We’re doing it! We quit our jobs, sold our house, moved all of our things into storage, and traveled cross country from Denver to St. Petersburg to move onto a sailboat and cruise the Caribbean with our two dogs. I find that there is no way to say that sentence and not sound crazy. We must be a little crazy.
We met while we were both working as field engineers for a start-up biofuels company and started dating in January of 2011. We quickly realized that it was best for our relationship if we don’t work together. So we moved to Denver in November of that year and started creating a life together. During our time in Denver, we grew our careers, bought a house, made wonderful friends, had many adventures in the mountains, and adopted our two pups. Baxter joined us in 2012 and Jaela in 2014.
Then in September of of 2014, after pushing me to reach the top of a pass when I really just wanted to rest, Rob asked me to marry him. I was so surprised that I nearly fell off the mountain (seriously, I’m pretty clumsy and I was exhausted). We got married in July 2015.
After the wedding, we knew we wanted an adventure. A two week holiday in the tropics wasn’t going to be enough. We also knew that we wanted to include the dogs in our adventures. Like most adventurous decisions, we made this one over a few beers one Saturday afternoon. Can we sell our house and buy a sailboat? Can we learn to sail a 40 ft sailboat safely? Can our dogs adjust to life at sea? Can we quit our jobs, live minimally, and stretch this adventure out for a year?
We have since devoured sailing blogs and books. We’ve taken sailing lessons. We have spend countless hours on boats.com and yatchworld.com looking for boats that fit our “must” list. We have worked out budgets. And while we were overwhelmed at first–we believe that the answer to all of those questions above is YES! Therefore, we are setting off on this journey together and we’ll document our successes and learning experiences (fails) here in this blog.
Hey there, I’m following your blog & am interested in what sites you followed, books you read, etc that got you prepared for sailing. We’ve somehow bought a boat that we will be refitting and preparing to launch over the next year (maybe). Love the idea, still have work to do & lots to learn. But there’s so much out there–where do you start?
There’s so much info! It can be very over whelming. I started by following blogs that I could relate to. I was looking for cruisers with dogs, so I started following Where the Coconuts Grow, Sailing Chance, and Lahowind. There are several others that I follow now: Sailing A+ B, Lattitude Adjustment, Windtraveler, and Monday Never. I find both Commuter Cruiser and The Boat Galley extremely informative and helpful. Make sure you join Women Who Sail if you haven’t done so yet-it’s a very resourceful Facebook group. As for books, I’ve read How Not To Buy a Cruising Boat and Passages South: The Thornless Path to Windward. The Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual by Niger Calder is a must have for troubleshooting.
We are quickly learning that weather rules. I wish I would have started paying attention to wind and weather forecast earlier. We are learning it now, but I wish I would have started following weather earlier. I suggest subscribing to Chris Parker’s daily forecast. You can also listen to them live via a webcast.
Hi guys,
I don’t see any recent activity on this, but I’m in the process of selecting a boat. Hoping you’re still tending this site.
How and why did you choose yours? I’m thinking a shoal draft boat would be important, at least in the Bahamas. Currently looking at 36-39′ Hunters, Beneteaus, Catalinas, etc., with shoal draft, adequate solar/batteries, a windlass, set up for solo sailing.
Thanks!
Tim Marozick