Gone are the days where you can retire on an index linked final salary with cash bonus with early retirement like all those Dutch people in their 2006 ish Bavaria’s.
We all arrived in the caribbean feeling we had something left in the tank. My first atlantic experience was delivering a 2007 Beneteau 40 leaving Barcelona mid February and arriving Antiqua in April. Everyone wanted to get off. even the owner. It rolled like a pig. Watch Ryan and Sophies experience because it mirrored ours. When I asked him why he bought the benny if he was planning on sailing to New Zealand his answer was it was what I could afford. it was his second round trip to the caribbean with the boat and was an in for him with the charter industry. Captain 0f 60ft gunboats an the like. Defiantly capable and experienced. So would he get an old HR or something instead. His answer was he would get the longest boat he could afford. I will second that.
… Gone are the days where you can retire on an index linked final salary with cash bonus with early retirement like all those Dutch people in their 2006 ish Bavaria’s. …
Not quite. A whole bunch of Dutch people have taken their final salary pensions with an early retirement bonus this August. By my calculation, there is another 7 years before the average pension scheme kicks in. Also, Gen-X’s get to inherit and likely have benefited from Boomer growth as well. Plenty of money around for a while yet. I think environmental and societal threats are more likely to impact cruising than running out of disposable income.
So lets forget talk of Ted Brewers comfort factor or angles of vanishing stability and I am not interested in stories of people bashing to windward in the med in strong winds and short choppy seas destroying the charter boat they have hired. Those people don't belong at a helm of a boat. The what if's and concerns most people trade wind sailing long distance are, What if the engine fails, fridge fails, autopilot fails, water maker fails etc.
Hum, it sounds like losing the plot from cramped-marina sniffy UK... but imho two hulls is the way to go super-long distance comfortably and faster and surely intrinsicly safer than with large lump of lead attached, easy to get on and off, comfy at anchor where cruisers spend 6+days per 7, space for big spares, generator-free solar and socialising, easier to handle with two motors, big fuel options. Yorkshire too, so I bought 2nd hand 60ft then refit to make it kinda better than new. Panama only charges length not width. In any event I agree with the Sensible Captain that almost any boat make can be fine.
