I have a silly "buy a yacht and bugger off dream"
Discussion
Db- you'll soon find out what's valuable to you and what you need - not want - in life.
Once you've made your decision you will get rid of so much s
t its unreal !! Sell all your furniture/beds/clothes/tv/.. What you're left with give away/bin. ITS ALL st.
It's all just material possessions that you have accumulated over the years - its just stuff.
You'll soon know what is valuable to you - friendships/your journey/having a laugh/doing something most people dream of/etc,etc,etc.
Not sleeping are you ?......!
Once you've made your decision you will get rid of so much s
t its unreal !! Sell all your furniture/beds/clothes/tv/.. What you're left with give away/bin. ITS ALL st.It's all just material possessions that you have accumulated over the years - its just stuff.
You'll soon know what is valuable to you - friendships/your journey/having a laugh/doing something most people dream of/etc,etc,etc.
Not sleeping are you ?......!
It's a long way from you folks, but a mate of mine mad a very good living either undertaking delivery trips from Hawaii back to the US west coast, or buying yachts in Hawaii, sailing them back to the US & selling them.
Hawaii is in trade winds belt, & many Californian yachties after running down wind from the states, just can't handle the couple of thousand miles beat back home, giving up in a couple of days. If they could not find a delivery skipper quickly, they often flew back home, & left the boat to be sold. Some rather nice 45 footers went very cheaply.
He made enough money in two & a half years to buy a nice 3 year old 48 ft glass ketch, & go cruising.
Hawaii is in trade winds belt, & many Californian yachties after running down wind from the states, just can't handle the couple of thousand miles beat back home, giving up in a couple of days. If they could not find a delivery skipper quickly, they often flew back home, & left the boat to be sold. Some rather nice 45 footers went very cheaply.
He made enough money in two & a half years to buy a nice 3 year old 48 ft glass ketch, & go cruising.
db said:
Jonmx said:
I've been thinking about posting a similar thread for a while now. I'm going through a bit of a bad patch in life and am tempted by either a boat or van for a year or so of travelling about and 'rediscovering' myself. I don't have much money at all, so would be something around 22ft, though I'd always wanted a Contessa 32, my money won't stretch that far.
My family all think I'm mad (well, I am, diagnosed last year as having bipolar) but it's something I've wanted to do for the last 20 years or so, so currently doing all the requisite research and planning. Will keep an eye on this thread.
Jonmx, My family all think I'm mad (well, I am, diagnosed last year as having bipolar) but it's something I've wanted to do for the last 20 years or so, so currently doing all the requisite research and planning. Will keep an eye on this thread.
You aren't mad.
You want to escape all that drags you down. Bipolar is something you have to live with, don't let your family use it as an excuse to stop you doing what you want.
Do you want to sail away or drive away?
Sailing would be my dream, but a camper van would do the job on a smaller, more realistic budget.
I'm hoping it'll be sailing away, but it won't be for a while, maybe early next year. The aim is to get a fairly decent little boat, probably around 26 ft and then live aboard for a while. I need to get my hand back into sailing first to ensure I'm safe and competent before I try any solo expeditions. A trip to some of the local sailing clubs is in order at some point in the next month or two.
Disastrous said:
Nobody has ever posted that on a sailing thread before!
OP, my wife and I are looking to do similar next year, albeit only for 3-6 months.
My current plan is to look at actually buying the boat in Croatia/Italy or somewhere like that and then head down to it and enjoy a lazy summer playing about the Med and slowly working our way home.
I'm very much of the opinion that one should scratch these itches as they will be the things that are remembered and enjoyed years later, far beyond the extra hours at the office etc.
This is what I did.OP, my wife and I are looking to do similar next year, albeit only for 3-6 months.
My current plan is to look at actually buying the boat in Croatia/Italy or somewhere like that and then head down to it and enjoy a lazy summer playing about the Med and slowly working our way home.
I'm very much of the opinion that one should scratch these itches as they will be the things that are remembered and enjoyed years later, far beyond the extra hours at the office etc.
I went boat shopping in February, when hotels, car rental etc. are ridiculously cheap in Croatia. £45 a week for car rental £20 a night hotels, etc. Went from Zadar to Split and everywhere in between looking at a specific brand/model, and picked the best one I saw (which happened to be the first).
If I hadn't gone out with a specific brand/model to look for, I might have gotten a better deal, or might have ended up so confused I came away with nothing! There's a LOT of yachts for sale in Croatia....
Most yachts are ex-charter, and you'll know straight away if it was a good charter company or not by the state of the yachts in the fleet. I saw some absolute dogs, lowest spec possible, poorly maintained, etc. At the same time, the company I bought mine from always picked the highest spec, did excellent maintenance, 100 hour engine servicing, etc. My yacht had been owned by the company owner since new, and he'd used it over the winter himself, so it had heating, TV, all the bells and whistles.
That said, you can never expect an ex-charter yacht to be totally up to spec and you will need to spend to bring it up to date. It helps if you're mechanically minded/experienced. I did some minor repairs on the rudder gear, minor engine maintenance (and later, a bit more major, changing the leg seal and coupling), stuff like this will save you money. That seal/coupler was a £2000-2500 job that I did myself for the cost of the parts, c. £600. I spent about £5k on updating, new outboard, new plotter, added a gyro to the pilot (DO THIS!), new batteries, new cockpit speakers, etc.
I picked her up in late May and got back in September, having left her in St Trop for the winter. She's since been used for cruising the med in the summers, being laid up for 8 months a year on the hard. South of France is VERY cheap for this, c. 2000 EUR a year for a 40' yacht, including lift in/out.
I rushed away from Croatia a bit, but would have been good to spend a bit more time exploring given the amount of possibilities with the islands. Eastern Italy (southern bit) is so-so, deep-south Italy = mafia, but once you turn the corner and head north again, it's fantastic.
Italy can be VERY expensive for mooring, Naples, Rome etc. are all 100+ per night. Compared to Monaco/Nice/Cannes at nearer 40-50. Much cheaper off-season.
If I was looking to upgrade, I'd go back to Croatia for sure. I got a great deal from a super nice guy for a well maintained boat that's been next to no trouble.
Disastrous said:
Excellent - really good to hear that worked out and makes me more convinced it's the way to go.
Would you mind if I ping you a PM later in the year once this gets some meat on the bones? I'm sure I'll have some more specific questions that you might have been through before...
Fire away, happy to help!Would you mind if I ping you a PM later in the year once this gets some meat on the bones? I'm sure I'll have some more specific questions that you might have been through before...
SimonTheSailor said:
Db- you'll soon find out what's valuable to you and what you need - not want - in life.
Once you've made your decision you will get rid of so much st its unreal !! Sell all your furniture/beds/clothes/tv/.. What you're left with give away/bin. ITS ALL st.
It's all just material possessions that you have accumulated over the years - its just stuff.
You'll soon know what is valuable to you - friendships/your journey/having a laugh/doing something most people dream of/etc,etc,etc.
Not sleeping are you ?......!
This post has much depthOnce you've made your decision you will get rid of so much s
t its unreal !! Sell all your furniture/beds/clothes/tv/.. What you're left with give away/bin. ITS ALL st.It's all just material possessions that you have accumulated over the years - its just stuff.
You'll soon know what is valuable to you - friendships/your journey/having a laugh/doing something most people dream of/etc,etc,etc.
Not sleeping are you ?......!
Get rid of the lot, move on and if it doesn't work out move on again to somewhere else
Being concerned about what may go wrong is the big negative that prevents people from making the big move
As a few others have already mentioned, a camper van may well prove to be a very good start for anyone, you can experience life on-land, move about pretty quickly and get the feel of different places/areas/countries. Once finding somewhere that suits, selling the camper and buying a boat will be another adventure
Possessions are insignificant when compaired to a big adventure/experience
Get yourself a Crewseekers account and get on some delivery trips, I've been doing that to build up miles for my Yachtmaster Offshore qualification and have met crew who found it really wasn't for them, even though they hoped it would be. For example one chap, who'd done a circumnavigation on big yachts, who found that 47 knots of wind in a 10 metre shallow draught yacht was a very different proposition, or the chap who sat green looking unhappy despite beautiful conditions.
I've had a great time working in the motor trade but boats have, like cars do, got under my skin. I now find myself crew on two lifeboats and starting a job as bosun on a wildlife cruise ship off the outer Hebrides.
Maybe look at being paid to work on boats for a season to see how you get on with it before dropping all your savings on your own? That way you gain experience at someone else's expense and no commitment of funds.
I've had a great time working in the motor trade but boats have, like cars do, got under my skin. I now find myself crew on two lifeboats and starting a job as bosun on a wildlife cruise ship off the outer Hebrides.
Maybe look at being paid to work on boats for a season to see how you get on with it before dropping all your savings on your own? That way you gain experience at someone else's expense and no commitment of funds.
Hasbeen said:
If you are planning on going to sea on longer passages I suggest avoiding any multihull, particularly catamarans, unless you have a lot of experience with them, & understand what you are buying very well.
.
That's interesting, I've done some coastal sails, all in Cats and found them pretty good. That said I've never had the confidence to go any great distance offshore. .
I've also got the 'sail away' dream but it will only be the East Coast and a few Islands. My dream boat is a Lagoon 500, mainly because we'd want to entertain family and friends once we're at our destination.
I did say longer passages Robm3, meaning a few days at least. If you are only doing a day or 2 at a time, with a reasonable anchorage available they are great. If like me, in the cyclone, & have to ride out really strong stuff in a fairly open anchorage, the windage of the larger cruising type cats can become a real problem. Due to weight carrying restrictions they often carry less heavy anchor gear, too.
Their high performance is also an advantage in coastal stuff on the Oz east coast, where harbours in rivers, & anchorages, are usually a bit far apart to make in time to have good visibility into an anchorage day sailing. Sailing into a low or setting sun is not a good idea in a strange anchorage, particularly where coral is involved.
They also do not offer the same safety in really rough stuff. I have lay ahull only once, but I could let the boat look after both of us. With multies the sailor does have to do more to look after the boat. On that occasion I had about 150 miles sea room to leeward. I was nervous about leeway, even in my deep boat.
No satnav for privateers back then, so no sun for 70 hours meant no position. Much easier today, but still a problem if you make too much leeway.
Having said all this, my suggestion was you needed to know more about what you were buying with multies, & have a better idea of what you should be buying. Beginners are likely to chose a picnic boat, rather than a blue water cruiser.
I know a couple of people who have done some great stuff in both cats & trys, including rounding the horn, so in a good boat a good sailor can do most anything.
Their high performance is also an advantage in coastal stuff on the Oz east coast, where harbours in rivers, & anchorages, are usually a bit far apart to make in time to have good visibility into an anchorage day sailing. Sailing into a low or setting sun is not a good idea in a strange anchorage, particularly where coral is involved.
They also do not offer the same safety in really rough stuff. I have lay ahull only once, but I could let the boat look after both of us. With multies the sailor does have to do more to look after the boat. On that occasion I had about 150 miles sea room to leeward. I was nervous about leeway, even in my deep boat.
No satnav for privateers back then, so no sun for 70 hours meant no position. Much easier today, but still a problem if you make too much leeway.
Having said all this, my suggestion was you needed to know more about what you were buying with multies, & have a better idea of what you should be buying. Beginners are likely to chose a picnic boat, rather than a blue water cruiser.
I know a couple of people who have done some great stuff in both cats & trys, including rounding the horn, so in a good boat a good sailor can do most anything.
markmullen said:
Get yourself a Crewseekers account ...
Thanks for the Crewseekers site, have been looking at it for a couple of weeks and wondering "what if"They're offering online RYA Day Skipper and RYA Yachtmaster Offshore theory courses @ 20% discount. Are online courses worth doing?
maser_spyder said:
Disastrous said:
Excellent - really good to hear that worked out and makes me more convinced it's the way to go.
Would you mind if I ping you a PM later in the year once this gets some meat on the bones? I'm sure I'll have some more specific questions that you might have been through before...
Fire away, happy to help!Would you mind if I ping you a PM later in the year once this gets some meat on the bones? I'm sure I'll have some more specific questions that you might have been through before...
Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff