My retirement cruise.

[burgundyben]

My retirement cruise is 20 years away, but there's no harm in planning!

Starting in the Solent, west to Cornwall and round the corner to Milford Haven, across to Ireland along to West Cork, Baltimore and Sherkin Island to see a chum, double back up to the Isle of Man to see friends, keep going north through the Hebrides and head east to the Orkney's.

Shetland to Bergen, follow the coast to Oslo then south in the Baltic, keep heading deep into the Baltic taking in parts of Finland until arrival in St Petersburg.

Return route through the Kiel Canal, along the Channel, channel Islands, Southern Brittany, Northern Spain, round cape Trafalgar and into the Med, all the major Med Islands as far as Cyprus.

I reckon 3 years should do it.

 

[SEARANGER ANCASTER]

Wheres the "like" button ?

 

[Firefly625]

Do you want a support vessel to tag along?

.... My mitchell has done the uk previously & iom so knows some of the way..

 

[SEARANGER ANCASTER]

thinking about it , I could join you around the Mull of Kintyre and follow you the rest of the journey

 

[Robg71]

You missed a bit.
Go to Bergen and turn left to Lofoten Islands and Tromso....
Then swing back south. So many islands, that you may not see the same stretch of coastline twice...

Have you stolen my retirement plan ����

 

[MapisM]

My retirement cruise is 20 years away, but there's no harm in planning!

LOL, absolutely. Not only there's no harm in planning, but you might well think, say half way into those 20 years, that there's no harm in anticipating!
Fwiw, that's just about what myself and swmbo did, though we didn't think to arrange such a fine retirement trip...
...but we are doing our best to recover, in the meantime.

One suggestion I can think of for your great plan is to include, while cruising along the Finnish coast heading towards St.Petersburg, a deviation further North, entering the lock canal in Vyborg that brings you to the huge Saimaa lake, with its thousands of islands.
I had the opportunity to make that route last summer (thanks again Scubaman!), and it earned a place among my memories of the most magic cruises ever made!

 

[scubaman]

LOL, absolutely. Not only there's no harm in planning, but you might well think, say half way into those 20 years, that there's no harm in anticipating!
Fwiw, that's just about what myself and swmbo did, though we didn't think to arrange such a fine retirement trip...
...but we are doing our best to recover, in the meantime.

One suggestion I can think of for your great plan is to include, while cruising along the Finnish coast heading towards St.Petersburg, a deviation further North, entering the lock canal in Vyborg that brings you to the huge Saimaa lake, with its thousands of islands.
I had the opportunity to make that route last summer (thanks again Scubaman!), and it earned a place among my memories of the most magic cruises ever made!

Lol, i was going to make the same suggestion and then saw your post.

We really just scratched the surface, there is so much more to see. Please come over another time and we'll show you some of our favorite places.

And the same goes to the OP of course. Just let me know when you're coming over

 

[zapcat]

Wow, I wish my retirement fund would stretch to that much fuel!................or will you be a raggie by then? I will be lucky to have enough to fill up the car.

 

[Bajansailor]

Morning Watch (now called La Bimba)
https://www.seaindependent.com/yachts/44/tsd_my.html

would probably have been an ideal vessel for this cruise - and she has been to St Petersburg before (I remember a previous owner, John Marriner, writing a series of articles in MBY in the late 70's about his voyage to the Baltic).

But she has just been sold last week - http://www.edmiston.com/news/motor-yacht-la-bimba-sold-4081.htm

Maybe the new owner will throw 'half a bar' at her to complete the refit, and then she might be on the market again in 20 years time at an affordable price.......

 

[milltech]

Wow, I wish my retirement fund would stretch to that much fuel!................or will you be a raggie by then? I will be lucky to have enough to fill up the car.

Yes well... as a retired person I'm in that condition now, I doubt I could afford a boat in the UK, but I've decided to sell and go back to power. Lots of reasons but access to Morocco and Gibraltar for juice plus lower cost berthing than UK makes it possible.

I question slightly the idea of the big cruise at retirement, might be better to do it in stages now. My own feelings, at 70, are that I'm content to weekend and cruise to a beach. I'm not unhappy to say my deep sea days are over. It is a valid thought to ask if you'll want to do then what you want to do now.

 

[rustybarge]

Yes well... as a retired person I'm in that condition now, I doubt I could afford a boat in the UK, but I've decided to sell and go back to power. Lots of reasons but access to Morocco and Gibraltar for juice plus lower cost berthing than UK makes it possible.

I question slightly the idea of the big cruise at retirement, might be better to do it in stages now. My own feelings, at 70, are that I'm content to weekend and cruise to a beach. I'm not unhappy to say my deep sea days are over. It is a valid thought to ask if you'll want to do then what you want to do now.

That motorsailer of yours is totally gorgeous; and totally out of place among all those plastic Tupperware go faster Dellboy sports cruisers!

just out of interest what motorboat are you thinking of buying?
is there anything available with those beautiful wood interiors?
Are you thinking semi-displ or planing?

I'm in the same position on a pension, but living on a rusty old steel barge. Cold winters are starting to take their toll. I was also thinking of Gib and surrounds, but I wanted a trawler type boat that could chug around at 7kts but get up and go to run for shelter in the mid teens.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

My retirement cruise is 20 years away, but there's no harm in planning!

Thats pretty much our plan but in reverse. Do the Med first and then back to the UK, around the British Isles and into the Baltic. If we're not divorced or dead by then and the money hasn't run out, the boat will be on a ship to the Caribbean. Then again, if we see the right boat for sale in the USA, we might do the Caribbean first. For me thats hopefully 2 to 3 years away or earlier if I can find somebody competent and trustworthy to run my business

 

[milltech]

That motorsailer of yours is totally gorgeous; and totally out of place among all those plastic Tupperware go faster Dellboy sports cruisers!

Are you thinking semi-displ or planing?

I've sold my berth to a man with a sport cruiser and might share, we'll see, its style is a bit modern for me but it has two owners already and three would be possible. Given that I'm here and they would be holiday visitors it might work out for all of us. On site management. However I owned a Fairey Spearfish called "Uno Too" in the early 80's and might find another, (or an Omega 828), if it had been refitted with new engines and stuff in the recent past, (say 5 years).

 

[rustybarge]

I've sold my berth to a man with a sport cruiser and might share, we'll see, its style is a bit modern for me but it has two owners already and three would be possible. Given that I'm here and they would be holiday visitors it might work out for all of us. On site management. However I owned a Fairey Spearfish called "Uno Too" in the early 80's and might find another, (or an Omega 828), if it had been refitted with new engines and stuff in the recent past, (say 5 years).

Cool looking boat; love the reverse sheer.

it looks like it has no standing headroom?

 

[KellysEye]

Planning is one thing what happens can be another. We planned to be away for two years and got back six and a half years later. One thing long distance cruisers say is ''Plans are written in the sand at low tide'', we found it was true.