Young People Cruising

[Kenomac]

We have many younger cruiser friends in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, we all share the same concerns and Interests; Age isn’t a barrier.

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Funny thing about facebook: Most of our nieces & nephews under 30 don't have an account (a few do but mostly to appease parents and aunts desire to stay in touch).

Facebook has really become the domain of the proverbial middle age soccer mom.

True. None of our relatives in the teenage years or young adult have active personal accounts, some are still passive users / consumers. Some groups are still alive but that seems to be fading as well.

I never bothered about this social media thing. I'm as unsocial as it gets online - I prefer a chat at the watering holes.

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by timlabute

Hey all, while I love this forum and most of the cruising Facebook Pages, I searched for a group dedicated to the unique discussions, questions, and problems the younger cruisers face. I had to create such a group and hope you'll join me. Younger crowd helping each other and a group not filled with questions that should have been googled.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/813683812326274/

Whilst I understand you might be keen to hear from a network of younger cruisers. Afterall our needs/wants can be very different, especially in looking for places to winter. I don't agree with these closed off groups on Facebook. What's the point when there open forums like this one where can share ideas and more importantly they can be search for and found by others.

P.S I'm at the older age of the Millennial generation. Some of my cruising friends are slightly younger. One thing that we all like, is sitting down with the seasoned salts and hearing their stories over a beer.

[OldManMirage]

As the man sang long time ago - "Music is the universal language and love is the key. People who believe in music are the happiest people I've ever seen." Lol. And music is probably one of the biggest things I would NOT have in common with younger folks ! And that is how it's always been. So what ? We can learn to appreciate each other's choices and tastes. I enjoy a lot of New Age Ambient music - most people - of any age - just think its weird !

Seriously though, as someone who has "old" in his screenname, I embrace my age, but that doesn't mean you can put me out to pasture just yet. I freely admit to having the "Gilligan Syndrome." Or some people call it the Peter Pan Syndrome. I refuse to grow up ! I will be in my 60's before I can cut ties and get "out there," but I definitely am going to try to go all the way around, and I hope to run into people of all ages, races, creeds and kinds. I'm going to see not just places but faces too.

I don't have a problem with younger people wanting to hang and socialize together. Why wouldn't they want to ? I don't think they would exclude anyone based on age. I wouldn't. And of course I don't have as much in common with a 30yr old as I do with a 60, we come from different era's. BUT I want to get to know both. There is always a generation gap between decades. And as someone pointed out, we older folk need those young people. And as long as we can all treat each other with respect, they will come to realize they need us too.

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Perfectly valid to not have any "retirement" plan other than scuttling out in the blue ocean. . .

That would work great for me for the first six hours or so and then I’d probably get hungry. [emoji20]If I had a retirement plan I’d probably have bought some food to eat as I scuttled. But without any retirement I’d have to become a lot better fisherman than I currently am and I’d have to convince myself to like eating fish at every meal. It’s a romantic notion to just take off, but to actually pull it off you need some basic needs met and that takes a bit of planning and at least a few dollars that you have tucked away or have the ability to earn as you go.

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by thomm225

I'm thinking the best time to go cruising is when you are young.

I got to see lots of older cruisers (retirement age ) when I lived on the Gulf Coast for 12 years.

I was racing beach cats then.

Many of the cruisers I saw were simply motoring the ICW and staying at marinas which is something I never really considered to be what real cruisers would ever do, but it seems to be the norm now for the old folks

That and having tons of backup equipment

I’m 61 and have never seen anyone motoring the ICW for more than a mile or so because to do that, I’d have to be motoring the ICW myself. I’m also way too cheap to stay in a marina if I can possibly avoid it. I much prefer to go outside and sail unrestricted. One day I’d like to experience the ICW in a motorboat but that’ll have to wait until I’m “old” I guess. It’s not for me at this point in my life but I see nothing wrong with that form of cruising if that’s what makes someone happy at a particular stage of their life. Beachcats, Sunfish, traditional cruisers, cruising cats, motorboats, etc. all are good options but it’s common to think whatever you’re currently doing is best and others have got it at least slightly wrong. But eventually you’ll see it’s all the same, having fun on the water!

[rabbi]

Seems like this thread has become more about retirement?


Let the kids sort it out, some may actually make it. Both in terms of sailing and retirement.

The OP is long gone anyway, because we repeated what he always heard at home from his parents: "you can't do XY"


My nephew is similar. As soon as a senior gave him good advice he just walked away. Now I just sit and watch the shitty world out there teach him a few lessons.

[Mike OReilly]

My prediction has been that we are seeing the peak of cruising as a retirement lifestyle. I believe it will decline as the Baby Boomer generation sails off into the sunset.

It’s all about economics; by every credible measurement the generations following the baby boom have become poorer. And not just financially poorer, but also live a life that is far more precarious and uncertain.

Real income for the vast majority of people in most western countries have stagnated or even declined. Costs for most important things in life (housing, education, retirement) have increased disproportionally. And quality jobs — jobs that paid well — have diminished or disappeared all together. Today we’ve replaced stability and well paying jobs with unstable, poorly paying, “gig” jobs.

(BTW, I’ve always been a freelancer, long before the notion of the “gig economy” existed. I’m used to living this precarious lifestyle.)

In this new economic reality fewer people can afford the luxury of owning a largish cruising boat. And even fewer will be able to cut the lines and take off. There will always be some who will find a way, but those will be the exception, not the rule.

In this light, I appreciate some of the ideas that a few on this thread have addressed. I have no idea what the OP’s take is since they never did explain what their “unique” issues are. But my take is that the issues faced by younger generations are less about age, and mostly about economics.

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

My prediction has been that we are seeing the peak of cruising as a retirement lifestyle. I believe it will decline as the Baby Boomer generation sails off into the sunset

Yes, but younger people taking up the slack, who will see the whole concept of "retirement" as obsolete.

Rejecting mainstream work ethic and consumerism, knowing "financial security" is a myth from the past, except for the tiny top X% rent-seeking oligarchy.

Just getting by with a minimum of income, not striving for wealth, social status or even society's acceptance of their lifestyle.

See also the tiny house and vandwelling movements.

Perhaps passing fads of the zeitgeist.

Or perhaps harbingers of a future where a "healthy economy" (healthy for whom?) only requires a small fraction of the population to be employed.

The "precariat", the "unnecessariat" will have to find their own way away from desperation and toward dignity if our political-economy does not provide a decent life even for those working full-time.

The fact that decreases in infant / mothers mortality, shorter life expectancy, homelessness huge increases in incarceration rates, mental illness and mortality from drugs and suicide

all this taken as a "natural" part of society in by far the richest country in the world

does not bode well for future generations.

[a64pilot]

Mike,
The difference in money now and thirty years ago is it’s distribution that has changed, I have to think it can’t go much further than it has, maybe that is wishful thinking. Go to S Fl, wander around Ft. lauderdale, there is no shortage of very wealthy people, go to the airport and count the number of 50+ Million dollar “business” jets there are.

Ref fear of the Government running out of money, that has been a concern for a long time, it’s why when I become eligible, I’ll gladly take Social Security, but I’m not counting on it, it’s not in my Retirement plan.
You can retire on your own savings, just have to live beneath your means for most of your life and actually save money.

You can go to College without debt, you may just have to do one or two things you don’t like.
You can retire early, just you may not be able to drive a new Lexus every three years and buy every new latest IPhone and carry THE name brand purse and retire early.

People chose to not save, people chose to be in debt. Rarely is it necessary.

I agree that we will be among the last cruisers, but not because of a local of wealth, but because of a lack of desire.

For years I used to think that general aviation was dyeing due to a lack of money to fund it, then I started cruising and saw that the world is full of big, expensive motor yachts, each costing more to buy and maintain than an airplane.
The difference is flying is hard, takes a lot of time and study and test taking.
All you have to have to drive a large Motoryacht is the check clear the bank, and your on the water today. Instant gratification is the game today.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Yes, but younger people taking up the slack, who will see the whole concept of "retirement" as obsolete.

Rejecting mainstream work ethic and consumerism, knowing "financial security" is a myth from the past, except for the tiny top X% rent-seeking oligarchy.

Just getting by with a minimum of income, not striving for wealth, social status or even society's acceptance of their lifestyle.

See also the tiny house and vandwelling movements.

… maybe

My view is that these are symptoms, not causes. Tiny houses, abandonment of financial security, the whole so-called “sharing economy” (which has little to do with sharing), are all just symptoms of the declining economic status of younger generations.

We are indeed returning to a feudal world of owners and serfs (as Thomas Piketty noted in his recent seminal work). Most serfs don’t go wondering the world. Most serfs are locked into a system of functional slavery; and that’s where we’re headed (I would say are largely there already for most people).

Originally Posted by john61ct

Or perhaps harbingers of a future where a "healthy economy" (healthy for whom?) only requires a small fraction of the population to be employed.

… perhaps

Actually, I think we may be transitioning to something of a post-work world. We already need very few people to provide for our needs in our rich western world (and to make the few very rich).

In my view our societies need to understand that the function of a JOB in the rich industrialized world has little to do with productive labour. Its most important function is as a wealth redistribution mechanism. Viewed in this light, it should be easier to separate the need for productivity from the necessity to provide food and shelter to everyone.

[a64pilot]

Thing I have noticed that shocked me is the the average person doesn’t mow their own grass, they don’t wash their own car, they don’t do it’s scheduled maintenance, let the sink develop a drip and they call a plumber, electrician etc.
I have never considered myself to be rich enough to pay others to do jobs like that, but it’s common now.
Watch TV, I guess now your supposed to pay other people to walk your dog?
The money is there, is just being spent and not saved, if it wasn’t there, then there wouldn’t be enough profit to pay for a National TV advertising campaign to have others walk your dog?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Mike,
The difference in money now and thirty years ago is it’s distribution that has changed, I have to think it can’t go much further than it has, maybe that is wishful thinking. Go to S Fl, wander around Ft. lauderdale, there is no shortage of very wealthy people, go to the airport and count the number of 50+ Million dollar “business” jets there are.

Ref fear of the Government running out of money, that has been a concern for a long time, it’s why when I become eligible, I’ll gladly take Social Security, but I’m not counting on it, it’s not in my Retirement plan.
You can retire on your own savings, just have to live beneath your means for most of your life and actually save money.

You can go to College without debt, you may just have to do one or two things you don’t like.
You can retire early, just you may not be able to drive a new Lexus every three years and buy every new latest IPhone and carry THE name brand purse and retire early.

People chose to not save, people chose to be in debt. Rarely is it necessary.

I agree that we will be among the last cruisers, but not because of a local of wealth, but because of a lack of desire.

I agree with the wealth distribution comment. There are lots of rich people, but there ranks of the poor have swelled. Middle class has nearly disappeared, and they’ve mostly gone down the economic ladder, not up.

But it is empirically clear that it is a lot harder for kids today. Sure, it’s possible to do all you say, but it’s a lot harder. The cost of education has skyrocketed compared to inflation. When most baby boomers were in the work force good jobs were plentiful. And the defined benefits pension plan was the norm. It’s hard to live below what you make when you don’t make enough to live right now. And no, it’s not just b/c ‘kids today’ are wasting their money on iThings or driving Lexus cars.

[dwedeking2]

As I get older (I'm now 48) I'm starting to regret all the time I worked. I started working at a young age in a family business, and was only out of work for a total of 5 months in my life. If I had it to do over I think I'd work less and adventure more (work for a a few months to a year, then travel until the money ran out).



I wish there was more freedom to work globally, without out the restrictions that are now common if you move off the plantation you were born on.



It's not the action of labor (but really, as Mike says, in the US at least it's not about productivity a large percentage of jobs are just pushing papers) but being stuck in one location, the costs of going to work (car, nice clothes,etc), and the GRIND of most jobs.


I just read Wanderer by Sterling Hayden and really felt his struggle with matching to society/work.

[Sapphir3]

A welcome to all young cruisers. Not enough young folks are going into boating these days. No wonder with the costs of everything these days. There are a lot of good used boats out there, some of which you can get for nearly nothing just to take them off someone's hands. Seen some nice 30 footers sawed to bits and thrown in 30 yard dumpsters.

I took the non standard route with my boat. When I hit 30 I bought an Acapulco 40 and sailed it along the east coast before I owned a home, had a wife, kids, a dog or any real roots. 30 years later I have all that stuff now. Never regretted my decision to do it as a young person instead of waiting until I retired.

At that time, I was the youngest person in my club doing this with a boat of that size.
As a young cruiser, you will never be as strong as you are now, and without obligations to others, you will never take the risks you can take now. If you are strapped for funds, you can still get anywhere you need to with a compass, paper charts, Eldridges tide table, a knot meter and a time piece. Don't let the price of all the fancy electronics keep you from doing it.

Live it up.