Foolish Late 50's Sell it All and Head North

[jillnord]

Hello all- first real post here. I am just home from three hours of Coastal Navigation class- my brain (not mathematical) may never be the same. I hope we will never have to rely on this knowledge but you never know...I'm Jill. My husband Todd and I live in St Paul MN for a while longer. We keep our boat on Lake Superior, a late '70s Dufour 35. We are refitting and planning a trip through the Great Lakes, up the St Lawrence Seaway, time in Nova Scotia and environs then (here we go...) across to Ireland, Scotland, Portugal and to the Bahamas. We'll see. This has long been a dream and I have the nubby, broken fingernails to prove it. We are ticking off our checklist of things to accomplish before we shove off. We sort of consider the Great Lakes (we've cruised Superior for about nine years) and the trip to Canada as our shake-down cruise. Can we really do this? Who is going to whine about watches? No hot showers? Jill's cooking? We'll see. Anyway, Todd says that we will always be too poor to retire so we are just going to quit. The project list seems endless but the plan now is to sell our Mac-Groveland house in 2018 and leave spring of 2019. We have sailed a lot (but not enough), we have upgraded a lot (but not enough), we have save some money (say it with me...but not enough). But, as we watch the people we love die, become limited in their ability to do what they want, move away, grow up, etc etc we have determined that we'll just do this. Thanks for listening. If you want to talk about ripping up soggy decks, replacing heads, mistakes, terrible pressure cooker ideas, Jill's mis-adventures of going it alone, let me know. We'll chat. Fair winds and following seas! With any luck Superior will be ready early this year and my first dark and stormy won't be far behind.

[roverhi]

Send us a post card. Your good old Social Security can actually give you enough money to live on. Enjoy your cruise.

[Warby12]

Good luck Jill, We're thinking the same

[Greenhand]

Welcome, Jill!

I hope we don't find soggy decks any time soon. The anchor locker has proven miserable enough and I don't have to worry too much about how it looks!

[jillnord]

The anchor locker will be finished this spring then it will be the cockpit next spring and we're fresh from stem to stern! KiwiGrip and rum (with an occasional Scotch on a bad day) has gotten me through thus far. The hardest thing will be telling the kids goodbye. I tell myself it's good for them too...but I'm a Mom. I worry.

Other than that, here I come! If anyone is in the MN/WI area and wants to sail the wild waters of Superior, let me know!

[RaymondR]

The hardest thing will be telling the kids goodbye.

I thought I handled it nicely at a Sunday brunch in 2001 when I made the statement

"You beggars have lived high on the hog on dad's hard work for the last 30 or so years but now the rest of my life is my own"

worked for me?

[roland stockham]

Don't have to say goodby to the kids, Skype and Facebook work most places and we can't keep ours on the same content for long so we may as well bounce around as well

[Neptune's Gear]

Your not saying goodbye, easy to keep in touch as above. Yes, you can do it, don't listen to the naysayers, you'll have a great time!

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by jillnord

we will always be too poor to retire so we are just going to quit.

That's also the way I'm thinking of it

[Mike OReilly]

Hi Jill, there must be something in the Lake Superior air, b/c your plans are very similar to our plans. We've packed in the rat race at relatively young ages (47/52), are saying goodbye to most land chattel, and are slowly making our way to wherever the wind blows us. We may be a step or two ahead of you, but we're moving slow, so you might even catch up to us .

If's funny, but the most common question I now get from friends (and forum mates) is: How can you afford to do this? After trying to explain our fiscal plan (b.c we do have some sort of plan), I've now settled on one simple answer: "How can we afford to do this when we're so (relatively) young? Easy, we're just choosing to be poor."

Like you, we've decided that time is the only truly valuable thing in this life. The hamster wheel that has most of us running hard after wealth and security are simply ways to keep people enslaved. We've traded enough of our lifetime; now is the moment to go.

Hope to see you out there. We won't be hard to catch up to.

[boatman61]

Hi Jill...
Welcome to you and Yours..
Keep CF in the Loop.. else the 'jockeys' get restless..

[Eleuthera 2014]

Hi Jill,

Welcome. GO FOR IT!

You will love the St Lawrence ride... all down current and generally broad reach. Stop anywhere you think may be nice and it will be.

Don't miss Gaspé, Antipasti island, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton then the SE coast of Newfoundland. Put on your duffles and visit Narsarssuaq in southern Greenland. Then go to Iceland. Visit Denmark and then sail into Sweden for the summer... glorious. Next year, go to Holland and sail down English channel along the French coast... stop everywhere!

Then cross the Bay of Biscay to southern Portugal, then Madeira, Canaries, Cape Verde and cross back to the Caribbean after Christmas (bring a good spinnaker coz you'll get 15-20 knots full astern).

ENJOY... life is short.

[wrwakefield]

Hi Jill and Todd,

You are not alone. We pulled the plug last year and took solace in a quote from Wayne Gretzky: [the hockey player] "You miss 100% of the shots you never take..."

Keep shooting...

Cheers!

[SeeMonstrEd]

Hi Jill not foolish at all,

I have similar goals and have decided that there is no better time than now.

I have given my life so far to all the things I was told I should do and be. Father, husband, brother, uncle, employee. I am now 52 and decided the rest of my life is mine to do with as I please. My choice is sell everything I own that won't fit on my boat and live where I choose. No yard to mow, and new scenery whenever I choose. My 50' Jeanneau should be able to handle more seas than I can, so the world is my front yard.

My partner has no sailing experience but lots of will to learn and some powerboat experience that she will have to unlearn {:^).

We bought a boat in FL and are in the process of making necessary repairs to get her back up to the Cheasepeake for our summer cruising/training. After summer we will cruise our way down to the USVI for the winter.

Our plan for the trip north is mostly the ICW (the ditch) since only short off-shore sailing is possible with our limited experience.

I grew up in Michigan and have many hours on the Great Lakes. Kind of wish I could have started there too, but you have to work with what life gives you. Fortunately I have made several good friends here where we found our new boat and they have been very helpful in preparing her. I have been told the best way to make new friends is ask for their advice. It shows your trust in them and they will trust and help you in return.

Good luck to you. Hope to see you in a mooring field someday.

Capt Eddie Bear
SV Serenity

[redhead]

You can do this. We left last June, bought an old neglected boat and have been working on it ever since. I am not going to say its easy but it is rewarding. You'll get to know each other like never before. Our shakedown cruise is coming up fast and then it's Alaska for us. There will never be the perfect moment, or enough money, just set a date and stick to it. Most everyone will think you're nuts,.but the big grin on your face will keep 'em quiet. Good luck and I hope to see you out there!