How do you swallow the anchor?

[Wansworth]

I think it's amazing, how much pleasure there is in having the financial freedom to look quite seriously at boats for sale, even quite costly ones, before settling back contentedly and languorously in an armchair at home, knowing that what is not photographed in the broker's advert, is all the hassle, crap weather and delays, and the untold haemorrhaging of money that may (does) accompany ownership and maintenance.

Unlike the day you buy a yacht, that second great day of boat owning - the day you sell - continues to feel great for years to come.

I have to agree that what’s holding me back from again launching into boat ownership again is the day after and marina fees costs and possible major cost involved in buying secondhand………

 

[Greenheart]

We're in the same metaphorical boat, my friend.

It's much better than being in an actual boat, wishing you weren't. ?

I don't think we've heard back from the OP yet, but I detected that his enduring, affectionate attachment to his current boat, is a much greater dilemma than whether or what to do or sail after (partially or wholly) swallowing the ground tackle.

I doubt that can be solved without the enticement of a substitute source of entertainment, whether that is a long annual Cunard cruise or maybe regular weeks of taking in shows in the West End, or close attendance at high-level sporting fixtures. Or making a schedule of fifty untried restaurant-visits per year. I wonder what else the cost (and time) of yacht-ownership could be spent on?

More simply, the answer could be switching to a handsome displacement motor boat - weatherproof, seaworthy and absolutely no effort to use as a boat, or to enjoy on her berth as a cottage by the sea. Retaining the undemanding option to take off at any time, may be the key.

 

[Daydream believer]

Perhaps downsizing is an answer. I did that.
And if you get bored, you can always find a new boat to play with. But keep it smaller this time.

The OP said--- "but I am old and tired, "
So I might suggest that you have not given the solution. We had an old member who would not give up. He had an Anderson 22 ( yes he really did) & was a club instructor. In the end he would not give up & I recall him being lifted aboard his boat one day. We had to carefully watch his every move. I am sure that the Op does not want to get into that state, I certainly do not. So the decision MUST be made. Flog the boat. There is no alternative to old age. Well there is, but that option is not as good & the boat still falls under the hammer.

 

[PlanB]

I was a liveaboard in Spain for 12 years and sold due to bereavement and illness. Then Brexit and Covid came and I realised I had been lucky to sell. and move back to the UK when I did.
But I look out of my Surrey window and remember drinks on the flybridge at sunset, and looking at the water in any state, and being in touch with the weather.
I can't go back, but I have memories few people outside these fora will have. You will, too.

 

[westernman]

I was a liveaboard in Spain for 12 years and sold due to bereavement and illness. Then Brexit and Covid came and I realised I had been lucky to sell. and move back to the UK when I did.
But I look out of my Surrey window and remember drinks on the flybridge at sunset, and looking at the water in any state, and being in touch with the weather.
I can't go back, but I have memories few people outside these fora will have. You will, too.

Lucky to move back to the UK???

I count myself lucky not to have to move back to the UK.

 

[PlanB]

Do you live alone on your boat while being treated for cancer?

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Do you live alone on your boat while being treated for cancer?

To be frank about it if you can access medical treatment and facilities there isn't a lot of difference between a flat, house or a boat if you are living alone and the temperate climate of Mediterranean Spain would be more comfortable than cold damp UK but to some extent it would depend on the size of the boat.

 

[Wansworth]

To be frank about it if you can access medical treatment and facilities there isn't a lot of difference between a flat, house or a boat if you are living alone and the temperate climate of Mediterranean Spain would be more comfortable than cold damp UK but to some extent it would depend on the size of the boat.

It’s more about having family close by I should imagine

 

[Fr J Hackett]

It’s more about having family close by I should imagine

If it wasn't a problem in the previous 12 years why should it suddenly become important?

 

[Frogmogman]

An American sailor I once chatted with in the Caribbean said that when he decided to pack it in, he would return to the States, put an anchor over his shoulder, (an aluminium one I hope, for his sake) and walk inland until someone asked him what the heck it was.

 

[Wansworth]

If it wasn't a problem in the previous 12 years why should it suddenly become important?

I have no idea not knowing her situation,it was just a guess

An American sailor I once chatted with in the Caribbean said that when he decided to pack it in, he would return to the States, put an anchor over his shoulder, (an aluminium one I hope, for his sake) and walk inland until someone asked him what the heck it was.

480 meters above sea level in northern Spain I have the staysail boom surporting the pergola ?

 

[capnsensible]

An American sailor I once chatted with in the Caribbean said that when he decided to pack it in, he would return to the States, put an anchor over his shoulder, (an aluminium one I hope, for his sake) and walk inland until someone asked him what the heck it was.

Old but gold.

 

[Daydream believer]

An American sailor I once chatted with in the Caribbean said that when he decided to pack it in, he would return to the States, put an anchor over his shoulder, (an aluminium one I hope, for his sake) and walk inland until someone asked him what the heck it was.

If no one had asked him, would he have had to buy another boat & sail off into the Pacific?

 

[mjcoon]

An American sailor I once chatted with in the Caribbean said that when he decided to pack it in, he would return to the States, put an anchor over his shoulder, (an aluminium one I hope, for his sake) and walk inland until someone asked him what the heck it was.

Is that so he knew he would be safe from interminable "best anchor" discussions?

 

[cherod]

If it wasn't a problem in the previous 12 years why should it suddenly become important?

But it does

 

[Blueboatman]

My advice to the OP
List the boat with a decent broker and test the market
You may just find a thoroughly nice new owner and feel good about doing so ?
And I believe there are periods of economic cycle when it is much harder to sell a decent boat well..
so, dip yer toe in

 

[Capt Popeye]

If it wasn't a problem in the previous 12 years why should it suddenly become important?

Well ones advancing AGE along with its mobility issues , maybe even an Illness or two ? Anyways some peoples like to keep in touch with their Family n Friends , as we age it just might become more important to us , travelling to see /meet up might be more difficult to do

 

[Birdseye]

For more than 30 years I have owned the boat of my dreams, I have lusted after no other.
She is still in good condition and could set off round the world next week, as many of her class have done, yet we have never crossed the pond as I thought I would, and I can live with that. We have done our cruising between Esbjerg in the NE and Horta in the SW, with many places in between, some single handed.
But! Last year we didn't leave the Solent, and this year we have yet to leave Portsmouth Harbor. She is in need of the open sea with the breeze on her beam, but I am old and tired, I've been there and done it.
Yet I cannot sell her, not for coin like a hoar, she defines me ,she is what I am, what I do. But if she stays with me, she will deteriorate, and I cannot abide that.

So anybody out there who has swallowed the anchor, please tell me how you did it?
Plank

Cant advise. I swallowed the anchor last July after some30 years - and bought a new "anchor" this March. My reasons were the same as yours, lack of use and risk of deterioration. But lack of activity and deterioration in me made for a change if mind. So I downsized to a modernish 29 ft bilge keeler that is my "man shed" and gets me out of the house. Had it 3 months so far and only sailed it once. So what? Even if all I do is to go down to the club and have my lunch on board, its better than staying at home and getting knobbled for DIY etc.

 

[Birdseye]

Unlike the day you buy a yacht, that second great day of boat owning - the day you sell - continues to feel great for years to come.

Completely disagree.

 

[RAI]

Well thanks to the OP for posting the thread. I face the same dilemma. And thanks to all the experienced contributers.
Being a skipper / boat slave is part of my character. Sell the boat and what do I become ? - An old geyser without a boat?
I need a new addiction.