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Advice for 40s couple with health problems wanting to cruise


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That's a hell of a lot of money for a 30-year-old 33-footer...   isn't it?

 

Sorry, I was really thinking more along the lines of good boat design for liveaboard and coastal cruising.  No where near ready to buy at this stage just getting ideas and such.

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I’d be looking at some of the townson/cav/pacific 36 boats before something like that Beale. Loads cheaper and will get yo where you need to go. All old boats will need work if you can get something for 15k that only needs a few little tidy ups you’ll be better off. Then if you are keen buy your dream boat and go. You won’t care if you have to give your older boat away ( which if you want a quick sale you will have to do.

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Lots of good advice there. A few have mentioned the trailer sailer path, we have a very active trailer yacht squadron based onLake Rotoiti (Rotorua), several of our past members have moved on to keel boats, several have cruised the islands and at least one has sailed around the globe. Others have done RNI and numerous coastal races.

 

The Rotorua lakes area along with a trailer yacht can be a economic option. Soaking in a lake shore hot spring is hard to beat. Fell free to call by if your ever in the area.

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So my wife and I have had many long talks over past several weeks. We have come to conclusion that the only way forward is moving North. Once there, we can be in a better place to not only look at purchasing a boat but learning to sail and maybe better employment.

 

As such, we are in the process of purging all our possessions. Also fixing small things around the house to sell it in the next few weeks. We would like to leave by the end of August. We’ll be taking our car and small trailer up north stopping at Nelson/Picton to look at the marina as an option. Then all the way up to Whangarei. The current plan is to rent a furnished place for a few months while we look at boats for sale. The Auckland region seem to have the vast majority from our research. 

 

We have greatly considered the advice given here about the 8-9m boats for $15-20k. However, due to my height and headroom on most of those boats, we really are looking at the next hop up 9-11m. We would also really like to have a shower and hot water if possible. A diesel heater would be great but could be fitted later. Most of the boats we have found on trademe that fit that are in the 35k – 55k range. We are rather keen on Davidson layout but keeping our minds open to others. I’m expecting to have to upgrade the electrics (new panels, MPPT charge controller, inverter, wiring and batteries) to support working remotely from boat. Maybe $10-15k?

 

Hopefully it will only take a few months to find and survey any boats that suit.  It would be nice to be in a boat at the start of summer if possible.  Then the plan is to stay in a marina while we learn more about the boat and have the nicer weather. Being up north we would like to find opportunities to learn to sail while we adjusting to the new lifestyle. Maybe taking weekend day trips and slowly moving to longer journeys. If that all works out, we hope to cruise around BOI for a season and then to Marlborough area next year.

 

Someone suggested a name for our boat as "Last resort."  Any comments? :)  Saw a video of a boat named "escape pod" which was in distress and confused the hell out of rescue services.

 

Finally, we also want to say thank you to everyone who has provided some advice and suggestions. 

 

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G’day all,

 

Just wanted to update on our story. We made our journey up north, stopping to visit Piction, Napier, Taurangua marinas. Noticed a few boats for sail but mostly looked around the areas. We finally settled on Gulf Harbour and found a small place to rent short-term.

 

We then joined the GHYC and strait away got invited to join the race 9 over last weekend. Winds were about 22 with gusts at start of race of 31 knots. I tried my hand at winching but my frozen shoulder and arthritis got the better and had to stop after only second tack. I ended up as rail meat for the rest of the race. I need a bit more time to mend I reckon.

 

Of course there was lots of stuff going on and everything was happening very fast. We learned a little bit, but mostly tried to keep our heads down during tacks and gybes. Managed to survive our first trip out on the water and had a great time. We were also given a great book from club and have been reading it.

 

While the race was fun, I’m not sure if it is the best place to learn the basics as there wasn’t much time to ask questions/etc. Does anyone have recommendations up in the GH area?

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I wouldn't take yesterday's race as a typical day on the water. By all accounts there was as much excitement in that one race than most boats get in a whole series of racing, what with fairly lively wind, the 'compulsory life jackets' flag being flown (which doesn't happen often), boats over the start line early, a collision causing damage, protests, and a nameless boat (who's known to lurk around here) trying to finish with less crew than they started with, resulting in a rescue by the mark laying boat.

 

If you go out when its less windy, things will be a bit more relaxed. And then there is more relaxed racing series. The winter series is around an Olympic course, and several boats are via-ing for a podium finish with one race to go, so lots at stake. The twilight series, cruising series and series that do harbour courses are all much more chilled out. Esp on the 'Gulf series' and such like that go around harbour courses, you'll learn much more, and the skipper etc will have time to explain things / answer questions etc.

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Pilfered from the GHYC facebook page, Winter series race 9.

Bluesail, races are very rarely this exciting, normally they are a calm and pleasant tootill around on the water, with some competition chucked in for fun...

 

Race 9 & another Windy race for our Winter Race series ran by GHYC, with RO Richard Brown & his team, Miles & John on Olympus. Thanks to our sponsors - Hibiscus Marine Coatings & The Engine Room, who we will hopefully meet representatives of following the final race back at WBC in a fortnight.

Acknowledging the fluctuating westerly breeze with a base wind of low 20’s, & regular peaks above 30knts, Race control hoisted Y Flag; Indicating all sailors who hadn’t already chosen to don life jackets, were required to for participation in the race. Most of the fleet had chosen to place one or two reefs into their mains to accommodate the top end of the gusts, but factoring in the lulls was going to be a major factor to how many reefs & which foresail to use.

The White fleet commenced with an array of carnage; 2 boats over the line, 2 boats colliding, 1 boat from the gold division coming along for the ride, and possibly 2 skippers steering their crews to commence their race away from this drama at the pin end. With that havoc left in their wake, & some to be topics of discussion back in the club rooms following racing, the upwind leg was fairly even each side of the course with Enigma, Memphis, Kick & Share Delight rounding the first top mark close together. Odyssey V storms downwind. If you experience her in close proximity, her displacement of water is delight to behold, even if the gap between you and them is closing in their favour.

It was looking like the remainder of the race was to be a procession (which incidentally is the manner of play for the 30th anniversary celebrations at the end of the month) with only a few white kites hoisted mostly in the gold fleet. The second upwind leg mixed this up. Share Delight & First Priority from the white fleet took a big right encroaching on the waters of Frenchman’s Cap, before tacking over to find themselves crossing ahead of the boats that went left & the orderly procession turned on its head.

Sarah & Ted on Chase had their work cut out today with laying marks on the strong breeze, & later providing a rescue service for a MOB when an overpowered spinnaker launched their foreword hand from the pulpit into the water. Excellent communication & quick response resulting in a soggy crew but nothing more sinister on a windy Spring day.

15 racers today with one race to go for this series. Placings throughout the table across the two divisions can shift with one set of race results.

Let’s collectively make the last of the season in 2 weeks time a well turned out affair, use it as a shakedown before summer racing & chance to say thanks to all those behind the scenes who keep the cogs turning.

White division result are subject to the outcome of protest decision.

White Fleet: 3rd Odyssey V, 2nd - First Priority, 1st Share Delight.
Line Honours - Kick

Gold fleet: 3rd - _Stark Raven 2nd- C McGuire, 1st - Affinity
Line Honours: Southern Rebel

 

https://www.facebook.com/pg/GulfHarbourYachtClub/posts/?ref=page_internal

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Get a boat and do their sumner cruising series

We need to learn to sail before we can do that.  But otherwise that is the plan.  Just need to get the experience and find said boat.  But I also wouldn't think of putting our lives, or others on the water, in jeopardy until we have a firm understanding of what we are doing. :)  I expect this to take a while so even if we do buy a boat, we'd only be using it to live aboard for the time being.  Hoping to crew/take courses/etc. until then.

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This would be a low cost (to maintain) multihull. The fact you can beach her and she has outboards will save significantly on haulouts. Less than 20 years old (albeit old design but pretty bullet proof). You will enjoy the additional room for live aboard and a stable platform, while being able to work in an airy / light saloon.

 

Not sure what the live aboard restrictions are on a mooring, but this one will dry out twice a day pretty much allowing you to walk on/off if you needed.

 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/yachts/multihull/auction-1996193813.htm?rsqid=61e96ff6245b4ad1af96658ebc955c20-003

 

Good luck with your adventures!

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This would be a low cost (to maintain) multihull. The fact you can beach her and she has outboards will save significantly on haulouts. Less than 20 years old (albeit old design but pretty bullet proof). You will enjoy the additional room for live aboard and a stable platform, while being able to work in an airy / light saloon.

 

Not sure what the live aboard restrictions are on a mooring, but this one will dry out twice a day pretty much allowing you to walk on/off if you needed.

 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/yachts/multihull/auction-1996193813.htm?rsqid=61e96ff6245b4ad1af96658ebc955c20-003

 

Good luck with your adventures!

 

Thanks for the suggestion. We've went and looked at a few boats.  This one is currently under contract but did look at somewhat similar boats to this.  Headroom is a big challenge for me as I'm 188cm tall and run into problems on almost all boats under 40ft.  Seems some of the brokers are away often and can't always get us into look at them in time either.  Not that we are in a rush to buy, just would like to see as many boats as possible to see what we like.

 

Stub keels seem nice for beaching.  I'm bit worried how well they would handle in bad weather or heaving to, but shallow draft means more access to tight spots.  Always some kind of compromise eh?

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