been told I should have been a chef so apparently, I can cook and help out in many ways
Hoping to hear from you soon.