Sailing away.....how is it possible?

[cmedsailor]

I am sitting in front of a stupid computer screen working all day and my mind is sailing away….wondering at the same time, how these people can do it. I am talking about these people we usually read in books and magazines that have decided to live aboard and keep travelling around the world for years.
How can they do this? How do they earn their living? Do they quit their jobs and when that dream is over try to find another one? What about growing up their kids, their education, their friends etc? I admit it’s a very nice dream but how can it become true?
I would consider myself more than lucky if I ever manage to get one month holidays and travel with my family. But travelling for years? Will I have to wait until I am a 65 year’s old retired person with not many commitments?
OK, back to my screen now…..

 

[Kelpie]

I think you'd have to be prepared to make a lot of sacrificies. Be prepared to only own what will fit aboard the boat; be prepared to see almost nothing of your family and friends. Financially I think it can be done on a pretty modest budget- nowhere to spend money when you're on a boat. Add up the cost of your food and fuel, set aside something for maintaining the boat, and it'll be a hell of a lot less than it takes to live a more conventional life with a house, mortgage, bills, car, etc etc.
My plan would be to have a small property let out to provide enough income... but I don't know if I could make all of the other sacrificies.

 

[vyv_cox]

I am sitting in front of a stupid computer screen working all day and my mind is sailing away….wondering at the same time, how these people can do it. I am talking about these people we usually read in books and magazines that have decided to live aboard and keep travelling around the world for years.
How can they do this? How do they earn their living? Do they quit their jobs and when that dream is over try to find another one? What about growing up their kids, their education, their friends etc? I admit it’s a very nice dream but how can it become true?
I would consider myself more than lucky if I ever manage to get one month holidays and travel with my family. But travelling for years? Will I have to wait until I am a 65 year’s old retired person with not many commitments?
OK, back to my screen now…..

In Greece we meet lots of younger people who have opted out and gone sailing. It requires a certain amount of money to do it but many rent out their houses and take off. Easy to say, but if you really want to, then you can!

Look at this site http://sites.google.com/site/thegreatescapes/home for example. We met them and sailed with them for a couple of weeks this season. Super couple who enjoy life to the full.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Just drink and comfort eat. It's never so bad when in a fug with a full belly. Tomorrows always another day.

 

[saxonpirate]

Oh dear.....cmed

I am sitting in front of a stupid computer screen working all day and my mind is sailing away….wondering at the same time, how these people can do it. I am talking about these people we usually read in books and magazines that have decided to live aboard and keep travelling around the world for years.
How can they do this? How do they earn their living? Do they quit their jobs and when that dream is over try to find another one? What about growing up their kids, their education, their friends etc? I admit it’s a very nice dream but how can it become true?
I would consider myself more than lucky if I ever manage to get one month holidays and travel with my family. But travelling for years? Will I have to wait until I am a 65 year’s old retired person with not many commitments?
OK, back to my screen now…..

Anythings possible if you want to do it bad enough. It makes it a little trickier with a wife and family, BUT!!! if your wife's up for it, why not. Most people put up their own barriers because of social conditioning and the opinions of others. Playing safe never gets you anywhere, accept a life as a wage slave. You get one life, and I know it's a cliche but 'it ain't a rehearsal'... Waiting till you're 65...Oh my God!!

I'm damn glad I did it when I was younger, twice in fact with young children. We had a fantastic time and have some really wonderful memories to look back on. We didn't have any money either, or a house to rent out. Ok, I've got a trade that I can carry with me, but it was still seat of the pants stuff, and we had a few scrapes. Yes, there were those who thought we were irresponsible and reckless, but while they were enduring yet another UK winter paying the mortgage we were cruising in the sunshine. It heightens the senses and makes you feel really alive, any real adventure does. It teaches you something about yourself too......

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

Sell the kids!

 

[capnsensible]

Try this quick tip for the first step:

Say to your employer 'Oi, big nose, you can stick yer pointless job you fat capitalist pig'

You will generally find that the next steps towards your cruising lifestyle are swiftly presented.

Hope this helps.

 

[ianat182]

Sailing Away...

Depending on your experience and your interest I suppose a travelogue of where you go with appropriate photography and navigational information might be saleable to a sailing magazine or other magazines to get a steady return as you progress.For instance ,how many articles/books are there that have been about touring Scandinavia; serialised, and going to off the normal track would make them readable,informative, and addictive! start a new cruising area !.
Making a boat your home must take a lot of nerve and of course some commitment by yourself and your partner, not least the size of boat you are boh happy to sail/motor but which gives space and privacy when needed. Family contact too is important
I know that many of the forumites have let their homes whilst they take a sabbatical so they always have a place to come back to.
In an ideal situation you would probably be in your 40's,50's; after this you would have to consider how you might arrange for your medical needs,and pensions, and coping with occasional ills,whilst on passage for instance.
I wish I could say I'd done this but I haven't had the finances for the boat,nor the like-minded partner to do it with,and that is probably the most important factor in my opinion.

ianat182

 

[fisherman]

how is it possible?

Grasp nettle in one hand, cojones in the other and do it.

Will it kill you if it goes wrong?

Life's not a rehearsal.

And other platitudes.

Probably not much help, actually...sorry.

I took to the sea in 1972. Now I'm paying for it, those around me are retired, but then, they spent 30 years pushing a desk, I wasn't prepared to.

 

[haydude]

I am sitting in front of a stupid computer screen working all day and my mind is sailing away….wondering at the same time, how these people can do it. I am talking about these people we usually read in books and magazines that have decided to live aboard and keep travelling around the world for years.

Nice, but these are people without responsibilities. If you have a home a future to plan for, children, then it cannot be done. It could be done either when very young or after retirement. Any time in between, if you have a normal life, would be irresponsible.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

...... What about growing up their kids, their education, their friends etc? I admit it’s a very nice dream but how can it become true? ......

Being serious for a second. The kids are completely open and learn loads of stuff. What they work out for themselves is amazing and there is no better education than life experienced young. I listened to a bunch of long term cruising kids once and I couldn't work out what they were saying. Then it dawned, they were each speaking a mixture of languages when conversing. A language only the kids could understand. They were very resourceful. Each morning they would all be out on their dinghies selling pizza, fruit juices, offering to service outboards, clean decks for cash.

In the mid eighties it was about £3000 a year on a 35' boat that you needed to earn to sail about as a gypsy. That was leaving the UK on a set up boat. I reckon that if you stay off the commercial routes you can still do it for not much more, maybe £5000. You don't need to spend money on AIS and Radar, etc. You can do it on the cheap. In fact keeping it simple absolutely makes less of a drain on your wallet.

There is a good North Atlantic circuit you can do in a year with plenty of anchorages for example.

How do you do it - that's tuff. It helps if your partner is up for it, if they are not then it aint going to happen if you maintain the status quo, so don't think it will. There are good articles in YBW archives from families who have done this - I have a folder full just from those magazines.

The kids are not the problem, they will survive and be enriched. Maybe its you - are you anchored in paradigms that maintain the status quo? I have a wee list of things I want to do - not shagging Kyle stuff - real stuff like sailing an Ocean with my son, horse riding across mountains with my daughter, doing a road trip with my wife are all on the list. The list isn't so much about doing it, but keeping the dreams going. The yacht was on the list and so is sailing round the world. I have the yacht but I may not sail round the world - who cares anyway.

Have dreams, live some of them, change the list when it looks boring - just do something more than staring at your f&^king computer and maintaining the status quo.

 

[Sandyman]

Nice, but these are people without responsibilities. If you have a home a future to plan for, children, then it cannot be done. It could be done either when very young or after retirement. Any time in between, if you have a normal life, would be irresponsible.

Hay dude are you just after a bite ? Cos what you have said is hogwash.
In our travels we have met tens if not hundreds of people who fall into the bracket you make who want nothing to do with society or the state and who educate their kids at sea.
Who needs a home or a future to plan for ?
You seem to have fallen into a set and accepted way of life & fail to understand or see that there are other ways to live. And yes, it can be done. We know. We did it.

 

[vyv_cox]

Nice, but these are people without responsibilities. If you have a home a future to plan for, children, then it cannot be done. It could be done either when very young or after retirement. Any time in between, if you have a normal life, would be irresponsible.

Well, that's a point of view. Not shared by me, for one. I left employment at age 29 and went back to college for four years, with a child aged four and another born during that time. We had an extremely low income at first, supplemented by evening work rebuilding car engines, etc. We struggled even to eat, but all of us believe that this time was probably the happiest of our lives.

It can most certainly be done, and is done by very many. Responsibility extends far further than providing a nice semi-detatched in commuter land. Children will benefit enormously from the adventure and their education will quite likely be better provided by parents than in the current education system.

 

[saxonpirate]

I can't leave my comfort zone....

Nice, but these are people without responsibilities. If you have a home a future to plan for, children, then it cannot be done. It could be done either when very young or after retirement. Any time in between, if you have a normal life, would be irresponsible.

It takes all sorts haydude.... and if you choose too PLAN your life in the way you come across, that's up to you. I think your use of the words 'cannot' 'normal', and 'irresponsible' tell me all I need to know.

I had people like yourself giving me virtually word for word the same sort of advice. Thank God I didn't take it.

Still, best to live a normal life and wait for retirement eh! I mean.....it's too risky to leave the comfort zone. It's uncomfortable..........

 

[Wansworth]

I was disapointed when I reached Spain,they had supermarkets with cornflakes and tinned fish,but the iron mongers were a delight.Insome ways travelling is doing the same thing you would do at home but with the added fun of a forign language,foriegn everything and still having to lug the shopping out to the boat in the pouring rain.Planning a trip must be for positive reasons nt to escape your existing reality!!!

 

[icepatrol]

responsible ?

aint it funny how most of us have fallen into the "being responsible" trap.
like most on here i agree. go for it.. if it dont work out for you then at least you tried. better to have loved and lost etc etc.
thinking about this topic hard enough makes you question the biggest question of the lot. ie
"why are we here" "whats it all about" alfie !...sorry there..couldnt resist the pun.
as long as we got our health then go for it while we can.......if you want pipe and slippers then be a sheep and stay "comfortable" and "responsible"
bahhhhhhh

 

[DaiB]

Responsible!!

I never managed to get away fully but have had a lot of years where we have been cruising
for four to six months.
We have met quite a few live aboard families during this time. The majority of the kids we have met have been confident, well educated, worldly wise, polite, just really great.
I think calling live aboard parents irresponsible totally wrong, go and meet some young live aboards and maybe you will change your mind.

 

[jonic]

Nice, but these are people without responsibilities. If you have a home a future to plan for, children, then it cannot be done. It could be done either when very young or after retirement. Any time in between, if you have a normal life, would be irresponsible.

Eh hem....It can be done you know. And it is done more often than you think.

www.theyachtmoonshine.com

 

[TQA]

Go simple Go small but GO now.

I went cruising for 7 years in my 40s, yes it was irresponsible[ well so people kept telling me ] and I now have a smaller pension than I would have had if I had kept working.

But I have no regrets, it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Now I am retired and back on a boat, my forever boat and I hope to cruise into my dotage. No house and no worries.

 

[Sandyman]

I never managed to get away fully but have had a lot of years where we have been cruising
for four to six months.
We have met quite a few live aboard families during this time. The majority of the kids we have met have been confident, well educated, worldly wise, polite, just really great.
I think calling live aboard parents irresponsible totally wrong, go and meet some young live aboards and maybe you will change your mind.

We could not agree more. Not once have we ever met a liveaboard kiddie who's arse I would like to have given a severe smacking. I guess it is hard for landlubbers to even start to understand the benefits we & our kids get (got now for us) out of living onboard. But then, of course, they will never know unless, or until, they make the commitment to do the same and stop sitting back in their glasshouses telling us what can & cannot be done.
In my mid 50's, I cannot fully explain the joy I get out of having an intelligent conversation with a 10 years old who has spent his/her life at sea. Above all I have found not only their knowledge and communication skills but their enthusiasm for life is 1000% better than their equivalent landlubbers kids.

But then who would be surprised at that. The education landlubbers kids get is little more than political indoctrination. Be it State or Private Education.