Work life balance

LadyInBed

LadyInBed

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 Sep 2001
Messages
15,222
Location
Me - Zumerzet Boat - Wareham
montymariner.co.uk
I've got what I believe to be a suitable boat that will take me to the Caribbean for eight years now. I've learnt its foibles and added to its fittings to make it more comfortable.
I have a wife who won't be coming unless I lie to her and tell her we are going to Dartmouth and a couple of pensions that will allow me to live modestly and I am in moderately good health, but the big question is, when should I jack in a no hassle job that allows me to have six weeks off in the summer to go sailing, and head off to the Caribbean?
Would 65 be be leaving it too late?
Should I start prepping to leave in 2010 or have I already missed the boat? /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
It's never too late as long as you have your health. It's never too early as long as you can afford it.

[/ QUOTE ]

That all very well, but Anuity rates have gone through the floor - my attempt to take mine has been abandoned as it has halved since last october. Thisis nothing to do with the fund, which has actually increased since then, but entirely related to the Gilt Yield Index which reflect the governments borrowing rate. Thanks Gordon for [--word removed--] up my retirement!!!! - Its back to work for me......
 
[ QUOTE ]
It's never too late as long as you have your health. It's never too early as long as you can afford it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can't better that.

I do wonder how many leave too early, compared with those that leave it to late.

Too early means you have to give it up and recharge the coffers; too late means you never do it at all.

We are all, as they say, a long time dead!
 
You've got your health, for now, go enjoy while you still can.

You never know what the future will bring.
 
It is now 40 years since we became liveaboards in Malta, but we still are onboard tonight in a gale in Spain, although we are on land for half the year. Much has changed in that time, as now you tend to sit in a marina amongst empty boats, whereas in the past we had moored alongside and shared hospitality with characters such as Anthony Quinn, Peter Ustinov, Liz Taylor, Jean Michele Jarre and many others who would now be called celebrities.

I would say to go as soon as possible, before even the more remote places become boring.

You only have the one life.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's never too late as long as you have your health. It's never too early as long as you can afford it.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is what is called "Timing" and that is a close second to "Hindsight" !

If we only knew............ To expire just as we ran out of money and health................ /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

.........................................
 
I can't comment on the financial aspect of your question, but I've been live-a-board cruising for 10 years plus now. I'm glad I made the decision when I did. I'm nearly 65, and even with all the little "tricks of the trade" I've learned and been taught by other cruising folk life can still be strenuous at times. When it's blowing hard or what I thought should be a good anchorage turns out to be anything but, I sometimes feel 95!!
Wouldn't change the lifestyle for all the tea in China though, happy and contented if a little knackered at times. Just don't leave it until a Sunday trip to the garden centre is your weeks highlight./forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Absolutely agree with all of the above. We are young liveaboards (26 and 27) and only have 18 months of this lifestyle before we have to stop in Oz to recharge the bank balance. However, I would say go as soon as you can afford to do it. We are having the time of our lives. Most of the other cruisers we have met have been mid forties to late sixties, and we certainly are classed as the 'kids' by most!!

LadyinBed certainly has a good boat for the job /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif so my vote would be to go as soon as you can!

Good luck

Jonny
 
I agree with the other sentiments, on this. Although not having done it myself, I have friends who have. I think its important to remember that's not a one way ticket, you can choose to come back, or may even be forced back by ill health.

My friends lived aboard for over 5 years until health issues became too dominant - came back by plane and shipped the boat back. Now living back in the UK, but at least they have been there, done it, and got the T-shirts.

If you've not been before, might be worth a cheap holiday by plane to see what it is like for yourself before you go to all the effort of sailing there.
 
Hi all,
Have to concur with the sentiments expressed,and advise expand the time off period to say 3 months, leaving some lifebelts onshore.then after say 3 seasons doing this , consider how well your affairs onshore have survived these periods.Sort of half and half approach belt and braces.If possible hive off a small portion of your house as a sort of own door bedsit (garage conversion?) or two room apartment to be at your disposal if you discover that earth is not big enough to fulfill your entire retirement.IRELAND WON against France today so I'm under the influence of elation and endorphins etc!I've roofed over the cowshed temporarily and I'm sleeping there whilst the builders make dubious improvements to the small lodge we hope to have for our foot on the land or "pied a terre" When I re-read this contribution before posting, I will think kindly of "Trouville" and his style of writing, and may after another cup of Goats do Roam try to fill the void in our forum left by the absence of his warmly stilted style of franglais or however one would best describe his humorous style of penmanship.Good wintering to all esp those onboard. In Dublin it has been really cold with solid ice everywhere, but the sun was kind today and warmed portions of the land within its scope to reveal some of our more accustomed surfaces like mud and the occasional roadway!
 
Wonder where the crazy Frenchman is now? I met a younger version of him in Portugal, said he was bound for Matadi on the Congo River, West Africa. "You're crazy I said, there's famine on one bank and civil war on the other" He shrugged and said, "Zen I sail up ze middle.".. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
"see what it is like for yourself"
Yes, I have had a bit of a shufty around, 3 months in Anguilla, 2 months in Belize, a month in Bermuda (all at government expense), and a Cruise down as far as Panama.
So I keep getting a hankering to revisit the white beaches, dive the Cays and of course, re-sample the rum /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
They were the good bits, I leave a haze over the bad bits.
 
Ah OK I ddnt know that you'd been before.

[ QUOTE ]
They were the good bits, I leave a haze over the bad bits.

[/ QUOTE ]I know exactly what you mean, having spent 3 years in Bermuda and 5 years in Grand Cayman, I was desperate to leave. SWMBO reminds me of this when I say we should go back because of all the good times..... and she is a Bermudian!
 
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