Casting off the Bow Lines

We sell, give away or pack our worldly possessions and become full time cruisers.

It has been a dream for years, to sail away and make a boat our home.  This dream became a plan when we bought Ruby.  A vague plan, to happen when I retire, after several years of part-time working.  My illness in 2014 and the offer of voluntary redundancy in April 2015 brought the plan into focus.  Where we really up for it?  And were we ready now?  We both felt that, if we didn’t go for it now, we never would and in years to come would regret our inaction.  Our house had, fortunately, sold at the start of the year, and many of our possessions disposed of at that time.  We had a contract on our rented cottage until mid-August, which gave us a target date.  Our focus for the months leading up to this was to prepare the boat for extended living and long distance cruising.  Not everything is achieved.  There are still minor maintenance issues and questions to be answered about how things will work out in foreign climes but we are at least satisfied that we can co-exist in a space 40ft X 12ft for long periods; that we can work through differences of where to go and how hard to sail to get there; and we reckon that we can live within a budget covered by my pensions, without dipping into savings.

Our 2 week return from Cork was therefore spent on tidying up our lives and possessions.  The cars had to go, which was a bit of a wrench; Elsie got busy on Gumtree and managed to dispose of some furniture and white goods etc. Most of the rest was packed into a 20ft shipping container at Elsie’s family farm.  And 2 more bags of clothes, etc. were flown back to Ruby.  Banks etc. require a postal address, so kind relies were pressed into providing post boxes.

Finally, we were done.  We are of no fixed abode and are wandering the seas until health, wealth or common sense dictate that it is time to return to land and resume a ‘normal’ life.  Our plan is to head South for the winter.  Our insurers require us to have crossed Biscay by mid September which we hope will give us time for a cruise down the coast of France and Northern Spain.  A few weeks in the Spanish Rias, down to Portugal, where my son Zac is going to join us for the crossing to Madiera; Canaries for Christmas and, who knows, maybe Cape Verde islands before returning to home via the Azores in the spring.  It all seems unreal at the moment but others, with less knowledge, experience and kit have achieved more, so here's hoping...