The clocks ticking,

[sailaboutvic]

My posting doesn't really apply to Steve , more to anyone thinking of sailing off into the sunset .

I agree with most here , that if you want to do it then just do it , but before you cut your ties and sail off into the sunset or in some cases a storm
There are three major things you need to consider that will bring you dream to and end .
The mosts important and there nothing you can do about it is heath,
If you happen to sell every thing to live out your dream and your heath or your partner heath fail , then what ? nothing to go back to , on home , boat worth halved if you need to sell it quickly and that's if you can sell it .

the next hurdle is money , I was only taking to a charter couple yesterday who said he had 25k saving and a 32 foot boat back home and after a two week charter he now has a plain to sail off for five years and live on his saving . That's 5k a year , his wife was given me some funny looks behind his back , obviously she more realistic.
Which bring me to wife /partners .

If you want your adventures to work for the timed you planned .
She /he as to be as committed as you , if they doing it just to keep you happy , sooner or later some thing will give ,
all it take is one bad crossing , one sleepless night and they could be on the next flight back .

Of cause if your a solo sailor that doesn’t apply , but coming from someone who did cruise for 15 years solo , if no funny and best shared , although there are loners amount some of us .

Lastly is the boat , its got to be right , and fitted out for the conditions your going to meet , be it hot or cold country and a good size .
over the year here (YBW) I got myself in some big arguments regarding boat size with some here , so not to get into another one , I agree you can live and cruise on a 18 foot boat with barely little inside ,
but the reality is very very few will ever last long on a small boat and the once that do are solo sailors .

Plain it well , make sure you have a backup plain if all goes wrong have the funds and the boat to do the job and pray your heath don’t give up on you .
Then take the advise given here by most and just do it .

Of cause nothing I said really matter 25/30/40 plenty of year to make up your mistakes , where you can just dump the boat , jump on a plane , move in with mum dad or a friends and find the next job going .
with or without the partner you started off with .

Everyone we know who's been doing it long term all started off with what's needed to make it work , even then we know quite a lot that for one reason or another , it all fell apart .
There not a year that don't go by that we meet others some less then a year in the dream return back because of one of the reason above .

If you happen to be one who can make it work on little funds and in a small boat not fit for weekend sailing , that's great , but more likely end up in a storm then in paradise.

 

[RichardS]

Ever wondered why sailing is declining. Anyone who sails and usually has done all their life takes it forgranted quite how daunting it can be. flawed with pessimism and negativity. It might just be an adventure might be a far smaller step than we think. Im not stupid enough to ride a horse, or a bike, far too dangerous. relatively speaking a boat is a doddle and a far lot safer too.

Steveeasy

I'm afraid that I disagree with your analogy. How safe something is often depends upon how much of the activity is within your personal control and how much is without.

Bike riding is largely within your personal control, horse riding decidely less so. Sailing depends upon where you are sailing. If you are always within sight of land then you can mitigate the effects of bad weather or, less problematic, technical failure but if you are out of reach of land your personal control is very much diminished.

Richard

 

[Stemar]

My dream was far more modest - to take my little Snapdragon round the British Isles. I was recently retired, moderately fit and with an adequate income. Then a bit before Christmas last year, I developed infective endocarditis - an infection of a heart valve. Several weeks of antibiotics and a bit of open heart surgery later, I've made a good recovery, but I'm no longer fit enough to do it - I get tired too quickly and would never hold it together on a rough overnight passage.Do it while you still can. If it turns out that you don't enjoy it, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you gave it a go.

 

[fisherman]

Bro and wife spent fifteen years in ethe Med on this:
https://www.google.com/search?q=yac...UICigB&biw=1280&bih=686#imgrc=m9RougAd6E4aPM:

He had a good ex NHS pension from age fifty.
They kept their house and came home each winter, didn't let it.
They seemed to spend quite a bit of time at quiz nights with other brits in marina-side bars. (Book swapping is a thing)
They did, however, make trips into the hinterland which seemed more interesting to me.
Despite it all they are still married after 11 years back here.

 

[steveeasy]

I'm afraid that I disagree with your analogy. How safe something is often depends upon how much of the activity is within your personal control and how much is without.

Bike riding is largely within your personal control, horse riding decidely less so. Sailing depends upon where you are sailing. If you are always within sight of land then you can mitigate the effects of bad weather or, less problematic, technical failure but if you are out of reach of land your personal control is very much diminished.

Richard

Risk. Personally Ive lost friends on bikes over many years. The risk can be reduced by takeing appropriate steps But the fact remains there out to get you. Horse riding, Ive witnessed a person die from sitting on an unpredictable tamed animal in an instant. Never quite understood why so many people think its safe. far from it. Sailing well of course the risk is there but within reason planning and preventative measures can reduce this significantly.

Try getting someone to sail though is almost impossible. everyone hates water, a phobia of water. they will jump on a bike, sit on a horse, even jump out a plane, but water its a no no. Is there any rational from this or not.

Steveeasy

 

[steveeasy]

My dream was far more modest - to take my little Snapdragon round the British Isles. I was recently retired, moderately fit and with an adequate income. Then a bit before Christmas last year, I developed infective endocarditis - an infection of a heart valve. Several weeks of antibiotics and a bit of open heart surgery later, I've made a good recovery, but I'm no longer fit enough to do it - I get tired too quickly and would never hold it together on a rough overnight passage.Do it while you still can. If it turns out that you don't enjoy it, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you gave it a go.

Hey thanks. Hope you still manage to get out on the water though.
Best wishes

Steveeasy

 

[GHA]

Erik Says one day the clock going to stop ticking!!. So you wake up and think sod it. Ive a good boat, quite frankly I can go pretty much anywhere within reason. somewhere to escape the onset of winter. somewhere to meet new people, different cultures, an adventure, why not. The family, well they will get over it. where could or would you go.


Suitable places in the Med or elsewhere, pitfalls. No point telling me to wake up and stop dreaming, we travelled when we were younger, why not now while their is some life left in the legs.

Or is it simply not a realistic option nowadays. Really looking for sensible advice please.

Many thanks

Steveeasy

Go south

And don't pay much attention to planning, it will sort itself out. Without having spent some time cruising planning is like a goldfish planning a hitch hiking trip

Just buy another kilometer of kitchen roll and leave. And more solar.

It's all lovely, across Biscay - few summer months in the Rias, anchor up a river in the Algrave for a free winter berth, see where the boat ends up next..

It's a wonderful life.

 

[RichardS]

Risk. Personally Ive lost friends on bikes over many years. The risk can be reduced by takeing appropriate steps But the fact remains there out to get you. Horse riding, Ive witnessed a person die from sitting on an unpredictable tamed animal in an instant. Never quite understood why so many people think its safe. far from it. Sailing well of course the risk is there but within reason planning and preventative measures can reduce this significantly.

Try getting someone to sail though is almost impossible. everyone hates water, a phobia of water. they will jump on a bike, sit on a horse, even jump out a plane, but water its a no no. Is there any rational from this or not.

Steveeasy

Exactly. As I said, the risk elements on a bike are largely within your control. Drive around at 30mph and you will almost certainly never be involved in an accident. Drive around at 100mph and you almost certainly will be .... but the key fact is that it is within your control.

A horse less so which is why horse riding is more dangerous per time spent than motorcycling.

With ocean sailing it does not matter what you do as you have zero control over the weather. It might kill you, it might not, but relative to a bike, all you can do is take countermeasures, hold on and hope for the best. :ambivalence:

Richard

 

[jonic]

Go south

And don't pay much attention to planning, it will sort itself out. Without having spent some time cruising planning is like a goldfish planning a hitch hiking trip

Just buy another kilometer of kitchen roll and leave. And more solar.

It's all lovely, across Biscay - few summer months in the Rias, anchor up a river in the Algrave for a free winter berth, see where the boat ends up next..

It's a wonderful life.

+1 :encouragement:

 

[sailaboutvic]

Bro and wife spent fifteen years in ethe Med on this:
https://www.google.com/search?q=yac...UICigB&biw=1280&bih=686#imgrc=m9RougAd6E4aPM:

He had a good ex NHS pension from age fifty.
They kept their house and came home each winter, didn't let it.
They seemed to spend quite a bit of time at quiz nights with other brits in marina-side bars. (Book swapping is a thing)
They did, however, make trips into the hinterland which seemed more interesting to me.
Despite it all they are still married after 11 years back here.

I would say you brother had a plain , kept to it and they had some good years of fun and cruising and was able return back when they decided it was time .

 

[sailaboutvic]

My dream was far more modest - to take my little Snapdragon round the British Isles. I was recently retired, moderately fit and with an adequate income. Then a bit before Christmas last year, I developed infective endocarditis - an infection of a heart valve. Several weeks of antibiotics and a bit of open heart surgery later, I've made a good recovery, but I'm no longer fit enough to do it - I get tired too quickly and would never hold it together on a rough overnight passage.Do it while you still can. If it turns out that you don't enjoy it, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you gave it a go.

Your is a sad story , and I feel for you ,
but think how much worst it could had been , if your dream was to sell all your belonging , and sail somewhere much futher afield ,a year late your heath become untenable and you needed ungent medical help , no home to return too . Less money then you has a year ago , once back no where to stay and to top it up a boat left in a strange country maybe you had no option but to leave it in a marina , cost mounting by the day .
I hope some how you find someone who has the same dream as you and mybe you could do short trip around the UK , even if it mean leaving the boat now and then and catching a train , to retrun another week to carry on .
All the best

 

[dansaskip]

I wish I could have afforded to do it earlier but I set off after I retired at 66. Wasn't sure if I would really like it so didn't have too fixed a plan didn't burn my bridges as it were just in case after a few months it didn't suite. Didn't know how far I would get but so far have crossed the Atlantic, spent a couple of seasons in the Caribbean, crossed the Pacific single handed and have ended up in New Zealand. Where next who knows?
Just do it I'd say

 

[obmij]

Get a copy of Jimmy Cornell's World Voyage Planner (30 odd quid) and pick your spot.

If I was in a position to do so time and commitment wise, I wouldn't bother with the med but would aim to do either an Atlantic circuit or a RTW.

Why not?

 

[macd]

More simply : Americans tend to use "ize", Brits "ise".

That about sums it up. It's an utter myth that "ize" is an Americanism, as opposed to a preferred usage. Shakespeare used it and the C of E, too. (It's always been The Authorized Bible, and few things are more English.) For reasons difficult to explain, UK schoolteaching from the mid-20th Century frowned on -ize in this usage.

More simply still: steveeasy, just do it.

 

[Greenheart]

(Post 9) In my copy of Fowler's Modern English Usage... ...as apostrophe is pure Greek the verb should be apostrophize. I am sure Inspector Morse would have had a copy of Fowler...

That is beautifully argued, Alan, thank you. I may pay my old dad's library a visit - I'm sure he has a Fowler's. Although, I predict I'd thereafter spend most of my time explaining this ably-reasoned inconsistency to my colleagues, and it mightn't cut much ice.

Bro and wife spent fifteen years in ethe Med...They seemed to spend quite a bit of time at quiz nights with other brits in marina-side bars.

From your full description Fisherman, it sounds like they had a fine time and hadn't left themselves nothing to come back to...so a definite success. But I wonder how many people planning to sail away for years, would predict pub-quizzes dominating their fun?

I suspect the glorious freedom to dream about cutting loose and sailing away, is only available before it is attempted. The idea of equatorial climate, self-steering along a line of latitude with the spinnaker floating unattended for hundreds of miles, and nothing to do but check the lines for fish and read that stack of books you never had time for during a long career, is enticing...

...just like all the thousands of brochure-photos and sales-verbiage propagated by yacht builders. No mention of essential maintenance programmes or inclement seasons, nor the compromises which any boat under 45ft is likely to require her crew to accept.

I wonder what is the actual proportion of 'sail-away' crews who found it to be mostly/hardly/nowhere near as happy in reality, as it had been in the dreams that drove them to quit their lives hitherto? Is the desire to go, perhaps a reflection of profound dissatisfaction with those former lives, rather than a clear view of undeniable potential improvement? Or is it just uncontainable grand ambition?

I get the impression Steve is in that last category - bold and energetic and not inclined to let reservation inhibit adventurous spirit. :encouragement:

After reading and learning about sailing so long without spending one night afloat, I don't believe I need to make a big trip to reach sailing fulfilment. My dreams are of cruising in the British summer, critically, with no tight schedule limiting passage-planning. I've travelled globally in the past and may again, but I doubt I'd choose to do it under sail, even if I could afford a suitable vessel.

Interesting thread.

 

[Stemar]

Your is a sad story , and I feel for you , but think how much worst it could had been , if your dream was to sell all your belonging , and sail somewhere much futher afield ,a year late your heath become untenable and you needed ungent medical help , no home to return too . Less money then you has a year ago , once back no where to stay and to top it up a boat left in a strange country maybe you had no option but to leave it in a marina , cost mounting by the day . I hope some how you find someone who has the same dream as you and mybe you could do short trip around the UK , even if it mean leaving the boat now and then and catching a train , to retrun another week to carry on . All the best

I'm well aware how much worse it could have been. Up to a third of people who get what I had go home in a box! I lost a season's sailing because the refurbishments I had planned for the winter didn't happen, so they had to be done in the summer, but I'm looking forward to next year. I think you have to be pretty sure of what you want to sell up and do it. I'm way too risk averse for that. My advice would be, rent the house out, rather than sell it and make sure you've got adequate health insurance, but don't hang around thinking about it until it's too late.

 

[sailaboutvic]

I'm well aware how much worse it could have been. Up to a third of people who get what I had go home in a box! I lost a season's sailing because the refurbishments I had planned for the winter didn't happen, so they had to be done in the summer, but I'm looking forward to next year. I think you have to be pretty sure of what you want to sell up and do it. I'm way too risk averse for that. My advice would be, rent the house out, rather than sell it and make sure you've got adequate health insurance, but don't hang around thinking about it until it's too late.

Good advise Steve

 

[sailaboutvic]

@ Dancrane , hope your ok if I quote you .

From your full description Fisherman, it sounds like they had a fine time and hadn't left themselves nothing to come back to...so a definite success. But I wonder how many people planning to sail away for years, would predict pub-quizzes dominating their fun?

As I read it fisherman bro didn't cut all ties , keeping there house and what sounds like a good pension , with a good plain and not getting carried away by some blog or Internet forum of a life of sailing calm water with a beer in one hand and a rod in the other, while wifey sunbath .

I suspect the glorious freedom to dream about cutting loose and sailing away, is only available before it is attempted. The idea of equatorial climate, self-steering along a line of latitude with the spinnaker floating unattended for hundreds of miles, and nothing to do but check the lines for fish and read that stack of books you never had time for during a long career, is enticing...
..just like all the thousands of brochure-photos and sales-verbiage propagated byyacht builders. No mention of essential maintenance programmes or inclement seasons, nor the compromises which any boat under 45ft is likely to require her crew to accept.

Yes it is and this is where many go wrong , thinking it just like that day in and day out . Forgetting the amount of work in involved in keeping a boat that's being used full time up to scratch .
Let alone the cost as you rightly pointed out .
[
QUOTE=dancrane;6543858]
I wonder what is the actual proportion of 'sail-away' crews who found it to be mostly/hardly/nowhere near as happy in reality, as it had been in the dreams that drove them to quit their lives hitherto? Is the desire to go, perhaps a reflection of profound dissatisfaction with those former lives, rather than a clear view of undeniable potential improvement? Or is it just uncontainable grand ambition?

You be surprise how many come back to their old lives less then two years ,
because it wasn't all there expected .
The first year is the easiest, lots and of excitement, every thing new and even then some don't not make it that far .
Money and partners come to mind .

If they haven't planned what they would do if it goes tits up , there be in for a shock .
We been at it this time around nine years non stop but all in all 28 years on no off.
At time is lovely and we enjoy what we do, if we didn't we be back on land .
but a good percent of the time it's hard work ,
what take you 30 mins to buy or weekly shopping can take us hours and long distinct carrying heavy bags at times .
Most of us can't buy a week shopping for lack of space and fridge room so this has to be done maybe every three or four days .
New places new anchorages come with the problem of find the shops you need .
Not always are the shops by the quay side .
We walk 3 km the other day carrying 40 lts of fuel ,

We know life is short we also know sometime you just got to get on with it .
But only a fool gets carried away with embarking in the unknown at the same time cutting all ties and not leaving himself a no get out clause.

It's can be a wonderful life and it works for some but not for everyone
even us one day for what ever reason will have to give it all up and move back on land unless we can find a way to fit a wheel chair rump to the dinghy .
It's so easy for others to say just go and do it , you don't need to plain, you don't need funds , Some thing always turn up
but remember just one thing , it isn't them who's doing it but you .
Only you know what your capable of , what you willing to put up with , how much money you have and what your and your partner circumstances are .

 

[Simon__]

I’m going to be one of those naive dreamers. We’ve got a 27ft boat in good condition and will look to complete an Atlantic circuit (or more) next year. We’re both relatively young (30 & 26) but want to go while we can and before we have real responsibilities (children, elderly parents etc.). We’ve got modest funds but we don’t live lavishly on land and expect money to go further while away (based on what we’ve seen from the bloggers). Though not always advised, I’m going to sell my house to allow flexibility on our return - we will probably look to relocate and it will broaden our options for jobs. Of course there’s risk it won’t work out but the bigger risk, for me, is just being another cog in the wheel and not living a fulfilling life.

I’d say go for it. I’m sure there’s a lot of wisdom behind the reasons not to go (damage to career, pension) but it seems mostly financial, and I don’t mind not having a new car or living in a slightly smaller house if I can say I’ve tried to live my dream. Added to that, my generation may never see decent pensions and will be paying student loans well into middle age, the real dream is believing I’ll be able to retire at 60!

 

[solent clown]

I'm well aware how much worse it could have been. Up to a third of people who get what I had go home in a box! I lost a season's sailing because the refurbishments I had planned for the winter didn't happen, so they had to be done in the summer, but I'm looking forward to next year. I think you have to be pretty sure of what you want to sell up and do it. I'm way too risk averse for that. My advice would be, rent the house out, rather than sell it and make sure you've got adequate health insurance, but don't hang around thinking about it until it's too late.

This thread has been very prescient in a virtual way for us. I thank the OP for the post. I am in fantastic shape for a 30 year old, yet I am 50 odd, but I have a looming time bomb of a health issue that has led us to bring forward our 10 year plan, by, well, 9 years... We don't really have the money for the big adventure, so we bought a broken boat we would have spent time saving for otherwise to fix up, and we have spent every available hour, day , evening or night either sailing, or doing saily things to gain experience. We have had a clock put on us that does not suit financially, but we areb still trying to go for it. Have a dream, dream about the dream, strive towards it, at least. If it happens or not, you are a long time ill , and even longer dead.