No sailing experience but wanting to buy a 41ft morgan out island as a liveaboard

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Golly...I wonder why he left?

Probably tired of beach cat stories LOL

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Time for a beach cat story and video I bet

Can I call it or not

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Probably tired of beach cat stories LOL

There are never enough Beach Cat stories.

Here's one about how hard it can sometimes be just to get your beach cat off the beach.

Btw many of these guys (and gals) were from Pensacola/Ft Walton Beach and were a big part of the racing scene there when I was active in beach cat racing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyFMTh1K7E8

[thomm225]

But when not racing, just cruising around on a beach cat in nice weather can also be lots of fun and a decent workout

The water in the video looks very similar to what we sailed in off Pensacola, Ft Walton Beach, Destin, and Panama City, FL

On a good day, you can reach speeds of near 26 knots on a Hobie 16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIZhNviIar4

[boatpoker]

The OP probably found a beach cat forum. He won't be back here

[thomm225]

Btw, hope you noticed the wind indicator on my old Nacra 17.

It's just below eye level forward on the forestay where it splits. (red)

In photo, tell tales, wind indicator, mast rotation all look pretty good. Both boards all the way down.

Not sure why monohull guys like them at the top of the mast.

For cruising / sailing my Good Old Boat now though I don't need a wind indicator.

My skin tells me wind direction close enough since I'm not racing then my tell tales and the feel of the boat tell me the rest

It's a bit harder with winds 18-21 knots like in the other photo in the middle of Pensacola Bay

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

The OP probably found a beach cat forum. He won't be back here

He will probably be confused if they discuss cruising by people who really cruise, or people living on a boat who have acturally done it.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

He will probably be confused if they discuss cruising by people who really cruise, or people living on a boat who have acturally done it.

Well the way I see it, since I have spent around 250-300 days at anchor over the past 12 years on this Good Old Boat I bought for $2,000, I believe that gives me a pretty good idea about the cruising life.

Also what I observed of cruisers in Florida from 1995 - 2008 when out sailing or racing.

Plus dealing with my boats and large yachts coming in and out of Onancock Creek from 1967 to about 1982. And seaside as well

I wasn't like you sailorboy and waited until I was in my 50's to be on the water a lot.

I started at around 7-10 years old and first boat at 16 of my own. Bought in Wachapreague, VA

That's what happens when you grow up about 4 miles from the Atlantic Ocean and about the same from the Chesapeake Bay.

It also allows you to get a decent cruising boat for $2,000-$10,000 instead of paying the $50,000-$100,000 plus some of you older beginners pay for your cruising boats. Not your fault but .....because you're beginners.

At Onancock High School, we could smell the tide in class. Half the boys in my class worked for their Dad's on the water crabbing, oysters, fishing

There was no A/C at our school so the windows were open a lot when it wasn't too cold

Lots of the kids on my Little League Team were from Wachapreague. That's on the seaside. Our games were on Bayside though in Onancock.

Wachapreague Inlet also in photos below. That was also a good fishing spot

https://www.experienceonancock.com/

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Well the way I see it, since I have spent around 250-300 days at anchor over the past 12 years on this Good Old Boat I bought for $2,000, I believe that gives me a pretty good idea about the cruising life.

sad you can not understand how wrong you are

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

sad you can not understand how wrong you are

You are out of arguments and backed into a corner.

I can cruise on my sailboat when I want, stay at my apartment, or go to my house in the country.

I have been lucky.

All you have is your boat so you are limited in your responses.

I'll stop now as all you can do is repeat your cruising/mooring stories. (or lack thereof)

Plus I need to load up to go over and put together a backstay with those Sta-Lok fittings I recently received. Should be interesting.

[sailorboy1]

poor me top know what I am writing about

you are like one of those "I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express" commercials

[Jim Cate]

I'll stop now as all you can do is repeat your cruising/mooring stories. (or lack thereof)

thomm, did you mean to post this in the joke thread? I could move it for you...

Jim

[jsizemore76]

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate it. Unfortunately right after i posted this the boat was bought. I am still looking though.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

thomm, did you mean to post this in the joke thread? I could move it for you...

Jim

No.

All he can do is repeat the same old worn out arguments. Then mention beach cats which is fun since I then get to reminisce.

But you have to live in the right area to be able to do that even when it was popular which it isn't today.

Racing beach cats is physically hard to do, so that is part of it's decline but mainly it was the influx of money I think into the coastal areas.

We launch off the beaches but if you cannot get to the beach due to barriers or buildings like high rise condos it makes it hard.

I could see that coming as early as 2005/2006 when I switched from sailing to cycling with the racers and triathletes and running. (I sold both my Nacra 6.0 and Nacra 17 in 2006. I sold both Hobie 16's a few years earlier)

Then when I got back up here it was different. I was back home where the wind, waves, and tides are much stronger/larger than along the Gulf Coast most of the time.

So it was cycling for a while then I was pulled back to wanting to sail the Bay and the Atlantic Ocean or fish them

I just had to decide between a new 18' - 20' Key West or a monohull sailboat of some sort.

So for various reasons I went with the sailboat and probably should have bought a J/30 but stumbled upon this old Bristol 27 at a small boatyard near home.

No for sale sign on it but due to all the grass and weeds growing around it, I thought maybe. Plus by then I was on this site and Atomvoyages.com. The boat was on his cruising boat list over there at Atomvoyages as well as the Mahina Offshore Boat list.

So I asked about it. PO had passed and the son wanted $2,000 for it so here I am. He lived in California. Dad, the PO, was from Massachusetts.

Old Photo of B27 with Falmouth MA still on the stern was 2014 but I bought it 75 miles North in 2011.

Other photos of it after I did more upgrades including paint and new dodger was 2019. I'd probably put another $7,000 into it by then

I brought it back to life slowly.

Now I have to decide the next step.

I have seen the cruisers lifestyle and it's effects on people in that slower style of life. So I will either slow down enough to be able to enjoy it or continue to sail the Bay and Atlantic Ocean locally then get a small 14' - 16' Jon Boat to use for fishing and exploring the barrier islands on the seaside.

And possibly if I can adjust sail down and around Florida when I retire and back up to Pensacola/Ft Walton Beach area then slowly cover the distances I did back in the day on beach cats.

Might be fun to do in the relative comfort of a monohull that is in the right season maybe early Spring

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by jsizemore76

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate it. Unfortunately right after i posted this the boat was bought. I am still looking though.

Thanks for the update. Guessing you were stunned to see such a long thread develop.

The naysayers are not wrong despite sounding a bit condescending. But you know what? No one started with all the answers. We all made mistakes along the way - some major ones. I know I did. I am constantly reminded of the proverb of the ant climbing a tree - he knows not what branch he will ultimately land upon, but he will ascend the tree.

What you seek to do is a high-risk/high-reward lifestyle change. Chances of failure are greater than success. But for some who make it through, its a fulfilling endeavor. It's an old saying, but in old age, you will feel more regret for the things you didn't do than the things you did.

Best success in whatever you decide to do.