10 days to see if wife likes it

[barbarosa205]

I am in the same situation .

Charter with skipper 10 days to two weeks in March(Canadian spring break) .

Most of the carter companies show you all kinds of white lies on every web page they have and big print "Pay Now" .

For me ideal would be to sail with somebody who will take us as (paying) guests aboard but they have been owners for some time and can relate to newbies with big dreams . I believe my wife will be convinced only by another "wife" but one that has been sailing on her condomaran for a while.

Chartering a boat to see how your retirement could be is better than going to movies or presentations.

If some of the guys that live on a boat and retired can relate to this and wife's thoughts it would be appreciated.

[Sundae Driver]

Hello,

I myself have been considering the same kind of thing. Given your vacation is in the summer, perhaps you would be interested in chartering a multihull in the Chesapeake Bay. There are several options that look good to me. My plan is to take lessons for a few days (then if the Admiral is still for it) we would lease the yacht for another week or so. The company below has a lot of what look like deals to me; perhaps others with direct experience could comment on them or others.

Cruise Annapolis

Kindest,

Sundae Driver

[lesterbutch]

Tom: if I were going to try to influence my wife, (which I don't because she is the sailor in the family), I would try to locate exactly what you think your going to ultimately hope to get. And don't try to kid her by doing only calm passive conditions. You don't want to kid her into it then have her come unglued and demand you sell the boat on her first rough water experience. Be honest, plan together and hopefully sail on into retirement.
P.S. My wife and I are retired teachers also.

[jpsgirl96]

Let me add An Embarrassment of Mangoes by Ann Vanderhoof to the reading list. It helped make md want to go (on a Caribbean sailing sabbatical). It's not a how-to by any means but it gives glimpses into the challenges as well as the many pleasures of a particular style of cruising.
As for chartering - when we were in the pre-ownership stage, we chartered several times, and likewise it helped make me comfortable and interested in doing more, and more independently. I suppose you could say if you don't like that, cruising is not going to be for you. If you do like it, then there is at least the basis for further conversation.



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[Sid at SailAway]

Tom, Sent you a PM....Sid

[Cheechako]

It seems to take about a year to be really comfortable living aboard. But, I think the 10 day excursion will maybe see if the next step is warranted. Not sure what else you can do really.

[scuba0_1]

Hum sho you should charter a boat only take half the supplies you need sail into the darkest skys you can find and when you get back to the docks is she stays you a winner..
not..
I have sailed for ever, and my girl friend never had been in a sail boat and the first time it leaned she thought we were sinking, now were up to a 45 ft jeanneau ds. I did it by taking her out in awesome conditions to begin with and slowly introduced her to other types of sailing. You have year's take your time if you do it right she might become more into it than you are. Mines ready to sell everything now and after the Miami Boat Show who knows.

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[TheThunderbird]

Tom,

Ok, you are tryi g to "manipulate" your half, with love.

Your best, and most needed, support must come from another woman , and another retired couple.

chartering wou!d be little or no use. We dont know yohr level of experience.... anyhow, show her it js an act of love, watering together....

[Lodesman]

From Calgary and with a summer time frame in mind, I would recommend the Gulf/San Juan Islands. There are plenty of charter companies out there, but admittedly cat's are rare. There used to be a Manta 42 called Ninja that did charters. But as an intro for the wife, I wouldn't count out going on a mono, if I were you. Once you've exposed her to a condomaran, it will be impossible for you to get her onto a mono, and trust me when I say that will severely limit your options once you start shopping for "the" boat.

Add: some options - http://sanjuansailing.com/charter-de...gs.php?id=Sail

[dbSail]

I had a very good experience on a 10 day sail in Greece with G Adventures. They have cruises all over the place. Granted, this was a 7 passenger 50' boat, but there may be smaller ones or you could rent out the other bunks. If you wanted to do your own, we used RobSwainSailing.com in the BVIs for a better price than moorings or sunsail, but we were on a monohull - not sure if they have catamarans. In the BVIs, even in March you need a generator and A/C. I thought I was going to die. Greece in September was far more temperate (and beautiful).

[LTDsailing]

Tom,

I saw your request on one of the services. We would be happy to help you organize a trip. We normally do seven to ten day courses in the Grenadines. We could customize a course for you and your wife with a mix of cruising and learning. We are far enough south that July is usually still great sailing.

Check us out at Caribbean Sailing School and Skippered Yacht Charters | LTD Sailing. You can find reviews of our trips on Trip Advisor.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Chris

[daddle]

Sheesh, don't mollycoddle the spouses. Tell them what you are going to do. And you want them to come along. They can decide to stay in the condo, or come along, or just fly in for the anchored parts. Maybe you are not so sure about the cruising life yourselves. That said, chartering is certainly a good way to get some experience. Charter someplace you really want to go - like Tahiti or Croatia. If the spouse doesn't want to cruise there are plenty of interesting people who do.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

With all due respect, a week or 10 daze on a crewed charter boat is about as far removed from "living aboard and cruising" as one could get and still be on the water. While the experience might be fun and enjoyable, it will tell you nothing about living aboard where something that might be a minor inconvenience on a charter becomes a major issue in daily life (akin to a burr under one's saddle). I suggest you take a look at a couple of books such as Debra Cantrell's "Changing Course" and Tom Neal's "All in the Same Boat" as a starter followed by a couple of Liz and Andy Copeland's (of Bagheera fame) books. Your better half might also want to attend one of Liz Copeland's and Sarah Curry's Women Cruising seminars, which are very worth-while.

FWIW...

While a short charter won't be the same as living aboard, its far better to introduce the idea in a positive manner. A crewed charter gets her some experience living in the tight quarters of a boat.

Don't expect after a week that she will want to sell the house and move aboard but if you make it fun, she will be more open to taking further steps.

Also what is your ultimate goal? Marina hopping in a modern boat with eletricity and air/con is a lot easier sell compared to roughing it for weeks at sea.

[hellosailor]

Tom-
I'd suggest asking the wife what other couple she'd like to go with, and that way four of you can split the costs of a crewed charter. Forget about "guest", either you hire a boat with crew (usually 1-2 people, skipper and cook) or you bareboat, which requires qualifications and experience. "Guest" relationships are usually informal and frankly illegal and hard to predict. Professional charter operations and crews, more likely to be straightforward. and I'd suggest five days, tops one week, not ten days because in ten days your wife can get REALLY miserable if she doesn't like it.

But it might be a better plan to have her sign up for a women-only course at a respected sailing school like Womanship (Annapolis, MD) to learn what sailing is all about and what work is involved, and have her do that by herself, without you. Sometimes removing the pressures of "couples" makes for a better introduction to things, and she doesn't have to worry about being stuck on a boat for a week of misery if she doesn't like it.

[sailgalkaty]

Goggle 'Yacht Ibis"
I've done a two week cruise on this 48' Dufour a few years ago...hands on, you can do as much or as little crewing/helming as you wish. Went through the Grenadines.
Captain Sam (Samantha Bartlett) is an amazing Captain AND spectacular cook!
I'm a Canadian Gal from Ontario...not an easy flight to arrange with airlines-especially if you start at one Island and depart from another, but, hey, can be done and sounds like what you are looking for....one of the couples on the Cruise was doing the same thing-the husband was doing the 'sell' for his new wife...unfortunately she was sea-sick 80% of the time.....