noob looking for basic advice on sailing- please

[a3xloser]

hi, i was looking to spend my declining years on a narrow boat, but wish to look into the posability of living on a sailing or motor boat, and would love to exchange email with anyone who has any advice, ignore the "its too small to live in side of things," i have spant most of the last 25 years in a 7'x5'x5' truck cab,
to start the ball rolling here is a few very noob questions i need help with,
1 sailing on the sea need a liacence, i can't just by a boat and learn as i go like i did on my narrow boat,?
2 how much will insurance be and how much a year to maintain a boat?
3 can i sail a boat like a warrior 35 on my own? if yes do you have to get to shore to moar up to sleep?
4 whats the cheapest way to get qualified to sail long distances,
5 i live 200 miles from the sea in Wolverhampton, what can i be doing to help myself while saving for my boat,
6 what are the chances that my friend and i could sail around the world in a warrior 35
7 can i sell the right for people to take out life insurince on me, i mean can people pay me £1000 to insure my life for £20,000 if they think its a good bet?
ok thx for any advice please mail me at a3xloser@hotmail.com a3xloser@hotmail.com

 

[blackbeard]

As this is a forum I'll post a reply rather than email.
You could:
go on a Competent Crew course at a sailing school, or
have a word with Challenge Business or similar organisation, or
find a friend whose approach to life gives confidence, who has a boat and is prepared to take you as apprentice crew, or
join a sailing club - most clubs have members who need crew.
This should tell you fairly quickly if you like sailing and what questions you need to ask.
Far too early to even think about what sort of boat if any you might need.

 

[poter]

Hi there & welcome to the forum, blackbeard is right, get some training thru your local college or by correspondence.
1/ No you do not require a license to sail in UK waters. It MAY be required in other countries
2/ Insurance is very variable they will take your experience, boat type & cruising area into account. Mine for a 35' sailing yacht in the med is approx £150.
3/ A Warrior is a Blue water yacht & can be sailed single handed IMO but it would possibly require some modification to the running rigging to enable you to work from the cockpit.
4/ there is no cheap way, just experience. RYA courses are a good way to start & you need to get onto the water, get yourself a small sailing boat say a Wayfarer or similar, & sail.
5/ See 4
6/ As I said with experience the Warrior is a great yacht & should be able to go almost anywhere.
7/ no comment: not to sure what you are driving at?

have a go & good luck. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

poter

 

[Superflid]

The "Liveaboard link" forum (on this site) will be your best place for advice on, er well, liveaboard stuff!
For some sailing experience you could do worse than join up the Yahoo "Boats and crewing" group and also post on the "SBC Crewing opportunities" forum (also on this site).

I've been lucky enough to have done so much sailing through that route that my own boat is being neglected!

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Crewing/

Wolverhampton may be far from the sea, but you do have a range of different areas within reach.

 

[richardabeattie]

He thinks Wolverhampton is 200 miles from the sea and wonders whether as a new sailor he could take off single handed in a 35 ft yacht and then invite a friend to join him on a circumnavigation. Is this a serious post?

 

[a3xloser]

ok thx guys this all seems to help, if Poter is right about the no liacence to sail around uk coast. this seems more how i expected to learn. go out with paople a few course's read somee books buy smaller boat to learn and over 4-5 years become compertant,
ok i think i have enough info to be going on with just 2 more questions,
1 do you and how much does it cost to stop off at places, harbours or falmouth etc,
2 ok this may sound stupid question, but i have seen yatch's there very tall and seem to lean over a lot, well do they fall/blow over? and then what, is that it buy a new one, or can you put them back up the right way again?

 

[a3xloser]

this a serious post and it is under noob questions, not sure what you mean about the 200 miles from the sea bit, i surpose there are a few places at 130 miles, the point was there are not a lot of local peaple here wearing crew neck tops and singing sea shantys

 

[Lakesailor]

[ QUOTE ]
i have seen yatch's there very tall and seem to lean over a lot, well do they fall/blow over? and then what, is that it buy a new one, or can you put them back up the right way again?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yatchs(sic) fall over all the time. I wouldn't get involved if I were you.
So which cycling/caravanning/jetski/rowing/etc forum have you come from to troll then?

 

[a3xloser]

yes well done you noticed i am dislexic thx, a for trolling i rarely use forums, i have said these are noob questions, i also said i came from narrow boating and need some advice on sailing, and i must thx those who have tryed to stear me in the wright direction, i should expect a few put downs off less helpfull fock, maybe the ones who helped are sailers and the other are people who want a boat so they can fish,
anyway if someone could tell me what happens if a yacht falls over that whould be good thx

 

[poter]

It involves a lot of different forces, but basically all Yachts (mono hull) are more or less able to right themselves, depending on, amongst other things, the weight of the keel, it involves some very complex math & the type of hull.
The righting lever is known as a GZ curve, or the angle of vanishing stability.
But dont even get involved in this yet, get on the water with a friend, yacht club or a sailing holiday, & see what the experience is like.

poter

 

[William_H]

Yes yots stand up with varying degrees of success cos there is a great lump of lead on the bottom of the keel. A catamaran on the other hand stands up cos it is too wide to knock over but if it is knocked over then yes you got it right. (aveanew1.) (apologies to the cat lovers)
seriously the one most important thing you must learn/discover is whether you like ocean sailing. Many (including me don't) the only way to learn (and cheaper than buying your own boat) is to crew or do sailing school.
olewill

 

[a3xloser]

ok thank you all for the advice, i now have most of what i need to know about how to get started and best way to go about it,
next i need to do costings on how expensive it is to live aboard going into harbours etc, but will try the live aboard forum for that,

 

[Bergman]

I'd think very carefully about selling insurance rights.

I would want to have a lot of trust in whoever bought a share.

Bit like selling futures on your coffin

 

[andy_wilson]

Particularly like Q.7

You can insure your life for as much as you want, with as many different policies as you like, and decide to pay the money to whoever you wish.

Life cover is cheap these days but it will only be for a fixed term, say 10 years.

Sounds like a good wheeze - 'specially if you are intending sailing off the edge of the world. Just check the exclusions!

 

[Achillesheel]

Re: Particularly like Q.7

You can insure yourself for as much as you want. But it is not possible to insure someone else unless you have an "insurable interest" - ie if I lend you £10,000 I would insure your life cos if you died, I would not get the loan back.
On the subject of sailing, for goodness sake try it with an experienced skipper before you even think of living on a boat, let alone sailing off round the world.

 

[Lakesailor]

Re: Particularly like GC1

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[a3xloser]

Re: Particularly like GC1

the living on a boat is sort of decided, i have done it before for some years, my questions here are to
first find out if it can be done,
2nd find out how much it would cost
then 3rd if it can be done and i can afford it, then i would try sailing out to see if i like it, then 4th i would make a dissision on narrowboat v sailing boats
to be honest from some of the mooring and stopping off prices i have seen it may well be too expensive to live on a yacht
as far as i can tell it seems that living all year round on a yacht is not really done,
but i think asking here first make sense, i never said i wanted to sail around the world, i was trying to find out the limitaions of these boats, they seem so small, but i want to look into it as i will not be happy with a 70' narrow boat if i find out i could be living at sea and sailing to nice places
if you don't ask you don't know

 

[Benbow]

Re: Particularly like GC1

Spending time on a boat on the sea is very different to spending time on a narrowboat. I don't think you can make sensible estimates of what it will cost you until you have tried it and have a feel for what your options are and if you like it. At one extreme, if you become good at it, you can be paid for living on someone else's boat!

 

[a3xloser]

yes and living in a lorry is very different to living on a narrowboatm but is someone asked me the same questions about living on the road, i could tell them how much every aspect of it costs, from fuel to parking cost and also tell the the down side to being on the road 24/7 i wouldn't tell them they sould try living with a hairy trucker for a week first,
all i wanted to know was, can you live on a yacht all year round and what is the cost of moring and cruising, i mean there is a lot of you with boats, you must have some idea of what it is costing
i mean ask me how much it will cost to live on a narrow boat, and i can tell you,
there is zero point finding a ride on a boat, traveling to go on it and love it, but then finding out there is no way on earth you could afford it
all i wanted to know what is it possible and how cheaply could it be done,

 

[BrendanS]

The problem is you are asking a how long is a bit of string question. It depends if while sailing around the world, you want to be in marinas, or will spend most of the time anchored off shore, how often you want to eat out etc

Stingo who posts here put together some typical budgets of different people he met while blue water cruising

http://www.stingo.co.za/budget.htm