Hello To All Of You From Final Fantasea

[FinalFantasea]

Hello to all of you. Final Fantasea is what we are going to call our cruiser. But, I get a little ahead of myself from time to time. My name is Steve, wife is Jessica, and we are both excited to be talking with all of you. Let me tell you the abridged version of the tale. We are raising three world changing children, (arn't all parents kids world changers?), along with holding two very challenging professions. Jess is a teacher of 15+ years in Lakeland, Florida. (Halfway between Orlando and Tampa), I work in real estate, providing people with their largest investment, REGARDLESS of the market! Have been for more than ten years.

Anyhow, I have a small, (heavy emphasis on small) amount of sailing experience, wife has even less, but both of us have always been attracted to this lifestyle. Jess, for nomading reasons, likes to get up and go, I am much simpler, I just love the sea. So, with kids starting middle and high school, we decided it is time for us to start on this journey, so that, in seven years when the twins graduate, we will be ready to throw off our bow lines.

Along the way, we are hoping to make several smaller cruises, to gain experience in the lifestyle, and to do our part in introducing the wonder of sailing to our contribution to the future. Our first major passage we hope to be across the Atlantic, and then, who knows. We have started to build a seven to ten year plan for this, covering mostly the basics as follows -

Year 1 - 3 - Mainly time to gain experience on the water and earning certifications at a local sailing school, also, purchasing a boat

during this time. (Already looking, thinking comfortable would be 37 to 41 feet), also, complete financial plan for

this kind of lifestyle, thinking rental properties (managed by anyone other than me)

Year 4 - 7 - Cruising with Final Fantasea every chance we get, shaking her down and learning every inch.

Year 8 - 10 - POP goes the corks and away we go.....

Feel free to give any advice from any of the topics, I am very willing to learn. In return, any questions regarding primarily Florida Real Estate, I would be happy to help with, any way I can.

Likewise, for all of you cruising home schoolers, if you have any questions about your students teachings, feel free to ask, I will pass them on to Jessica.

Well, that is it for now, looking forward to getting to know everyone!

Steve and Jess

[redbopeep]

Welcome aboard.

Definitely get out there and sail, sail, sail. Don't worry if it is small boat sailing--even getting a Hobie and spending every weekend sailing from a beach is awesome sailing experience. With a lot going on in life, having a big boat (umm...anything that doesn't come home with you on a trailer...) can be overwhelming and you may find yourself spending a lot of time at the dock rather than sailing. Conversely, you can ALWAYS rent or charter larger boats as you become more adept sailors. Don't feel bad if you don't purchase a cruising boat until much, much closer to your "real" cruising time. Rather--just get out there and have some fun sailing

Enjoy the forums and don't forget to check out the cruising wiki

[Lighthouse]

Welcome aboard Steve and Jess - good to have you here with us and thanks for the great introduction.

Make yourselves at home.

[JeanneP]

Welcome from me, too.

Sounds like a well-thought out plan.

Our real estate investments enabled us to retire and start cruising back in '86, when it was easier to do. The road to financial independence is full of potholes put there by the barely competent, however. We almost lost a building due to a very big error made by the management company. It was just luck that we were back in the States for a visit and we had a very good relationship with one of the tenants, who intercepted a foreclosure notice sent to the building rather than to the management company (who had failed to pay our mortgage for several months - poor accounting system). Mortgagor and management company both made were at fault, but it would have been us who suffered the consequences. Anyway, it all sorted itself out, but we fired the management company and found a better one. And learned a lot about accounting software in the process. Choosing the right management is as important as the choice of real estate, I think.

As said above, getting out and sailing is, in the early stages, more important than finding the right boat. We belonged to the Boston Harbor Sailing Club for many years. They owned the boats and maintained them, we could just go down there and take a boat out - for an evening sail, a day, or a weekend. It made spur-of-the-moment, "we've got a few hours free right now", sailing so much easier. Then we went to a bit larger boat, owned in partnership with a friend. And a year before we set out cruising, we bought the boat that we cruised on for the next 17 years.

We didn't plan it that way, but for us it worked extremely well.

Fair winds,

Jeanne

[FinalFantasea]

[QUOTE=name='redbopeep' date='Oct 14 2009, 01:17 AM' post='37283']

Welcome aboard.

Definitely get out there and sail, sail, sail. Don't worry if it is small boat sailing--even getting a Hobie and spending every weekend sailing from a beach is awesome sailing experience. With a lot going on in life, having a big boat (umm...anything that doesn't come home with you on a trailer...) can be overwhelming and you may find yourself spending a lot of time at the dock rather than sailing. Conversely, you can ALWAYS rent or charter larger boats as you become more adept sailors. Don't feel bad if you don't purchase a cruising boat until much, much closer to your "real" cruising time. Rather--just get out there and have some fun sailing

Enjoy the forums and don't forget to check out the cruising wiki



Thanks, we are currently restoring our "trainer", a 17 foot, single sail flying junior. It has been a great experience, learning about small boat repairs before moving on to a larger boat. (Hopefully, will not need the repair skills then, but, better safe than sorry) -LOL

Thanks for the advise

[FinalFantasea]

[QUOTE=name='JeanneP' date='Oct 14 2009, 05:47 AM' post='37288']

Welcome from me, too.

Sounds like a well-thought out plan.

Our real estate investments enabled us to retire and start cruising back in '86, when it was easier to do. The road to financial independence is full of potholes put there by the barely competent, however. We almost lost a building due to a very big error made by the management company. It was just luck that we were back in the States for a visit and we had a very good relationship with one of the tenants, who intercepted a foreclosure notice sent to the building rather than to the management company (who had failed to pay our mortgage for several months - poor accounting system). Mortgagor and management company both made were at fault, but it would have been us who suffered the consequences. Anyway, it all sorted itself out, but we fired the management company and found a better one. And learned a lot about accounting software in the process. Choosing the right management is as important as the choice of real estate, I think.

As said above, getting out and sailing is, in the early stages, more important than finding the right boat. We belonged to the Boston Harbor Sailing Club for many years. They owned the boats and maintained them, we could just go down there and take a boat out - for an evening sail, a day, or a weekend. It made spur-of-the-moment, "we've got a few hours free right now", sailing so much easier. Then we went to a bit larger boat, owned in partnership with a friend. And a year before we set out cruising, we bought the boat that we cruised on for the next 17 years.

We didn't plan it that way, but for us it worked extremely well.

Fair winds,

Jeanne

Thanks Jeanne, you are so-o-o correct. An awesome management company is paramount, the one we use now is actually the same couple that taught me the property management aspect of real estate, so I have spent a good bit of time with them. As always, thanks for the kind words, I am looking forward to the future and the time Jess and I can say we are ready to go. I know yours and everyone else's input will be vital information in the weeks/months/years to come.

Have a great time out there, see you soon!

Steve and Jess