Cruising start at 55 or 56

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

One of my unstated goals in going cruising was to never even see snow at a distance. We've done pretty well at that, but have a few fails here in Tassie, where we get the occasional snow on Mt Wellington even in summer, and with the clear air here, you can see it from a long way off! Of course, a couple of weeks ago we had a brief hailstorm down in Port Cygnet... and that was mid January (summer here).

So, I have great sympathy with y'all there in the NE... sounds ghastly!

Hope it ends soon (and that summer finally arrives down here!).

Jim

Funny how we all look at some things so differently but other things so similarly. One of my fears is that once I move aboard full time and head south, I'll miss the snow. We plan to keep the house and not rent it or anything, so we can return for a visit whenever we want to. Yes, the Maine summer will be a tempting thing to visit, especially on the lake, but the Maine winter is also something I enjoy too. Since I live here, I have all the right clothing, etc. and once I get out in the weather I really enjoy it. Yesterday morning I really enjoyed my hour on the tractor snowblowing out my yard and then driving half a mile in my pickup to clear out my mothers walkways, all in cold, blowing snow. Temps were in the teens but I actually felt a little warm and was surprised to see my ice encrusted eyebrows when I got back in my truck and glimpsed myself in the mirror. She's 85 but had already been out working on it and planned to continue until her deck was cleared of 2'+ of snow after I had to leave to get ready to go to work. She was very appreciative of my help but was also enjoying doing it herself. There's something beautiful about gliding through the silent forest on cross country skis but I also love the experience of covering lots of ground on my snowmobile where I can go 30 miles from any civilization for a picnic lunch and be back in my bed by nightfall and the feeling of coziness inside when a blizzard rages outside. But then I love living aboard the boat in shorts and a t shirt for months on end too. Sure, I'm not looking forward to later today when I arrive back home and walk to my frozen pickup truck in the airport parking lot but 5 minutes later I'll be toasty warm and any momentary discomfort forgotten so I certainly don't dread it either. I guess I've gradually, subconsciously embraced the idea that my happiness has little to do with where I am or even what particular activities I'm doing. For a long time, I was a Make A Wish wish grantor and worked with all sort of kids with life threatening conditions and noticed that they are some of the happiest people I was associating with in my life. One family I began working with in early January had had to cancel ANY Christmas giving and the 14 year old boy with a brain tumor that came back and killed him 4 months later was absolutely THRILLED when I gave him a baseball hat and insulated mug with the Make A Wish logo on it. He acted like he thought he was the luckiest kid in the world after receiving a gift that most kids that age wouldn't even bother to acknowledge. I felt like crying. He was that happy all the time and his wish was to attend a NASCAR race and meet one particular driver. He died before we could fulfill his wish, but he spent what time he had being happy about today and also looking forward to tomorrow even though he knew he wouldn't have too many of them. Is it important that he never actually attended his race? I don't think it was because he "pre-lived" it many times over in his mind and that was part of what made him happy, noticeably happier than almost any of us.

I really do think the cruising lifestyle is great and I plan to take it up full time or nearly full time someday but I think the OP would be well served by waiting one more year to gain that added financial security so when he does go, he can relax and enjoy it a little more. Unless his job makes him absolutely miserable, one more year isn't long, especially when he has so much to anticipate and KNOWS that 2 years from now he won't be still doing it. Once I'd made the decision to leave, I think a year would FLY by because I'd be happily anticipating my departure and staying busy making all kinds of preparations and learning all I could to prepare myself for the transition. Maybe that last year at work will be the happiest year of your cruising life....One retired friend of mine spent years with his wife preparing a beautiful Baba 35 for a long cruising retirement that hopefully would evolve into a circumnavigtion. They lavished that boat with every conceivable amenity (it really was beautiful!) and did all the work themselves and enjoyed every minute of the whole process. But then, once their cruising life began, the wife found that life aboard aggravated some old back issues so she couldn't enjoy it so their round the world cruise ended in the Bahamas almost before it began. Now they live in Florida and spend their days riding their bicycles on bike paths and paddling their kayaks and I can't imagine a happier couple even though they are "failed" cruisers. So, while I look forward to the cruising lifestyle, whether I actually ever do it won't determine whether I have spent my life happily, Yes, it's a pleasant dream and I have a habit of making my dreams come true, but what does it really matter if something intercedes and I never live that reality?

[a64pilot]

You people that enjoy the cold are nuts

Really, cold=pain

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

You people that enjoy the cold are nuts

Really, cold=pain

I can understand your viewpoint and would probably feel the same if I hadn't been brought up here and become so attached to so many wintertime activities. Don't get me wrong, I love warm weather too and it sure would make things simpler to just live in one climate but I know I can never give winter up entirely, even for an amazing boat in a tropical paradise, well maybe just for a year or two or.... But I'm glad that lots of folks feel just as you do, because I also enjoy the solitude and less stressful lifestyle that's possible in a place that's not too heavily populated. Maybe that's also part of the reason I'm much more attracted to visiting tropical places as a cruiser than as a tourist on a cruise ship or hotel. A quite anchorage is much more my speed.

[thomm225]

When some of you folks actually cruise for a few years in a warm/HOT climate, you will remember how nice the seasons can be especially on a clear, cold night with no wind where you can see all the stars.

We have a fellow at work from Maine whose folks are in the lobster business. His Dad told him that you can always put more clothes on to stay warm, but when it gets really hot, there is a limit to how much you can take off to cool down.

I hiked/ran down to the beach during our last "big?" snow which was about 10". It was low tide and when you got down to the waters edge and looked across the bay, there was no snow in site.

This guy seems to be enjoying the cold and getting in a good workout at the same time:

https://www.google.com/search?q=moun...2F%3B540%3B720

[Kenomac]

I really dislike the cold, but it's facinating how our body is able to adapt to extreme temperatures. I spend lots of time outdoors even during the winters here in New England. Two days ago I left work at night wearing only hospital scrubs, running shoes and a light hooded sweatshirt... No gloves. Went out to my car, it was snowing lightly with maybe a 10 mph wind and brushed the snow off and got in thinking "Its not that bad out tonight." Drove five miles or so before the car warmed up, then looked down at the thermometer on the dashboard.... -18 C, 0 degrees F.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

You people that enjoy the cold are nuts

Really, cold=pain

That's always been my opinion, too.

I lived up north (well, kind of up north, Annapolis) for six years. Those six winters were the most miserable times in my life.

My brother has had a cabin in Alaska for ten or eleven years and keeps trying to get me to come up and stay at it. Even in the summer, they all seem to be kind of bundled up in their pictures.

But, I have a good friend from Wisconsin, who is not happy unless it's below freezing. We worked together in Louisiana and he couldn't wait to get back up north. Different strokes for different folks.

[SwissMocha]

You are all a bunch of sissies

[a64pilot]

I'm a Southern boy, but I've done the Army thing in hot and cold environments, Cold was Hungary, we called Kapsovar Ice Station Zebra for those that remember that movie, and I've been in Kuwait etc. for the Summer.
Personally I deal with Hot better than Cold, but have seen many that are just the opposite, in cold weather I'm often sick feeling, achy, low grade fever etc. After all they do call the ailment a Cold, not a Hot. In warm or hot weather, I may be sweating, but at least I don't have the fever, chills, achy, headache thing going on like I might when I have a "cold".

Did winter testing of the AH-64A in Wisconsin in Feburary with a bunch of guys from Southern Alabama, it didn't feel cold there, there was almost no humidity and you could escape it by coming inside, get in a warm car etc. Cold really sinks in when there is no escaping it.

Never have understood Ice fishing though, fishing is an excuse to drink beer, and in sub zero temps, beer just isn't as appealing?

[SwissMocha]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Never have understood Ice fishing though, fishing is an excuse to drink beer, and in sub zero temps, beer just isn't as appealing?

Yes I agree. Same thing with ice climbing, just no fun, not for me

[goat]

-28C here right now, supposed to get cold this weekend. Still, it's the warmest winter I've seen here.

frozen goat


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[ALAIN97133]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

You people that enjoy the cold are nuts Really, cold=pain

For sale: Cheap, original, sad or funny, excuses to postpone your great departure towards sunny skies & lukewarm waters... Almost new, have been used sparingly. I don't need them anymore & can email them overnight.
Today water temperature: 72° or 22° celsius... Air temperature (In the shade) 75° or 24° celsius, sunny skies, small white clouds heading West... I really don't feel like working I think, I'll buy less useless stuff, just some local food & trade a couple of books with the sailboat next door (Friendly American sailors who escaped from the famous rat race)...

[Mike OReilly]

This is kinda funny. One of my fears is that I might not be able to handle the HOT temperatures as we eventually head south. With cold, you can always put more clothes on, but at some point with hot climates, you run out of clothes to take off .

[goat]

I'm in the same boat, so to speak, as Sailorboy. Earliest departure is July 1st. Each month after that adds $10,000 to the sailing kitty. But this helps, I keep this pinned to my fridge. And never mind what happened to him afterward;


“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. 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 for 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?”

- Sterling Hayden

[a64pilot]

If I could sock away 10K a month to pad the kitty, I'm afraid I'd just have to stay another year or two.
If we delay departure, my wife's retirement that she can't draw until age 60 goes up 2% per yr. I've been drawing my pension for 13 yrs so far and all we are building up is our 401K's. So waiting for us isn't adding that much, just subtracting time is all.

[sailorboy1]

Well then you should go!


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