Hello from Tom and Maje

[Tom and Maje]

I'm not great at introductions but here goes: We have been planing for a long time to retire to a sailing vessel. We went to the boat show">Annapolis Boat Show last weekend and decided on a Leopard 46 cat. We plan to put the house on the market in January and as soon as it is sold buy the boat.

Right now we are researching everything from microwaves and coffee makers to email access. I can work remotely and will need email access.

Maje

[RickD]

Welcome.

Good luck


Wife and I are doing the same thing, only a little longer time frame, plus learning to sail

[Tom and Maje]

We both have to re-lean sailing. We've just about decided on the Off Shore sailing school.

Maje

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Tom and Maje,
Welcome aboard! Good luck in following your dream. Has the real estate market hurt for selling your home?
Kind regards,
JohnL

[imagine2frolic]

With today's housing market. It might take awhile. Maybe buy a cheap daysailor, and sail her hard, and often. You can get something under $5k that would give you a chance to really use the boat. Practice makes perfect, so the more time on any boat will make you much happier sailors when you get out on the oceans.......BEST WISHES in finding a boat to serve you well........i2f

[Tom and Maje]

We spoke with our real estate agent and will wait until January to put the house on the market.

Day sailing is out as we will be in Germany for most of the Winter. I actually work there. Tom works in VA but is in Germany most of the year on business.

Maje

[CPIII]

We are three years away from a purchase, but also zeroed in on the Leopard 46 at the Annapolis show. We have chartered the same model in Canaoun in Jan and look forward to sailing it.
We took the Offshore course last summer in Tortola and it was excellent. Louise was great instructor and we highly recommend both her and the course. Good luck w/ the house sale and catamaran purchase

[Pblais]

I would vote for a coffee press. They make great tasting coffee and are very low tech. They consume no power or materials other than coffee and water. You don't want everything on the boat to require high maintenance. Don't forget who gets to clean up the mess.

I'm sure while selling your house you can find a lot of things here to get you thinking. It's a lot more complicated than you think and it takes a while to realize the depth of the complexity. Take your time and get there as you can. Being in a hurry is just one of those really bad habits you need to leave behind. On a boat it can be deadly to be in a hurry or on a strict schedule. Start now!

[swagman]

Welcome Guys,
Great to hear of the plans and I'm sure you'll enjoy the varied tasks involved in finding and sorting out your chosen yacht.
Look forward to hearing when you hit the water - you'll gets lots of solid advice from this site - good luck.
JOHN

[rtbates]

Best wishes with your plans. Coffee and internet are nice to have, but I reccommend that you spend some time and effort reasearching storm tactics. It'd be a shame to ruin your planned boating life beacuse you got into a nasty storm early and couldn't cope. you should also try to get out on someone else's boat with experience in storm conditions and see what tactics are needed. Then do the same on your boat with an experienced hand to teach and learn how your boat behaves in storm conditions.

I'm not trying to discourage you, just suggesting that you really need to be prepared for the occassional storm at sea. They do happen and being prepared makes all the difference in how you react and ulimately the outcome.

Carry and learn to deploy sea anchor and/or drogue. Be sure your boat has strong enough attachment points. Being a cat I don't think heaving to is an option, but all the cat owners here can advise you on how your cat is best handled in a storm.

Again, I wish you nothing but the best...