Any early retirees turned cruisers with big careers have regrets?

[sailorboy1]

Its just a train wreck of one’s mind to figure out some of this

[theDangerz]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Its just a train wreck of one’s mind to figure out some of this

Or is it that that particular mind is a train wreck??

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by thomm225

So after all this, it looks like the OP has decided to keep his part time job to keep his mind sharp!

That sounds like a pretty good idea.......

I was thinking along similar lines.

Maybe have a part time job in Winter to keep the mind sharp and stay in touch after sailing/cruising for most of the Spring, Summer, and Fall.

Why would you need to work to keep your mind sharp?

[discovery]

Retired in March 2012..our boat is a 2002 passage 456...bought in 2007..lived on it at marina worked paid it off. March 2012 started by sailing to Annapolis from tampa..then bahamas twice from tampa..then Caribbean from Miami..stayed 5 years..then returned in 2019 to Florida..did bahamas last year and plan this year. We live on ss plus investment income..our years costs have averaged approx 65k a year..our income from those two sources have just barely kept up. 6 months of marina cost during hurricane season ..average 2 weeks in marinas the other 6 months. Have kept a older suv..no house just boat. I'm on Medicare wife's not..boat insured of course. Only regret..i couldn't start earlier.its been everything we hoped and more.

[thomm225]

I guess this is a tough question for some ........the early retirement thing, but for some of us that are lucky enough to live along the Chesapeake Bay, we don't have to consider it if the reason is just for sailing/cruising alone.

Here you can sail/cruise the bay for almost 8 months a year in nice weather, and there are tons of places/creeks/small bays to visit.

Also during the months you aren't sailing there's great hiking here through the woods where you can see all the changes that occur with the seasons.

This week we had temps in the am around 29-30 degrees, but by noon, it would be a balmy 45 degrees which is perfect hiking weather.

Living near the Bay can also allow you time to prep for more long term cruising when you believe it is your time do drop out of the pack.

When you feel you can no longer keep up with the main stream folks which for me I'm thinking is going to be around 69 years old.

Why not retire a year early? ..... And enjoy early retirement for a while!

[sailorboy1]

no one, or very few, care

[Mook1e]

Congratulations! You're "doing the thing!"
I'm thinking of doing the same more and more. We have a long way to go, but lots of flexibility. If the live-aboard cruising bug bites hard, I think we'll transition to the boat while I'm still working to pay it (and our rental house) off before we cut sling load.
Again, congrats, and thanks for your pertinent detailed response [emoji106].

Originally Posted by discovery

Retired in March 2012..our boat is a 2002 passage 456...bought in 2007..lived on it at marina worked paid it off. March 2012 started by sailing to Annapolis from tampa..then bahamas twice from tampa..then Caribbean from Miami..stayed 5 years..then returned in 2019 to Florida..did bahamas last year and plan this year. We live on ss plus investment income..our years costs have averaged approx 65k a year..our income from those two sources have just barely kept up. 6 months of marina cost during hurricane season ..average 2 weeks in marinas the other 6 months. Have kept a older suv..no house just boat. I'm on Medicare wife's not..boat insured of course. Only regret..i couldn't start earlier.its been everything we hoped and more.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by discovery

Retired in March 2012..our boat is a 2002 passage 456...bought in 2007..lived on it at marina worked paid it off. March 2012 started by sailing to Annapolis from tampa..then bahamas twice from tampa..then Caribbean from Miami..stayed 5 years..then returned in 2019 to Florida..did bahamas last year and plan this year. We live on ss plus investment income..our years costs have averaged approx 65k a year..our income from those two sources have just barely kept up. 6 months of marina cost during hurricane season ..average 2 weeks in marinas the other 6 months. Have kept a older suv..no house just boat. I'm on Medicare wife's not..boat insured of course. Only regret..i couldn't start earlier.its been everything we hoped and more.

That was our sentiment as well, and one we frequently hear.

[redneckrob]

During WW2 researchers at the Center for Naval Analysis did extensive analysis mapping every hole on returning bombers. They ended up with a map of the parts of the plane that suffered the most damage, one would guess with the idea that they would reinforce those areas. However they actually ended up doing the opposite, reinforcing areas that didn't show many hits on returning bombers. Why? It's the returning part that matters here. It turns out that the areas that didn't show much damage on surviving aircraft were the most important bits. If you got hit there, you crashed and that data wasn't there for the researchers to analyze. If you got hit in one of the more survivable areas you made it back to have your damage evaluated. Survivorship bias.

What in the world does that have to do with this thread? The people who are here, by and large are going to be those without regrets because they adapted well to cruising and enjoy it so they're still around doing it and inclined to participate in a forum like this. The people with regrets? They mostly will have left cruising and would have little reason to be here. So even if the answer to this question was that 99% of people had huge regrets (I doubt that to be the case, BTW), you would still expect the majority of the answers here to show first hand experiences of those without any regrets. Somewhat paradoxically in the same way as the example I cited, the OP probably has a better chance finding an early retired turned cruiser with regrets on an RV forum or travel forum or motorcycling forum or pretty much any other lifestyle forum than here, since pretty much all those folks would have moved on to something else and have little reason to be here.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by redneckrob

During WW2 researchers at the Center for Naval Analysis did extensive analysis mapping every hole on returning bombers. They ended up with a map of the parts of the plane that suffered the most damage, one would guess with the idea that they would reinforce those areas. However they actually ended up doing the opposite, reinforcing areas that didn't show many hits on returning bombers. Why? It's the returning part that matters here. It turns out that the areas that didn't show much damage on surviving aircraft were the most important bits. If you got hit there, you crashed and that data wasn't there for the researchers to analyze. If you got hit in one of the more survivable areas you made it back to have your damage evaluated. Survivorship bias.

What in the world does that have to do with this thread? The people who are here, by and large are going to be those without regrets because they adapted well to cruising and enjoy it so they're still around doing it and inclined to participate in a forum like this. The people with regrets? They mostly will have left cruising and would have little reason to be here. So even if the answer to this question was that 99% of people had huge regrets (I doubt that to be the case, BTW), you would still expect the majority of the answers here to show first hand experiences of those without any regrets. Somewhat paradoxically in the same way as the example I cited, the OP probably has a better chance finding an early retired turned cruiser with regrets on an RV forum or travel forum or motorcycling forum or pretty much any other lifestyle forum than here, since pretty much all those folks would have moved on to something else and have little reason to be here.

You have an excellent point, sir.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by redneckrob

...
Somewhat paradoxically in the same way as the example I cited, the OP probably has a better chance finding an early retired turned cruiser with regrets on an RV forum or travel forum or motorcycling forum or pretty much any other lifestyle forum than here, since pretty much all those folks would have moved on to something else and have little reason to be here.

What would be very interesting to know is WHY cruisers were not successful.

My guesses would be some combination of:

• Not enough sailing skills
• Not enough skills repairing things that break
• Running out of money, aka, not budgeting correctly
• Maybe not giving it enough time to adjust to living on a boat
• Finding out they can't tolerate living in a small space
• Finding out they can't tolerate spending 24 hours with their spouse
• Finding out they can't tolerate spending 24 hours with their spouse while living in a small space

Later,
Dan

[sailorboy1]

My guess is that failed cruisers, who had already sailed enough to know what that was like, discovered cruising isn't really anything like in the magazines. Plus coming off working the first cruiser thing to learn is how to slooooooooooooow dooooooooown

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by dannc

What would be very interesting to know is WHY cruisers were not successful.

My guesses would be some combination of:

• Not enough sailing skills
• Not enough skills repairing things that break
• Running out of money, aka, not budgeting correctly
• Maybe not giving it enough time to adjust to living on a boat
• Finding out they can't tolerate living in a small space
• Finding out they can't tolerate spending 24 hours with their spouse
• Finding out they can't tolerate spending 24 hours with their spouse while living in a small space [emoji3]

Later,
Dan

All so negative! What about the "positive" reasons?

We preferred cruising in British Columbia...
We missed mountains and hiking...
We like snow and wanted to be skiing...
We liked temperate temperatures...

Nothing to do with money. Wife and I still spend 24 hrs together, often in a small space (boat in Summer and 1-bdrm rest of year). We just refocused/reconsidered our wants and needs. Happily.

Nothing "failed" or "unsuccessful" about coming home to BC.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

All so negative! What about the "positive" reasons?

We preferred cruising in British Columbia...
We missed mountains and hiking...
We like snow and wanted to be skiing...
We liked temperate temperatures...

Nothing to do with money. Wife and I still spend 24 hrs together, often in a small space (boat in Summer and 1-bdrm rest of year). We just refocused/reconsidered our wants and needs. Happily.

Nothing "failed" or "unsuccessful" about coming home to BC.

The list is a guess of why people who failed at cruising, ie, did not like it.

People who bought a boat, took it out, got into a storm, or one passage, returned to a marina and put the boat up for sale. The list is for those who failed and thus would be negative. If it was positive, they would still be out there.

The list is not for people who cruised and accomplished their goals.

Later,
Dan

[dannc]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

My guess is that failed cruisers, who had already sailed enough to know what that was like, discovered cruising isn't really anything like in the magazines. Plus coming off working the first cruiser thing to learn is how to slooooooooooooow dooooooooown

I think decompressing from a work life is a big issue. The wifey and I have had that discussion many times. Pretty sure that Beth and Evans book, The Voyagers Handbook, mentions that it takes two years to settle into cruising.

Later,
Dan