Sailing as retirement?

Question

My lover and I (he's 56 and i'm 41) are planning on selling everything, buying a big sailboat and sailing the world as retirement. We sail now and are working on our skills together. My question is has anyone ever done this? If so, what can you tell me about the pitfalls and things to watch out for when attempting this type of adventure.

Answer 1

has anyone done this? good heavens, the harbors here in the Caribbean are full of people doing just that, and there are probably 1500 cruising sailboats doing the downwind around the world in five years trip as we sit here today....so yes this is being done....the magazine directed at those who do this is Cruising World, and you should start reading it regularly; the monthly newspaper down here in the Caribbean is www.caribbeancompass.com.

You have exactly the right idea.sail sail and sail and polish your skills.....do you already have the boat you'll live aboard and go sailing on? Most circumnavigating couples are on something around 40 foot...big enough to live on, small enough to handle....if your current boat is not the one you're taking, and you don't do week long trips aboard....I suggest chartering in the Caribbean....the US and BVI......as a great low stress introduction to living aboard for a week or two at a time and driving a bigger boat........you'll also get to meet a few dozen folks who are doing what you want to do and you can pick their brains to no end, sitting at anchor at Jost van Dyke or the Bitter End or St Somewhere Harbour

Steve Black and West Marine run yearly flotilla called the Caribbean 1500....30 odd boats sailing sorta together out of Norfolk in VA headed for Tortola......for a first trip off shore, its nice to go with a bunch of other boats....this years is leaving real soon; next year you might be able to get a crew berth aboard...nothing more fun than driving Other Peoples Boats...especially offshore for the first time....! and if you cant charter in the Caribbean this year, look into coming down for a few days after the fleet arrives in Tortola around Thanksgiving ( see the Caribbean1500 web site) and you can get in on all the after action reports.....

having cruised 20,000 odd ( some VERY odd ) miles over 30 years I suggest you be ruthless about pruning away complicated stuff from your boat.....cruising has been described as repairing your boat in strange ports.....and the less stuff aboard the better....you need a VHF radio and two GPS to back up the sextant.....but do youNEED a electronic chart interface LCD screen computer? Do you need 10 grand worth of stuff in the nav station that might fail because a 50 cent diode doesn't like salt air, AND THAT FAILURE STOPS YOU DEAD SOMEWHERE until you fix it? Do you really need a freezer and a microwave in the galley, and the generator and larger battery banks and inverters needed to make them run? A Watermaker? Radar?
there's a Hunter "Passagemaker ( gag!) two slips down from me that is not cruising because the air conditioner isn't working...Air Conditioning? double gag ......
keep pursuing the dream....you have maybe twenty years left to do this and you'll REALLY regret for 40 years if you don't..