If you've been following our blog for a while, you know that we've been prepping for cruising for ... um, a really long time! This blog turned 6 years old last month, and I've had to change our " The Plan" page several times since then. I look back and wonder what we were thinking when we thought we'd be cruising in 2012!
If you're interested enough to read this blog, you're probably interested in the dream of "sailing away". How many times have you come across dreamers that never actually do anything but talk about it? There's nothing wrong with hanging on to a dream, but we don't wanna be one of those folks that looks back and realizes we've waited too long.
I posted the picture above on our Facebook page just three days ago, and it's already the most popular picture we've ever posted! I think a lot of folks can relate to this for more reasons than one. Not only are there those that dream, but there are lots of folks just like us that are working long and hard towards making their dream a reality. It's much easier to never leave the dock!
The past six years have had a lot of great milestones that we wouldn't have missed and we've got a lot done on Nirvana. There's still a lot to do, and we are finally starting to see more time in the near future to make Nirvana our primary focus.
We're still running back and forth to our two vacant rentals ... getting them in shape and interviewing prospective tenants. Will we ever find good tenants?! We've had a couple of folks cop an attitude when they were turned down, but what they don't understand is that these homes are a result of years of hard work, frugality and discipline. They're our life savings and future retirement ... something that's a pretty big deal to us. We've already had more than our fair share of "bad" tenants. Anyway, we're hopeful that we'll find good tenants soon. Summer is almost here, school will be out, and the market tends to pick up.
We haven't "retired" yet (never really will as long as we have rentals), so it's been tough to find time to keep up with this blog. I hate it when I can't write! When not working at our businesses or rentals, we've been working on setting up our long-term future. We've been working on a project the past several months, and hopefully it will put us where we want to be in twenty years .. when we're 70 years young.
Leaving the dock is hard work when you don't want to be broke in your golden years and you're not wealthy. We're not quite as care-free as some folks that will "just figure it out". We're also probably not as young and don't wanna be looking for a full-time income when we're 60-70 years of age. There are no guarantees for our future, but we think we're on the right path for cruising and traveling. We're "sailors in progress" and we've learned the past few years that making the transition is much more time-consuming and difficult than we thought it would be.
We love Nirvana, but when we bought her we knew nothing about sailboats .. and had no clue how much work we'd need to put into her. The good thing is that we've learned a lot over the past few years about our Catalina 30, and we're hopeful that we won't have any major expenses with her once we start cruising ... at least for a little while.
Speaking of "sailor in progress" ... my sailing class has been dampened by the weather. Our instructor is amazing, but us newbies need ideal weather conditions to sail on the small Flying Scot. Every time a sailing lesson is scheduled, it's raining or too windy. To be honest, I'm anxious to start focusing on our own boat anyway!
Ken and I are excited about dedicating much more of our time to Nirvana this Summer, and finally becoming sailors that leave the dock!
Hasta luego ... until then Mid-Life Cruising!
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6 comments:
It has been a long road, but as you noticed, you are having experiences you wouldn't have otherwise had, and learning lots, while you are making your way toward your goal. You'll get there...
We're actually "in the same boat" as you, so to speak. We bought our UNFINISHED 42ft. Colvin Gazelle 4 years ago and only a bit of welding has been done on it. *sigh* 2 1/2 years ago, my husband got injured on the job (torn carotid artery with a pseudoaneurysm) and work on the boat came to a screeching halt, obviously!
We have so many people that ask if we're "ever going to get that thing in the water?" But, I tend to read your blog, blogs of people that have cruised for years and look at many pictures of cruisers so that I am determined that our dream will not be allowed to die!
Thank you for being so upbeat and encouraging with your journey!
Tess Erickson,
future sailor-that-knows-nothing-about-sailing-and-can't-afford-to-learn-yet
Leaving the dock is the very best. You'll have fun this summer.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. ☺
Hi Cheryl and Ken,
Started reading your blog almost 6 years ago. I remember thinking I was about 12months behind where you were in your plans..... I am still at least 12months behind you.
You guys are part of my motivation, don't stop.
cheers,
Alan
We relate to this. We are on a five year plan and thought we could cut a year off of it and leave this year. Um, that's not happening. Kind of too bad, really, but when you've spent as long as we have preparing for your life when you are older, you don't just uproot and chuck it all. It takes a little time to get things in order. Since we're not independently wealthy, and are likely to be even less so when we return, we have to find the middle ground between waiting too long, and working long enough. Mike will retire for sure next spring. It's right on our original target (if he can wait that long). Then we are out of here.
The trouble with having a project boat - as we had - or an unfinished boat you hope to finish and then cruise is that you never know what will happen between now and then. Theresa's story makes my heart ache.
If I might offer a suggestion from my own experience? Sell the unfinished hull as it sits, and find a way - by hook or by crook - to go cruising as soon as your health will allow.
You have to keep your mind on the overall goal. If your greatest ambition is to finish a boat, then finish it, with no expectation of actually cruising. But if - like us - your desire is to go cruising, then find a good boat you can afford NOW, outfit it reasonably, and GO CRUISING.
As you know too well, things you didn't plan happen. Go simple, go smaller, GO NOW.
For what it's worth.
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