Career Break

[tyce]

in two years time i am taking a 4 month career break, the reason for the timing is i have company shares maturing and it is the last year i have with my children before they are lost into the school system, i would like longer but cannot get any longer off without leaving my employer.

so!

my wish list is to spend approx 3 months sailing 1 month ashore, i really fancy the whitsundays or pacific islands.
but when you look at all the charter boat companys non are really set up for this length of holiday.

does anyone have any expierience or ideas of where to go, how to get use of a yacht and what sort of cost i am looking at.

all ideas most welcome

 

[MarkGrubb]

Fantastic opportunity. I'm afraid my suggestion isn't very exotic. If I had 3 to 4 months off I spend it exploring the coastlines, islands and hills of South and West Ireland, West Coast of Scotland, and the Orkneys, and Shetlands.

Good luck.

 

[gianenrico]

As You have time to plan things, why not look for a program to buy a used boat in a weak market and resell after 4 months in a stronger market? Could end with more money than at the beginning.
But even if you sell at same price, you'll graetly offsetr 4 months of charter.
As per places, IMHO, first choice are French Polinesia and surrounding islands, then Greek islands and Greek and Turkish coasts, then New Zealand.
Cheers

 

[thailand69]

Why not sign up as "crew", with cruising folk - as "cash in hand" - would therefore be a lot cheaper than a charter. (bed and Board??).

Whitsundays was grrrrrrrrrrrreat /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[tyce]

not sure they would approve of my wife and 1 year oold twins

 

[snowleopard]

Just be careful. I set out to charter a boat for a year's sabbatical, found I couldn't so decided to buy and re-sell, couldn't find what I wanted at the right price so ended up building it myself. It took all my spare time for 3 years.

 

[Saguday]

Just done a "career break" this year which included 6 months with wife and kids on 37ft boat. Highly recommended. We did this on the US East Coast, starting in Chesapeake Bay. You could spend 3-4 months just on the Chesapeake it's a great place to sail and explore, but at the right time of year (Jun-Sept) this is also enough time to go up to New England and back if you wanted. Would recommend buying secondhand for this length of time - huge choice of boats in US, can be inexpensive too and a big market to sell on to. Could also look at Carolina''s or Florida and head for Caribbean. US is well set up to do this sort of long term cruising and we thoroughly enjoyed it. PM me if this is of interest and you'd like more info.

Good luck!

Neil