What would you do?

[jcwhite]

I've heard lots of people on here (especially the cruisers) exhorting people considering a boat purchase to "just do it". They speak of how easy it is to spend your life getting ready for fear of actually setting out. I've also heard many people say that only way to really be ready for life with/on a boat is to work hard, pay off your debts, and earn your way to an early retirement. Those seem entirely contradictory, and of course I've also heard everything in between.

So here's the game: If you could do it over, from the beginning, what would you do?

Your starting is age 22, halfway through a degree, with about 6k of your own money and the option of a 20k, low-interest loan. Would you buy a cheap boat, cut out and cruise thrifty? Would you finish the degree, go to law school (you've got the grades, but that's a lot of tuition debt), and work for 20 years before buying a really fancy boat? Would you build your own boat over five years, making it perfect? Would you buy a dinghy and live a normal life on land while playing in the bay, and call that good enough? Would you raise a family and charter somewhere warm once a year? Would you curse the sea forever and go raise cattle? Would you [insert other idea here]?

I don't care about what I should do, and I don't really even care what you actually did (although I hope it was fulfilling for you). I want to know what you would do, if you could do it again. Feel free to debate, feel free to criticize (within the moderator's discretion, of course ).

[JoeDiver]

Take the $6k and buy every bit of Microsoft I could. (I was 22 in 1986)

[centaursailor]

I,ve come to sailing late in life and often think how much better it would be if I had been out there in my teens in the 60,s, but then I,d be afraid I could miss out on all the great experiences that came my way anyway.
Safe time traveling.

[tommays]

Well

There is always the middle ground of a balanced life of work and play

But if your really 22 and doing collage that is not gonna happen as my 26 year old ADA lawyer son sure does not have the money and nor does my 23 year old be and MSW in 4 weeks daughter

They both have a good time sailing OPBs

I on the other hand did the free trade school and owned the first new J24 back in 1982 and tried to live that balanced life of wok and play



A trade pays well and I paid for both there 4 year degrees and they both wanted more so they took on the loans to get the advanced degrees and the payments are substantial


The new boat thing is BULL SH&& having owned a few new boats the Cal 29 is a fancy as i need and i know plenty of people who feel the same way

[Don0190]

In the terms given I probably wouldn't do anyway different. I think it's been my working life that has setup me up with the goal of cruising.

But there's lots of small redos in life that I would like.

[Minnewaska]

The secret to life is........ there is no secret.

No right and wrong. You have to cut your own path. Kids early, play later. Play young then settle down. They are all right.

You sit down, stare at the horizon, think about all of your opportunities and pick the combination that works for you.

My only objection is to those that refuse to pick and let life happen to them.

[lapworth]

22 ? I would like to start at 18 I already had a wife and mortgage by 22.

[treilley]

No changes. I like where I am now and would not f**k with anything to change the outcome. No regrets.

Great wife, great boat, great dog, awesome life. We did the long term strategy. I have been sailing all my life but did not decide to live aboard until last year. We have worked hard to acquire the assets we have and will use them to retire early. Will it last? Probably not but we sure are gonna have fun while it does. We will probably have to start working again but the jobs will be low responsibility, low stress positions. We will have plenty in our retirement accounts to allow us to re-retire at some point.

[canadianseamonkey]

I would do it at an earlier age. I started sailing in my mid '30s. Looking back at the money I made, the taxes I paid, the stress involved in the corporate world, the mortgage, the cars, investments and for what???? I believe the education one learns while sailing is far greater than the one sitting in a classroom. However, I don't have any regrets on how my life is going, just wish I would have discovered sailing at an earlier age.

[Faster]

Buy now but don't necessarily go the cheapest route if you don't have to. Find a middle ground for yourself on that score. This is a pure buyers' market nowadays.. you can get a lot for a little, relatively speaking, esp for a coastal cruising situation in BC.

Building is tough because until you've owned a few boats it's hard to know what would be 'perfect' for you, and it's not an inexpensive way to get started (you will pay full retail for ALL the parts, machinery, and extra goodies you get on a complete, used boat) There's also the time factor, the possibility of frustration and delays, costs of construction space etc etc.

If you're set up and comfortable with a boat then as your life develops, those that come to join you, and any family that might ensue will be absorbed into it, much better than trying to get a 13 year old child interested later on in life. If they grow up with it then it's natural.

We started late-ish (I was 28 with a new son) and now nearly 30 years on we've had a good run, been through 5 boats (up to 40 feet and on the way down) The first boat lasted less than a year... we started too 'cheap'.....