Going to Cruise for One Year !

[pierre0121]

Erica,

You will have a great time. You and your family will have the trip of a lifetime.
As you are sailing with little ones you can find many good sources of information on boards and in some cruisers associations, like SSCA. Try the forums as it is mostly composed of cruisers "on the go".

My wife and I left for a few years, came back after three years. We are now replenishing our cruising kitty and we will be ready to go again in the next few years. When the bug bites...

I would agree with Sailchick that you should not be too ambitious in your first few months and that Maine is a long way on day hops. You have a summer to play before you head South. Make these early experiences as comfortable and fun as possible for the adults and the kids. And with a boat in the water in April or May, time will fly to get ready.

(BTW your blog is great, keep on the great work)

Pierre

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by Conwaysailors

The top choices right now are:
.....
Patronus (it's an animal protector created by the powerful spell in Harry Potter that protects you from danger. Our Patronus would be a dolphin. All 3 kids vote for this one.)

LOL!! If the kids are voting for Patronus, then I don't think you have much choice, since it's important to give them as much ownership of their home to be as possible!

We chose Aaza Dana, which everyone here thinks is Arabic, since Aaza means 'honourable' and Dana means 'pearl' in Arabic. In actual fact, it's a Hindi expression, translating (loosely) as 'Complete Freedom'.

We were looking for something that reflected the Buddhist philosophy of freedom of mind, body and soul.

[swagman]

G'Day Erica,
Can I add my congratulations for taking the big step. I guarantee you and the kids will never EVER regret what you're about to do.
Sail safe and enjoy
JOHN

[Conwaysailors]

LOVE Aaza Dana. I had a lot of Buddhist words on our list of boat names, but I couldn't get them past the final round. Karuna, Bodhisattva, Sat Nam, etc, etc. Maybe I can convince them on it for naming the dinghy...

[wlboyer]

Hi Erica,
We are in the process of buying a boat, leaving Dallas in June and heading up to New England and sailing south for a year. We have 3 kids (12, 10, 6). We'll look you up when we are up north!
Wendy