About

“TWENTY YEARS FROM NOW YOU WILL BE MORE DISAPPOINTED BY THE THINGS THAT YOU DIDN’T DO THAN BY THE ONES THAT YOU DID DO.  SO THROW OFF THE BOWLINES.  SAIL AWAY FROM SAFE HARBOR. CATCH THE TRADE WINDS IN YOUR SAILS. EXPLORE. DREAM.DISCOVER”

It all started when we bought a Kadey Krogen 48′ North Sea:

I have to confess, my comments are related to my and the Admiral’s(Lanette) decision to sell our business, our home and move on our boat and sail away. We have gone through all of the “what if’s” and “does it make sense”. Well there are a lot of “what if’s” as there are in life, and it probably doesn’t make sense. We spend our lives limiting as much as we can the “what if’s” so it goes against our grain to put ourselves in a position of limitless “what if’s”. But that is the exciting part, life has become a sort of a drudge, in that we have been pretty successful at controlling what comes into our lives and planning for the outcome. Our friends are of mixed opinion’s. Some question our “throwing reason to the wind” frame of mind. Other’s are excited, because they have come aboard for a week or so sailing with us.  They also realize no matter where we are they are welcome aboard. Built in cheap vacation. Our kids are supportive but apprehensive. They question “Dad can you do this”. They know me the best. I have gone to school and gotten my Captains license, gone to diesel mechanics school to relieve them of their apprehension. Now they are excited to visit. We own a large heated storage unit so there is no problem with storing some of our important land processions for what reason I don’t know other than we have things that were passed down to us from my parents and grandparents and great grandparents that will pass on down to my kids. So I can’t divest myself of those things.
When I looked at retirement, I didn’t think I would ever retire, I am a work-a-holic and loved what I did, so I didn’t see retirement in my future. Now I do, living and cruising on our boat is a full time job. Our goal is long range, Mexico, Caribbean and South America is in our future. Why because we “bare boated” in those regions and experienced them and love it.
We have worked hard to get us to a position to do this.   Our rentals will be managed by our Granddaughter who will also pick up our mail and scan to us.  Have we missed anything? I think not. W have no regrets, only a great anticipation to this January (1/1/2015) when we will physically move from land to the water.
Our decision for a boat was one that can go anywhere in the world and the biggest we could afford. Kadey Krogen fits the bill. We did not want to buy a less expensive boat and refit it, we bought the biggest boat we could afford that had everything we needed to cruise where we wanted to go and beyond.
It seems there are people that use their boats for second homes, others are marina dwellers mostly, and a few cruisers. It makes no difference who you are, and your reasons, you are on the water and that is where we have found the most peace, experiencing the moods of the water while on a boat and being influenced by it. We feel the most alive when there and that is where we have chosen to live out the rest of our lives whether it makes sense or not, it’s a life choice.
Is this for everyone? NO!  So the most important question is to look introspective at yourself and ask, “is this me?”. Can we be happy on the water in a boat? Trading friends, family and the comforts of a land based house for a small in comparison boat and what comes with it. It seems like most of the maintenance falls on me and I have tinkered with mechanical things all my life. Our boat has so many different systems that need constant maintenance it will keep me busy, which I need to be. So it works. And by the way my wife is anxious to learn so while I do maintenance she is there learning. So again you need to go through the retrospective phase asking yourself the hard questions and as a couple, can you live 24/7 with each other in a relative small space sometimes under stress (weather, system breakdowns, meeting new people, never in one place etc.). it’s up to you to know yourself and as a couple. The only way to know “if there will be any regrets” is to go for it. Someone famous said “know thyself…” We have gone through the mental exercise and we are excited to get underway.  add another page.