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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/9/2007 11:08:45 PM | | I'm not all that for sailing, but I would love to be able to drop everything for a couple years and travel around Europe or move to Australia or California or Hawaii and be a surf bum! | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/9/2007 11:13:34 PM | | Yikes! I spent 3 days with my boys on my sailboat last weekend and, while it was a lot of fun, we only got about 20 miles from home. All the way around the world? Nope. | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/10/2007 10:04:51 AM | I know it's not always going to be a picnic, I've already been through some pretty rough stuff,and had to bail with a 5 gal bucket for 28 hours once. I could stop long enough to make and eat a sandwich but then had to work double hard for a few minutes. It took the better part of a week for my feet and hands to get back to normal.
As for 3 days vs years, the kids would have duties on the boat and have hobbies just like they were are home, in fact they would be at home. The 45 foot boat is big enough that people can get "lost" and be out of each others hair if they want too, with multiple cabins, engine room, lots of deck, bowsprit and cabin top space. I'll have an inflateable dingy, hard dingy, inflatable kayak and probably even take a windsurfer too. Think I'll leave my big backpack, X-country skis and foldup canoe home, LOL. | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/10/2007 11:18:23 AM | I personally enjoy sailing, but would never want to do one long around the world trip on a sail boat. I wouldn't mind a series of small jaunts for a couple of weeks here or there. I can see where it would be a fabulous opportunity to see a lot of places, but in small doses, please.
I remember reading about a family a few years back who took one long trip and returned to get a divorce. | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/10/2007 11:27:01 AM | I remember lots of people that have gotten a divorce and they didn't take a long trip on a sailboat...... Maybe if they had, LOL.... I'm sure a trip like this would either make you or break you, that's for sure. I would spend at least a month a year back home, off the boat, maybe more.
Thanks for adding your comment. | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/10/2007 11:33:24 AM |
I remember lots of people that have gotten a divorce and they didn't take a long trip on a sailboat......
Very true. There's a high rate among those who have never seen the ocean, I'm sure.  | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/10/2007 1:31:40 PM | WPG CHICK 84 ... I passed through Winnipeg on my canoe expedition to Hudsonbay, both going in and coming out of the bush. The city was beautiful, it was the year after the Royal Visit and everything was still freshly polished :) You may be too used to it, but Winnipeg is a great city... I even honeymooned there :)
As for dropping everything to sail around the world with the kids..
Do It.
The reason most of us don't is that we accept self-limits.
I led a 3 month canoe expedition to Hudson Bay (York Factory), Canada and it was the most free I have ever been in my life; I learned more about myself than ever before or since. Conversation on this topic is offerred to any interested. Just email me.
Any of the reasons we give for not doing something can be overcome.
Its a matter of making the effort or accepting the cost.
You want to sail around the world? Accept the hole in your carreer, look for alternate sources of income. Besides , how much do you need money 300 miles out in the Indian Ocean?
My trip to Hudsonbay, 90 days from Chicago to Chicago, including obtaining some needed equipment and 50 rolls of slide film only cost me 1,400.00 ... and then I made it up by giving lectures... I planned a book but got distracted | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/11/2007 6:47:23 AM | Hudson:
I don't really need or am looking for confirmation about the decision, I'm going, I need the mate (that's what this is all about.) Something about having kids that I just can't or don't want to do by myself, LOL.
Money is not the problem, nor the hole in the career, can't say either is a big deal, life on a sailboat is or can be very inexpensive, even more so for someone very handy with tools and not in a hurry. As for the 300 miles out in the Indian ocean, might never be there, it's the shoreline I'm going to see, the middle of the Indian ocean looks just like the middle of the gulf of Mexico.
I'm sure we would have stuff to talk about, I've canoed north of the Artic Circle myself. Thanks for the comment, have a great day. | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/11/2007 8:00:01 AM | | I lived for 12 years on a bare granite reef about the size of a small bedroom in the Baltic Sea and ate tern and, if lucky, albatross droppings and made clothes from the occasional plastic waste that floated outside the shipping lanes and ended up on my reef and while I loved every minute of it, I truly needed a break from the whipcrack pace of my prior life as a storage unit attendant, and found I could more quickly and deeply access both my spiritual and emotional sides, I wouldn't recommend this lifestyle for a sailboat full of kids and a pony lashed to the heaving and rolling deck. However, for me, it was just perfect! | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/11/2007 8:11:32 AM | Ok I peeked, got to admit.
If the pony is the only thing, we should talk. After all the Ark had all those animals on it didn't it..... If I remember it would have had two ponies...
(FYI, when I peeked I read ever word. I do have more than 20 pairs of shoes.....) | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/11/2007 9:03:35 AM | 
I've been thinking the exact same thing a lot lately, sell everything I own, buy a little boat and go.
Or return to backpacking, I used to do pretty good in my travelling days, the day I 'settled down' was pretty much execution day for my love life.
Plus where I am now sucks big time for the type of guy I am (straight, white, drug free guys are EXTREMLY unpopular in these parts).
My family (= pets) is the absolutely only thing holding me back, I can't just abandon them. | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/11/2007 11:34:08 AM | JHELDAT ok damn I can't spell it..... GOOD ON YOU MATE! <img src=http://www.plentyoffish.com/smiles/icon_201.gif border=0>
WOLFIE I understand... My pets are the biggest impediment to adventuring in my life too. I love 'em like words can't express. And its not like we can put them into storeage, even with another loving home. | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/11/2007 2:30:29 PM | We lived on a sailboat for a few months and my kid loved it at first - then hated it!
The idea is great, but the reality is all together something else.
At 42, you must know this - and as your listing mentions divorced, I'm surprised that you'd even post this.
Think about it, you probably expected that to work out until death.
Who died? Get my point?
For old people it sounds good - but when you consider the kids view, it pales quickly.
All your money and bright ideas won't replace the security a kid feels growing up in a secure, stable household, as a land-lubber.
Check out the Bedouin horror stories! Their children are a mess. Most grow up to be recluses needing therapy.
Few receive the help they desperately need.
Most end up wandering the deserts aimlessly for the rest of their lives! Like their parents!
The shame is rarely mentioned or reported. And they call the camel 'ships of the desert'!
You'd have better response posting your intention to abuse children along more traditional lines. 
Your profile says you have no kids. Who's kids do you wish to subject to the possibilities of drowning in their sleep, being overtaken by ruffian pirates and sold of into slavery, or chapped lips due to the dry salty air? | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/11/2007 8:13:47 PM | Wolfie and Hudson:
I've got two boats for sale, very reasonable. Known lots of people to have dogs on a boat, not many cats, but a few. Many dogs also go well with a backpacking trip too. You shouldn't have to sell everything to do something like this, it's much safer to rent out to a friend and caretaker and have something to come back too.
Sam:
I've known lots of kids that have spent years on a boat, when they are real young it makes no difference, from 3 to 6, I'd say you spend a lot of time on land, but that's the whole reason for the trip anyway to see all the exotic lands (in the past I'd say I spent 80% of my awake time on land.) Kids are very adaptable. Imagine learning about herrons in Florida, where you can actually see them in action and then penguins in Iceland, and sea turtles in the mediteranean, all in the same year. And they also got to visit Orlando, Charleston, Washington DC, NY, and Boston (maybe even have a tea party,) hear Big Ben and see the white cliffs of Dover, etc, etc.
I suppose they should fall asleep in that stable land lubber household worrying about the crazy neighbors that might burn their house down in the middle of the night, or the skinned knees from sliding home in a little league game, or having your car attacked by a carjacker and taken to a street corner in Newark and shot by gang members execution style. They can watch on the news about people being killed by crazies everyday. Or maybe they just learn about crack the hard way. Life is dangerous no matter where you are. I think swimming with the sea turtles and dolphins, fishing and adding to a shell collection is much safer and more educational then going to the mall to hang out and playing video games.
I don't have kids, but If I get lucky I will, that's the whole reason for me being on here and posting this. | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/15/2007 12:39:52 AM | But when you say you want kids, does that mean a single mom with kids or a women willing to have kids with you? If the latter...does that mean a newborn on board?
This thread is two years old, I see. Are you closer to leaving? If there is love, jheld, real love and I'm not talking a fantasy of finding Mr. Perfect, but I question finding Mr.Goodenough to be a satisfying union. If I understand your other posts here and there.
It sounds like a truly wonderful opportunity for children to live on a boat, doing all the things you mention. Absolutely. Any child/children would be so fortunate to have that experience.
But where is the talk of love for the woman that comes with the children? | |
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daisie
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Joined: 9/22/2004
Msg: 92 | |
| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/15/2007 1:30:38 AM | NO WAY!!!
maybe i missed some crucial info on this thread...but the idea of llittle kids on a boat for ages and ages sounds like a horrible idea. horrible.
my god.....first of all i dont think "Litttle" kids would appreciate it very much. Around the world??? BIG DEAL. Developmentally their "world" is very small. they don't give a hoot about history and culture and meeting (and saying bye to) new people all aroudn this 3rd Rock from the Sun. they have tantrums sometimes, have lots of energy they need to run around to burn off. and you know how little kids like to sit in the highchair and throw stuff on the ground to watch mom and dad go pick it up, then throw it again? Yeah well....itll all be the same thang, but now theyre throwing their binkie or bear or trcuk in the frikken OCEAN for you to go retrieve. besides id be very concerned all the time they might fall overboard. this has NO FUN written all over it.
older kids (teens) MAY somewhat kinda appreciate the history, culture, new people, adventure part of the trip....however they would sure miss that important part of life and socialization with peers, sports, pets, hobbies, teachers, etc. and teens would most likely get sick and tired of being trapped on a frikken boat with parents for ages and ages. no where to run, no where to hide, no doors to slam. They might just turn on you and kill ya in yer sleep.
orrrrrrrrrrr if I was stuck with them on a boat for ages and ages......i might just kill them in their sleep.
nope....this is a bad bad idea. too much risk, not enough benefit.
its GREATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT for adults and possible older teens. But really these adventures are best lived-out while youre single, unattached, no kids to deal with. once you have kids you have to change your priorities, and make some sacrifices for them. Thats the grown up way to behave. ...grown ups make sacrifices. or plan their lives so that sacrifices arent needed....that means NO kids.
or you c an compromise like little trips for a few weeks here and there maybe a couple months that you can invite the kids on or leave them behind when they are old enough. | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/15/2007 1:46:51 AM | | sounds great , their will be lots of hardships , regardless of how much money you have to invest in the adventure , it will build caracter , mispelled I know but very drunk , I envy those people still young enough and in good enough shape to even think of such an adventure . I have had my share of adventures riding motorcycles around the united states before it became a crime . The oceans are probably the last place you can " Almost " get away from big brother . I still ride my 67 chopped out Triumph , I definatly did not have enough money to do what I did . But did it anyhow . To be a true adventure , you cant be prepared for everything . Go for it . And good luck | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/15/2007 5:55:46 AM | This thread is two years old, and yes I am closer to being able to start on this adventure, it was put off for most of the last year by buying a and fixing a large boat that will make the trip infinitely more comfortable. It was a boat I had dreamed about but never thought I could afford, the right circumstances came up almost tailor made to fit my situation and skills and I now have a boat worth as much as my house and my major investmeant really is only my time. This has also set me back since I now have two boats to sell instead of one, I was expecting to have them sold by now, but it seems others aren't intersted in a project boat so I've had to spend time fixing them to recoup my investment in them. They are ready to go. after I sell them I am ready to start on my trip, the big boat isn't ready but I can finish it anywhere, it's large enough to have a 10 KW generator, welder, and machine shop on board. The main thing I need to do is intall the tanks back under the floorboards. I can easily live with bottled water and 5 gal buckets till that is done.
(IMHO) This points out one of the problems with todays society, very few people know how to do anything, 50 years ago everybody drove a vehicle that was junk and knew how to fix it, now they are too complicated and most people know nothing about them. Everything else we use is similar, to complicated to fix, at least that's everybodies attitude. It's easy to make quite a good living for yourself in todays society just fixing and reselling tossed out "junk" if you have rudimentary fix it skills.
Anyway back to comments on the last couple of posts, sure there is love for the wife involved, but most women who have kids and want kids want to make sure the kids are or would be well loved, I assure them that is the case. Many men want the wife but could care less about the kids and their well being. It's a package deal, I want the whole package, the family, not just the wife. I would accept a woman with young kids, I "need" to be considered a dad that is the important thing I am looking for in a relationship with kids. With young kids I can easily attain that, with young teens it's harder but still might be possible. As for a newborn on a boat, basically the boat is just a house that floats, it's quite easy to stay in one place for as long as necessary, the driveway is just a little wet or you rent dock space. I could even buy a car and keep it on land if that was necessary and sell it when we continue on the trip.
Life on a boat going around the world is not all oceans and waves, most of the time it is exploring the lands close to the oceans, you might spend a few days crossing an ocean but once you get to the other side you spend many weeks or months exploring the towns, you might spend half a day every week travelling from one harbour to the next down the coast. It bicycles, dingies, kayaks, playing in the surf, exploring uninhabited islands, and historical towns and countries. It meeting people that speak different languages and eat different foods. The waves are just the highways that need to be endured to get to the destinations, they are the breaks when you sit on the deck with nothing to bother you reading that latest book you found in a thrift store in Tunisa or traded with a child in Sarnia. It's also the time to work on your math, spelling and history homework....
Most kids that have grown up on a boat are much better adjusted than kids that have grown up on land. I can't stand society today that thinks every kid must wear a helmet when they ride a bike because one child out of a million might get killed, life is dangerous, if we remove all risk life is no fun. We can live in a bubble and have no contact with anybody else to eliminate any chance of getting a disease. Instead we spend millions of dollars on kids helmets, that are no fun to wear and insist that kids wear them. Out of all of us that grew up without helmets how many people do we know that ended up with a life long injury that would have been prevented by one. Sure there are a few, I'm not saying that, but lets be realistic. I rode thousands of miles on my ten speed when I was a kid, I was often 50 miles from home on a Saturday afternoon, sure I had falls and injuries but none are still with me, except for that class picture in 5th grade when I had a profile shot becasue of the huge scab on the side of my face. It was the first thing to touch the pavement at 30+ mph after I topped a hill and disovered there was a diagonal strip of ice across the road in the shadow of a tree. I lived and so did all my friends. A helmet probably wouldn't have prevented that anyway. Today we don't let kids learn to juggle risk vs reward. It's against the law to let a kid have fun because they might get hurt. | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/15/2007 6:16:11 AM | Whatever about taking kids, realistically research what lies ahead of you and stock up with preventative measures, charts, weather knowledge, pirate black spots etc.... .
Re: "The waves are just the highways that need to be endured to get to the destinations"......... Ahm.........that is the kind of attitude that gets people killed. Some would say, "assume the worst and overlook nothing, lest you forget something".
I have been at sea all of my life, it is my job, and have lost nine fine friends to the sea in the last fifteen years BECAUSE the rescue services were busy attending to stricken yachtsmen that should not have been out in the kind of weather that we work in.
Don't get me wrong, we all have a right to be out there, but, experience has taught me that generally, MOST yachtsmen tend to be somewhat "Gung HO" and err constantly on the side of danger and wrecklessness, whether that be in the name of more speed or testing the capabilities of their vessels and themselves, that is all well and good when they do it in an organised monitored event but not alone on the open sea.
Nine good friends, that's nine sons, nine Fathers, nine husbands, gone forever !
They HAD to be out there to put bread on the table, the others did not.
The oceans are not playgrounds as you well know, yet I have found that many yachtsmen are like children when it comes to accepting help or advice before it is too late.
I am a Master Mariner, have circumnavigated and been pretty much pole to pole, have pretty much seen it all and my point yet again being:- Some people have to be out there because it is their job, are professional, competent, follow protocol by the book and rely on the rescue services to save "their" lives when something goes wrong, others are there in the name of adventure/escape/soulseeking etc......apart from your own personal safety, please keep this in mind before planning any leg of your journey and contingency plans.
I do not have any knowledge of the level of your nautical skills, but can only assume that you occasionally overlook things as you stated that you spent 28 hours bailing with a bucket.
It might be an idea to crew on other vessels for a few of your proposed legs before undertaking this epic voyage.
I have a lot of computer software that may be beneficial to you regarding safety etc...contact me and i'll get it to you.
I apologise if I have offended you in any way, but please take on board what I have said. | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/15/2007 6:21:44 AM | I could never consider it, being my life does not equip me to "take off". I could see how you would come to this as an idea. You dont have kids yourself, so it could come to you as a fun adventure. There are many things to consider--taking away from a childs social world and development, a solid education, other family life and structure, and your sanity.
If YOU want to take a trip around in a sailboat, hey, go for it! It could be a life adventure for you. But, for an average parent, it just does not seem sane and feasable. | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/15/2007 6:26:57 AM | | I'd do it in a second if I didn't get weak at the knees when I see whitecaps (which doesn't help when I live on an island). It would also depend on the personalities of the kids. Maybe just one year? Or explore different cultures from land?? Lots of people have done this. It's a fabulous education for kids!! | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/15/2007 6:34:15 AM |
The oceans are not playgrounds as you well know, yet I have found that many yachtsmen are like children when it comes to accepting help or advice before it is too late.
That reminds me of that young woman from Vancouver who, last year?, was going to go on an epic circumnagivation solo for some pet charity, ostensibly. I think she liked the publicity, personally. However, we'll go with her story.
I read the hype, looked it up on the web and started shaking my head.
Her whole sailing experience, from what I can remember, was sailing dinghies around English Bay. She'd even been an instructor! Bravo! She may also have participated in some other regattas in Georgia Strait or some such.
Her boat was a 32' slug that didn't sound like was completely prepared for sailing beyond sight of land. She had never been off-shore.
Last I heard she had called in a 'Mayday' or 'Pan' or something a couple hundred miles west of San Fransico. She was tired and upset and wanted to go home. End of saga.
I've sailed and sail-raced for nearly 20 years, own my own 30' sailboat, been in some real crap and very dicey situations, but would I just haul up my sails and head off-shore? No friggin' way. As good as I think I am, I know I'm not prepared for that until I've been out there with someone who knows what they're doing.....
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/15/2007 6:41:46 AM | Altho Greek, I am not a sea person, more of a nomad travelling by land, love to take road trips, and I would like to vababond around Europe, America and the rest of the world. Spartan living. And visit my POF friends around the workd.
But cannot, because I have an elderly relative to care for.
No round the world boating for me and certainly not with kids along! Too much responsibility to assume in high seas, IMO.
From post 4:
" Well, I worked in tech for years and then made a killing during the Internet boom.
I then decided to drop out and re-embrace my earlier hippy roots from Berk as a student.
I carefully invested the money and set up a trust to maintain the farm community that I started along with several people I love.
Now, I'm 63 and healthy and very happy living this simple lifestyle. I have two great women that I co-habitat with and have 8 children with a ninth on the way. We eschew most modern conveniences and this computer is our only piece of modern tech.
I realize that this isn't the same as your situation, but I think you have a similar attitude as myself.
Drop-out for a while and enjoy this "Big Blue Marble".
I know that I've never been happier and more content"
I know the pot is 2 years old but: Way to go, dude, way to go! Wow! | |
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| Chuck it all, Sailboat around the world With Kids
Posted: 8/15/2007 6:52:55 AM | Seanick:
No offense taken, I am well prepared before I do anything, my 28 hours of bailing was due to a weak point in my first boats hull, I had sailed her for 9 months from lake Erie to south Florida. I failed to realize how quickly it got shallow on the west coast of Florida and run aground with a following sea while I was getting the charts out to figure out my approach to the harbor. I was never in danger for my life, at any point I could jump out and walk to shore. I was just saving my investment waiting for the wind to shift so I could come into a port and be lifted out to repair the damage. I could have paid $1k to sea tow and not have bailed that long, but for one days work of bailing I saved myself $1k, not bad pay. The hull had plywood bulkheads that had become week through the years and allowed too much flexing of the fiberglass when it was aground cracking the hull at the back of the keel. I repaired it by replacing the plywood with fiberglass bulkheads making it stronger than new.
There are many people that do go to sea unprepared and many that are well prepared and run into challenges beyond the preparations. The sea is often a dangerous thing, but danger should not be something to keep us from living our lives. Danger is often what we seek to make life interesting. It's only smart to be well prepared for the possible danger. Why do people speed in a car, most often it's not because something is life threatening and they have to get to point B before a certain time. Often it's because of the exhilaration created by the speed. Many people have died doing stupid things. It's a process we are all familiar with called natural selection, it eliminates many of the less intelligent of our species. Your friends that had been lost at sea were lost not only because rescue was not available they were doing a dangerous job and probably enjoying the risk. Life is the biggest cause of death.
I have been sailing for most of my adult life, I started with a small boat from a yardsale, got a book to read how to use it, and have been getting bigger boats ever since. I enjoy reading and learning. I've always been one to enjoy the danger and adventure of pushing something just at its limits and often slightly beyond. I was one that was going out when everybody else was coming in due to the foul weather. I would see what would break and enjoy the challenge of overcoming it and jury rigging to get back in.
Life without risk is extremely dull, we would all go crazy, life is all about making inteligent decisions balancing risk with potential reward. | |
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