Oh! what have we done.

[applepip]

Maybe it will help me feel better, if I try and share the way I,m feeling right now.

We hand the keys, of the family home since 1933, over on Tuesday
On Thursday we will witness the suveying of a Bavaria 41 which will hopefully become our new home.
The fears and emotions running riot through me is unbelievable, the memories, relatives and friends that we will be leaving behind.
Remembering all the scarry stories and adventures that I have so eagerly read in the many sailing magazines and the fear that is instilled into you through the RYA sailing courses.
So some sympathy from all you who I have envied for so long may help!

ARE WE DOING THE RIGHT THING?

I have lots of packing and arranging and I'm sat here writing this.

Where has all the motivation gone?

It only takes two to binary!

Terry

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[MedMan]

Stick with it Terry!

Just as even the most experienced actor will admit to butterflies before every first night, so we yachties go through a simliar process every we time we move from land to sea or from sea to land. Both become 'home' whilst we are there and leaving home is always a trauma.

What you are feeling is perfectly normal and to be expected. However, be reassured that once you have cast off and slipped into cruising mode the stress will disolve and the sun will come out and shine brighter than ever before. You are moving into a world where people still care about their neighbour and everyone helps everyone else out. You'll love it!




<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.yachtretreat.com>http://www.yachtretreat.com</A>

 

[AndrewB]

Congratulations! It isn't really quite such an irreversable step as it probably now seems. I have moved in and out of live-aboarding several times.

The only criticism I have of your strategy is that after you have sailed the Bavaria a few times you'll probably discover there are a number things needing altering to make it suit you as a liveaboard. Don't rush this though, your priorities will change over the first six months. However when you do get it sorted then living aboard can be difficult during the works, you may need somewhere to stay for two or three months.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[mike_bryon]

We know just how you feel. We move aboard in less than two weeks time and are giving away loads of our stuff as we speak. Goodbye party with neighbours is tonight and children's party was last Saturday.

Our home is launched Tuesday after a winter ashore and they have just found a fault with the crankshaft pulley. So engine is in pieces and launch maybe delayed.

Moving is an expensive exercise even when it is onto a boat.

Best of wishes with your plans and happy sailing


<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Anonymous]

I'm in almost exactly the same positon myself - we will complete on 30th June. Like you, I've got the butterflies but we will camp on our Centaur for some of the time and generally muck about until we find the boat of our dreams. The Jeanneau 43DS is still our benchmark.

Good luck with everything in the run up to Tuesday - I'm sure you're doing the right thing. For a start, property prices must have peaked? (Sorry, OT remark!)

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Ric]

I worked in FRY during the 90's civil war, and saw people rebuild their lives after having their family homes destroyed, their children killed, or their wives raped in front of them. I could never understand how they could have the resilience to cope with such adversity.

Shortly after my return to the UK, my girlfriend died of cancer (aged 34) then shortly afterwards I lost my job, then my home, then got sent to prison for a short period (though later overturned my conviction on appeal). I coped with it. That experience started to teach me that contemplation of change is far, far worse than the reality. No matter how daunting a change of circumstance may seem at the outset, the reality is far easier, such is the human spirit.

Since those experiences, I have taken up sailing in a big way. I have learnt that when you are at sea, under the stars, your worries on land are put in perspective as being deeply irrelevant. I cannot add anything more to that than has not already been said more eloquently by Joseph Conrad.

Despite all that, I still feel exactly the same emotions as you as I will shortly be moving again out of my home to go long-term sailing. All I can say is the same as I say to myself - go for it, your worries at the moment will be irrlevant in a week.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[applepip]

I JUST FEEL LIKE A BLOODY GREAT WHIMP NOW.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[wishbone]

Whimp I think not!
thousands out there wish they were in your shoes, our house should be on the mkt in a couple of weeks, shackles of self employment waiting to be thrown off, gestures to Barclays which cannot be printed, oh! did I mention the Taxman..... I am counting the days. Good luck to you and fair winds! Life is so short and has been even shorter to some close friends! now that I have reached my fifties the stress is taking i'ts toll.

Wishbone
Rolling, rolling, rolling keep them doggies moving!
Where’s me chuck wagon gone?


<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[slavkod]

I have been asking the same question some weeks ago. Now we are just 3 weeks from starting our first 6 months cruise. Last week I canceled my contract with partners in PEF and last arragements on the boat are completed.
I feel great. Some friends are calling offering help or anything we migth need during sailing and I am much more positive and happy then 1-2 months ago.

Slavko

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[DistantDrum]

Today my wife and I have 104 days left before we cut our mooring lines. Occasionally we go through the same thoughts and concerns as you. Our driving force is what is why we even thought about doing this crazy thing in the first place!
1. No one knows what tomorrow holds! I have lost two good friends at 50 years old in the last two years.
2. I hate (with a vengeance) this virtual matrix society that has been created around us where people are controlled by the media, the government and TV.
3. I hate paying tax for services that we don’t use.
4. I don’t ever want to look back and say “I wish we had gone”.

Good luck

Peter


<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[applepip]

Exactly

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[AndrewB]

Don't over-romanticise this. You certainly won't be escaping from bureaucracy and the petty everyday problems. I think one needs a purpose and plan - otherwise there is a danger that such a lifestyle can come to feel boring and meaningless.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Koeketiene]

Agree - you need a plan.

Mine/ours is to get to Pitcairn Island - about as far away from home as you can get, without actually leaving.

Another year, 5 months & 7 days till we cast off - money for further refit allowing, of course.

<hr width=100% size=1>Experience is a good teacher, but she sends in terrific bills.

 

[slavkod]

this is the best explanation I have ever read, Peter.
We are counting 27 days before we cut our mooring lines.

Slavko

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[AndrewB]

<<Experience is a good teacher, but she sends in terrific bills. >>

Experience is what you get, when you don't get what you want.

;-)

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[MedMan]

Another s****y day in Paradise?

A word or two about the philosophy of living aboard as opposed to taking a holiday afloat. When one is in full-time employment one’s annual holiday is supremely important and one makes a very great deal of effort to make sure that it goes well. For the duration of the holiday reality is suspended: worries about relatives are put on one side, health problems are ignored and finances are temporarily over-stretched. By contrast, when one moves on board permanently, reality moves on too. Even though one might be living in paradise, problems can no longer be ignored but must be dealt with on a day-to-day basis.

It is very important to take this in before you leave and not expect to be 'on holiday' all the time or you will be disappointed. That said, with the right approach, it is a way of life that just cannot be beaten.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.yachtretreat.com>http://www.yachtretreat.com</A>

 

[branko]

Hi, I deeply understand You.It is not easy. I wish you a lot of nice time on board. If not - you allways can step back isnt it?

<hr width=100% size=1>skipp