So I posted a few months ago my plan for cruising soon. Well the time is approaching ever quicker, and so I wanted to run the updated plan by the forum and see if this is a practical idea. I'm still a
newbie, so don't spare any ideas/concerns.
The background:
ASA 101/103 is complete. May take 104, or may buy some
books on sailing systems, and learn as we go/before we go. Like I've said before I have some pretty solid carpentry skills on land. Taking it slow at first to get acquanted with the boat/navigation.
House
renovation is almost complete and ready to
sale. I realize this may take some time, and so will be the primary hold on any future plans until it is
sold.
The financial plan:
Sale the house, use the hopeful equity for a rental property to give us some hopeful monthly
income, and a home to return to in the distant future. (I realize, how all this is based on hopes, but I digress, so I'm not really looking for the real estate market information).
Use the nest egg to buy a
boat, and have a few months of sailing
money. Hopefully the rest will be provided by renters.
The route:
Our goal is to spend a year or so sailing up and down the
East coast of the US to continue our sailing education/experience.
The second year we'd like to spend sailing around the
Caribbean, starting with the
Bahamas, and maybe moving to USVI and
Puerto Rico, or anywhere else.
We don't plan on ever being in a hurry, and always waiting on the
weather windows. We will want to
anchor as often as possible, as we want to do this on a
budget. Eat as
cheap as possible, and
fish as often as possible.
Afterwards will remain to be seen. We may decide to go back to land, or try and keep sailing along to who knows where.
The boat:
So the boat is the major question.
We are very comfortable living in small quarters, so that is not an issue, but
safety obviously is.
Our thoughts were to buy a trailerable boat around 26'+. Is there any reason to be concerned about a boat that can be trailered? Will beam be a major issue in the two areas we are talking about sailing? Other issues to be concerned with?
Centerboard or Swing
Keel, preferences?
The reason for this idea is to hopefully save on haulout costs, and the ability to
work on my own boat in my own yard without major transportation issues (We're from North
Georgia, US).
Assume that I have a dedicated friend/family
member that would bring our
trailer back once dropping us off at the nearest port.
Questions:
1. Is this
route a good way to learn, sticking with the
ICW, occassional open sailing?
2. Is a boat of this size, beam, assuming quality (I'll be getting surveys, reading up on the necessaries of quality beforehand) sufficient for such a trip/ lifestyle?
3. Any other ideas/concerns/ practical
advice from the forum? Thanks.