Be gentle with us

My husband and I are about a decade away from retiring. Between now and then we are going to move onto a boat, and once we retire, we will sail away in said boat. In the meantime, we are taking classes (I docked at 33' trawler BY MYSELF last week! Woop! Woop! Yay me!), learning to tie knots in lines, (sometimes tying each other...but that's a story for when we know you better. ), learning the lingo, and basically making complete idiots out of ourselves.

Our main ambition is to become good sailors, respectful of the etiquette and traditions of this noble undertaking, all while soaking up information like little sponges, and laughing as much as possible along the way.

Rest assured, we will have stooooopid questions. I am 55, and my young husband is 50. We live in the SF Bay area, and are in the market for a 44-48' Aft Cabin type.

That's it. That's us. Now I'll wander around and start asking stupid questions. But please, be gentle.

Pictures worth a thousand words,,, dang he's a lucky bastard.

Wifey B: Go girl go.... Oh, knots are good but find something easier on the skin than rope.

Great you guys are learning now and you're pursuing it equally or more than equally with him. Not many females here and we need more like you.

Not...

Welcome aboard...

I like your attitude and desire to make it fun while learning. You should fit in well at TF. Good folks and lots of info assistance available - just need to ask.

Do some exploring on the TF site especially Boat Search 101 in the General Discussion section as well as the Live Aboards section (Taking the plunge has been well read and followed by many of us)

Congratulations on your docking accomplishments! Boat handling is not rocket science - it's more attitude than aptitude (IMHO) and willingness to practice.

Where are you taking the classes?

Wifey B ,,,you are bad.

kulas44 said:

Wifey B ,,,you are bad.

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Wifey B: I'm not the one who brought up tying each other...I did jump on it though.

Greetings,
Welcome aboard....Um, er....naw, later.

Welcome and hurry up with the new boat, then retire sooner! You'll feel a lot better!

OK a dumb question for you first....if you're "NotPing", who or what are you? Just kidding. Welcome aboard TF.


This is a great place to hang out and they put up with me even though I don't own a real trawler. Great bunch of guys on here, some with a sense of humor, some with a sense of terror but a lot of knowledge in the bunch.

GFC said:

OK a dumb question for you first....if you're "NotPing", who or what are you? Just kidding. Welcome aboard TF.

.

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Wifey B: Or is it Not P ing?

If not Ping then maybe Pong?

Welcome,and good luck with the plan. I would just caution re one thing. Why wait until retirement? One never knows just what lies around life's corners, health issues can arise, financial downturns can occur - stuff happens. You ideally need to still be quite physically fit to safely boat, even in a large modern cruiser. Or, if not fit, one can still do it, but the enjoyment is somewhat compromised. Trust me, I am a quack. I know these things.

I bought our boat with an advance on my retirement fund when some became available when I turned 55. We have had 14 years of enjoyment from our boat, just cruising locally in our pretty Moreton Bay. We now find for a number of reasons we need to sell her, even before I have fully retired. If we had waited to retire to do it - we would have completely missed out. Don't want to scare you, just sayin'...

Welcome to the forum! I'll jump on the bandwagon.... If you can buy sooner rather than later jump in. You'll learn much about preferences and skills by having a boat and will make your upgrade into "the" boat a much much more informed decision.

For us a number of things we felt were "must haves" on paper disappeared as wants altogether after owning our first two boats. Your plans are in line with many of us here, so feel free to ask away and chime in with questions in any thread. You'll find a bunch of people never shy to type away!

Geez... I hope I got the paragraph thing right....

I would recommend that you join the US Power Squadron. It is the worlds largest boating organization and dedicated to safe boating. They give classes on most anything boating related including meteorology. You will get to meet many local boaters in the group and be invited on their boats. That might help some in trying to figure out what style and size boat would fit your lifestyle.
Here is their link Home

Enjoy the journey

kulas44 said:

Pictures worth a thousand words,,, dang he's a lucky bastard.

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:lol:

Tony B said:

I would recommend that you join the US Power Squadron. It is the worlds largest boating organization and dedicated to safe boating. They give classes on most anything boating related including meteorology. You will get to meet many local boaters in the group and be invited on their boats. That might help some in trying to figure out what style and size boat would fit your lifestyle.
Here is their link Home

Enjoy the journey

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Joining USPS would be the first thing I would do as well ...

Tony B said:

I would recommend that you join the US Power Squadron. It is the worlds largest boating organization and dedicated to safe boating. They give classes on most anything boating related including meteorology. You will get to meet many local boaters in the group and be invited on their boats. That might help some in trying to figure out what style and size boat would fit your lifestyle.
Here is their link Home

Enjoy the journey

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Agree w/ Tony & Ex Sailor
We joined USPS before owning our first boat. Learned a LOT and gave us the confidence to venture out on longer cruises.
Still active after 25+ yrs and still learning as well as instructing others.
USPS is one of the few (non-profit - volunteer) organizations that now does on-the-water classes.

Bacchus said:

Agree w/ Tony & Ex Sailor .............USPS is one of the few (non-profit - volunteer) organizations that now does on-the-water classes.

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Yes, on your boat or theirs. Great way to learn how your very own boat handles.

I joined a about a year and a half ago. I am now a qualified Vessel Examiner (inspector) which is a free service to all boaters whether members or not and also an Instructor.
I am a firm believer in getting free vessel inspections. If you pass, you get a sticker to be displayed on your port side of boat. This is not to say that you wont be pulled over by law enforcement for a spot check, but you will be much less likely, because they see sticker and know you volunteered to be inspected. If your boat don't pass, you will get a list of items you need to correct in order to comply. We are not law enforcement and we do not send any info to law enforcement. It is pretty much between you and I.
What we check for is exactly what the water cops look for, no more, no less. Things like life jackets, nav lites, engine room blowers, up to date registration and documentation......that kind of stuff.

Welcome aboard, NotPing! I found myself in a similar situation at age 50. I wanted to retire at 55 (also in NorCal) and figured I'd buy the boat that fit my desires if she came along while employed so I could

1. learn the ropes
2. see if was really my thing
3. pay for the boat while I had 'disposable' income
4. plan and at least start my improvements list while I had the cash to do it, then complete as needed in retirement when I'd have the time to do it.

I'm three years into retirement now and I have been very pleased with that decision. Plus, I got 5 extra years of enjoyment out of the boat before I retired. I'm loving it so much I have to schedule time out of the fun to get to the projects!

I love the fact that you both want to get into this in a big way. My wife is not as involved or interested in the boating aspects, so I tend to do it all myself. It's still great, but would be so much better if she was 100% into it, too. If you've already docked a 33 footer, I figure someone's teaching you and you didn't just get lucky. Kudos to you for starting boat handling lessons.

If you haven't already, visit our SF Bay & CA Delta Cruisers Social Group. We discuss local boating issues, water issues, fuel prices and the like. Once or twice a year, we plan a rendezvous in a central location like Pittsburg Marina to get together for a weekend. It would be a great chance for you both to meet some of the good folks here on TF and see a variety of boats in one spot. Last spring we had about 7 boats and several others who drove in.

Welcome aboard


Sergio "Alemao" Sztancsa
Sent from my iPhone, using Trawler Forum

Welcome! Lots of good advice from the TF group (most of the time). We just completed exactly what you are now beginning. We bought our boat in Sept. 2013. We actually bought her up river from you in Oakley CA. I retired in December. We are heading to Alaska this summer, actually in about 12 weeks! We are very very excited.

I would start looking at boats now. www.yachtworld.com will become your best friend and I must caution you addictive. Go look at boats, walk docks, go to all the boat shows you can. Draw up a plan on what is considered a go-no-go for your next boat. This process took us 3 years before we bought our boat.

Once you settle on what you want, buy with your brain and not your heart!! Always always, have the boat you want to buy, have a survey and engine survey done, ALWAYS!!!

Buy at least a few years BEFORE you retire so you can do all the upgrading, lean how to handle her etc. Buy as early as you can.

Any questions just ask here.

Good luck and again welcome.