Any early retirees turned cruisers with big careers have regrets?

[theDangerz]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

We can't bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell 'em stories that don't go anywhere - like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe, so, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Give me five bees for a quarter, you'd say.

Now where were we? Oh yeah: the important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones...

Hilarious!!!
Can we please talk more about the onions here... or the war... or the ferry to Shelbyville?

[LauraleeG]

Metaphorical onion??? Literal onion??? Hahahah it was the style?? Did it repel something like garlic does to vampires??

[theDangerz]

Originally Posted by thomm225

No one is wasting your time except you.

I didn't say you were wasting my time... I said "our time"

Originally Posted by thomm225

My plan is to cruise and retire earlier than some.

"Earlier than some" doesn't make it Early Retirement.
Later than the average actually makes it "Late Retirement", which I'm sure is in a different thread.

Unless the OP changed the title of this thread to "Anyone planning to retire late but no regrets because you enjoy your career and sailing on the evenings/weekends?"

Originally Posted by thomm225

You are a beginner sailor/cruiser just learning to sail and be on the water.

I've been at it for many years and mostly without any instruments at all. No VHF, no depth finder, no compass even until recently.
You learn a lot that way.

100% correct... if you go back a few posts you'll see I pointed out exactly the same.

We all have different experience levels in sailing. I'm envious of yours but sadly grew up away from water and never had the means to own a boat until this one... so I'm making do and learning as fast as I can (while cruising).

Regardless, sailing (and each of our experience levels) remain off-topic in this particular thread.

When it comes to cruising, I'm also a rookie (2 years today), but still far more experienced than you... but you'll notice I'm not feeding a constraint stream of advice (much less negativity) into sailing threads because I'm actually aware that I don't have much value to add over there.

Cruising requires a vast array of skills not related to sailing.
In fact truth be told, sailing is a actually very small part of the skills required to live aboard and cruise full time. Most of us spend 90% or more of our time sitting on the hook, despite how much we might enjoy sailing and moving from place to place... that's just the nature of the lifestyle.

Originally Posted by thomm225

I'll never forget trying to find Beaufort Inlet off North Carolina back in the day ('76) when way offshore and low on gas in my 17' power boat and finally seeing a white shape with a wake come out!

Both off topic and a waste of "everyone's time", but thanks for sharing this important lesson.

I'm beyond exhausted with this conversation... and done here.
I've got a 3day crossing to plan for and a lot of snorkeling to get in before we depart.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by theDangerz

When it comes to cruising, I'm also a rookie (2 years today)

Well, it's a good thing you are retired so you can get some experience on the water. There's so much to learn.

I was lucky to have grown up between the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean.....both within about 4 miles as the crow flies.

Then I got to spend many more years living/working along the ICW in North Carolina and the Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama Gulf Coast owning boats and spending time on the water in each place plus racing in Tennessee and Mississippi on TVA lakes plus Pickwick. And fishing (juggin') on the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers.

But I must say Arizona was nice also and I wouldn't mind seeing that area again and possibly heading North and seeing the places spoken of in the book Into the Wild by John Krakauer.

So, my cruising may end up being seasonal. I would never plan to be on a boat from retirement onward without a change

[Group9]

Still the best quote ever on when to do it.

“To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... "cruising" it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

"I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life? ”

Stirling Hayden, Wanderer.

It either makes sense to you, or it doesn't.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Group9

Still the best quote ever on when to do it.

“To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... "cruising" it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

"I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life? ”

Stirling Hayden, Wanderer.

It either makes sense to you, or it doesn't.

What? It doesn't make sense to compare sailors in the 60's to so called sailors in the year 2020!

This dude probably made this statement some 60 years ago which was a time totally unlike today especially for sailors/cruisers

Today folks can make a couple bucks in the stock market, purchase a large sailboat and sail off ...... to the nearest marina and call himself a cruiser!

He'll have every safety device and instrument known to man but little knowledge of the sea or sailing

In the 1960's when you ventured off shore ...YOU VENTURED OFFSHORE.

No EPIRB.

No SAT Phone.

No GPS.

No computer nav systems

Etc, etc

This is probably the main thing worth remembering in the quote above:

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat (plus air conditioning!) and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment.

Plus maybe a few beers and companionship from the opposite sex.....

[LauraleeG]

Originally Posted by thomm225

What? It doesn't make sense to compare sailors in the 60's to so called sailors in the year 2020!

This dude probably made this statement some 60 years ago which was a time totally unlike today especially for sailors/cruisers

Today folks can make a couple bucks in the stock market, purchase a large sailboat and sail off ...... to the nearest marina and call himself a cruiser!

He'll have every safety device and instrument known to man but little knowledge of the sea or sailing

In the 1960's when you ventured off shore ...YOU VENTURED OFFSHORE.

No EPIRB.

No SAT Phone.

No GPS.

No computer nav systems

Etc, etc

This is probably the main thing worth remembering in the quote above:

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat (plus air conditioning!) and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment.

Plus maybe a few beers and companionship from the opposite sex.....

It’s beautiful and in Utopia it makes perfect sense. Would it were like that.... sadly, money isn’t important until you don’t have any....

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by LauraleeG

It’s beautiful and in Utopia it makes perfect sense. Would it were like that.... sadly, money isn’t important until you don’t have any....

You don't need much money to become a good sailor, but having money doesn't make you a good sailor..........

[LauraleeG]

Originally Posted by thomm225

You don't need much money to become a good sailor, but having money doesn't make you a good sailor..........

Absolutely agree. You do however, need money for a boat. And you can’t go exploring the world in a zodiac....
I think , the point is—- go when you can, keep it simple and find a balance between money and adventure...

[wsmurdoch]

Originally Posted by Group9

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment.

Decades ago while the two of us were sailing on my Tanzer 22 for two weeks in Eastern North Carolina, Jess Arnett, a now deceased friend, asked a live aboard, single handed, long term and long distance cruiser in Ocracoke, "What does it cost to do this?". The cruiser's reply was short and simple. "It's damn hard to choke down more than $10 worth of corn meal mush in a week." Cost does not matter, desire does. Jess, a retired Tennessee highway patrolman, died with a house in the mountains, a Westsail 32 in the water, and years (and years) of memories of just messing around in boats and meeting people in the southeast US and the Bahamas... and I am sure, a great sense of accomplishment.

Bill

[Group9]

Originally Posted by thomm225

What? It doesn't make sense to compare sailors in the 60's to so called sailors in the year 2020!

This dude probably made this statement some 60 years ago which was a time totally unlike today especially for sailors/cruisers

Today folks can make a couple bucks in the stock market, purchase a large sailboat and sail off ...... to the nearest marina and call himself a cruiser!

He'll have every safety device and instrument known to man but little knowledge of the sea or sailing

In the 1960's when you ventured off shore ...YOU VENTURED OFFSHORE.

No EPIRB.

No SAT Phone.

No GPS.

No computer nav systems

Etc, etc

This is probably the main thing worth remembering in the quote above:

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat (plus air conditioning!) and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment.

Plus maybe a few beers and companionship from the opposite sex.....

I did say not everyone would get it.

You have missed the point of what Hayden said and was talking about completely. From your other posts, I didn’t think you would get it or appreciate it. That’s okay.

[sailorboy1]

Has the thread drifted from early retirees going cruising to the anti-cruising or “that isn't cruising” from the non cruiser?

[carstenb]

lest we forget; Sterling Hayden was a movie star who earned megabucks - it is easy to say you don't need money when you have tons...........................

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Group9

I did say not everyone would get it.

You have missed the point of what Hayden said and was talking about completely. From your other posts, I didn’t think you would get it or appreciate it. That’s okay.

Oh I got it alright, but used your post to make another point.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by carstenb

lest we forget; Sterling Hayden was a movie star who earned megabucks - it is easy to say you don't need money when you have tons...........................

Yep. Really easy for him to preach about money when he made boat loads of money.

He also received $10,000 as an advance on his movie. He went sailing on his ship, his "yacht" was 95 feet long, and he had a crew of six.

His ship cost him $20,000 in 1955 when the average wage was $3,400.

I "get" what he is saying, and he did things that deserve respect, but it is hard to swallow his "advice" about money when he had plenty.

We are spending quite a bit of money to go sailing. I don't want to add up what we have spent and we don't own a boat. But without money, we would not be sailing.

Later,
Dan