Don't Just Dream of Cruising on a Sailboat...Do It!
Here are the 5 steps that you need to take in order to set sail. So what are you waiting for? Let's Countdown to Cruising!
(By the way, if this is your first Prezi, use the right arrow key on the bottom gray tool bar to advance frames. If the music keeps playing after you are done watching the Prezi, just hit the speaker icon to mute it. Have not found a way to stop a Prezi yet (hint, hint Prezi designers!!).)
Details and Resources for the 5 Countdown-To-Cruising Steps:
Where do you find inspiration to go Cruising?
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- As you Plan Your Work, consider these things:
- How much money have you saved? (You are saving for this adventure, aren't you?) How much will it cost to go cruising? Jimmy Cornell addresses this very topic in his article for Cruising World while Lin and Larry Pardey offer tips in their DVD on controlling costs while cruising. Will you be able to add money to your cruising kitty by working as you sail?
- Your sailing route: this may dictate the length of your cruise which will affect most of the decisions you need to make. Plan this upfront. Need a resource? Once again, Jimmy Cornell is the man; World Cruising Routes is his book.
- Land matters: If you own a house, will you sell it, or rent it, while you are away? What will you do with your household belongings (boats are tiny by comparision so you won't be taking much with you!)? Put them in storage or sell them? What about your car(s)?
- Boat matters: Do you own one already? Is it suitable for your trip, or do you need to buy one? If you need a reference point on boat specifications, you can check out what Rosie had, and then tweak and tailor items to your needs. BoatUS has a guide to buying/selling a boat that might be useful. Be sure to use a reputable marine surveyor - the boat you buy will have to deliver you safely from shore to shore, so don't skimp on a couple of bucks here just to be sorry later. Once you have a boat (that fits your budge)t, what do you need to do to make her ready for your trip?
- Job matters: Will you quit? Take a sabbatical or leave-of-absence? Can you work part time from the boat if you have satellite communication equipment (and is it worth it?)? When will you stop working? This may depend on the state of the boat you bought...
- Paperwork: A necessary evil. Do you need house or renter's insurance? Do you need boat insurance? What about health insurance? (Check out crusiing/sailing forums for tips on this as health plans change often). When does your passport expire? Will it need to be renewed during the trip and do you have enough pages for all of those new stamps you'll get? Any visa issues upon reentering your home country/ (Paul is British and we had to do quite a bit of paperwork to get him legally back into the USA after our cruise). Plan to bring a couple of years of past tax returns with you, if you have to file income taxes while you are gone (if you are American, that is sadly the case). Bring copies of your medical records, birth certificates, marriage licenses, bank statements and retirement info. Leave copies of the same information, including your passport identity page, on land. Notify your bank (especially the ones holding your credit cards) that you will be traveling so that they don't flag (ie decline) a purchase you are trying to make in, say, Panama. (Experience talking here...) Lastly, who will collect your mail for the duration of your trip?
- I highly recommend the Care and Feeding of Sailing Crew by Lin and Larry Pardey for provisioning the boat - and Nigel Calder for fixing just about everything else on the boat.
- If you can, try to do a lot of this work yourself. It pays to know your boat, inside and out. Especially as things do break at sea. Which reminds me: bring tools. Lots of 'em.
- Start monitoring the weather for your first passage so you will know when it is a good - and safe - time to set sail. Sail by the weather, not by your calendar!