On Hold

I suppose this thing is gonna be on hold.. or at least changed because we had.. a well change of circumstances has certainly taken place. I think the new plan is shaping up to be a 5-7 year plan w/ a smaller boat.. How knows.. a lot has happened in the last 6 months.. 6 years from now is 3 lifetimes for me :)

See ya on the FLIP side.

Energy Costs

One of the problems with sailing, if you can even consider it a problem, is the usage of electricity.
Here is where I'll try to calculate my energy costs and savings of various parts of the boat systems.
The easiest or most practical way would probably to divide this page into sections;
Research, Energy Budget, Notes
I like spreadsheets so I'll work on the energy budget spreadsheet first, make my notes and research comments as I go.

Things we will need but might forget

today I found a list of things that westmarine.com thinks are necessary/optional for outfitting a boat for cruising;
Radar Reflector (so ships wont run us over )Mast Three color Light ($300 - LED)
Medical Kit ($500)
Spare Antennas
Good Watch ($500)
Windvane Steering System ($4500)
Fans ($200) - Probably 7 or 8
LED Interior lights ($150)
Small Sewing Machine
Electric Winch for Anchors and Chains
Watercolors and Paper
Good Kitchen Knives
Real Sine-wave Inverter and a modified inverter

How can We Afford This Life??

The Google Doc Budget (Updated 11/24/09)

On-Shore Income Sources

• Website Maintenance and Design
• Contract computer work
• Photographs / Video
• Blog
• Book Writing on tales and adventures currently underway

Off-Shore Income Sources
While we are at these tropical tourist areas

• Day Cruises for families
• Private Scuba Trips
• Jet Ski Rentals - While in Florida
  

The Boat

Currently I'm just gathering information about various blogs and resources. What I'm looking for are the journals and stories, books, notes and other useful information collected and used by people who have actually sailed around the world for a year or so. Preferably with families. The reason is that if We are really to bring this dream to fruition I need to know if it's actually a viable project.

Getting Started - The Boat
Cruising Boat Stats

Strong Contenders
Whitby 42


Valiant 40

Cabo Rico 38

Pearson 422

Morgan 38

Morgan Out Island 41

Gozzard 36

The Plan

So the plan is that after I finish planning this adventure.
We sell everything and move to Florida where we may spend up to a year finding and getting a boat ready for our adventure.

The tentative plan is this:

Nov-April: Prepare to Move to Florida (Sell everything, blah, blah, blah)
April-Sept Move to southern Florida
    Rent place to stay, buy boat, ready boat to live aboard, move aboard boat
Nov-Dec
    Make our way across the Caribbean

Future
   Sail Around having a blast

The Dream

About 25 years ago a couple of friends of mine and I used to sit around hanging out and day-dreaming about what could be. Somewhere during this time we came up with the idea of buying a sailboat and sailing around the world with a "couple of hot chicks, and just us friends" The idea was to sail to some deserted island off the South Pacific or something like that.

The idea was inspired, I suppose, but Gilligan's Island, Robinson Crusoe, Van Halen's 1984, 5150 and OU812 albums as well as who knows what else.

So 25 years later I start the search for what may just be the adventure of our lives. The idea is to spend a few years or more, with my family, sailing around on an educational, fun and exciting voyage.