So.... You want to cruise on a sailboat

[Afrinus]

Then I hope SB put some money aside this month for dealing with the headache...
One of the most serious hangovers ever came from a glass ( actually quite a few) of port....[emoji23].[emoji15]

Originally Posted by EarlWer

No, it's Port

[Woodstock]

"To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen, who play with their boats at sea — "cruising," it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

Book I : Man at Bay, Ch. 5
"I’ve always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can’t afford it."

What these men can’t afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine — and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need — really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in — and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all — in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.
Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?

What follows is not a blueprint for the man entombed; not many people find themselves in a situation paying a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year (as if any man is worth that much). But the struggle is relative: it's a lot hard to walk away from an income like that than from a fraction thereof."

...by Sterling Hayden (March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) Sterling Hayden was an American actor, writer and seaman. During World War II he served allied forces as OSS agent John Hamilton in Italy, with duties that included sailing with supplies to Yugoslav partisans and parachuting into fascist Croatia

[ArtyB]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

So you got the fantasy to drop out and going cruising on a sailboat. So you buy some magazines and fall deeper in love with swimming in clear water, catching your own fish, sundowners to pretty sunsets, cruiser bonfire parties, and the good life. Then you buy some “how to pick and boat” old books and start threads based on those in sailing forums and finally just ignore the replies because after all you have a book. Over time you even get some “how to sail books” and decide it is easy (it is, ........mostly, well kind of). Your are hooked and really to live the high life of boat life, all for $1,200/mo or $500/mo when the fish are biting.

Now, .......................... Are you ready for the truth?

Some people should quit their jobs and become motivational speakers.

No matter what you are doing, where you are doing it, or who is with you when you are doing it, life is full of ****.

**** can be a fertilizer, and fertilizer makes things grow.

And all that jazz.

Pass performance is not indicative of future success, OR failure.

Just because someone F'ed something up royally doesnt mean you will.

Just saying...

[Captain Graham]

In general many people have a dream and when they make the dream a reality they get disappointed.

You see this with many people who retire.
People move to a golf community and after 6 months they are sick of playing golf.
Sailing is the same thing.

[NedX]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Dom Perignon stories

One of the truths is most of us sailboat cruisers don't have that.

A $10 bottle of prosecco does the same thing, non?

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by NedX

A $10 bottle of prosecco does the same thing, non?

Or sparkling wine.

Prosecco mixed 3:2 with Aperol is a wonderful summer afternoon drink.

[Pegu Club]

Yah, my sailing dream didn’t include having my lower back go into spasm after putting the outboard onto the dinghy, and leaving me a pathetic mess for the last three days, I was thinking along the lines of bikini clad lovelies and cocktails 🍹, but noooo, I had to find out my body would take revenge on me for my activities when I was a young man... youth is wasted on the young, and the cocktails are now medicinal...

Fair winds,

[a64pilot]

Unhappy people will be unhappy, even with Mega Yachts, servants and several houses in the hot spots of the world.

Happy people will be happy living in an old crappy van.

Whether your in a boat or not won’t matter much, you can’t buy happiness.

I’ve learned though that I desire a varied lifestyle, and I wasn’t getting that living in a Marina, even in Jacksonville which has a lot to offer.
So we bought a house and unfortunately have put the boat up for sale.
However I believe that thankfully we are nearing the end of the Covid thing, which is what had us living in a Marina.
Besides the knees have deteriorated so that now 100 yds is about all I can manage, and cruising is all about walking, or at least you decide that when walking becomes difficult.

I assume after having both replaced it will take maybe a year for full recovery?

[dfelsent]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Unhappy people will be unhappy, even with Mega Yachts, servants and several houses in the hot spots of the world.

Happy people will be happy living in an old crappy van.

Whether your in a boat or not won’t matter much, you can’t buy happiness.

I’ve learned though that I desire a varied lifestyle, and I wasn’t getting that living in a Marina, even in Jacksonville which has a lot to offer.
So we bought a house and unfortunately have put the boat up for sale.
However I believe that thankfully we are nearing the end of the Covid thing, which is what had us living in a Marina.
Besides the knees have deteriorated so that now 100 yds is about all I can manage, and cruising is all about walking, or at least you decide that when walking becomes difficult.

I assume after having both replaced it will take maybe a year for full recovery?

I agree with the happy/unhappy bit. I’m sorry to hear about your knee troubles. I’ve enjoyed reading about your adventures and will continue to enjoy them.

[Tayana42]

a64pilot, I had my total knee replacement done when I could no longer safely move about onboard. I had avoided doing the surgery for years by progressively giving up activities I used to enjoy like running, sliding seat rowing, hiking and even bicycling, but when I couldn’t sail it was time to do something about it. I thought I needed both knees done but the orthopaedic surgeon advised to do one at a time. I jokingly asked if he could put in longer inserts and make me a few inches taller. He responded with a straight face and said, “not the first knee but maybe the second.” My wife thought that would make handling the heel on deck easier but only on one tack. So I had the left knee, the worst one, replaced. Recovery depends on how consistent you are with the physical therapy. In my case it took a few months to get back to reasonable functionality. A year and a half later I could do anything I wanted to do, even run a little. I’m back to biking, rowing and, most importantly for me, sailing. I still have trouble doing quick changes of direction, so no basketball or soccer. After the first knee was fully rehabilitated I found the other knee didn’t need replacement. So I never got that extra few inches.[emoji6]

[sailorboy1]

So .............

Haven't been off the boat in 2 days
Getting tired of listening to the wind howl
Boat next to me doesn't any anyone on it, so of course the halyards bang
Need to take trash in, that will be a wet ride
Am out of wine
Left forward hatch open the other night, now things are wet
Cockpit speakers aren't working and i can not figure out why
Need to scrape the boat bottom, again
Where dos this dirt come from

Hey it is just like in the magazines. But the dream of moving along to new places to see never leaves your thoughts.

[wildebeest3]

Been there, done that. Did the cruising thing in my thirties, on our own boat. We did not want to start sailing in our late fifties just when health issues tend to surface.

What does a neophyte cruiser expect? Perfection... Happiness? What does a person living in a house expect? The same, or do we adjust our outlook to the view of 'Accepting What Comes Along'?

After eight years of wishing, planning and finally cruising, we discovered that cruising life was sort of like a career in aviation; Hours of monotony broken up with minutes of fear. Nine months of crossing an ocean with only three or four days of actual bad weather and arriving at our destination broke and in need of repairs.

It was life changing and we would do it again in a second!

Your mileage may vary.

[Lasivian]

I am in that situation.

I have never sailed, but I’m familiar with boats. I’ve never left the United States, but I have my passport ready. I’ve never fixed a boat, but I’m an engineer.

I figure I will need an old, slow, cheap Bluewater boat which will take a lot of effort and a reasonable amount of money to get to what I want it to be.

I figure my budget will be around $2000 a month, but that has the potential to vary.

I’m confident in my abilities, my ability to learn new things, my social skills, and my repair skills. But I know mistakes are part of life, and they usually happen when you’re overconfident.

I figure most of my time will be spent fixing things, working, or entertaining myself. With moments of sheer panic interspersed.

I think it’s unlikely that I will find a partner to sail with.

I figure most of the world will try to tell me what I can’t do and why I can’t do it.

And that’s life. 🤷🏼*♂️

[clakiep]

I did my ocean cruising from about 1973 to 1988, Brasil to Greece and back, Rio to South Africa, and lots of cruising the brazilian coast. Important was a sturdy and simmple boat and good company. No refrigerator, no electronics or sophisticated electrical or hydraulic systems. And it was cheap for the lack of infrastructure, which was the same local fishermen used. Just no opportunity to spend money besides diesel, local markets and restaurants and bars. As it has become a business it must feed a lot of people in the trade.

Capt. Claus - ocean tramp of the eighties

[CaptCorn]

That glass looks only half full of rum needed to try to deal with the 24/7 stress that no one has mentioned.