Couple Changing Tacks

[jjlyons]

My girlfriend Jen and I are not new to sailing but we are about to take a different tack and start anew. We are young (in our 20's) and live currently in Alaska in our 27' Catalina [I]Storm[I] We both are quite adventurous and many people might say crazy... "How could you live on such a small boat in Alaska in the winter?" and "How could you sell everything you own and move to Mexico to buy a boat you've never seen?!?!" Well I guess we must be because in 2 weeks we are headed to Puerto Vallarta to pick up the new to us Westsail 32 Lovely Rita and we couldn't be more excited!
That being said we have visited this forum for quite some time without ever joining or saying hi. I want to say a belated thanks for all of your helpful threads and I hope in the coming years we might be able to help atleast one of you by making the mistake ourselves and then relaying that back.
So I guess to cut short a long introduction I would just like to say hello to all of you at Cruisersforum.com and we look forward to making tons of new friends around the world.
Cheers
Jamie and Jen

[avb3]

Welcome to Cruisers Forum!

Tell us a bit more about yourself. That's quite the change from Alaska to Mexico.

There are a LOT of very knowledgeable members here, on many subjects, including equipment specialists. Almost any question you have there will be answers, and because we are sailors, opinions that may be enthusiastically given.

We look forward to your contributions.

Avb3
Moderator

[jjlyons]

Well we are both new to most forms of technological communication... strange for our age I know, so you will have to forgive our lack of forum savvy. Jen and I spend most our year living and working remote on Afognak Island. So for a period of 4-6 months a year we are cut off from all forms of civilization besides cruisers, float plane pilots and of course SSB "hams". We work for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game doing salmon surveys (really just counting fish) but much of our time is dedicated to filling the holds in Storm with wild caught, gathered or hunted food. The winter months is the time we do much of our sailing. The weather in Seward can be quite nasty but we are able to avoid the summer crowds and get all of the Kenai Fjords to ourselves.

This summer we decided we would like a slightly larger living space and something we would feel a bit more comfortable out in the frequent gales of southcentral Alaska in the winter. So after exploring tons of options we found Lovely Rita, a Westsail32 with everything we need to live off the grid in Alaska, atleast we hope so. We fly down to Puerto Vallarta in 2 weeks for the survey and sea trial and if all goes well our adventures will continue, but just in a much warmer climate. Everyone has told us we must start a blog so that is in the works as well and when it comes time we will share the link.

[ontherocks83]

Welcome Aboard! I can't wait to hear of your upcoming adventures.

[crazyoldboatguy]

The Westsails boat is a good choice. Not a speedy boat but very stout and stable for her size. Welcome to CF. I would say fair winds but you sail in the winter in Alaska. Do they even have any up there?

[Steadman Uhlich]

Howdy!

I am impressed by your living aboard a smaller boat in AK during the winter!

Have fun with your new boat. The westsails can be nice liveaboards.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good choice for living and cruising. I hope your survey turns out to be favorable and all the paperwork can be taken care of without any hitches.
Will you be sailing back to Alaska? If so considering making a big loop through Hawaii.
kindest regards,

[jjlyons]

Hi again all sorry for the lapse in responses but we were out (go figure) sailing. We went for an 8 day cruise to fill a friends mountain goat permit. Sailed aboard his Mercator 30 and had boom or bust for winds (either near gales or calm winds). Pretty much the norm for us here in Seward and we are excited to see where the rest of the world does their sailing . We leave for Puerto Vallarta on Monday and our survey is Tuesday. We are super excited and ready for the change in pace (and clothing). Thanks for all the reassuring comments and can't wait to meet some of you in our travels.

Cheers

P.s. Not sure if it's allowed on this forum but we wanted to let everyone know we just started a blog on word press called the Luffers' Log if anyone wants to follow our misadventures