Let’s bust ’em.
The idea of packing it all up and going cruising is simultaneously massively appealing and daunting. To a young sailor, it can feel almost impossible, but I’ve learned a few things that have changed my perspective significantly.
My partner, Sara, and I (combined age of 48) raised a few eyebrows in the family when we purchased a 35-foot steel “project” boat for the princely sum of $11,000 AUD (about $7,600 U.S.), spent two months at anchor repairing and refitting the important bits, and made our way north from Perth, Australia. We eventually crossed the Timor Sea into Indonesia, our Australian work visas having expired, and are currently cruising west near Lombok.
Being on a boat, and an old one at that, we’ve had to deal with numerous breakages and difficulties along the way. Still, the entire experience has unfolded more easily than I’d ever have imagined, leading me to believe I should’ve started earlier. It’s also made me rethink the common myths can dissuade younger sailors from living their dreams of rum-soaked sunsets and faraway palms—dreams that could be closer than they think.
So, in hopes of helping shake the oft-held (but rarely substantiated) idea that cruising is for the retired, rich, and/or idle, I’m sharing a little of our story and a few of the insights I’ve gleaned along the way to help debunk those myths.
Myth 1: Yachts are expensive to buy.
Categorically not true. Yes, beautiful, fresh production boats are expensive. Turnkey bluewater cruisers are expensive. Almost every boat listed on popular brokerage sites is expensive, as are those whose images festoon yacht club walls. But that lovely timber boat that’s been sitting in the yard for five years, gathering dust
