Quick answers to common concerns

No, we don't have a large nest egg to come back to. And No - I don't plan on raising my my daughters in a cardboard box!!! (duh - cardboard doesn't float...)

Yes, it is a risk! But if we are prepared, cautious, and careful - it is probably less of a risk then I took while driving 70 mph on that two lane highway to work everyday.

No, I don't think we are being irresponsible. The fact that this isn't the lifestyle that our neighbor lives, does not qualify this as an irresponsible action.

No, we do not have plans for our return - it would be nice (and maybe by the time we leave we will), but as of now that is completely up in the air. None of us know where we will be in 5 years. 5 years can pass in the blink of an eye, or it may never pass. Whether we stay here or sail the oceans of the world, in 5 years anything could happen to our jobs, house, health, or lives....

Yes, we've considered pirates, floating debris, whales, sharks, capsizing, hurricanes, iceburgs, typhoons, cyclones, vessel construction, political unrest, the cost of living, health insurance, boat insurance, life insurance, retirement, safety devices, college costs, family death, family illness, mysterious dissappearances, dangerous sea life, the panama canal, the red sea, immunizations, lice, etc., etc., etc. We are, and will continue, to do research and planning for as much of this as we can. Some questions don't have easy answers, some don't yet have any - but none of them seem to outweigh the benefits that we will gain as a family from such an adventure.

To tell or not to tell (more rantings...sorry)

I've always had ideas. From inventions, to movie scripts, to massive home improvements. I'm certain many of them would work (as some of them have - just not for me). I am infinitely guilty of sharing plans to carry out ideas that are way beyond my capabilities and/or financial means. These plans (initially) met that description - and for this reason, I did not want to tell anyone about them until they became a reality.

Well what if this is another one I don't carry out - why the blog ?

Because our entire reality has become entangled in these plans: Misty is now homeschooling the girls- which is the way it will need to be at sea. At holidays or birthdays we find ourselves limiting gifts to what will fit in the space of our future home(boat). All extra time is spent preparing the house to sell; or studying boat classifieds nationwide; or learning about seamanship, ocean routes, distant lands, intrepid voyagers, vessel design. Strangers we meet seem to relate in some way to our future travels. Movies we watch always seem to somehow relate to our plans... And as I research and plan - this is no longer beyond our capabilities, or even our means.

So, needless to say, the cat is out of the bag - and so far the response from strangers has been great. The response from family and friends? Not so.

To all those of you that know us but not our plan,

to those that don't know us but have similar plans,

and those that know our plans but end up frustrated when discussing them with us

- this blog is for you.

'Blue Dolphin'

Ironically, our second practice cruising sailboat (after Menehune and before Blew Bayou) was a 1974 Irwin 25'. After reading all that we did on Irwins, this was a good opportunity to see if the critics were right.

Our first overnight trip was a cold weekend in March 2008 - crossing Galveston Bay to Double Bayou. Our plan to leave early Saturday was thrwarted by a day's worth of unforseen boat repairs. We didn't end up leaving until about 16:30- but, oh, what a beautiful evening it was. This was what we had signed up for!

The sky was clear, the breeze was brisk - and several other boats were sharing the evening sail with us. We fired out across the waters, everybody jubilent with ideas of what we would do in the bayou the next morning - and how many more of these beautiful experiences our near future might hold.

That evening the wind picked up, and we anchored in the open Bay outside of the main channel - as I was worried about navigating the shallow and (to me) unknown approach at night. The growing waves and  howling kept me up all night checking the gps and making certain that the anchor line was not chaffing through. This was much more weather then I had expected in our little bay. As waves  lifted and dropped Blue Dolphin, she struggled against her anchore rode - and the battle reverberated throughout, as her hull 'oil canned' intensly. Every negative thing that I read about Irwins began haunting my tired mind: flimsy hulls, weak hull to deck joint, poor fittings. We'd sailed through rough spring weather in the Islander, but it never shook or vibrated like this...had I ended our dream before it started?

Throughout the tense and turbulent night I stressed to the point of nauseau, while the rest of my crew somehow managed to sleep. At the break of dawn, I climbed out of the cabin and started the outboard and pushed forward so that I could pull the anchor.

The waves were still about 3-4' (bigger then I'd really seen in the bay), but the wind had fallen to about 15-20 knots and the sun was out. I managed to pull the anchor and motored into the quiet waters of double bayou. A few miles up the bayou we pulled against the shore and enjoyed the remainder of the cold, gusty morning.

We made our first, rough, overnight passage - and (all in all) it went fairly well. Although it was nothing compared to what we would face on open water, it was an experience. The boat held up, and so did we .
It was a learning experience, for sure. Next time I would plan arrival time better, have emergency supplies, bring chaffing gear for my anchor line (which was so worn it would now need replacement), and pack warmer clothes!

Although on this boat I decided Irwins weren't worth the risk: oil canning hull, broken lifeline, poor downwind tracking in heavy wind - our next Irwin (two years older) has none of these problems....so my opinion on Irwins seems more dependent on the specific boat then the make.

Finding the right boat to not be the right boat

The weekend after our idea hatched, we drove down to Galveston and to look at a 50' Ketch. The boat was listed for $5000 - and in need of spars and rigging. This 1929 vessel that had been fiber glassed over a few years before - and although the interior, cockpit and engine were impressive , it had several soft spots. Luckily, we were able to resist the urge to immediately jump into such a project (helped immensely in this demonstration of will power by our lack of finances) - but this first glimpse into any vessel over 30' gave us a good idea of the room that we would be looking at.

Novices in the art of yacht purchasing that we were, our first 'serious' consideration was an Irwin 44'. This was a beautiful boat - and the price was extremely decent for such a large, well equiped vessel. We were ready to sell the house, move aboard - and finish preparations from aboard -but, again (I'm proud to say) we showed some restraint. This boat threw us into research mode. In no time at all we learned that not only was the vesell lacking in several desireable offshore features, we also found that Irwin's were hit or miss when it came to construction in the mid 80's. Still enamored by the size and price - we continued our search.

We began to accept that project or not, a decent vessel would most likely take another $20000 in funds just to be ocean worthy :( If we were to survive for 5 years on our liquidated assets, that meant we had to look at boats $20,000 less then our original (and very low) price limit.

So, a little disheartened and more undecided then ever as to which boat would be our new home, we turned the majority of our attention to the liquidation of our current assets and gathering of much needed information.

Cruising crash course - web, books, people

I've been sailing since I was very young child - and was naive enough to think that I was an expert on the subject. I believe that I am a decent sailor, but I am not a very knowledgable sailor ...especially when it comes to cruising vessels.

Our plan has always been to research the vessel, and have one picked out and ready to purchase by the time we sell our house. Researching the vessel brought me into a whole new world of sailing! My idea of the perfect cruising boat would soon be rewritten. Anchor wells, long overhangs, huge cockpits are a few examples of things that I looked for in my little weekenders - but were suddenly on my 'no,no' list. Those huge roomy cabins I had planned to place my family in were generally at the expense of important seaworthy aspects. Phyew!!! The choices and decisions seemed endless.

I started buying book, after book. Living aboard books, Heavy weather sailing books, anything by Nigel Calder, and every work I could find by a 'been there, done that' sailor.

I bought 'Cruising Routes of the World' and learned the times of year to travel to different locations, and spent a while schetching out our course.

Searching the web I found http://www.cruisersforum.com to be the most helpful resource out there. This is a site I would recommend to every sailor looking for a tested, and true answer. Everything is layed out in an easliy navigable manor, and broken up into logical sections. Experienced and unexperienced alike swarm this site ready to swap useful info and answer questions almost as quickly as you can post them. After spending a small fortune on books, I think some of the most useful information that I have acquired was from this site.

a few other websites:
http://noonesite.com
http://ssca.org/cgi-bin/pagegen.pl?pg=home&title=Home
http://cruisenews.net/db/region.php?region=
http://www.everythingboats.com/ryob/ryob_search.pl?type=list

Menehune

As I said, this plan is a year old - so I'll spend a lot of blog space catching up. Everything will be summarized, but I may reflect back on details - oh well, it's my blog so deal with it!!

Our plan grew

We decided to buy a boat and take some practice trips, so we purchased an Islander 24'. This was an excellent old boat - fully equiped, and very seaworthy. The problem was that it was used for racing and very rough and basic in the cabin - not comfortable for overnight trips with three females! So we used it to practice some light heavy weather sailing! We were the fools you see going out right before the big storm while the small craft advisory flags are waving in all their glory. Unsafe, sure - but the boat was solid and we wouldn't be able to avoid this weather if we did end up going to sea. I wanted Misty (and myself) to get a little bit of an idea of what we would be in for. I was convinced that when I explained to her that conditions at sea could be much rougher and for extended periods of time that it would change her mind - and I wanted to do so before I got too attached to our plan myself.

But she loved it - and so did the girls! For someone who gets car sick simply reading directions in a moving vehicle, she was doing incredibly well.

We took several rough weather, cold weather, and evening trips - and it was still a go. All the while we were picking up valueable sailing experience!

The problem now was overnight trips - we decided to sell the boat and focus on something a little more suited to trips. This was a difficult step, as all of us had really become attached to our little islander.

The plan (.. and Ed's idealistic rantings!)

OK, we've been planning this for about a year - it is about time I start documenting it:

We are in the process of getting rid of the house, cars, and superfluous belongings in order to start a 4 (or 5) year circumnavigation. That's the plan - beautifully simplistic, ironically difficult.

I think it all started with the quickly rising fuel prices (utility prices, grocery prices, service prices, taxes, etc, etc) of 2006-7. Our budget, however poorly constructed it may have been, was starting to crumble because of our failure to consider these creeping costs; we found that we were making the choice we promised each other we wouldn't make: we were cancelling vacation plans in favor or more 'sensible' expenses.

OK, you say - that makes sense. Who wouldn't do that?! We wouldn't...

Life experience is what we were (and are) about. We've worked to purchase a house, some property, and a couple of vehicles - but we don't feel the need to go further. We have all the 'stuff ' that we could want. Whatever little extra money we might acquire now, we invest right back into vacations, museums, parks, experiences, recreation. We savor the easy and difficult moments together while basking in the glow of our excited children, still able to look back with appreciation to times that they weren't too excited. Experience - that is what life means to us. To hell with the new car, or the 'comfortable' career that will secure us for tomorrow - if Misty and I have learned anything in our adult lives, it is that tomorrow may never come! Many times we regret ed spending our money on a big screen t.v. or that much needed appliance - but we don't have a single regret for spending it on a vacation (despite the fact that we have had our share of 'bad' vacation experiences)!

...anyway....

We had to cancel our vacation, and apparently that got us both thinking. Driving to the bookstore one evening, Misty turned to me and asked: 'Do you think we could travel on a sailboat?'

'We could... but I really don't think you'd want to do that." This had been my dream (unmentioned for the last 8 years), not hers.

'No, I think I would. I want to show the girls the world while we still can - with the way the economy is going, that is only going to get more difficult.'

'Yeah, but it still won't be easy...' I spent the rest of the weekend providing very compelling arguments AGAINST my dream, somewhat irritated that she would tease me like that. After a couple of weeks, I realized that my dream was now our dream ... apparantly it was contagious!