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What is your End Game?

7K views 54 replies 41 participants last post by  SHNOOL 
#1 ·
I was having a discussion with some Sailors (they call themselves ;) ) about awesome summer trips and past vacations and future plans. During the discussion one guy told me about his plans to sell everything he owns and sail to Thailand where he hopes to find someplace to anchor out and live off spear fishing and taking tourist out.
Another guy and his girlfriend told me about their plans of selling everything and moving to Eluethera to pursue teaching on their boat.
The strangest guy ( Alvin) wants to get a steel-hulled 40' cutter and sail the northwest passage back and forth delivering supplies to remote settlements! Cool, but cold.

Me? Well it seemed I was the only one who already knew that my sailboat was an intermediary. I do not want to live on a boat my whole life. I hope that the boat will allow me to find the place that I am most happy. Then I can sell the boat, buy a parcel of land and begin my limestone/cinder block home (If I can afford better I will!) I want to end up somewhere tropical and green with vegetation. I want to raise a family and become a part of a community.
So thats my hoop dream. The others all had theirs and it got me thinking how many of you here have or are already in your end game? What is it? Anyone going to Slocum it out? Any future pirates?
One thing I thought was cool was hearing about a guy Paul who sold off his land/house and bought an old Marina. That would be pretty awesome.
 
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#3 ·
Dreams are most fun when grounded in reality. Most "sail to Thailand" dreams never happen. Some do. But most are just lost in the fantasy, which may be a helpful distraction from real life. We could all use a distraction from time to time. However, an attainable goal can be engaging as you make steps toward it.

We plan to live aboard for roughly six months each year as we retire or semi-retire. Half a year in New England near family, half a year down South. Not totally clear which end will be the liveaboard nor whether the boat will come with us for day/weekend sails on the opposing six months. I would like it to, but know many who tire eventually of bringing it back and forth each year and its extraordinarily expensive to have it delivered that far.

For now, we have the boat and still work full time. We spend Fri to Mon on her from May to Oct along with several straight weeks each year. One step at a time, but we're getting there.
 
#4 ·
I guess I'm a bit more of a realist. I've owned boats since age 15--lots and lots of boat, at least according to my wife. I stopped counting at about 16, but I'm confident she can provide me with a more accurate, up to date figure.

All my adult life I've wanted to live aboard a boat, cruise the world, etc...,etc... I spent 4 years in the U.S. Navy, saw a good portion of the world, liked some of it, didn't enjoy some it it, got shot at a few times and decided that wasn't the way to cruise the world.

Until 6 years ago I owned an assortment of powerboats, some that were previous live-a-boards, while others were just fun boats to fish from and make some short cruises to ports in the confines of Chesapeake Bay. One day, I took a good look at what I was spending on boating, primarily fuel expenses, and nearly threw up. At that point I owned a 21-foot Pro-Line center console fishing boat powered with a 150-HP Yamaha outboard. The boat cruised at 30 knots, had a top end of 42 knots, and was reasonably fuel efficient at 7 MPG. The fuel bill for boating that year alone was just over $5,000. I put the boat up for sale, it was sold within a few days, and when it went up the driveway I nearly cried.

I went two years without a boat. Then one day, while sitting atop the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in dead-stop, grid-lock traffic I looked out over the bay toward the Magothy River and there were dozens of sailboats cruising along leisurely on a 10 MPH breeze. I said to myself "Damn, that looks like fun." A few months later I took sailing lessons at the local community college, purchased an old 27 Catalina, sailed all over Chesapeake Bay for four years, then upgraded to my current boat, a Morgan 33 Out Island.

The main reasons for purchasing the Morgan were comfort, and the possibility of cruising the U.S. East Coast, Florida Keys, Bahamas and possibly BVI. Now, if my health holds up, which is something most folks never seem to think about, I'll be headed south for the keys on October 1. I hope to be gone for about 7 months before returning to the Chesapeake's upper reaches about the first of April 2013.

Most of the time I'll be alone, but the admiral and my daughter said they both may have to drive or fly south to the keys to enjoy Christmas with me, and maybe spend a month of two where it's warm before coming home to Maryland. I'll be playing music and singing in the various Tiki Bars throughout the lower keys during the trip, earning enough money to support my sailing habit.

Now, living the remainder of ones life aboard a modest size sailboat is not an option for anyone. Why not? Well, first and foremost, this getting old $hit ain't what it's cracked up to be. Yeah, some folks call it the golden years, etc..., but when you get to that point you come to the stark realization that there are just some things you can no longer physically do. Going up a mast in a bosun's chair at age 71 and weighing a tad over 200-pounds just isn't real smart. Same holds true with other rigors of clamoring around the boat, especially in the dark in pitching seas. The motion alone wears out those old, brittle joints, dampness kills arthritis, and eventually, your ability to walk on anything other that flat ground becomes an exercise in futility.

Of course, the naysayers will always claim this will never happen to me! Well, it's going to happen to all of us sooner than you believe--it's a fact of life. Therefore, I'm not going to sell everything I own, hop on the boat and sail away to never-never land. I will, however, continue to sail as long as I think I physically can do so without injuring myself or others in the process. At the point where I feel I'm just too old for this, I'll sell the boat and do something on land.

Good Luck,

Gary :cool:
 
#5 ·
I do not want to live on a boat my whole life. I hope that the boat will allow me to find the place that I am most happy.
That in itself is a beautiful thing & I think that's where most of us are.

I want to move the boat down to Florida when the reno is complete. In the winter float around the Keys, maybe head over to the Bahamas. Spend my summers at home in NH, swatting black flies & fly fishing for trout.

Bob
 
#6 ·
Like many others I'd love to pack up and sail to distant lands for romance and adventure and all the other romanticized aspects of sailing. Problem is, I'm single and my swing keeled, 26ft, water ballasted boat isn't crossing any oceans with me in it, I can tell you that much! Once I rectify those two points I think my attitude will change. As I thoroughly enjoy winter I would love to sail the great white north of this planet. Using my boat as a means to transport goods for local settlements sounds like a great idea to me. Then I can haul the boat in winter and play in the snow until spring.

In the end though... who knows?

Brad
s/v KIVALO
 
#8 ·
the Dream after the End Game?

At about the age of 9, I told my Mother I was going in the Army and become a truck driver, at 18 I was in the Army then about the age of 24 I became a truck driver, less then a year after getting married. That is my End Game.. About 14 years ago I started having a dream.

This dream was in the first person; I , yes i knew it was me, was on a boat rounding a point, no sound no other input but the vision. I had this dram for about 6 months before i told anyone until i told Liz, "Well I am on a boat rounding a point, and Liz i want to sail to the Bahamas". Liz's reply was "define sail"?
Well I told her "you know get on turn the key and just GO". to this she said "at least it's not a damn Sail Boat". I gave it no more thought.

The Dream continues and is becoming an urge and becoming more urgent, the dream is coming more often and more powerful, i am being haunted each time I go to sleep.
All along I have been thinking about looking for a motor boat that can get me and Liz to the Bahamas and back with room to spend a few week on, and I was OK with this, until...

I was driving down the interstate and there in the Windshield Played my dream, like a movie, There was the Point I had been rounding for over a year, I know this place, I am happy here, then...
From the upper edges of the dream something has changed something is coming, something I had not known was there, It's Red it's opening and it's Powerful, a Spinnaker, unfurling from the top of my vision to block out most of my view, and I smile to myself in my Dream. I say out loud " I am going to SAIL to the Bahamas".

From then a Sail Boat is all I need, will I sail to the Bahamas? who knows, I will sail as much as I can and will Sail as many waters as we are able, I my Sometimes and one day I may have a boat that will have more comfort, for now SHE is what I need.
 
#9 ·
Reading all these dreams and plans ...wow!. I've never had a plan but somehow I check off the lists of been there, done that. Cruised the Med, Atlantic, Carib, Built a Spray and sailed the PNWfor 30 years. Made a sailboat on the beach in Thailand and veged for 15 winters,Ran a research vessel in the North West Passage for 5 years. Now I operate my sailboat as a tourist sailing company and veggie garden a lot, specializing in home made wine and hooch. As an end game I'm now planing.. Sell the rental houses and boat and go back to the Thai beach before my knees give out. Maybe a trophy mate: have to think about that one.
 
#10 ·
I came across a interesting statistic, I cannot verify it. 3% of sailors go offshore.

I once heard the ratios of those who think about sailing to those who actually do go sailing to those who get a boat to those who actually sail it to those who head offshore to those those who circumnavigate. The drop out rate was tremendous.

I actually got into sailing and sailing instruction "by accident." I did, however, make teaching sailing part of my retirement plan.
 
#12 ·
I'm just past thirty here, so my end-game is (hopefully) far enough away it will involve flying cars ;)

With that in mind, whilst we love sailing & are hungry for quite a bit of adventure in the years to come, we both accept that it's not likely to be on sailboat. As people far wiser and experienced than I have already pointed out, at some point the spirit might be willing but we cannot convince the body to join in the fun. I don't like to dwell on the concept, but it is a practical matter that suggests I'll be running the end-game from a more stable platform surrounded by a less capricious environment than the ocean I love.

That said, if I can still afford it after the years of adventure, I'd like to be close enough to those capricious seas that I can look over it and remember when the game was far more exciting :)
 
#13 · (Edited)
The opening moves of my game looked like a bluder, but in retrospect it is all starting to look like a gambit....

(anyone here actually play or study chess???)

I'm in the middle game now. Got the perfect girl, got a great boat, got a job and lots of financial creativity that is allowing me to built the cruising kitty.

The plan? Produce two offspring (first is on the way), get them out of diapers and sail off to circumnavigate Australia where I spent some time growing up. The plan is to have the kitty set up so that we don't have to work for at least 5 years and I expect to leave before I'm 40. I work in health care, so I do NOT take my health and youth for granted. I plan to play when I'm young. If I have to I'll work when I'm too old to play.

What did I do for the dream today? I strengthened my relationship to my wife, as I do every day, as she is and will be the crew I trust my life to. I also went to work and earned some coin, some of which was deferred to the kitty. I also logged on to Sailnet to stoke the dream.

What will I do for the dream tomorrow? I'll log on to Sailnet again (for good measure) then cast off in a small craft advisory with a forecast of rain because I can't wait another weekend. I need to sail....

MedSailor
 
#14 ·
We are in a different situation. We are in the middle of a circumnavigation and will be leaving for the second half in about a week. We should be back in North America in July, 2013. So we would appear to be in the end game that many people would want. We have been thinking about what next. We have agreed that we are not in the many year circum nav club (met one couple who completed theirs in only 18 years); nor are we in the keep the boat in one tropical locale for many years.

We doubt we will keep our current boat - it is just too big and complex for the Great Lakes (vane steering and watermaker come to mind) and it also represents a lot of money floating there. We will have a boat but it will be much smaller and we want to travel on land too. We would like to spend time in South America, China, parts of Africa, and many parts of Canada. We have not been keen planners so far and likely will keep it that way and see what opportunities present themselves.

We visited a farm in New Zealand and my wife decided that it would be really interesting to own a hobby farm. Have to check in with me at various stages over the next many years since the end game will be changing often I suspect.
 
#15 ·
When it's getting warm, go north. When it's getting cold, go south. Repeat, until I can no longer do it. Now, if I can just get my butt in gear and get out of this comfy little cocoon I find myself in ...

Certainly the downside to stopping to work. It seems harder to get back out there, after having done it before. Especially as I'm in a good place, with good people at a good marina. And though I've been looking forward to getting back to cruising, it's harder to break away than I expected.
 
#16 ·
I'm 77, and have concluded that TIME is a rider that breaks us all. We have a Cape Dory 25 that stays on a trailer at home (Southern Delaware) in the winter, and gets trailer-ed to the venue of choice in the summer. We did the Delaware Bay / Atlantic Coast regimen, now we plan on doing some gunk holing in the Chesapeake this summer, out of Whitehaven. Plan on celebrating our 51st wedding anniversary at an upscale B&B there. Next year we'll try Maine.
In the Spring it's fly fishing, Summer-sailing, fall upland bird hunting, and winter it's wood working. (You should see the bright-work on my boat) Life is good.

Dick
 
#18 ·
When I read the thread heading I assumed that it meant what am I going to do after sailing/cruising. My time line for winters is sail-cruise in until it's physically too demanding. Then trawler-cruise until it's too demanding. The RV-cruise until it's too demanding and then move into a retirement residence in my late 90s and reflect on my cruising days.
 
#19 ·
Not an end game, but an Atlantic loop is on our bucket list anyway. We don't really aspire to circumnavigate.

Our bucket list would be a north Atlantic crossing to England, down the coast into and around the Med, Cross again to the Caribbean, then work our way back to RI. Stop plenty along the way, even fly home for holidays. Wife is a British citizen so hoping that makes some of the European Union issues easier. Not sure. Spring to the following Fall perhaps. Doable.
 
#20 ·
We are currently in the midst of our 5 year plan to sell the house, buy a cruiser, move aboard, build the cruising kitty, learn/equip the boat. As you can see by my sig, we have accomplished quite a bit.

We both are professionals and spend/invest our money wisely. Luckily, my wife is in the business and handles all of that and she has done a fantastic job. Our current plan(could change any time) is to start with the canadian maritimes, head to key west and the abacos. Formulate a plan to cross the pond and sail hte Baltic, british isles and the Adriatic. Then who knows. Our kitty should allow us to sail 3-5 years depending on how much we spend on side trips.


We are bringing the boat up to almost new spec. We are doing all the work ourselves so we will know how to repair/service when needed.
 
#21 ·
The strangest guy ( Alvin) wants to get a steel-hulled 40' cutter and sail the northwest passage back and forth delivering supplies to remote settlements! Cool, but cold.
He's viewing that as a purely charitable endeavor, I presume?

Because, as either a means of support, or a profitable venture, that has to rate as one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard... (grin)
 
#23 ·
My end game??
After criss crossing the great USA on my motorcycles over the years, I've hit the point in my life where that no longer scratches my itch, so to speak. I had only been on a sail boat once in my life, when I was 20. I helped a friend sail his sloop into the SF bay, and move it to another marina.
In the last 2 years, we had a house fire with total content and structure loss, lost parents, moved to SC (from MI), and resumed careers after relocation. PHEW!!
Earlier this year, I took ASA 101 and fell in love. I used to enjoy exploring the world at 65-75 mph. I find now that 4 kts is perfect....whoda thunk?!?
If all goes right, Sunday I close and take delivery of my new passion.
I hope I NEVER have an end game.....This is too much dam fun right now :)

06
 
#24 ·
There was a thread here recently with a video of a family taking "the old man" (who was in obvious ill health) out for a sail. The love and respect they showed him was palpable. The video got me to thinking. How would I like to finish sailing?
I guess the best game plan at this time is to teach my grandchildren how to sail and entertain them for a few summers with sailing and cruising around the Texas coast, then maybe they will be competent to take me and the rest of the family out for that last sail...
Last year my wife and I took a friend with rapidly advancing MS for a sail on Corpus Christi Bay. He grew up here and loves the city and bay. While he could only sit (huddle) in a corner of the cockpit he truly enjoyed his outing, seeing the city from the water, feeling the motion of the boat, talking about his life was more than anyone could have given him.
Which is all to say, if you want to go out with love and respect in the manner of your choosing, then you need to be building on that today.
Happy Sails,
John
 
#26 ·
Just a note, girl freinds, boy friends, wives, husbands, and kids can have a big impact on you "End Game" plan. A lot of "stuff" can happen in life before you get to the "end". So remain flexible, and have an A plan a B plan C plan....

When I get to the "end", my plan is to go down with the ship...
 
#27 ·
What others have said: Being realistic--Go south for the winter, back up north for the summer. I often consider selling the house but in actuality, I really like it here most of the time...even winter sitting at this stupid computer, contributing to these message boards. After being on the boat for a month or more, I am ready to get back. Sailing and living in the mountains are similar in that both are fairly solitary endeavors. It's not like I'm escaping from LI or somewhere obnoxious. The house is really my primary obstruction to setting out for parts unknown. Worrying about leaving it subject to what can happen to vacant houses usually limits the time span of my sailing voyages. I have equipped the boat for offshore over the last couple of years, so have no excuse any longer notto sail to Thailand:) Geeeez.
 
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