Any early retirees turned cruisers with big careers have regrets?

[theDangerz]

Originally Posted by thomm225

This is a nice place to anchor and is only about 4 hours from my marina.

As has been described countless times to you by many members Thomm - this thread is (was intended to be) about early retirement and cruising offshore as described by the OP.

PLEEEEEEEEASE stop using this thread as your personal journal/daysail log, place to post videos that have nothing to do with either topic
and now quite literally airing your dirty laundry.

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by Michaeld61

I have to thank you for your response.. I'm an airline pilot, $300,000 + a year and was thinking of going away.. I've got 7 years left until forced out, age 65.. I think I'll bid Miami, sail the Caribbean and only work 6-9 days or so a month.. commute from what ever island I happen to be on then take a crossing on at 65.. cheers

That was sort of my plan but I got married and step kids delayed departure somewhat, but now they're gone and Covid stepped in and expedited my retirement by 18 months. Tough to go anywhere right now so I'm using this winter to put finishing touches on boat to be ready to go anywhere I want it to next spring. You're in a perfect position to do just as you suggest, pack your working days all together to cut down the commute to once a month so you can spend the rest of the time on your boat. You'll make less money than the guys working 13 or 14 days a month but you'll still make more than enough to live on quite comfortably and can still max out your 401K contributions and you'll still have your employers medical insurance. and paid vacations and sick leave. I don't know which airline you work for but as you undoubtedly know, jumpseating can be tough from islands where the service is spotty. So my plan to alleviate the most stressful part of our job as a commuter was to buy PS tickets to work and jumpseat back whenever possible but the airline you work for might impact that decision. If I were based in Miami (my airline closed our MIA/FLL base around '88 I think) I'd start with first taking a few years thoroughly exploring the Bahamas. I did spend a winter commuting from Marsh Harbor with no problems but I can't wait to take the time to check out the whole chain all the way south. Good luck, and enjoy your cruising transition into retirement!

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by theDangerz

- this thread is about early retirement and cruising offshore as described by the OP.

Thanks.

So there are benefits to retiring early, and they must be weighed by each individual.

If sailing/cruising is to be a part of your early retirement plans and you do not have access to a large bay or ocean, the pull may be strong for you folks whereas those of us that already live along the coast can delay retirement indefinitely since we can get a taste of what retirement on a boat might be like with our weekend and vacation cruises.

For those that would rather test the waters first so to speak, getting a job along the coast in a good area for sailing could be a good way to see if that life is for you.

[contrail]

Originally Posted by thomm225

I can understand your point.

When I first got to the Gulf Coast and saw the Caribbean blue/green water, I thought it was totally beautiful as I sailed out under the Destin Bridge.

Later that day I "parked" the boat and dove overboard and tried to tough bottom off Ft Walton Beach but what looked like 10-15 feet was probably 30'.

A couple years later my son and I sailed under the same bridge at maybe 0730 in our first 100 mile beach cat race. This in 1997. This time though we were on our Nacra 6.0 which back then was a beast of a beach cat

82 boats started that day and we had to be all setup and ready for the white flag offshore a ways (off Leeside Park, Ft Walton Beach) at 0700 regardless of how late we stayed up the night before and no matter how hammered drunk we got

we just had time after setting up the boat to grab some orange juice and donuts to make the start line. Beer for the hangover was already loaded as were crackers, potted meat, and vienna sausages

Then living in Pensacola for about 12 years you couldn't help but see how beautiful those white sand beaches were. Also got to enjoy Ft Walton Beach, Destin, and Panama City as well as races to the islands off the Mississippi Gulf Coast both Ship and Horn Island..these races started out of Ocean Springs, MS

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sh...!4d-88.9641261

Also did the 'round shell Island' race off Panama City a couple times.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sh...!4d-85.6833457

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/24910604166006004/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/8725793003421295/

Sorry, Thom, but the waters off Destin are NOT the Caribbean. The water on the Eastern Shore are NOT "sailing the Atlantic". And Panama City is not Panama.



Is it not possible for you to simply say, "I have only cruised on weekends, because I don't like to sleep onboard, but I have enjoyed that immensely. But, I doubt that I could make that my life.....full time, it's too boring and limiting, in my opinion. I really have NO OPINION of long distance cruising, as I have NEVER DONE IT, but it doesn't really appeal, from my perspective. I enjoy short sails, land life, work, computers and beach cats much more. I am lucky to enjoy these things so much I may never retire, and never really live aboard. But, I do recognize that most of the people on this Forum actually do love cruising, living aboard, or at least thinking of the same. So, I will let them debate the aspects of that they enjoy, since it is out of my realm."


Would it be so difficult to say that? I have written it for you to make it easier, as I sit in the middle of the cabin of my boat, currently hauled out in the Caribbean. By the way, I even live aboard when I haul out, which, I assure you, is never a treat, but it is part of the life.

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Thanks.

So there are benefits to retiring early, and they must be weighed by each individual.

If sailing/cruising is to be a part of your early retirement plans and you do not have access to a large bay or ocean, the pull may be strong for you folks whereas those of us that already live along the coast can delay retirement indefinitely since we can get a taste of what retirement on a boat might be like with our weekend and vacation cruises.

For those that would rather test the waters first so to speak, getting a job along the coast in a good area for sailing could be a good way to see if that life is for you.

Once again....this thread isn't about finding out whether you like sailing or weekend escapes from your job. It's about something entirely different, the commitment involved in the huge change in lifestyle involved in retiring early and being on your boat full time and exploring distant horizons rather then just short term visits to the harbors you can reach in a day or two, and whether those who have actually done that have regrets. I'm not sure why you can't seem to understand that and stop going on about how you prefer to keep working and just sail occasionally on a boat you don't live on. We all occasionally make off topic posts but when that's pointed out to most people, they get back on subject or move on to a thread they can post useful and pertinent information on, but even though you have been made aware that your posts are all off topic and virtually everyone following this thread sees them as a distraction, you persist in saying pretty much the same thing over and over. Thankfully, there's an "ignore" option which I intend to take advantage of right now. Enjoy your beach cats and your job and your local harbors, but for the benefit or those who don't yet have you on ignore, PLEASE stop posting about a subject you have no knowledge or experience with. All you have is an opinion on how you think it is based on what you're observed, but we all have opinions. What the OP was looking for is to hear from those who've actually DONE it and whether they have regrets, not whether people like you or me think they should have regrets or whether we think we'd have regrets IF we had firsthand knowledge of the subject of this thread.

[contrail]

Originally Posted by thomm225

What?

I cruise all the time, and it can be enjoyable at times but I don't enjoy lightning.

I think the wind gusts hit around 45 knots in these first two videos. I was lucky to have gotten close to shore and anchored before it hit with sails down.

BTW, I got in as close as I could before the squall hit with my 4' draft. The bay is quite shallow in many places.

Thankfully I had a 20 lb CQR for an anchor......that came with my $2,000 sailboat.

What you fail to understand is that cruising, as it is taken to mean by others on this thread, doesn't necessarily include the option of tucking in for bad weather, because you are always pretty close to shore. The cruising we are talking about involves much more serious weather situations that have to be dealt with, and maybe those situations might influence whether we have regrets or not. Very different circumstance.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by wsmurdoch

You might take a look at the thread "Why Do Cruising Couples Quit" https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...140709-26.html. Like this thread it is long and circuitous (even without Thomm), but buried in it are real reasons the dream can fail... often disastrously. Although money many times gets the blame, it is seldom the root reason....

I have been rereading that discussion since you posted it. Did a big LOL when I saw MY posts in the discussion. Interesting and informative conversation on that thread.


Later,
Dan

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by wsmurdoch

You might take a look at the thread "Why Do Cruising Couples Quit" https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...140709-26.html...

That link goes to a short thread about Croatia. Didn’t sound like the couple that went there quit.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by fxykty

That link goes to a short thread about Croatia. Didn’t sound like the couple that went there quit.

Works for me. It is a 26 page conversation from 2015 that went on for eight months.


Try this link? https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...it-140709.html


Later,
Dan

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by contrail

Is it not possible for you to simply say, "I have only cruised on weekends, because I don't like to sleep onboard

I think you are missing something here.

I said I don't sleep well onboard because I only cruise for short periods of time.

When I'm not sleeping in a queen size bed every night with zero sound and movement, I'll adjust to sleeping on the boat after a week or two

Sometimes it appears some of you have never sailed or slept on a boat or gone through the adjustment period from living on land then moving aboard.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by contrail

What you fail to understand is that cruising, as it is taken to mean by others on this thread, doesn't necessarily include the option of tucking in for bad weather, because you are always pretty close to shore. The cruising we are talking about involves much more serious weather situations that have to be dealt with, and maybe those situations might influence whether we have regrets or not. Very different circumstance.

Actually I do understand.

Since I was a teenager and repeatedly went out in the bay 15 miles or so on my 14' aluminum boat with 25 Evinrude back in the day with no radio I understand it quite well

I headed home crossing the lower Chesapeake on this day. Buoy data had the winds at around 32 knots.

Video is after the winds had laid down a bit and I'm almost home.

I never sit while sailing unless I am looking at charts, eating, or reading.

On this day, I was having to sit to hold on as the waves were breaking over the side. The bow lights got damaged because the bow was under water so much of the time and the dodger frame got broken from one of the waves breaking over the side before I was able to go DDW.

I believe in testing before simply sailing offshore and hoping for the best.

I did have the wrong sail up but the wind got a bit high than forecasted and since I was sailing DDW and had too much sail up I wasn't able to go forward to lower it and just use the jib.

First video is what I described above in the "open" lower bay where the Atlantic enters the Bay. And Btw, the tide was against the wind on this day. The whistling through the rigging had quieted by the time I took the video but while taking it the boat tried to head up as I wasn't paying total attention to the steering

Second video winds to 29 knots but I was up the bay in more protected waters with just a bit of jib out. Autopilot has the helm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nXfjcCuiPk

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

[Simi 60]

Oh FFS

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by jtsailjt

Once again....this thread isn't about finding out whether you like sailing or weekend escapes from your job. It's about something entirely different, the commitment involved in the huge change in lifestyle involved in retiring early and being on your boat full time and exploring distant horizons rather then just short term visits

Yep, but some folks need a bit more info rather than this romantic picture some of you (who are no longer cruising!) like to paint.

The fact is it can get way slow and way boring.

Those of us that enjoy cruising (and yes cruising locally especially on the lower Chesapeake Bay and out into the Atlantic for testing counts).

Pictures are of sailing with the boat healed a bit and the day my tiller broke and I had to come in steering with the sails until I got close enough to land so the waves were small enough to use the outboard

Lesson. Don't tape over small cracks in your tiller.

[Gadagirl]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Oh FFS

LOL hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha!

[fxykty]

Ignore poster is your friend (except when people quote when replying to that poster, though, so don't quote either!!!!!).