I Don't Think I'm Gonna Make It!

[Trim50]

Just got back from the boat this weekend and I've just realized how much I hate working. I've been working all my life and I'm not sure I'll be able to hold out another 12 to 24 months. The boat is essentially ready to go...and knowing that it is ready to go just makes things that much worse.

Has anybody else been in this position?

[Lighthouse]

Wow! Most times people take off BEFORE the boat is ready. You have a problem!

I wouldn't be able to wait.

[Trim50]

Yeah...I could have made a really bad error in judgment!

We would like to have that watermaker, solar panel system and a long list of other nice to have goodies, but technically, all we really need is the SSB and EPirb...and we're set.

We figure we need to work 12 months for a good 3 year kitty and 24 months for 5 years. We really want the 5 year option.

Right now though, everyday is starting to feel like an eternity!

[Auzzee]

Hi Ken,

I always enjoyed work until I made an internal committment to shoot through on the boat. I found that to go to sleep every night, I would imagine in infinite detail the lead up to casting off on my first major ocean crossing. This, along with several long coastal passages, served to convince me that sailing was a better life option than working.

I sold my business with the intention of leaving as soon as the boat was practically ready. The emotional pull will only become more powerful. Perhaps the time has come for you to leave the flat and move onto the boat. I will be living on mine well before Christmas, even though I will have to await the end of the cyclone season before I leave in April next year.

If the boat is ready and you are ready, you only need to await the weather. Another 12 to 18 months of earning will in reality make little difference. With your technological skill and determination, work will find you when you hit the high seas. You could even log-on as a consultant to a wide variety of alternative energy concerns....or do like me and write a little, teach a little, drink a little and love a lot. It is far more fulfilling than shaving every morning and cursing the invention of mobile phones.

Of course, many people gave me similar advice over many years....it took me far too long to realise they were correct.

David

[Trim50]

Oh it is hard I tell ya...the dim glare of the flourescent lights, the endless gantt charts of projects on the wall and the photo of my boat above the computer screen.

I'm presently working a deal that would enable us to live on the boat in the next couple of months...hopefully it will come through.

Lori & I are taking a couple weeks vacation starting next week. We will be sailing out to Catalina to do some fishing and diving topped-off by Buccaneer Days with lots of fellow boaters at the Isthmus. Hopefully the vacation will help clear the brain cloud and I'll be able to see my way through the holidays.

I guess it all could be much worse...at least I have the boat ready to go.

even though I will have to await the end of the cyclone season before I leave in April next year

David,...so what is your cruising plan?

[Auzzee]

Hi Ken,

The southeast trades will begin blowing after the cyclone season ends in April/May. Maybe I will head for Bali, then Thailand....or maybe Thailand only depending on whether the Indon Government makes a move on the bonding system for foreign yachts. But I have cruising mates in Thailand and Malaysia I want to visit.

Then I will make my way to the Phils (via the scenic route) for a repaint. Then Palau for a spot of diving and Hobihu Harbour in Taiwan. Ultimately, I will get to Japan and stay there for an extended visit whilst planning the next stage and dodging typhoons.

またね。

ﾃﾞﾋﾞﾄﾞ (David)

[JeanneP]

Peter and I had a plan, and were working towards it when one day in the Spring of 1986, as I was in my upstairs office, I heard the front door slam - hard. And then footsteps stomping up the stairs, and there was Peter.

He announced: "just wanted to let you know, I'm going in to the office and quit."

Okay, thought I, it looks as if our "plan" has been accelerated a bit.

To Peter's credit, he didn't burn any bridges (he NEVER burns bridges). By the time he got to the office he had cooled down enough to gently and tactfully resign. (so gently and tactfully that two years later the company thought he would happily come back to work for them after his "couple of years" of cruising around).

For those of you who've read Watermelon's logs, we never looked back, and are still enjoying this lifestyle.

We were lucky in many ways. We found great places to visit, and when the economy made us tighten our purse strings we found the perfect low-cost places to hunker down for a while. We made a bunch of mistakes in those first years that weren't serious enough to slow us down, just make us rethink our knowledge and preparation. We escaped disaster - luck and Peter's innate seamanship skills carrying us through at times. We took it slow, never committing ourselves to an inflexible time frame, and giving each of us time to find our own level of comfort in what we were doing.

Was it the perfectly right way to do it? Probably not. Would I change how we did it? No. Should others do it our way? Hell no! Everybody has to find their own road to happiness and contentment, using others' experiences as travel guides, not itineraries.

Hang in there, you'll get there, though I certainly can understand your impatience.

Fair winds,

Jeanne

[Trim50]

It isn't that I hate my job...I actually really enjoy it. I hate the company politics and the bad decisions. Fortunately, yesterday the board of directors took action and announced that it will be removing the guy making the bad dicisions. He & I have been butting heads since the first day I arrived.

So now there is hope! We may actually see a path to liquidity if the board finds the right guy to step in. However, I could easily see myself doing what Peter did.