Single Handed Cruising

[Ross]

LIam, You mention your age as 57-58 and indicate that in

5-10 years IF your health is still good that your wife may join you and you can continue together. Guard your health carefully. Get annual check-ups from the Internist, Dentist, and Eye Doctor. There are little things that can go bad and be corrected before they become health problems. Most of us who have a dozen years on you have some conditions that if not treated by medication would become health threatening problems. I know a woman, now in her late 80's, who works every day and says that as long as the Doctors keep putting her back together she will continue to work.

 

[Ross]

John , If you had retired 25 years earlier what would you

have done with those years? What do you plan for the next 25? For me , I just can't drift through life like a contented house cat. I have to be learning. There is so much that I don't know and desire to know. It seems that the more I learn the more I realize how much I don't know.

 

[John]

Reply to Ross

The last job I was on, Ross, I'd go to work feeling "this is a giant waste of my time." I had never felt like that before, so I felt this was telling me something. When I got laid off (for voicing some complaints about some issues), I just decided I'd had enough. I agree, life isn't meant for just sitting around, and that's not what I'm doing. I maintain a very active interest in the world around us and try to do what I can to correct the problems as I understand them. Also, I have found a new love in my life, and my wife isn't even jealous of her... Of course, I'm referring to my (our) sailboat. Plus, I'm fortunate to have my son and his family live around the corner. This includes my two grandchildren. (In a half hour I'm going to take the older one on a bus ride. For him, the only thing more exciting than this is watching cement trucks!) Then, I'm going down to the boat to see if I can figure out why my water pump is leaking after I replaced the impeller. (If I can't figure it out, you'll be hearing from me here!)Also, doing some writing, travel... Of course, I was only joking when I said I should have retired 25 years ago, but still... As you say, Ross, we need to be learning and changing. There is no such thing as staying in the same place; if we don't move forward, we decay and move backwards. Retirement allows me to do that in a new direction, including spending more time reading and writing (and traveling).I know that retirement doesn't work out the same for everybody. Some get bored and frustrated. Maybe in a year from now, I'll feel the same way. Then another change will be necessary.

 

[Liam]

Agree with John

Retiring doesn't mean sitting like a lump on the couch flicking through the channels and turning into a vegetable.I don't believe that you have to be "on the job" to be learning and growing.Over my close to 40 years of work life I have taken off for a year on two occasions. During those times I was never ever bored. I only went back to work because I had to. I am able to stay very busy and happy while learning and growing all on my own.I have been very successful in business and have made my career in Advertising, Marketing, and Consulting. I have helped many businesses grow and suceed. Big deal! Doesn't mean a thing. Truth is that I have contributed no more to the world than if I had spent 40 years picking tomatoes.I loose respect real fast for people who say, "I tried retirement but just got bored." To me, those are people who haven't learned to live.

 

[Ross]

This world is far too interesting for anyone to

complain about being bored. If you can't find a dozen things to do in a day or a week then you aren't looking. John and Liam you have it figured out enjoy the whole world.

 

[Sequitur]

I retired 27 years ago...

In 1981 I resigned my commission as a Canadian Naval Officer after eighteen years of service to pursue my dreams. Among those dreams was to buy a boat, move aboard, fit it out and sail off over the edge of the earth.I bought the boat in 1982, moved aboard and was fitting her out, when I met a woman. We wandered the west coast by sail, married, set-up and ran some businesses, shut most of them down and spent six years exploring the inland waterways of France in our Dutch canal cruiser.In April 2006, on the 25th anniversary of my retirement, I told my wife that I still wanted to sail off over the horizon. I said that I was ordering a new sailboat, and that we would fit it out and spend a few years circumnavigating. She said, “What’s this we bit?” She loves boating, but wants to be able to step ashore every evening.She decided to go back to school for a few years, and I ordered the new boat. Then we spent a few months searching for a house for her, and then a further three months renovating and decorating it before she moved into it at the end of 2006. Although we have executed a separation agreement and are waiting for the time requirements for an uncontested divorce, we remain best friends.Sequitur, my new boat arrived in Vancouver in early February 2007, and I spent until early July overseeing her fitting-out and commissioning. I spent the summer and autumn heading out into every storm I could find to get to know how she handles rough weather. After a few 40 and 45 knot blows, I know she enjoys a storm and that she is capable of being easily sailed single-handed.By the spring of 2009, when I'm 64, I will have fully shaken-down Sequitur, wound-down my last company, sold my Vancouver house, bought some holding property for later and moved aboard in preparation for heading out with no needs, no itinerary and no schedule.Is my preference to go alone? Hell no, I would much rather share the experience with a woman, but if I cannot find a soul mate in the next year, then alone it will be.

 

[Ross]

My philosphy is that when a person has a lifestyle that

pleases and has the means to sustain it then that person is completely successful. It makes no difference whether you want to sail around the world or around in circles, whether you work or not. It doesn't matter that the people around you don't understand you or don't care. Do the things that please you and if that is not where you are then find out why and make some changes.

 

[LANCE ON CLOUD NINE]

Ross, your kids are lucky to have a dad that posts

reply 26.

 

[Brian D]

Sequitur ...

Good things come to those that wait!I hope to be, in a few years, where you are. I agree 100% with Ross. There is a time that selfishness must dominate, or one will be subjective forever.Well written your guys, well written.

 

[Ross]

Brian, Doing what pleases does not by its self

make a person selfish. A person can have a generous nature but be in a job that requires putting the balance sheet ahead of humanity and be completely unhappy. Every few years Nancy and I evaluate our lives and what we are doing and achieving and we make changes that we decide are to our benefit as long as the changes do no harm to others.

 

[paulj]

charliecobra are you going to

have the cc race in the San Jauns and not be ahhhhhhhh the power just went out....the power is now back on in Anacortes.Are you going to retire here?;D

 

[CharlieCobra]

I don't know where I'll end up.

We've been in Mount Vernon for 12 years now. Retire? What's that? I might take a few years off and go cruising. As for the meet/race, I'd like to have it up here but it depends on response. So far, I've only had about 5 boats express real interest in it.

 

[sailaway78]

I have learned

since I retired that I stay busier than ever. Now I wonder how I ever found the time to work. But wouldn't do it any differently given the opportunity. I have paid my dues, fulfilled my obligations, met my responsibilities, and selfish or not, now it is my time to do as I please, when I please, with whom I please, the way I please. If I am being totally selfish, so be it.

 

[MKirk51]

Future Snowbird

Maybe this should be a new post, but it’s not too far off. For those that think I’m hijacking, my apologies in advance.I’m now less than a year away from being eligible to retire (age 55). My initial thought was to sell all, move south, fix up a cruiser and be off to Panama and beyond, but I quickly decided that ‘baby steps’ was a more prudent course. Especially after falling in with someone who has different ideas. My vast sailing experience (4 whole summers) has nothing to do with my change in plans though. Well, maybe. Just a little bit.So now I’m considering this for the next few years, and looking for any comments, favorable or unfavorable. I’m thinking a mid-size cruiser for single-handing the Keys and Caribbean, and having the occasional visitor(s), and then back to my Oday for the Great Lakes summers. How many of you folks are snowbirds, i.e. south for the winter and north for the summer? If you are, what’s your procedure? Back and forth via the ICW? Is that soon gonna be too difficult for sailboats? I’d love to make that trip at least once. Or do you leave your boat down there in hurricane land? If so, in the water or out? Also considering some deliveries or charters for experience farther out, but deliveries with strangers can be risky. Has anyone done something along the lines of what John Kretschmer offers on yayablues.com?

 

[Ross]

In my continuing quest for new things to learn I was

chasing information on ocean currents and came upon this site. This glossary is essential to an understanding of the text concerning the many currents. http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/glossary.html