I read a comment in a popular sailing forum today that seemed to make sense to me. "I am too poor to retire, so I am just going to quit!" Yup, that about sums it up.
Mike
Monday, March 30, 2015
Posted with Blogsy
Saturday, March 28, 2015
It Feels Real!
After 2 years of dreaming and 1 year of waiting we finally feel like we are on our way to being cruisers. We have booked flights down to Florida to check out several promising boats. Looking at boats with your checkbook in hand means the countdown is on. We have about 3-4 months to locate our new "Wrinkles" and make arrangements for a slip in the Orange Beach area. If we do find the right boat it will allow us to concentrate on purchasing needed equipment, repairs/upgrades, insurance pricing, slip rental and any needed marina services without being on a tight deadline.
We are finally allowing ourselves to be excited knowing that we will be able to follow our dream. We have held back our excitement for so long worrying that this opportunity would pass us by. Now we know we are going and it feels great!
Friday, March 20, 2015
The Boat Search
I have spent a lot of time researching different cruising boat models over the past two years. Well, maybe "a lot" is a bit understated. Maybe "a lot" would be a little closer to the truth. I enjoy the process of researching things I will buy. My kids think I'm a little wacky about it, but it gives me pleasure and in the end I know exactly what I want.
Now that we are truly in the market for our future boat/home, I am narrowing down my search to specific models and identifying examples of each to physically inspect. The Island Packet 31 is a study little cruiser that is surprisingly roomy inside due to it's wide beam. Another small cruiser high on our list has been the Baba 30. These salty looking boats are solid as tugboats and feature more teak than a reasonable couple would be interested in maintaining. Next is the Mariner 36. It is much roomier than the previous two boats and still has the classic look we like. It also has an amazing reputation as a solidly built cruiser.
If we end up buying a more contemporary looking boat it would probably be a Hunter 33 - 37 footer or a Catalina 34. These boats are readily available just about anywhere there is water. They can offer a lot of boat for the money and would serve our intended use just fine. Our problem with them is that they just don't tug at our hearts. We want a boat that is classic, individualistic and makes us smile each time we row out to it. Yet if one shows up that is in incredibly good shape, well equipped and priced well we would certainly consider it.
So many choices and only one chance to get it right.
The Boat Search
I have spent a lot of time researching different cruising boat models over the past two years. Well, maybe "a lot" is a bit understated. Maybe "a lot" would be a little closer to the truth. I enjoy the process of researching things I will buy. My kids think I'm a little wacky about it, but it gives me pleasure and in the end I know exactly what I want.
Now that we are truly in the market for our future boat/home, I am narrowing down my search to specific models and identifying examples of each to physically inspect. The Island Packet 31 is a study little cruiser that is surprisingly roomy inside due to it's wide beam. Another small cruiser high on our list has been the Baba 30. These salty looking boats are solid as tugboats and feature more teak than a reasonable couple would be interested in maintaining. Next is the Mariner 36. It is much roomier than the previous two boats and still has the classic look we like. It also has an amazing reputation as a solidly built cruiser.
If we end up buying a more contemporary looking boat it would probably be a Hunter 33 - 37 footer or a Catalina 34. These boats are readily available just about anywhere there is water. They can offer a lot of boat for the money and would serve our intended use just fine. Our problem with them is that they just don't tug at our hearts. We want a boat that is classic, individualistic and makes us smile each time we row out to it. Yet if one shows up that is in incredibly good shape, well equipped and priced well we would certainly consider it.
So many choices and only one chance to get it right.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Thank You, Mike
Thank you Mike
Seventeen years ago Mike selflessly accumulated and used his vacation time to build us the house of our dreams. Over the years this house has sheltered and protected our family. More importantly it has been a place filled with love and laughter, smiles and security. It has been the site for family and friends to gather. It has had more than enough electric boxes installed on the stairs by Matt. It has held Tina and the girls as they paraded down the stairs for prom and Justin Timberlake. It has withstood multiple football games in the hallway upstair (fortunately without serious injury). It has provided a cozy view of the kids sledding down the hill. It has been the gathering spot after practice and on weekends. It has hosted high school graduation parties. And now it is helping to finance or next adventure. Thank you Mike for building this house. We may not physically live there anymore, but our memories will live inside us forever!
Downsizing Again?
We are now living in a small one bedroom apartment among boxes of sailing gear, bags of sails, miscellaneous sailboat cushions, sailing books............. It is kind of decorated in a new age "boxy baggy" style. This weekend we will sort through some of the boxes and repack them into three piles. We need one small pile of gear we will take on the upcoming BVI bareboat charter, one for all the gear that will stay with the O'Day 25 when she sells and finally a pile of gear we want to take to the new Wrinkles when we buy her.
Oh wait, there is one more pile. The next round of downsizing is necessary even though we have sold, given away and tossed a mountain of stuff. It is hard to believe that we still have too much stuff. Why on earth did we ever feel we needed all those things in the first place. This pile will then be sold or donated. We hope this will be the biggest pile.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
SOLD!
53 weeks after listing our home we finally closed the deal today. The countdown has a timeline and it feels fantastic. The young family that bought our home will be wonderful stewards of our house and land. Nice people that are truly excited to raise their family there.
Two of our kids live close enough that they were able to help us pack, clean and move out over the weekend. Thanks kids. Our good friends Jim and Joni helped us immensely in the move as well. Mike's mom made us a wonderful homemade gourmet supper the night we packed our last load out of the house. Thanks Mom, it was appreciated more than you can imagine. We sold stuff on Craigslist right up to the day we locked the doors. Many items found great new homes or were donated to Goodwill and St. Vincent's. Mike particularly enjoyed delivering the snowblower to it's new owners. He won't miss that part of home ownership at all. It amazed us how much stuff we still had tucked away in the house and garages. We cleaned out the house and garages over a year ago thinking we were down to just a few loads of belongings. Wrong! We hauled and hauled and hauled some more. We are tired and sore from all the work, but it is all done now and we can look forward to a sail away date.
As we loaded our final personal belongings into our vehicles we each paused to stand in the driveway lost in our emotions and wonderful memories. This home holds so many warm and happy memories of basketball games, golfing in the front yard, fire pit evenings, sledding and so much more. It seems funny that leaving a house that we built with our own hands was fairly routine. Yet the memories we created here were hard to say a final goodbye to. A last embrace together in the driveway was shared with emotions getting the better of us. One wonderful chapter of our lives comes to a close and our new chapters have their first words yet to be written.
Monday, March 2, 2015
"Passed With Flying Colours"
In sailing lingo this term refers to ships returning to port flying their flags and pennants high on the masts signifying a triumphant excursion.
In our case it means the house inspection went very well and it looks like we will be closing on the 12th. We may become cruisers yet.
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