Message in a bottle

[yotphix]

Yep, nothing fundamentallyh wrong with his description of actual needs but...aaarghpuke! Really thinks he is some kind of ascetic hero doesn't he. Hair shirts and all that! Let's all go take the matresses off our bunks too!

[LWinters]

Yeah, most people seem to forget that the boat Sterling made his trip to Tahiti on was purchased by the movie company for signing on to do a movie. Not to mention he felt conflicted about the amount of pay he pulled down for each film and believed himself a bit of a sell out.

I'll be the first to say that unless you come from a wealthy background, even a three year trip like I am working on takes some years of preparation. Even with careful planning, the number of things that can and will go wrong will make each voyage an adventure unto itself.

I dread most the thought of having to return to the grind after making even a brief escape into the cruising life. However, not knowing that life yet, and knowing I no longer care for the one I have is driving me to leave now instead of later. Only time can tell me if this will be the best decision for me.

[RandyonR3]

Got to agree with Bob, a plan is the best way to go.. when we first started thinking about cruising, it took us a couple years to get it off the ground..
But we laid out our plans to where we wanted to be in two years and then started counting backwards to where we would be in a year and then six months and all the way down to where we wanted to be in one week.
For us it was a little different.. we were at that point in ourlives where its time to sellthe house and build our retirement home on property we owned. we sold it all and bought our dream boat.. A Beneteau First 42..
Sold the Catalina 22 we had and moved aboard.
Our first time out, was for two years, and the result was we fell in love with the lifestyle..
Enough that we came back to re-organize so we can stay out longer..
My wife is in sales and I was a certifited welder.... so now after a little schooling, I'm a ICC BUILDING INSPECTOR with prospects around the word.
We're both advanced Photographers with the ability to sell our products and my wife is a seamstress....... We have saved a good amount of money, and you'd be supprised how fast you can save when you live on your boat and both parties work.. so we're planning on sailing for a while and working for awhile. and when you have to work while your out, it seems the money goes a little further.. you dont eat out as much and you chose to anchor out instead of finding a marina.
And we're leaving again just after Christmas for Mexico, the south Pacific and the lands down under...
We're looking to stay out again for two to three years but who knows........By the way, My wife and I are both 54 years of age...
R&R on R3

[CaptKermie]

How far does cruising have to go? Can one not just move to the coast, get a job and a boat and cruise locally on long weekends and summer vacations. I cruise for weeks at a time during the summer in the Pacific Northwest but I am relegated by seasons (it is snowing here and below zero) and can only sail during late spring and summer. Still, a cruising couple can work and cruise in a more southern locale. Does cruising have to be full time? Why not have your cake and eat it too, cruise for part of the year and work the rest. I like sailing as much as the next person but I have too many land related obligations to go world cruising so the world stuff will have to take the form of various charters around the world and keep my cuurent boat for local cruising.

[longwaterline]

I agree with the last post. I know people who pilot their own small planes as a hobby, but don't live on them day and night, but enjoy the experience from time to time. The sailing magazines seem to be devoted to selling the idea that you must sell everything and drop out of society to enjoy the sailing experience.

[Zanshin]

I agree that it is not necessary to drop everything when taking up a "cruising lifestyle". I've been fortunate enough to be able to finagle a way to work for 1-2 months, then sail for 2-3 and then repeat ad nauseam. Not only will that pay the bills but it gives me enough time to plan long passages with respites inbetween and have large portions of a circumnavigation paid for. The best of both worlds.

[svbillabong]

Maybe it's just our personalities but my fiancé and I really needed to submerge ourselves in the cruising lifestyle in order to fully escape the "real world" or "the Land of Stuff" as we refer to it now. We were both workaholics and even after a month or two off I would still go back to work and pick up right where I left off.

Now I'm not suggesting everyone go out sell all their stuff and sail off into the sunset. It takes a huge commitment, not only to yourself to to your significant other. We did sell everything and now our only extra expenses are insurance (boat and health); we have to eat no matter where we are. One of the problems with part-time cruising is that you still have to maintain sufficient stuff that you can easily return to, Apartment or house, car, plus all the expenses associated with them. Then you need a slip or place to store the boat etc; for us this limits our options and flexibility. We left we I was 36 and my fiancé was 29. The biggest issue for us is returning to the land of stuff when we want to start a family. The whole word is changing so fast. We just reactivated our cell phone since we arrived in Australia (for cyclone season) and I hung up on the first three people that called because I forgot how to use the phone (yeah I know press the green button instead of the red). But that's what I mean about real submersion in the cruising life; your find out what's real and important, and forget about all other stuff.

The great thing about the states is we have two coasts with excellent testing grounds, Mexico and the Caribbean. Set a goal to try it for a year, then return to stay, if it wasn't what you expected, or to sell it all and dive in. I'd say it took me six months to really settle into the lifestyle and I'm a full cruising convert. I do know people who had a hard time, they needed work and the focus it provides. Others missed the friends and family contact; and some missed watching their grand children grow. It's such a personal thing. The South Pacific is amazing and we love it, but others find it too raw, issolated and slow for their liking.

My financial adviser (yeah it sounds nice and fluffy but we don't really have that much $$) says I should keep cruising.. I can't afford to come home. We spend about $1K a month.

Good luck to all those that are dreaming about it, it is worth every second of it.

Chris

ps. I came to this topic based on our real life message in the bottle experiment when we first crossed the equator on the way to the Marquesas.

[sailingdog]

Chris/KT-

I like your financial adviser's advice...

[southerncross31]

I keep trying to tell my wife how much cheaper it would be to cruise......is there anyone who knows a foolproof plan that would convince her?

[sailingdog]

SouthernCross-

Get the book Changing Course, by Debra Kantrell. Read it, and then give it to her...