[Tyger]

I came to Switzerland from New Zealand in 1991 for a 6 month German course and I'm still here...long story...
Only a bit of dingy sailing as a kid and it didn't get me hooked
Not until some time last year did I even have the desire to go sailing and now I can't get the Idea of a long slow cruise home out of my head.
First I'll test my sea compatibility hopefuly next northern sommer.
I've been looking around alot about yachts and I'm still dreaming about buying a seaworthy cruiser that I can give a bit of TLC then go home with her.
I'm single and am fairly sure that I'm not a solo sailor so atleast for passages I'd take someone with me so I want at least 2 double berths/cabins.
The longer I look around the more I like Amel ketches and in general center cockpits with some degree of shelter.
I have asembeled or maintained all sorts of maschinery over the last 20 years (planes trains and chocolate maschines) so I'm not intimidated by maintaining all systems on a boat.
My budget for the boat is only about 50'000 Euro so it will deffo require a few skills and labour to get her home.
I hope to untie the lines in 2017 and be home in 2020.

 

[mf70]

Wow! That sounds like leaping into the deep end! My first reaction is that you might look for chances to crew a few times to get a view of what sailing looks like "from the inside."

Your mechanical background will be vital, but there are a lot of other kinds of challenges that are generated at sea as well.

 

[killarney_sailor]

Good for you. Take every opportunity to get experience so you know a variety of boats. We met a very nice Swiss couple in the Caribbean who sailed on one of the lakes (Constance?). They had their early 1980s Beneteau 30 trucked to somewhere in the Med and then took for a year's cruise to the Caribbean before going back to work.

 

[Tyger]

thx for the small tips

I should have taken a little more time to introduce myself.

A few of the "culture shocks" that can occur becoming a "live aboard" are fortunately behind me.
I've been living in a tiny house, 2,4m x 6m,off the grid for three years now.
I used to pay rent, a lot of rent and had my power, water, heating, sewage etc all suplied. All that was required was to pay the bills on time. Now I treat my sewage myself, manage my power production, storage and use myself, collect and manage my rainwater. All sorts of things that took time and mistakes to learn.
Many of the relativly new tiny house movement have looked into the sailing world for practical solutions and have adapted things to meet thier specific needs.
I've resized my life to fit my habitat but kept working as I always have, 45-50h a week like the Swiss all do. The only thing I held onto was my flash german sports car, My CAD workstation and my job. The car has been in a friends garage for a few weeks now since I realised that it is of no real worth to me at the moment. "She" was once my pride and joy, now "it's" just more car than I need. Funny how values change with time.

Many of the cruiser and live aboard blogs, videos etc say similar things about not underestimating the off grid aspects of sailing, often before they start talking about ropes and rudders, decks and dingys, masts and mizzens and just after the agenda and budget topics.

I'm comfortable with off grid living, my agenda is to sail home to New Zealand from Europe eastwards at walking speed (did Europe to Singapore by foot, bike and hitching in the 90's) and my budget is 3 years of saved rent, a few tons of consumer stuff I didn't buy and a silver penis extension on wheels.

 

[killarney_sailor]

Europe to NZ westward is a much easier trip than eastward. Also going westward gives you the opportunity to visit a lot of interesting places. Going east there really isn't anything to see other than Oz.

 

[Tyger]

You're right
Walking and Biking east through Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, had to cheat (drive) through Myanmar due to visa etc then hitching through Thailand and Malasia there's less to see and meet than sailing west, and I'll keep it to myself.
Don't want to encourage too many to follow me, two or three will do