Sunday 19 February 2012

Which Boat?

This is what we are looking for in our yacht:

James' list
  • Less than 10 years old
  • able to maintain 7 knot average boat speed (sail and motor)
  • good light to moderate wind performance to help maintain the 7 kn requirement
  • Medium displacement to achieve above two points
  • Cutter rig preferred, but the possibility to install later is an option
  • 3 cabins, a space for everyone to call their own.
  • Dedicated nav table
  • saloon that converts to sea berths
  • lee cloths
  • L shaped galley preferred
  • 400 litres fuel and 800 litres water
  • It is not going to be a heavy world cruiser
  • Most importantly it has to be within our budget
Liz's list
  • Sailing characteristics left to James
  • Not a wet boat
  • Room for the kids to play both above and below deck
  • good galley
  • Agree with the water and fuel needs
  • watermaker would be good
The search has started. Actually we have already been looking for some time. Mainly monitoring the web adverts and local magazines.

How did we end up here?

Well it all started many years ago for James when sailing and cruising with his parents as a child. Many weekends and school holidays were spent cruising Sydney Harbour and Pittwater. This grew into a passion for competitive racing. So it is all my parents fault! I owe them a big thank you. For Liz it started out at the yacht club while waiting for me to return from racing and then the occasional overnight cruise. It was finally cemented on our honeymoon, when we spent 2 weeks cruising the Croatian coast on a charter boat. From that point on it was a definite in my future plans and a maybe / probably for Liz.

It has now been 7 years since were married. During this time we have had a number of trips to Musket cove in the Fiji Islands to socialise and sail with people enjoying the cruising lifestyle. We would plan our trip times to coincide with the cruising regatta week held in September of each year. On each of our trips we have met many fantastic people and spent many hours discussing the dream and seeking advice. Most recently catching up with the Lovesong crew of Alan, Kathy, Morgan and Wyatt. We have met them two years running and the kids get along so well. As a parting gift Morgan gave Olivia and Will a picture drawn during an art session on board.

Each year the desire to start cruising has grown stronger and stronger. It just so happens that this year Liz has decided it was time to do it and stop talking about it. We are now actively searching for a boat. In fact we have an offer in on one right now.

Thursday 16 February 2012

Who are we?

Ok. It's time for our first post.

We are a family of 4. Liz, James, Olivia (5) and William (almost 3) and enjoy a life of challenges and travel. James has sailed all his life with a mix mainly of racing and some casual family cruising. Liz had not set foot on a boat untill she met James in August of 2000 whereby she become acustomed to the term "sailing widow" very quickly. Since then we have had many small sailing adventures on family and friends yachts.

This blog will follow our boat buying process.  Followed by our local cruising life and all going well, a trip around the south pacific islands.