Push me over the edge

[Chris Cringle]

GO NOW! The cruising life-style is disappearing faster than a lilikoi shave-ice dropped on a Waikiki sidewalk. If you wait five years you won't be able to go at all.

[TrentePieds]

Chris Cringlle sez: "If you wait five years you won't be able to go at all."

And I ask: "Why would that be, then??"

TrentePIeds

[KRK-8]

This is my motto: Time rarely is your friend. Don't wait for when "the time is right" because there rarely is a "right time." I have this hanging in my boat. Fair winds!

[TedCG1]

Right now, you are solvent, you are healthy, and your SO is onboard with you. In "x" years, all of those factors may or may not be true. Mistakes can be dealt with, regrets last forever.

[Auklet]

Well, one can always regret a serious mistake, the consequences of which last forever. So, you get the double whammy there.

[sailingchiro]

We are in the same ballpark. 53 and 50. We are leaving in January. We have 20 rental houses and keeping our main house to rent. We also have a couple of businesses that we run. I will come back each month for the first week for business stuff.

In the 50s we are in the gap years of kids are moving out, parents are doing well, and no grand children. If we don't do it now, it will get harder. We have enough active income but now are moving to all passive income.

Keep your house due to inflation. Rent it out for income. If you need to mortgage your boat, have your house rent pay the boat (after 4 years the boat is paid and you still have the house). Inflation for your house could actually pay for the boat or if it doesn't work out (wife doesn't like it) you have a house.

[Celestialsailor]

I retired when I was 63 and went sailing for a few years in Mexico. I have always kept the real estate and rented it out. I took a hiatus for a few years after sailing around and bought and sold a few more houses. We are on a small fixer ranch now and bought back in to the boat market. I think my savings are a fraction of yours but we get by. But only because we are resourceful. I know as I approach my later 60's, I am slowing down a bit. So I am of the camp to go as soon as you can.

You can always reconnect to the working world if you have to. I have a few times.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Chris Cringle

GO NOW! The cruising life-style is disappearing faster than a lilikoi shave-ice dropped on a Waikiki sidewalk. If you wait five years you won't be able to go at all.

I agree , don’t keep waiting fir the perfect conjunction of situations , if you CAN do it now , DO it now.

The key is a personal evaluation of what “ CAN “ means to you.

We’ve have always tightened our budgets , bought cheaper ( smaller )boats to suit our available budgets and tried to go NOW


I agree that trying to replicate peak earnings after a break is difficult. But it’s not difficult to make some money to recharge the kitty. The key is not to be carrying debt.

[OldManMirage]

You are so blessed. I f I were in your shoes I would be scouring the classifieds for a good boat that someone else made ready to go and couldn't. I would hop on and go.

Go ! Go now !

[thomm225]

Since you plan to be in NC or on the Chesapeake Bay in Summers anyway, you might want to check the job listings.

You maybe could find a job in your field somewhere on the Bay between here and Annapolis, MD.

If you moved here, you could find a boat, get it the way you want and sail a few years (or months) until you are ready to go full time.

The Bay is over 150 miles long by 30 miles wide in places with tons of good spots to anchor and lots of marinas.

It's a great place to perfect your sailing skills before full retirement and you can also sail the Atlantic if you want to get the feel of that even though here on the Southern part you get the ocean waves at times anyway.

I'm 65 and Bay sailing can give you a workout depending on boat size and the way you sail. I tend to stand the entire time I sail so when I zigzagged East to West to Southeast after sailing Northwest it was quite the workout during my 4 day cruise a couple weeks back.

The breeze got up a bit which helped during each day's sail. I'm coming back in here from Mobjack Bay trying to stay near land (West side) for a little protection. I started out at around 6-6:30 am and there were a couple other boats headed out also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRzpei2hZf8

[fred4936]

My wife and I, 64 and 60, are trying to push things up. We bought the boat two years sooner than planned, glad we did! The real estate market now is such that we working on leaving next year instead of 2023. In my case, I hear the clock ticking. It will take time to get any boat ready for what you want. I would vote for "Go for it".

[argonauta1]

We went at age 57 and circumnavigated by 68. Keep some real-estate! We sold the condo and kept the cottage. That meant we had a place to live in rather than in someone's basement. We always ended up flying back every couple of years for a myriad reasons mostly to do with renewing things like driver licenses and ???

[mcon12000]

Go now keep the house and buy a more affordable boat that doesn’t require the elimination of another asset.

Two or whatever years from now you can upgrade to a different boat far more confidently thanks to the knowledge you gained via the less risky first boat.

I don’t care what anyone tells you.. New or old, $50k or $500k they all need tens of thousands of work and upgrades.

[VickiW]

Choose a departure date and make it happen! Even if it’s 2 years from now it gives you a target to works towards so you make active steps to go cruising. Without a concrete goal it’s hard to make it happen as it continues to be an idea, not a goal. We just started cruising full time 3.5 weeks ago at age 41 with no bluewater experience, but after training and some encouragement from Elsa we have traveled over 800 miles offshore and have gained so much experience and already seen more parts of the east coast of the US I thought I would ever see! Agreed with previous comments to keep real estate if you can and keep in mind there will be significant expenses at the beginning you perhaps are not prepared for (our insurance required 50 hours captain training costing $5k, for example, and Moorage in Fort Lauderdale is ridiculously expensive) ☺️

[redhead]

We bought and moved aboard in 2014. We rented the house because we were 60 and just didn't want to close the door to anything, in case it didn't work out. We have less income, but the house is in the NY area, so we were pretty sure it would appreciate.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the budget for living aboard. I've found (at least here in the PNW) that the more we keep moving the less it costs. The marina bills, the restaurants, transportation (we actually bought a car because we were refurbishing the boat) all cost. When we're moving, our expenses are fuel and food with a marina once a week and a restaurant.

If your chosen lifestyle involves marinas and restaurants it'll cost more than hanging on the hook and BBQ'ing. No judgements, just an observation.

Don't wait too long though, I never met anyone who said the wished they'd waited longer. And good luck!