Are you ready to live the cruising life?

[ukmctc]

We are in our 4th year now, I just bought a boat and we moved on board then adjusted our lives accordingly. Never looked back its been great, we have almost completed our circumnavigation of the UK and I've been published (on Kindle), and selling well.
We still think of ourselves as very, very novice sailors (which we are).

Anyone can do it, we are proof of that, its fun, interesting and no experience nessessary for a great life.
Our thing is to sail six months and stop when the money runs out (where ever we are), get a job and save to leave again in spring. It has worked out brilliantly so far and we hope to enjoy another few years doing the same thing sailing around the US and NZ.

If you're going to do it, pick a date and go otherwise you'll still be thinking about doing it same time next year.

I also think that circumnavigating the UK is the best way to start, before heading off for the med, europe or other big destination. I've heard of too many folk getting to the med or Azores and having to leave and sell the boat as things didn't work out as others said.

Good luck to anyone setting out on their adventure......the journey begins....

 

[rickym]

Good luck to anyone setting out on their adventure......the journey begins....

Oh yes!

 

[Nostrodamus]

Thank you for your replies and I know we and other live aboards know the excitement and concerns you are feeling as you prepare to leave.
We all wish you well and soon you will be enjoying a wonderful way of life.
As long as you remember the golden rule...
Always but always have a cold beer in the fridge.. just in case we meet along the way.

O’er the glad waters of the dark blue sea,
Our thoughts as boundless, and our souls as free,
Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our empire, and behold our home!
-- lord Byron, from The Corsair

 

[OldBawley]

Do have a look at the other end of the cruising life. Liveaboard for 25 years, cruising the Med twelve years. We are the last of our batch.
Just last month the last cruising couple of the 25 liveaboard yachts wintering on anchor in a Turkish natural harbour put there boat for sale. Lost case. No way they can sell that old yacht. Those 25 yachts was 12 years ago, now there are none.
Bureaucracy, age, and financial problems made all that we know stop cruising. Three yachts remain, one since 10 years in a marina ( and for sale ) one moored 35 in the same bay, one for sale on the hard. The remainings of the hippy cruising generation vegetates in Shady pines now.
Many earned some cash by “ chartering”. That market is gone now, way to dangerous. End of an era. Two that I know of are still trying, they ware the only successful anyway. Left for Greece long ago.
Bureaucratic nonsense made us leave Turkey, wintering now is a lot colder, that was the final drop for the last cruising couple. They had no good heating, tried to get warm with a catalytic gas heater.
We remain, have a small old boat, apart for food, drinks and an occasional visit to the doctor no costs, so better of in the Med. I would go crazy sitting by the window looking trough those pot plants. Swimbo keeps an apartment in Bonn, is more realistic than I am.
Last big costs ware a set of new sails, the old ones been 35 years old.
Every two year a new top of the art laptop and camera, two hundred litres diesel a year, some medicine, guess we can go on for another five years.

 

[Robih]

guess we can go on for another five years.

Thanks for that alternative view, which is just as valid as the favourable responses. We are planning an exit in due course and are now coming to the view that there really must be a way back to a UK based life at the other end. We've some friends who have been cruising for the past decade but who have now come to a rather unsatisfactory stop. It seems to me to be a trade off between a fabulous decade now at the cost of (potentially) an unsatisfactory decade at the end vs another decade of work but then being too old to have the "fabulous" decade and having to settle for a "comfortable" decade instead. Decisions, decisions.......

 

[vyv_cox]

Any couples thinking about it could do a lot worse than download and read the Kindle book on the thread currently two away from this one. It's probably the most realistic view of the life that I have read. I'm around a third of the way through it. Although some of the Americanisms grate a little, the problems of cruising and living together on a relatively small boat are portrayed in an honest and realistic manner. Highly recommended.

 

[BobnLesley]

...keeps an apartment in Bonn...

A sound bit of advice, we too kept a small house - rented out so no costs involved, it even generates a few quid - and whilst we've no plans to ever live in it, I would recommend anyone who can juggle the finances to allow it, to do the same. We've met far too many livaboards who we percieved (nobody would admit something like that) were bored/tired of the cruising life, but after 5/10/15/20 years afloat, could no longer afford the accomodation costs of going back ashore.

Having said that: If your choices are: Going now and perhaps trusting to luck at sometime in the future, or waiting another 5/10/15 years whilst you earn enough to buy said house, then Go Now! We were in our early 40s when we cast off and have lost count of the number of Cruisers who've told us 'how lucky we were' and how they 'wished we'd gone 5/10/20 years earlier'.

You don't need a big boat (they cost too much to buy/moor/maintain) you don't need a flash boat (it'll just get scruffy eventually, or you'll spend too many hours polishing and worrying that'd be better used enjoying yourself) you don't need lots of equipment (the bells and whistles will cost a lot and then break/wear out and cost even more - We once met a yacht that had been sat in a marina for two weeks waiting for parts to repair their dishwasher! WTF? The marina fees were probably more than the cost of a new one, better still deep-six it and get a bowl, marigolds and some fairy liquid!).

To paraphrase/misquote Lance Armstrong: 'It's not about the boat!' Just about any sound vessel is capable of serious cruising - it's almost invariably the crew that breaks first - only the degree of comfort varies, so just go for it, as soon as possible.

Oh and take heed of Nostrodamus; cold beer does not come under the heading 'bells & whistles' it is a necessity.

Bob.

PS: Lesley says unmelted chocolate's a necessity too

 

[OldBawley]

Just to make things clear, I would go cruising again, no doubt about that.
Some thoughts.
The year before leaving, we attended a meeting organised by “zeilen “ the leading sailing magazine in Holland. They call those meetings “ leavers “ and are very informative. There are always a few “ Real life cruisers” who can give advice. All participants have to make a small speech about there plans and yacht. There was a lot of giggling when I made my talk. A 54 year old wooden boat, the smallest of the lot, no instruments except for a depth sounder,......Tsssss. And only to see the Med, ooooh. My neighbours biggest problem was that the washing machine he had bought did not fit exactly in the yacht. Some other guy had a time schedule, he wanted to be on 12 -5 – 2000 in the harbour before the Panama canal, a couple of days later on te other side, and … Grow up, cruising on a time schedule is suicide. I bet he did not even leave, co´s his schedule was not kept.
Half of the evening was spend talking about anchors, but some very good ideas come up also.
( underwater lights did not exist in those days )
We made it, still living the dream. What I mean is, you do not need a fancy yacht to go cruising, you do not need instruments ( except a depth sounder and a Gps mouse ) you do not need a washing machine. Guts and energy, that is what it takes. You do not need a chart table, for Gods sake, put the chart on the “ Normal “ table. If you want to play “office”, then do that on land. You do not even need to be an experienced sailor. The only way to learn cruising is to go and do it. No school or sailing academy can teach you. If you have the will to go on, you will learn.
What you do need is some financial reserve. That is if you want to sail stress free. Have met some people working from their yacht, and except for a few real tramps, they had a hard time. It takes two to three years to start feeling the cruising freedom, to get rid of the rat race shivers. Make sure that you do not get the feeling of been over the top of the hill. Even living modest, the thought of having something to fall back on makes you feel rich.
Our plan was to go for two years. We are 12 years cruising the Med now and still not half way the finances. There was a guy swimming around the boat, admiring. We had a chat. He was a passenger on one of those cruise ships moored 600 meters from where I anchored in Rhodes. The price for that family cruise was more than what I spend in a year. A lot more. And we eat and drink better.

 

[jonic]

Just to make things clear, I would go cruising again, no doubt about that.
Some thoughts.
The year before leaving, we attended a meeting organised by “zeilen “ the leading sailing magazine in Holland. They call those meetings “ leavers “ and are very informative. There are always a few “ Real life cruisers” who can give advice. All participants have to make a small speech about there plans and yacht. There was a lot of giggling when I made my talk. A 54 year old wooden boat, the smallest of the lot, no instruments except for a depth sounder,......Tsssss. And only to see the Med, ooooh. My neighbours biggest problem was that the washing machine he had bought did not fit exactly in the yacht. Some other guy had a time schedule, he wanted to be on 12 -5 – 2000 in the harbour before the Panama canal, a couple of days later on te other side, and … Grow up, cruising on a time schedule is suicide. I bet he did not even leave, co´s his schedule was not kept.
Half of the evening was spend talking about anchors, but some very good ideas come up also.
( underwater lights did not exist in those days )
We made it, still living the dream. What I mean is, you do not need a fancy yacht to go cruising, you do not need instruments ( except a depth sounder and a Gps mouse ) you do not need a washing machine. Guts and energy, that is what it takes. You do not need a chart table, for Gods sake, put the chart on the “ Normal “ table. If you want to play “office”, then do that on land. You do not even need to be an experienced sailor. The only way to learn cruising is to go and do it. No school or sailing academy can teach you. If you have the will to go on, you will learn.
What you do need is some financial reserve. That is if you want to sail stress free. Have met some people working from their yacht, and except for a few real tramps, they had a hard time. It takes two to three years to start feeling the cruising freedom, to get rid of the rat race shivers. Make sure that you do not get the feeling of been over the top of the hill. Even living modest, the thought of having something to fall back on makes you feel rich.
Our plan was to go for two years. We are 12 years cruising the Med now and still not half way the finances. There was a guy swimming around the boat, admiring. We had a chat. He was a passenger on one of those cruise ships moored 600 meters from where I anchored in Rhodes. The price for that family cruise was more than what I spend in a year. A lot more. And we eat end drink better.

Brilliant post.

...he knows.

 

[tonybannister]

Some good comments here. (OldBawley have we met Gocek you on yellow boat us on Red).

I was told before we set out there comes a point where a longing for home sets in and this comes after about 5 years. Nothing to do with giving up sailing - perish the thought. Now in our case we left Scotland 13 years ago for Spain and France and sailed back to Aberdeen after 5 years away. After a short stay in UK we came back to Greeece and Turkey and now have a longing for English beer and Scottish lochs. Maybe we will sail back to UK and if it is a mistake sail back here again. A lot of miles under the keel but what is wrong with that.

We have kept our home in UK and do have a reserve in the bank. The price for this - we live on a 30 foot boat. Initially we looked for larger boats but never actually made the change. We now think that this is the best decision we ever made (or did'nt make) and having had the boat for 22 years will never change now.

Giving up is not always voluntary. It is a sober thought but if anything happened to me Jan could get on the next plane home sell the boat cheap. If our only asset was a very expensive boat she would be in a totally different position.

Oh and Old Bawley we do have an electric washing machine on board our 30 footer. We bought it in Greece and it is small and does not get in the way. However does it earn its space - not really and we may part with it.

 

[DoubleEnder]

Kindle book

Any couples thinking about it could do a lot worse than download and read the Kindle book on the thread currently two away from this one. It's probably the most realistic view of the life that I have read. I'm around a third of the way through it. Although some of the Americanisms grate a little, the problems of cruising and living together on a relatively small boat are portrayed in an honest and realistic manner. Highly recommended.

Could you pleae provide a link, or the title?

Thank you
Graham

 

[OldBawley]

To Tonybannister, I know the yellow wooden boat in the Fethiye-Göcek area. Belonged to a guy living in Fethiye, later sold to be a Liveaboard yacht. I have to review, that yacht is even smaller than ours. To be clear, our old boat is 26 feet waterline, but been a Bawley fishing boat type is 10,5 foot beam, so it is very roomy. Could well be you know the boat. Blue hull, yawl, mahogany everything else. Big bowsprit and bumpkin. Visited Göcek every week ( out of season ) to have wifi.
Washing laundry. A big post on the monthly bill as we discovered on the French canals. And time consuming. I sometimes sat half a day in that bloody laundrette. You can not leave and take a walk, oh no, otherwise by by clothes. And the dryer ( The one working ) is always occupied. So I bought one of those tumble things. Even made an electric 12 v motor on it. Made of an wiper motor. Sailed to Rhodes to get one, it hardly ever rains in Rhodes and the streets ware full of car wrecks. So I found a perfectly new old wiper motor. Turned out, it is not the tumble that makes a good result washing, it is the soap and pressure. And most of all, the rinsing.
Washing is my job, if I have the wife living with me on that small boat I have to do some concessions. Turkish man despised me for doing a women’s job.
Most work is getting the water. I need 40 litres of water for one “Washine”. Ten for washing and tree times ten for rinsing. That means rigging the dingy and sailing to the well. That is half a day.
I do not use the electric motor any more, I just give the washine a spin when I pass. Next day I have to rinse and dry. There is a thread about drying, funny to read. What I do, I hoist the dingy sail and sail to the well and hang my laundry there. No one will steal it here, nobody around for 10 miles.
There is a wild donkey and some Ottoman squirrels, that´s all. So next day at noon, I have to go get the now dry laundry. Indeed, dingy sailing.
Now and then, some “ Boil wash” is necessary, the pic tells all. Even more fun sailing.
BTW, in Göcek are a lot of laundrettes. The owners of those became extremely rich in the last ten years. Guess why?

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p543/OldBawley/Maart2005_0004-Kopie.jpg

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p543/OldBawley/Foto055-Kopie.jpg

 

[rickym]

After a phone call this morning 6 weeks and counting!!

 

[idpnd]

Boaty came with a caravan style washing machine when I got it, its saved me a lot of money, launderettes are super expensive

 

[Nostrodamus]

Thank you for all your replies that I have enjoyed reading.
We wish all those that begin the cruising life this year some wonderful sailing and times ashore.
If anyone has any doubts or questions, however stupid you think they are (and they probably are the same things we all though about before going) just ask.
Have a wonderful life.

 

[ukmctc]

I have to say, for couples it is a must that you and your partner have to fit emotionally and physically together. If you don't share everything 50/50 and I mean everything it won't work.
My wife and I are equal partners, there is nothing on the boat that we as individuals can't do, however there are things we prefer each other to do and that works for us.
I going to add a section or chapter in my book which tells all about the actual practicalities of life aboard.

 

[vyv_cox]

Could you pleae provide a link, or the title?

Thank you
Graham

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=304199

 

[tomski]

Well it seems we've struck a problem..which I'm almost getting used to as each year there seems something that wants to keep us back...this time it seems that we chewed more than we can handle...the project will take longer that we though to get sorted..and we really wanted to leave this summer...

So I have been very heavily chewing over the options...scrap the Roberts (well use and sell what I can and scrap the bare hull) and buy a smaller yacht or fix the Roberts which would mean wait another year...

To add to the pickle before I bought the BR project I have had my eye on a 31 foot dutch built steel yacht (Van der Vlis/Stadt design) about six months ago but went for the Roberts instead....I since found out that its still for sale...it had a problem with the mast as it was old and wooden but as it happens I could use the one from the Roberts (I already measured and checked etc)....the rest of the yacht is pretty much ready to go has all the offshore kit needed etc..

So go smaller and go now or wait yet another year...I think I will have to break the Roberts up as otherwise we'll never get out..

 

[Nostrodamus]

The biggest step is the first one.. after that it becomes easier.
You can always find an excuse not to go and of those who have gone they will all tell you that they all had other things they needed to do and never finished everything.
Once that first step is made then life becomes far easier and what rewards!

 

[Hamma]

My wife and I are equal partners, there is nothing on the boat that we as individuals can't do, however there are things we prefer each other to do and that works for us.

That works for us too - we both do everything.

Except clean the heads. I do that.