My 3-5 Year Plan toward the Cruising Life

[riversandbar]

Vega, that is sooo awesome... and I am completely jealous, as I (we) are just starting our 5 year plan.

Silly question and I can imagine its been talked about many times over, so please forgive the newbie in me. Did you find the money that you had antisapated speanding when you are cruising has truned out to be more or less in reality?

[vega1860]

Originally Posted by riversandbar

Silly question and I can imagine its been talked about many times over, so please forgive the newbie in me. Did you find the money that you had antisapated speanding when you are cruising has truned out to be more or less in reality?

Yes and no.

Ordinary expenses, groceries, routine boat maintenance, fuel etc., can be anticipated and put in the budget. It is the unexpected ones that throw you off. We had unplanned repairs to the boat, unanticipated medical expenses and longer than expected stays in expensive marinas due to weather. Still, over all, throwing out the doctor bills, the engine rebuild and five months in the boatyard in Port Townsend, our expenses over the past four years have been pretty much what we expected. About $1200 a month. We figure we could cut that down to $800 if we could curb our affinity for tying up in marinas, going to restaurants and drinking beer.

Really, since we have a fund set aside for emergencies, even those "Unexpected" expenses fall within reasonable expectations.

The key is to have a back-up plan for topping up the cruising kitty when it runs low. We talked to a lot of experienced cruisers in the run-up to our departure. The advice they gave us has proved invaluable:

Take things as they come.
Embrace the adventure.
Have a back-up plan to your back-up plan.
Be prepared to wing it when the plans fall apart.
Get a part-time job at West Marine.

Make no mistake. I am not giving advice. I am just stating what has worked for us so far.

[riversandbar]

Awesome Vega, BTW, read your logs last night... it was GREAT reading.

The part time will work good for me as I am already a Dive Master and will have my instructor certs by next year... easy for me to teach diving and work in a dive shop when I need the money... thats part of my back up plan.

Guess I better start laying it all out to make it come true!!

[bcarli]

life is short...go for it...it is easier than you think

[WanderingStar]

I'm on a different sort of "5 year plan". I've been sailing since childhood. I'm already retired and debt free. I already own the cruising boat. My wife is not yet content to retire, and worries about being bored aboard. I've told her that no later than november 2015, Wandering Star and her skipper sail away, hopefully with first mate. In the meantime, I'll break her in slowly by cruising on vacation and weekends whenever possible.

[vega1860]

Originally Posted by WanderingStar

I'm on a different sort of "5 year plan". I've been sailing since childhood. I'm already retired and debt free. I already own the cruising boat. My wife is not yet content to retire, and worries about being bored aboard. I've told her that no later than november 2015, Wandering Star and her skipper sail away, hopefully with first mate. In the meantime, I'll break her in slowly by cruising on vacation and weekends whenever possible.

Do you have servants?

Sorry, I could not help myself. I just cannot imagine how a couple could possibly be bored on a cruising boat unless they have a crew to do all the work. After all, it is not a Carnival Cruise Liner is it?

I think our videos convey our experience at sea pretty well. Boredom is definitely not a problem.

[riversandbar]

Guess, this part is also needs to be addressed for the 5 year plan... How does the liveaboard (cruisers) handle the medical insurance? Is it an expense that needs to be brought into play?

And I guess along with that, when cruising to far off ports, how is the medical issue covered?

I did a search in the fourms and didn't really address this.

[vega1860]

Originally Posted by riversandbar

Guess, this part is also needs to be addressed for the 5 year plan... How does the liveaboard (cruisers) handle the medical insurance? Is it an expense that needs to be brought into play?

And I guess along with that, when cruising to far off ports, how is the medical issue covered?

I did a search in the fourms and didn't really address this.

If you are an American you are in luck! The decision has been made for you. Under existing law, you will be required to purchase health insurance by 2014 or pay a fine. Don't you feel better now? I know I do

For the time being however, we handle it the old fashioned way. Like my parents did: When we require medical attention we see a doctor, consult, negotiate and pay in cash for services rendered. That is one of the reasons Mama always said to put money away for a "Rainy day". I have never had a cash payment refused anywhere. I do not know about insurance.

But make no mistake. I am not giving advice here. I am just telling you how we handle it. You may find that paying a monthly premium to an insurance company, who by the way knows that it will make a profit by this arrangement, works better for you. And I have nothing at all against profits. Heavens no! How do you think I retired at 57? Not on deficits, I assure you.

[Sequitur]

My first plans to sail off over the edge of the earth began during my eighteen years of service in the Canadain Navy. I resigned my commission in 1981 and bought a 48-foot ketch. The plans were delayed when I met a woman and then spent the next 25 years with her; we never did sail offshore. In 2006 I told her I still wanted to circumnavigate, that we would buy a new boat and go. She didn't want to, si de decided to do a friendly no-lawyers divorce. I ordered a new boat and life began unfolding in absolutely magnificent ways.

My new mate and I are now in central Chlle on our way to spend a year in the Patagonian channels and then turn left.

[tomperanteau]

Originally Posted by Sequitur

My first plans to sail off over the edge of the earth began during my eighteen years of service in the Canadain Navy. I resigned my commission in 1981 and bought a 48-foot ketch. The plans were delayed when I met a woman and then spent the next 25 years with her; we never did sail offshore. In 2006 I told her I still wanted to circumnavigate, that we would buy a new boat and go. She didn't want to, si de decided to do a friendly no-lawyers divorce. I ordered a new boat and life began unfolding in absolutely magnificent ways.

My new mate and I are now in central Chlle on our way to spend a year in the Patagonian channels and then turn left.

LOL! Sell the wife and not the boat. I love that! I am fortunate enough to have a wife that loves to sail and REALLY loves to fish.

Vega: $1200 a month sounds a bit high, but then you mentioned that you two enjoy the occasional marina restaurant and beer, so I guess that can pile some on. Although I have not sat down with my spreadsheet in a while, I think I calculated somewhere around $500 a month that includes anchorages and not marinas, food, a bit of diesel, and catching fish to supplement.

We just won't get sick.