Are you ready to live the cruising life?

[nathanlee]

I hope one day to be in that position, free for myself with nary a care in the world!

I'm setting myself a goal to be a L/A by the time I'm 25 (I'm 23 now).

It's getting to a point where I'm even looking at Yacht that are far far cheaper than the ones I'd ideally like to L/A on, yachts I know that I'd do up and sell to get something that I'd keep...

I've been looking at some right messes thinking' yeah that's do-able'... 'I can hack living on that'...

I was 25 when I bought Kudu. You can do it. You can live in a tiny space, but I'd recommend getting something a bit bigger. Also, not a wreck either. I've lived on a 22footer as I was rebuilding it. Grim.

However, I say this after years of suffering, so I'm jaded. It was great at first, so if buying a mess it what it takes for you to make the jump, get going

 

[tomski]

So decision was made, we submitted an offer and it was accepted for the dutch built yacht, will scavenge anything we can from the roberts and sell the rest as is, we will use the mast and boom from the roberts plus a few bits of kit and we've made solidified on a date of end of July to set off through the french canals to the med (and then onto caribbean end of year)

 

[Nostrodamus]

Well done Tomski, now that is being positive.
You may be pushing it to get through the canal systems in time for the Caribbean but why rush when you are out there. There are so may wonderful places to see and people to meet. In your mind you are already going but after that enjoy it. If you rush you are missing some of the best parts. In rushing thee is no destination, only the journey which should be enjoyed one day at a time. If a place is good then stay a while. You will know when it is time to move on.

 

[dslittle]

That works for us too - we both do everything.

Except clean the heads. I do that.

We even share cleaning the heads (but I do the dismantling and rebuilding when necessary - i.e. the nasty bits!!!)

 

[tomski]

You may be pushing it to get through the canal systems in time for the Caribbean but why rush when you are out there. There are so may wonderful places to see and people to meet. In your mind you are already going but after that enjoy it.

So we are giving ourselves roughly 4 months for the French canals (Jul-Oct)and a month to get from south of France to Canary islands (not keen on exploring south coast of Spain etc)....then we are giving ourselves a year in the Caribbean (well 6 months till the cyclone season then 6 months along the northern South AM coast)...and then plan to head over to SE Asia...


So hopefully that will be ok...I absolutely dont want to rush once get over the 'big drink' but we do want to limit the time spent in Europe mainly due to costs...

 

[baggypipes]

cruising life

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.

Quite agree. We are in our 9th year, as above although jobs are shared we still we like to do some things like the chart work seperate the check it together after, works well for us & keeps us both on our toes. it is important to recognise either one has different skills & abilities. We have met many people on our travels who appear not to have had a strong relationship to start with, then wonder why living in a small area didn't work. This life, we all only get one shot at it is there to be enjoyed & we have, as a couple we remain very close & enjoy every minute. Many people have commentated they only ever hear laughter from our boat/home.
Planning took a while before we actually moved onboard however you can't plan for everything. Learning as you go along is part of the adventure. Se our book part one of the first part of our 9 year life, more will follow.
We wish good luck to all those who dream, just go for it if you dally you may never do it.

 

[Bobobolinsky]

So decision was made, we submitted an offer and it was accepted for the dutch built yacht, will scavenge anything we can from the roberts and sell the rest as is, we will use the mast and boom from the roberts plus a few bits of kit and we've made solidified on a date of end of July to set off through the french canals to the med (and then onto caribbean end of year)

So we can expect the RB as a project on Ebay any time now

 

[tomski]

Probably unless it is sold locally as there is someone interested...

 

[baggypipes]

are you ready to live the cruising life

hi this is mrs baggypipes here,
from a girlies point of view, my only regret is we didn't do it sooner. the pace and quality of life we have now cannot be compared to what we had, this is marvelous, we are both fitter and healthier. of course we have to be careful of the pennies, but i wouldn't swap what i have now for anything. only thing i really miss is a bath! but some marinas are now installing them.
my advice to anyone contemplating a life afloat is to just do it; better to try and fail, than to always wonder what may have been.

 

[wazza]

I so want to do it, leave it all behind... but, Yep there's always a but, the wife doesn't want to..
Hmm a dilemma..

I'd like to add that there are a few other details that make it a little difficult to make the leap now.

 

[Nostrodamus]

I so want to do it, leave it all behind... but, Yep there's always a but, the wife doesn't want to..
Hmm a dilemma..

A friends wife said that he was spending too much time and money on the boat. He said something had to be done and it was a real pity. He would miss the wife and kids.

 

[wazza]

A friends wife said that he was spending too much time and money on the boat. He said something had to be done and it was a real pity. He would miss the wife and kids.

Don't get me wrong the wife enjoys the boat, I'd even go as far as to say she loves it, but she just doesn't want to get out the rat race...
Like I said there are a few other parameters to consider..
Still I can read about you lot on here and of course watch on youtube a few clips of people living the dream..that'll keep me sane

 

[Nostrodamus]

We had been planning our escape for a long time and really looking forward to it.
About six months in my wife really got the wobbles for a while and we were a day or two from turning back and packing it all in. She flew back home for a couple of weeks and in that time realised just what a wonderful life we had on the boat and how much she missed it. Since then she has never looked back.
She just needed to make that transition which was harder for her than she thought. We decided to make it an extended holiday and I said we could go back anytime she wanted. Now there is no way she would go back to a house. If she does the option is there.
Some of the problems we had are covered in or blog.

http://www.cygnus3.com/

 

[jordanbasset]

We had been planning our escape for a long time and really looking forward to it.
About six months in my wife really got the wobbles for a while and we were a day or two from turning back and packing it all in. She flew back home for a couple of weeks and in that time realised just what a wonderful life we had on the boat and how much she missed it. Since then she has never looked back.
She just needed to make that transition which was harder for her than she thought. We decided to make it an extended holiday and I said we could go back anytime she wanted. Now there is no way she would go back to a house. If she does the option is there.
Some of the problems we had are covered in or blog.

http://www.cygnus3.com/

Very honest, our low point was Santander, partly to do with the constant rain, partly to do with the location of the marina. We decided to carry on and never regretted it. Have spent time at home this winter due to elderly parents not being well and wanting to spend time with them. But can't wait to get back now.

 

[Nostrodamus]

Very honest, our low point was Santander, partly to do with the constant rain, partly to do with the location of the marina. We decided to carry on and never regretted it. Have spent time at home this winter due to elderly parents not being well and wanting to spend time with them. But can't wait to get back now.

Well being in La Rochelle our next stop will be the Northern Spain coast and having read the above it will not be Santander. Probably Bilbao but we will see how the wind is blowing when we go.

This is an idyllic life but it does take a little time to settle into. I am sure that at one point or another most cruisers will face low points but they are soon forgotten and the good points outweigh them 100 to 1.

 

[Conachair]

Just started Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance again and this line seemed to apply to cruising maybe even more than to land based "normal life"

"..... It was a puzzilng thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say "Go away! I'm too busy looking for the truth!". And so it goes away. Puzzling....."

A couple of the many lessons I gained from cruising were that you can't predict the future and that hardly anything turns out to be as you imagined it to be. If you can relax a bit and wait til you get somewhere before forming a judgement it can be much less frustrating.

A more exciting way to live but not an easy thing to do. [

 

[gavin_lacey]

Just a quick word of challenge to the rather didactic views about it being essential to share everything and be equally competent to do everything aboard. It is essential that a couple can get on with each other 24/7 long term. Many working people have never experienced this apart from short holidays. However many couples live very happily having different roles and areas of expertise from each other on shore, so it can be on a boat. It is obviously desirable for both to be able to move the boat after a fashion in the event of illness or accident to the other. Apart from that it is whatever division of labour and expertise works for each couple. If it was a requirement for couples to be equally able in all departments then a large number of cruising couples (the majority?) would have never set off.