Hi all here's my plan!

[Oceannomad90]

Long time listener first time caller haha I'm a kiwi with about 8 years inshore skippers experience plus have done a handful of relocations around nz waters with myself in charge. But I'm 20 days away from investing every cent into a yacht in greece to bring back to nz over a few years and I feel like it's super daunting idea. I've watched dozens of people (youtube) with zero experience pick up sailing with 2 hands and make it work which is awesome. But I do wonder if they feel the same before they set off to explore the world or if they felt more so out of their depth than they appear on camera. Because I've got the boating experience and I feel like as the days count day I feel more like a greenhorn than ever.. very reassuring for my partner I'm sure haha. Anyway I will shake the nerves and thank you all for this wonderful forum of brilliant minds!

[chrisr]

welcome to the asylum oceannomad. wish you all the luck in the world...

only somebody really stupid would not be fearful before starting such a venture. hang on to that fear...it might keep you alive one night

what boat are you buying ?

what route from greece to endzed ?

cheers,

[JPA Cate]

All of us who've plunged off onto the briny blue didn't know what would happen. For us, it has been mostly good. You will remember the lessons of your first gale. You will be glad you practiced heaving to when you still had land based showers to return to. It will be, in retrospect ,FUN!

Ann

[Fore and Aft]

OceanNomad90 ignorance is bliss for a lot of my customers, and they often have no idea how bad it can get out at sea. I like a few nerves as it makes you more invested that everything on the yacht is in good shape and ready for what the sea can throw at you.
Being a Kiwi I think your biggest issue will be to remember to slip, slop and slap while sailing.
Cheers

[Rod Headlee]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

All of us who've plunged off onto the briny blue didn't know what would happen. For us, it has been mostly good. You will remember the lessons of your first gale. You will be glad you practiced heaving to when you still had land based showers to return to. It will be, in retrospect ,FUN!

Ann

This is so true Ann nailed it. We will never forget our first gale. We learned to study weather more than sailing. New terms like high pressure gale, frontal passage etc become very important.

Know you boat from stem to stern, study weather. Trimming the sails is the fun part, What kind of boat?

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Oceannomad90

Long time listener first time caller haha I'm a kiwi with about 8 years inshore skippers experience plus have done a handful of relocations around nz waters with myself in charge. But I'm 20 days away from investing every cent into a yacht in greece to bring back to nz over a few years and I feel like it's super daunting idea. I've watched dozens of people (youtube) with zero experience pick up sailing with 2 hands and make it work which is awesome. But I do wonder if they feel the same before they set off to explore the world or if they felt more so out of their depth than they appear on camera. Because I've got the boating experience and I feel like as the days count day I feel more like a greenhorn than ever.. very reassuring for my partner I'm sure haha. Anyway I will shake the nerves and thank you all for this wonderful forum of brilliant minds!

Hi.. re your nerves.. a short story about my first long voyage.
I sailed the S coast of the UK for a few years with occasional cross Channel trips to France on boats between 21 and 26ft.
I then part shared a 31ftr with a gf and we sailed down to the Med via Spain and Portugal passing through the Strait into the Med.
Fast forward 4yrs and things had kinda fallen apart, the boat was sold and I found myself living in a caravan in Coventry driving a forklift in a Toys 4 US warehouse and missing the life afloat. One night I went online and saw a Cheoy Lee 36 for sale in St Martin FWI for $20k.. I added up my assets and if I sold a few things (bike, car etc) I could scrape together around $25k so I went for it.
December 1999 saw me on a flight to St Martin with $25k in a money belt round my waist and a dream of adventure.
The Cheoy Lee was a heap of crap but hey.. I had a 2 week holiday in the Caribe so I flew to Antigua, nothing.. so it was back to SXM to spend the remaining 10 days enjoying the island.
Two days before I was due to fly back to the UK this little French guy sides up beside me at the Soggy Dollar and says.. "I hear you want to buy a boat".
The next day I dinghies out to look at a 1987 Bene 321.. he wanted $25k I offered $20k he accepted.
Never did catch that flight.. stayed in SXM till June 14th then single handed non stop to then UK.. the most amazing experience of my life that the many thousands of miles I have done since have failed to equal..
Its normal to feel some trepidation but after the first few days they melt away and you start to enjoy the now
I envy you.. Enjoy..

[MicHughV]

Love your story. In many ways it echoed my initial foray into the briny.

Mistakes made were many and often, but with each mistake, I learned a bit more.
Lady Luck was working overtime to bail my sorry arse outa a jam on many occasion.

Had my ears pinned by some ferocious weather too, making me wish I was elsewhere, like a 1,000 miles from the nearest shore, but I carried on regardless.

In time, it all became just another day on the water. The weather would be the weather no matter what I thought about it. I just learned to deal with it.

Money was never a driving force. In those days, if I had $10 in my pocket, I considered myself rich.

The first day turned into a week. The week turned into a month, and the month turned into years...many years.

To the OP, you can only eat the elephant one bite at a time. Take it slow and easy and you'll be just fine.

[SailFastTri]

@oceannomad90 welcome to the madness (forum). You’re getting a lot of bad advice. :-) It’s (mostly) not like YouTube.
Reality check: It’s a mistake to put everything you have into a boat and expect it to be complete. The less you spend the more fixing it will need. If it’s not already equipped for cruising you’ll need to spend additional tens of thousands to upgrade it and make everything seaworthy. Whatever defects are discovered in the survey aren’t everything, you’ll find more when you start using it.
Get some formal training about weather and routing (online is fine). The sea doesn’t care about you or your boat.

[Oceannomad90]

Thanks for all the luck in the world haha I may need it! I'm buying a 38.1 beneteau oceanis with wait for it a furling main hahaha we are going from east to west so med - Atlantic- bahamas- Panama- home

[Oceannomad90]

Thank you all for the feed back and stories of your experiences they are all valued to me! I'm very aware of what's coming up and wouldn't be doing it without the experience I already have. The boat has been set up by previous owners to a level I would of had to get it to for what we are going to do with her. Side note we will be putting it on youtube mainly for friends and family to join us without having to spend the money to actually join us so if you do want to see how we get on I will update with a link in the near future! Thank you all so much again very reassuring to hear I'm not being over cautious.

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by Oceannomad90

Thanks for all the luck in the world haha I may need it! I'm buying a 38.1 beneteau oceanis with wait for it a furling main hahaha we are going from east to west so med - Atlantic- bahamas- Panama- home

haha...i like that : panama - home. the pacific i the best part of the trip you have lined up. don't rush it. if anything, skip the caribbean (armpit of the world) and get here as fast as you can.

cheers,

[Oceannomad90]

Definitely will be spending as much time as I can in the pacific! I feel like that's my forever home. Beautiful people Beautiful beaches what more could you ask for! Where abouts are you guys currently

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by Oceannomad90

Definitely will be spending as much time as I can in the pacific! I feel like that's my forever home. Beautiful people Beautiful beaches what more could you ask for! Where abouts are you guys currently

we live in french polyneisa. today at taha'a. tomorrow moving to huahine for change of scenery.

get in touch when you get here...we'll help however we can

cheers,

[boatman61]

There are two things that may/will fail you during your trip.. one is fuel/engine, the other is rigging.
Work out possible fails and solutions for both.. a separate clean fuel source along with a jury system.
A block and tackle solution for standing rigging failure enroute and what to do in the moment to avoid losing the mast.
**** happens, even on perfect boats..
Oh I forgot.. the third is steerage..

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by boatman61

There are two things that may/will fail you during your trip.. one is fuel/engine, the other is rigging.
Work out possible fails and solutions for both.. a separate clean fuel source along with a jury system.
A block and tackle solution for standing rigging failure enroute and what to do in the moment to avoid losing the mast.
**** happens, even on perfect boats..
Oh I forgot.. the third is steerage..

boatie...if there was only three things that might go wrong with our boat i'd be a happy chappy !!

cheers,