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Me-and-Boo · 14-11-2014, 02:02

Never planned to circumnavigate, so that is a nothing to check off the list. Never planned to cruise for weeks at a time. So that is another to check off the list.
Planned to buy a boat to live on. Still a possibility.

Having my own boat and enjoying life around the Chesapeake Bay is what I wanted, and that is what I have. My boat is my relaxation, in spite of all the crawling around on the sole trying to work on the engine or getting the bilge pump switch to work. Sitting in the cockpit on a beautiful day does more for health and happiness than anything else available.

gbgreen59 · 14-11-2014, 06:12

I have been a lurker on Sailing Forums for a year now. Have grand plans for sailing to foreign lands and seeing things I've only dreamed about since high school. During the past year, I've bought a 30 year old boat, started going through all the subsystems, sailed it all summer, have a list of maintenance and updates to complete before casting off for good.

I am really thankful for this thread taking off the way it has. Many people have popped up with grand plans for sailing. Not all are the same, but the love of being on the water full time and caring for the boat is a common theme. The CruisersForum and other sailing forums are more than helpful for new sailors to get familiar with the deeper parts of sailing. Lurking is such a great way to get to know many sides of sailing...such good discussions.

New sailors with big plans are often disregarded by some in the community. However, past experience has shown that many new sailors drop out for various reasons. It has been encouraging to see so many (now 50 pages) new sailors speak in this thread. It seems that we are out there trying to catch up with the status quo (I mean that in a good way). It is a long road, but for me it is worth travelling. My goal is to be a sailor with a safe boat, with well trimmed sails, and enjoy the sailing community. I had no clue a year back, and now I've got enough of a clue to be very dangerous.....

Now back to lurking.

Sir Rondo Normal · 18-11-2014, 06:12

I was just going to post an update to our progress because I have been quite silent on CF for a while now.
So here, in as small a nutshell as possible, is what we've been up to.
I joined the Cruiser's Forum here in the summer of 2011, when we started looking for a boat.
We bought a neglected, experienced boat very early in 2012, moved aboard and started asking questions here and working at the loooong prioritized list.
December 2013: Disappointed at the pace of the refit, we moved ashore and north to make more money.
April 2014: Came back to the boat, lived aboard on the hard until the end of June. Got a massive amount of work done.
June 2014: During stepping of the mast, the rigger screwed up and dented our mast. Thank god for insurance.
July 2014: Returned north to work.
November 13, 2014: Stepped new mast
Now we are back up north for the winter. We will return in April with a much shorter list of projects for 2015. We will again take April to June off work but this time we will be sailing the PNW while taking care of the list of To Do's.
All in all, things are going good. We really miss the boat when we are not there but we are now one year ahead of schedule.
We plan to depart for warmer climes in the fall of 2016 now, rather than 2017.
[edit]: I would like to add a thank-you to all those who have been so generous with their advise over the past few years. There have been many very valuable contributions made to our project from this community and I am happy to be associated with you sailors.
I know that answering what are quite often the same old questions for newbies can get tiresome and tedious but those of you who endure and give your knowledge and experience freely to the less knowledgeable certainly shine brighter for it.

ScottMeilicke · 18-11-2014, 06:28

I have been lurking for a few years. Those years started with me asking my wife if she wanted to sell the house and go sailing with the two kids and two dogs. It took her all of 0.5 seconds to say - "Ah, no." Fast forward 3-4 years, and it was her this weekend pushing me to go look at another boat to live aboard.

Even though we are still in our same house, with approximately the same amount of crap, the journey that our attitudes and minds have taken has been long, eye opening, and exciting. We use about ⅓ of our house, down to one car, and the kids are excited. This Spring we plan on selling the house and buying *the* boat.

In the end I don't really care what happens. Whether we end up living aboard boat, buy a smaller boat and a condo, or stay put (well maybe not this), I am already incredibly thankful for how our thoughts about life and living have changed.

Here's to looking forward to tomorrow!

Group9 · 18-11-2014, 06:46

I'm not a wannabe. I'm a wannadoitagain!

Annie in WA · 18-11-2014, 07:07

Sir Rondo, part of our prep for cruising was attending presentations and classes at the Vancouver, BC chapter of the Bluewater Cruising Association. If you are located anywhere near them when you are North I recommend them. Particularly the course "Psychology of Cruising". We are cruising and my husband and I discuss that course all the time. Good luck to you. Cheers.

4music3 · 18-11-2014, 07:47

Did not read all these posts but...

I have been dreaming of a big boat and big adventures for a long long time.

Finally gave up and bought a 30 foot boat for 7 k .

One way or another I'm going to just go - I do have a plan for a 37 but no matter what other then health I'm going,

Speaking of health that is my main issue and at the same time the thing I know will make me make it happen!

Sir Rondo Normal · 18-11-2014, 08:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Annie in WA

Sir Rondo, part of our prep for cruising was attending presentations and classes at the Vancouver, BC chapter of the Bluewater Cruising Association. If you are located anywhere near them when you are North I recommend them. Particularly the course "Psychology of Cruising". We are cruising and my husband and I discuss that course all the time. Good luck to you. Cheers.

Annie, We were recently talking to a couple down in the Vancouver area who are members and strongly encouraged us to join. I plan to sign up in the new year. We are in Northern BC for the winter now, so would be unable to take advantage of all they have to offer until we go back in the Spring. Nice to have another recommendation, thanks very much

Njordr · 26-11-2014, 19:39

What happens to all the wannabees?

A million answers for such a question, here's mine.

One day I was working on a boat in a marina and the neighboring boat from us was a million dollar sailboat. Sitting in the cockpit the owner was having lunch when a young man came up to him looking for conversation about boats. The young guy I could tell didnt know much about boats, but you can see in his eyes that he wanted to learn and do.

The appearance of the young man didnt fit the yacht club look, it actually looked like the young guy was poor. So the neighbor looked this young man up and down for a second and the asked what he wanted in a sort of a rude way. The young man asked a few questions, just to get cut off quickly by the rude boat owner, with a little shock on his face we walked off the dock.

The next day I was heading back to the boat I was working on and I saw the young guy walking by and I hailed him to see what his story was. With a huge relief lifted from his discouraged look he remembered seeing me on the same dock the prior day, so I gave him the time of day to ask away and speak his mind. He turned out to be a Canadian from Alberta on summer vacation from college, he was studying criminology and was already hooked up with the RCMP with some junior program. This was his first time seeing the sea. With his adventurous spirit and lack of funds, he hitch-hiked his way across country and wound up in Santa Barbara for a very warm welcome by our fellow sailors!

He explained to me that he experienced the same cold reception as he did in Santa Barbara on a number of forums because others can see he was not part of the community and didnt know the jargon.
I spoke with him for a few hours and showed him around the boat I was working on. I told him to come by the next day to join me on a shake-down sail around the Channel Islands.
Once the day was over I could see he was hooked.
We swapped emails, and he went on his way.

So the moral of the story is that allot of sailors out there are too damn picky, clannish, up-tight, and base allot of their acquaintances on how much money one has. No wonder the sailing world is getting smaller and less wannabees are being born.

Five years have passed and the “young man” went to become a RCMP officer sailing with the Canadian Coast Guard as an enforcement officer. So if you up-tight yachtistas sail to west coast Canada to enjoy the Inside Passage and find yourself getting boarded in front of a cold and rude RCMP officer, well now you know why!

**Jim Cate** · 26-11-2014, 20:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sir Rondo Normal

Annie, We were recently talking to a couple down in the Vancouver area who are members and strongly encouraged us to join. I plan to sign up in the new year. We are in Northern BC for the winter now, so would be unable to take advantage of all they have to offer until we go back in the Spring. Nice to have another recommendation, thanks very much

Sir R, your next priority should be a crash course in navigation, for most sailors in your hemisphere head SOUTH for the winter!

But seriously, you sound as if you have made significant progress along your path. The light at the tunnel's end should be getting brighter, even up there in the dark of winter.

Hang in there, better times are coming.

Jim

impi · 26-11-2014, 20:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Njordr

What happens to all the wannabees?

A million answers for such a question, here's mine.

One day I was working on a boat in a marina and the neighboring boat from us was a million dollar sailboat. Sitting in the cockpit the owner was having lunch when a young man came up to him looking for conversation about boats. The young guy I could tell didnt know much about boats, but you can see in his eyes that he wanted to learn and do.

The appearance of the young man didnt fit the yacht club look, it actually looked like the young guy was poor. So the neighbor looked this young man up and down for a second and the asked what he wanted in a sort of a rude way. The young man asked a few questions, just to get cut off quickly by the rude boat owner, with a little shock on his face we walked off the dock.

The next day I was heading back to the boat I was working on and I saw the young guy walking by and I hailed him to see what his story was. With a huge relief lifted from his discouraged look he remembered seeing me on the same dock the prior day, so I gave him the time of day to ask away and speak his mind. He turned out to be a Canadian from Alberta on summer vacation from college, he was studying criminology and was already hooked up with the RCMP with some junior program. This was his first time seeing the sea. With his adventurous spirit and lack of funds, he hitch-hiked his way across country and wound up in Santa Barbara for a very warm welcome by our fellow sailors!

He explained to me that he experienced the same cold reception as he did in Santa Barbara on a number of forums because others can see he was not part of the community and didnt know the jargon.
I spoke with him for a few hours and showed him around the boat I was working on. I told him to come by the next day to join me on a shake-down sail around the Channel Islands.
Once the day was over I could see he was hooked.
We swapped emails, and he went on his way.

So the moral of the story is that allot of sailors out there are too damn picky, clannish, up-tight, and base allot of their acquaintances on how much money one has. No wonder the sailing world is getting smaller and less wannabees are being born.

Five years have passed and the “young man” went to become a RCMP officer sailing with the Canadian Coast Guard as an enforcement officer. So if you up-tight yachtistas sail to west coast Canada to enjoy the Inside Passage and find yourself getting boarded in front of a cold and rude RCMP officer, well now you know why!

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING LESSON here ... have to agree 100% with this story ... the wheel is round and it turns! Rude, arrogant, puffed up and smug sailors cause all sorts of issues for our sailing community on the downside of that wheel ... and then we wonder why we are treated poorly sometimes!

Nice share!

sageofsalem · 26-11-2014, 23:55

I've had to take off 2 years to push Cancer down (and hopefully out) of my body. Having kept up maintenance by close relationship to expert expats in the Rio Dulce on my Cape Horn& World Circumnavigated Morgan 462 ketch, I am now setting forth, with my highly experienced and fun friend/crew Dusty to take a little trip out the down the Rio Dulce through the canyon past the Sapodillas through the Honduran archipelago (past Utilla, Roatan and Guanaco) around the corner through the shoals for a straight shot to Bocas del Toro for a week then over to San Andres thence Providencia for some peace and quiet. From Providencia my Zarpe will be to Livingston, Izabal Guatemala. Lot's of offshore day and night nonstop all-weather cruising.

I could use two "wannabes" with the "right stuff" and some nautical experience who are at least able to stand an alert four to six hour watch (or more) and remember and follow directions. I will ask my World delivery skipper friend to "vet" any likely applicants. Moderate drinking allowed (absolutely no alcoholics) and zero tolerance for drugs. I will pay port authorities to have a "dog" inspection on departure. (After just paying this thing off, I WILL NOT lose it to stupidity. (what you do ashore is entirely your own business)

I can pay half your ticket to the boat and send a letter allowing you to purchase a one way fare, if you may decide to leave the boat in Panama (please notify of intentions). All meals are supplied, gourmet as I have massive frozen storage, 6.7KW genset, solar and wind.
generator, micro, new Force Ten and gas grill on poopdeck.

I am doing this because of NJORDR's post and would love it if his B.C. Coast Guard buddy would send some wannabes. For them, I would give a full ride here and back home again.
We're talking 4 to 6 weeks of sailing and tourism here Feb through Mid March starting from arrival in either Guatemala City or San Pedro Sula, Honduras with me meeting you and accompanying you to the boat (unless you speak Spanish, in which case you will receive directions and have hotel and Bus tickets paid and waiting on your arrival. Cab is on you-cheap.
S/VSageofSalem
Bill
alias: "Menos S. Mas"

Njordr · 27-11-2014, 00:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by sageofsalem

I am doing this because of NJORDR's post and would love it if his B.C. Coast Guard buddy would send some wannabes.

I dont know any Wannbees right now, they are getting rare! But if I do come across one, I will point him in your direction.

Good Luck and Fair Winds to you!