I have a silly "buy a yacht and bugger off dream"

[db]

Talk me into or out of it please.

I'm just scunnered with work and the politics of Brexit/Scottish independance and want to quit my life as it is.
Having sailed some in the past (dinghys, rare trips on larger yachts and a couple of tall ship voyages)I find myself very much attracted to buying a yacht and sailing away from it all.
Following "Sailing La Vagabonde" on youtube hasn't helped.

Being realistic, I don't have huge amounts of cash to spend, £70k is my cash pot + another £60k+ if I sell my flat. Possibly another £15-20k from collectables.
Is this anyway close to "buy a yacht and bugger off"?
Recently hit 50, no wife or children. Job is very work specific and not really transferable.


Reading this back, I'd laugh at anyone asking the same questions. But I'm still interested to hear your thoughts.

[db]

Wow, so many replies and many things to consider. Thank you for all for your thoughts.

Last night's post was a result of a wine or 2 too many, but it's something that's been on my mind for quite a while now.

Could I afford it? Possibly in the short term, but I have no idea how long I'd last financially nor what I'd do when the cash runs out.

Do I really want to live in a floating caravan on a budget? Quite undecided about this, so RYA courses/sailing holidays would be a sensible option.

I think the bigger question is what I'm unhappy with and what to do about it.
And I really don't have an answer to that.

[db]

fat80b said:

I think at 50, your finances don't suggest that sailing away is necessarily the best long term plan - as you say, how long might the money last and what would you come back to?

That said, I'd do it - we have family plans to do something similar before it is too late and I have often fantasised about buying a boat and disappearing for a few years. My personal inspiration was the "My family gap year" prog on CH4 a few years ago.

A few thoughts :

Can you not keep the flat and rent it out thereby generating some income and maintaining something to come back to? The pot sounds like enough to me to get going.

The other thing I would definitely consider in your position is to become a crew member (probably Skipper, possibly Engineer (no real experience necessary)) on a flotilla for a season. You are never too old and you'd get to spend several months on a boat in the Greek Islands. Might not be a long term plan and will never make you rich, but I'm sure it's be a world apart from where you are now. http://www.sailingholidays.com/ After a year of this, you'd be ready to either get off the water or buy one and go.......

Bob

Keeping the flat would be an option I hadn't thought of.

Some experience would be sensible before committing to anything major, flotilla crew might be worth looking into.

[db]

Trexthedinosaur said:

For your consideration, have a look here;

http://www.cruisersforum.com/

Few people on there who circumnavigate on sub 20 ft on really limited funds, plus ideas to earn cash whilst sailing.

Go for it, this is not a rehearsal

Well, that's going to take a few nights to plow through. Thank you, I think.

[db]

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,
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.

[db]

PurpleTurtle said:

Sounds a nice plan OP, but:

1) selling your flat means you have nowhere to return to. Where are you going to live when you are 60/70/80? Why not rent it out (assuming rental income covers costs?) Presumably you have (up to) 15yrs to go on a mortgage as £60k isn't that much equity in the UK these days?

2) have you ever sailed a yacht solo? A good pal of mine had a 36ft-er and despite having sailed round the world twice as crew he always seemed to need someone to help him take it out. In the end a lack of available friends as crew on the days he wanted to take the thing out led to him selling it and buying a motorhome, which he gets far more use out of.

Maybe you just need to get away and do some travelling? A 'gap year' or something of that nature, albeit a little later in life, that doesn't burn all your financial bridges? Likewise I am pissed off about Brexit and the uncertainty ahead (but am also open to the possibility that it could improve this country, if only the people in charge had a scooby about what they were doing - but that's another discussion) so maybe some time away, with a bit of crewing chucked in, would help scratch this itch in a not-so-final way?

Not so much a plan as a dream.

Reasonably healthy at the moment, but smoke too much, drink too much, don't do exercise, would be (maybe pleasantly) surprised to see 60's,doesn't make me think I'll see 70's let alone 80's.
Which is probably reason enough to drop the dream.

Mortgage is tiny and paid off in a year or so (therfor not much equity in it) just didn't move out of my first flat. It's someplace to eat and sleep, didn't need anything more.

Never sailed solo, but neither daft enough to believe it would be easy, nor stupid enough for it to be beyond me.

Travelling is something I've not done enough of, but I want to do more of.
As mentioned previously, I don't think I have transferable skills so travelling/gap year is an end to reasonable income. A year out is a start from scratch as I see it.

[db]

SimonThe Sailor and w1bbles (amongst others) thank you, but you're thoughts are not really helping me to "sleep on it"

Keeping the flat is a sensible option, removed that from the list.

Next is quitting the silly expenses like smokes and boose and random frippery.

I think some time out to give serious thought to what I want, and what I don't want, is over-due.

[db]

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?