Brand noob from the Midwest wanting to get offshore

[asujosh1]

I've been bitten by the bug, and I'm now working on building the plan to get myself and my family on the water. I'm currently looking at a 5 year plan to move full time into a sailboat, so I'm just getting started. I'm currently working on acquiring sailing licenses in 2024 that will allow me to charter a boat with the kids for vacation.

[Capt Clark]

Welcome to the forum Josh.

[Reeve21]

That’s great, welcome aboard.

Consider starting out sooner with a small, inexpensive boat you can use locally in the meantime. Something like a Catalina 22 or 25, depending on the size of your family.

Good luck!

[asujosh1]

This is actually an idea I hadn't considered. There's a lake about 90 minutes from me that's big enough to sail on, and that's where we're planning to work through our sailing licenses. I just looked and there are a few monohulls that are available for sale at a reasonable cost.

[SomeGuyInaShirt]

Don't buy a boat. Go offshore sailing on someone else's boat first. An offshore sailing course would be best. Odds are, you're not going to like it. And even if you do like it, you're not going to know what kind of offshore sailing you like. If you buy a big heavy full keel boat and find out you'd rather be in a performance monohull you're going to lose a lot of money or be stuck with the wrong boat (ask me how I know).

I watched all the YouTube videos of azure waters and palm trees and thought it seemed great too but nothing can really prepare you for the realities of doing day to day activities like eating, sleeping and taking a crap while being slammed into the walls constantly and then when you finally get to the anchorage you have to spend days repairing everything that broke and hauling food and water and fuel yadda yadda. Think very critically about everything.

[asujosh1]

Originally Posted by SomeGuyInaShirt

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Thank you for that perspective. I agree that I have no real idea of what it will be like, I too just have those visions from YouTube videos, articles, and such. I currently think I would like a cat because I don't know that I'll like being heeled over or not, and I like the big open space you can get with them.

I'm nearly complete with my DiveMaster cert and I think it would be beneficial for me to at least go on a liveaboard (even though they are usually over 100') to spend an overnight on open water. I haven't spent on a boat since I was a kid, and even then it was in the marina.

I will look into the classifieds of people looking for crew, I have already inquired with a few schools that teach the ASA certs by doing a week offshore.

[SomeGuyInaShirt]

Originally Posted by asujosh1

Thank you for that perspective. I agree that I have no real idea of what it will be like, I too just have those visions from YouTube videos, articles, and such. I currently think I would like a cat because I don't know that I'll like being heeled over or not, and I like the big open space you can get with them.

I'm nearly complete with my DiveMaster cert and I think it would be beneficial for me to at least go on a liveaboard (even though they are usually over 100') to spend an overnight on open water. I haven't spent on a boat since I was a kid, and even then it was in the marina.

I will look into the classifieds of people looking for crew, I have already inquired with a few schools that teach the ASA certs by doing a week offshore.

That sounds like a good plan (the course).

I'd have responded sooner but I was windbound in a remote anchorage fir several days. More joys of cruising.

[Adelie]

Welcome to CruisersForum!

I would suggest updating your profile with your boat make & model or “Looking” in the "Boat" category. This info shows up under your UserName in every post in the web view. Many questions are boat and/or location dependent and having these tidbits under your UserName saves answering those questions repeatedly. If you need help setting up your profile then click on this link: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3308797

I would happily help more if the link above is not enough.