Newbie link needed.

[Kerouac]

Hi, I'll be brief - you have better things to do and I have far too many questions but hope you can help by pointing me to some previous posts or links that'll help me.
After a divorce I find myself 40-ish and pretty financially cleaned out. I want to get myself a liveaboard and learn as I go. Starting with Eng, Scot then onto French jaunts etc.
I have sod all experience but have the luxury of working from home (or boat) as a writer, so given an internet link can do this from anywhere in the world.
What I need is a good NEWBIE source of articles and links on the following:

1. Can I do this for a lump sum of £25,000 and income of around £2000 a month?

2. Bearing in mind my experience I think motor would be better than sail - what can I read about comfort, ease, running costs etc.

I realise some of you experienced chaps will probably view me as a hobbyist or downright prat, but I know myself and this is what I want to do. Before I'm too old. I'm lucky enough to have the type of work that allows me to do it and I'm still young enough to meet nuice foreign women!

I've been searching for a forum like this for two months!

THanks in advance.

Tony

 

[Talbot]

lump sum is fine for a starter boat (raggie) and £2000 a month should be much more than adequate in a yacht, but fuel will soon blow a hole in that money if going the mobo route. I would suggest that you use some of that lump sum on sailing courses while looking around for boats. As a liveaboard you will need to maximise your comfort in harbour, while still being able to sail. For the amount of money you have I would be looking at a Heavenly Twins - suggest you pm both ship's woofy (HT owner) and Stingoe for their views.

 

[Kerouac]

I hadn't considered a mulit-hull but after a bit of reading they look like a possible solution. Any serious drawbacks (do they capsize in rough weather??!!) and are they easier to sail?

Thanks !!!

Tony

 

[Metabarca]

Choosing a boat is going to be hard if you still have to decide whether mono or multihull, motor or sail; try to get some experience on each! One of your major overheads will be mooring (bear in mind a cat might cost more). Generally, however, an older boat will depreciate less and won't (necessarily) give you more problems than a newer one.
If you can work from anywhere (as can I; that's why I'm here!), then consider buying and keeping your boat abroad, if you have any languages. Advantages: cheaper to buy and berth, better weather (unless you head for Latvia), better food, girls(?!). Many forumites live abroad and will help with info if you come up with specific countries.
Good luck!

 

[adelaidem]

hi there, here is two good links i spend a lot of time browsing around in.

http://dkd.net/novavida/crew.htm
http://yachthub.com/

 

[Grehan]

You will learn a great deal through continuing to peruse this forum. It's been going for years and one of the reasons it's popular is because it throws up a huge amount of really excellent questioning and answering. [as well as some downright loony stuff too /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif] Quite a lot is from 'beginners' and with some exceptions you should find even the most possibly-idiotically-basic queries will be treated seriously.
Everyone on this forum was a newbie once, we all remember what it was like, we all remember the good advice we got (as well as the cr*p advice too), and what's more the more you know, the more you do, the more you realise you've still got a lot to learn.

Everyone's making mistakes all over the place! That's what boating is about! [well, maybe not quite . . .] But we all try to avoid them and learn from them when they do happen. My first post here - a little while ago now - was about the impossibility of berthing my boat in a marina without damaging most of the rest of the boats and making myself look a right prat in the process! People told me to cheer up 'cos it happened to them all the time, too.

I would suggest you get a couple of books. Other forumites may well have different ideas, but the classic (this is a real cliché of a suggestion) is "Sell up and Sail" by Bill and Laurel Cooper. It certainly opened our eyes some years ago, and that's partly why we're in Spain and not the UK any more. It is somewhat long in the tooth, but it's an interesting read nonetheless. Also, get yourself a 'basic training' sailing book. There's a good one published by Dorling Kindersely called something like The Sailing Handbook, or How to Sail, or something like that. By Steve Sleight. There's another similar one by Bob Bond. One or other will start giving you an idea about the world of boating, words, etc etc

Many of the contributors to YBW have put together their own websites and a great deal of care, good advice, good sense, information and dare I say, love, has gone into practically all of them. Check out the signature lines of postings.

Take yourself off and do some kind of course. The RYA 'programme' falls into two headings - theory (learning in a room) and practical (learning on the water). "Competent Crew" is the first step on the ladder. If you do courses anything like ours were, you'll have a great deal of fun and experience a great deal of gentle learning. Essential learning, if you're to stay safe (boating is fun, but it's no joke) and enjoy doing it.

Wherever you can, talk to people. You might feel like a lost stranger, wandering around a marina (assuming you can get past the security gate), but most of what boating is, consists of chatting to like-minded souls. We're all doing it; wandering up and down the pontoons and having a jaw with however we see. Comparing notes and learning. Boating is a really sociable activity, however you define your boating. And there is very little snobbery - boat size, boat value, boat type . . doesn't really count for much (sniffy arrogance does!).

We recently spent 9 months on the French inland waterways - a great experience. You don't necessarily have to 'go to sea'.

Good luck.

Another thought - try reading "Coasting" by Jonathan Raban. It's about his 'escape' from the problems of dry land, buying a boat, learning to sail and then sailing 'round Britain. Beautifully and intelligently written. His "Passage to Juneau" is in a similar vein, set in Western Canada.

 

[Kerouac]

Thanks for the advice. It's making my head spin but I've learned more today than in the past month.

Tony

 

[CodStewart]

I'm a beginner to all this. Can't even drive and yet I am about to purchase 45ft yacht over in Mexico. British but ex-pat in Japan for years. Planning on liveaboard lifestyle as of 2006 beginning in waters of Mexico. Need help on where to register boat. Can't in Uk unless I suffer the place for 185 days of the year. No Thanks to that!
Considering Gibraltar.
Any help much appreciated. I know [no thanks] all!
Regards
Maria

 

[ShipsWoofy]

Thank you for that.

The only problem with a catamaran, is going to be working in the saloon with 360° visibility in a sunny climate.

How hard is it going to be to resist 'doing later' and going for a sail or wandering up to that bar with that cold beer on tap! At least on a mono he will be stuck in the bowels and not be able to see life go by /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

While writing this I have also had a thought about staying cool. If hoping to put in 7 hour days you do not want to be sweating like a big trying to keep the laptop running in an oven. You may need shore power just to keep running desk fans.

Just a thought!

 

[PaulS]

Another place to find both interesting reading and other resources to fill up your mind with all the details and dreams might be The Mother of All Maritime Links