The recent thread on "the other end of cruising" discussing hit home with me because I'm not trying to piece my at sea life together on a shoestring
budget. I realize that I may only do this once, so I want to make sure it is as enjoyable as possible, but at the same time I don't want to go
overboard and spend for the sake of spending.
A year ago after a crazy twist of fate where the
boat I was
buying in the BVI's failed it's
survey miserably and I was all depressed, ended up putting me on a
collision course with the most amazing woman in the world that I most certainly would not have met if that
boat deal had been successful. Basically fast forward a year and we've been inseparable, we've traveled the world together by plane and by boat, and she has the same passion for the
water that I do. I retired at 43, and would be what most people consider to be independently wealthy, enough to cover us both for a lifetime. She needs about 3 years before she is ready to cut the lines and be able to "retire" herself. Great part is her schedule over that timeframe is very generous in the free time department and doesn't limit us from taking weeks at a time to
charter different boats all over the world. Totally fine with me, now we are in the debate process of what boat makes the most sense for us to go cruising in as a couple. We plan on starting in the Med for a season or two then following the traditional
route until we no longer are having fun.
Assumptions: Paying cash for any of the boats, will expect expenses to average out to about $10k month (excluding boat maintenance), will keep a small but nice home in a tropical
destination to be able to take a break from sailing, and keep as the fallback plan. My passive
income stream and assets fortunately allows for this to not be an issue.
Experience: all good, we are both experienced sailors at this point, she is shocked to have met somebody who wants to do the same thing she does.
Boats(most likely new or 1-3 years used):
1-
Outremer 51 or 5X- This is pretty much what I had my heart set on, but when we walked on the boats for the first time at the Cannes Yacht festival it was clear she was not impressed. I've sailed the 51, she has not, one of the things on our to-do list is for us to get her some time on the
water on one/both of these.
2-
Oyster 565 - damn this one sexy boat. I love the feel of sailing a mono vs. the cat, but the walking around space and general comfort is hard to pass up. I worry slightly about the ability to get into shallow
anchorages. This is definitely her pick because it exudes quality and class. Seems like it is a choice that you can't go wrong with.
3- FP47 - I realize this is an oddball pick, but this I would sort of consider as a compromise of comfort vs. performance. But both of us having spent a bunch of time on "condo" cats, I can say I totally get why they are so popular.
4- 40'-45' (Insert mono-hull boat name here) $200k "starter"
used boat set up for cruising already. This is the way my frugal and common sense side is leaning. My thought is hell, let's use this as our "make sure we love it, and not be too worried if we scratch it up a bit" boat. If we love it we will have learned a ton on what we like and don't like and then can go buy whatever we want. Only reasons not to do this are 1)we are young, but you only get so much time to enjoy life 2) comfort of a mono vs. cat may negatively influence our fun 3) we are planning to be on all of the boats listed above over the next 3 years chartering and sailing, so we will have had the chance to do our due diligence and why waste any more time.
5- Boat you think I should strongly consider
So I realize this is a first world problem and that this is a
internet forum full of goofballs like myself, but I'm sure there are a few of you out there who've gone through this before in weighing out your higher end cruising options.
Cheers!
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