| re .0:
A very interesting question. I too have considered taking an extended
time off from work (a year or two) to go voyaging. Deciding whether or
not to do so is very difficult. Much depends on your personal financial
situation and your willingness to accept risk.
Among the financial and other considerations:
The cost of buying a suitable boat (if you don't already own one).
The cost of overhauling the boat and its equipment. Unless you buy a new
boat, some preventive maintenance and replacement will be needed to
ensure everything is reliable for a year of continuous use. As an
example, our diesel engine is nine years old and has had some 900 hours
of running. I feel no need to replace it for normal summer weekend
sailing and an annual three or four week cruise. If I were going
cruising for a year, I'd replace it to ensure reliability. (One
liveaboard couple I talked to uses their engine about 1000 hours per
year and they do the kind of sailing I'd do.) My VHF radio is eleven
years old. How much longer will it be reliable, I wonder.
The cost of equipping your boat. If you are going to live aboard and
possibly make extended passages, you'll need significantly more
equipment and spares than you might otherwise need. These might include
ground tackle (multiple anchors and rodes, windlass), engine parts (drive
belts, water pump impellers, fuel injectors, etc), electronics (SSB,
satnav, weatherfax), self-steering (electric autopilot, windvane), life
raft, charts, etc. Regardless of what you feel you need the cost will be
significant. It would be easy to exceed $20 000.
Insurance. Unless your boat is fully paid for, the mortgage holder will
insist on insurance. Insurance for extended voyaging in foreign waters
is, if available, expensive, so expensive that many if not most long
term voyagers either can't afford it or decide not to afford it. Being
uninsured means serious financial risk if a major portion of your wealth
is your boat and its equipment. Being uninsured also means you may be
extremely reluctant to leave the boat more than briefly or to trust its
care to someone else and also means you will have to be an extremely
cautious sailor.
Living expenses. Food, clothing, entertainment, boat repairs, customs
fees, marinas, etc. The cost of living really depends on your life
style. The liveaboards I talked to recently live frugally on about $9000
per year (the decision to eat at a cheap restaurant is one discussed
at great length).
Job. Will you have one when you return? How long will it take to find
one when you return? For example, my manager has indicated that he would
be unlikely to approve a leave of absence from DEC. Well, maybe, just
maybe he'd approve three months, but not longer. So, I am faced with the
choice of resigning from DEC to go sailing. This has very significant
financial and career implications. As a middle manager, DEC pays me
adequately. I fear I'd have trouble finding an equally good job in less
than several months of looking. So I'd need to have enough money for
living expenses while job hunting after returning.
House. If you own one, who will look after it while you're gone? If you
rent it, who will manage the tenants?
Emergencies. You might want to have a significant emergency fund
(perhaps $5000 to $10 000) for medical and boat disasters.
How much will a year of sailing cost? My personal estimate for me was
very roughly $50 000 plus paying off the boat mortgage. The used boat
market now is such that you'd be lucky to sell the boat for less than a
substantial loss should you decide to or have to sell it when you
return.
|
| Good points all - Alan...
I believe it all comes down to how daring you are - how much risk
will you accept. Self-insurance is the name of the game.
You could skip lots of the electronics if you had confidence and
expertise in simpler tools. (Sextant & leadline - that's what we used
on "Romance".) Hand sew your own sails (you'll have the time if you
plan ahead). (More... in this area...)
Job. I believe the P&P manual has some guidelines for personal leaves
that make a circumnavigation (2 yr) trip during a leave impossible.
Atlantic High trip - maybe. I left and came back. Again - assumed
risk. The earlier in a career the easier (vacation, retirement, etc.).
House/family/dog, etc. The fewer the easier (obviously). A friend
of mine has just started on a 1 year trip with his family from Maine
to the Bahamas and back on a Sabre 42. He was a partner in a yacht
brokerage firm (small one in Maine), with 2 kids 8 & 10, who found
a couple to rent his house and a manager should something go wrong.
He's also got someone picking up mail & "handling his affairs".
It's a classic question of the sooner the better. If you're thinking
of it and you've got the qualities (expertise, persistance, patience,
inovative, clever, lucky, etc.) and can assume LOTS of risk, do
it - now!
Peter
P.S. One other thing Alan didn't mention - customs, etc. fees, oil
prices, etc., have skyrocketed since the window of my experience -
'75 - '77.
|