IronZebra
Senior Member
Hello, all. I have been lurking and posting a few times for the last year or so. But, have never really introduced myself. As we have taken our first "big" step toward retirement (2-3 years out) though it was a good time.
We currently live in Albuquerque, New Mexico and just closed on a second house that we plan on moving to in a couple of years when we retire. Our new to us second home is in Counce, TN (by Pickwick Lake). Short walking distance to Freddy Ts, a bit longer walking distance to Aqua Harbor Marina, and within about 40min drive to parents, aunts, uncles and lots of cousins.
Our next "step" is scheduled for this coming July. While we will be looking at primary motor driven vessel in retirement, we have schedule an week long live aboard sailing class (ASA 101, 103, and 104) with San Juan Sailing in Washington. It just seems that the ASA has more formalized training and our thinking is that some of boat handing skills of the sailing class will have transfer to motor vessels. Also it appears that San Juan Sailing has some very abbreviated power classes as well and we will do those in a charter next year.
Being in the desert my current main vessel in a Hot Air Balloon :lol:. We also have a small day-sailor that we can put on Elephant Butte Lake about 3 hours south. My other boating experience is mainly limited a number of years back on ski boats and pontoons. Oh and of course canoes, kayaks, and SUPs.
I have been looking at yachtword for a while now and have flip-flopped a bunch of times on what we will look for that can fulfill our retirement cruising plans. We wanna be able to cruise the TN and inland rivers, do the loop in future, seasonal down Tenn-Tom cruise FL and Bahamas, and if possible maybe go from FL to Cancun area. Sometimes I really like checking out motorsailers with mast height under 50ft from water (Nauticat 33, Fisher 34&37, and such); sometimes like checking out sedan type trawlers 36-44ft; sometimes the bit bigger motored guys that supposedly get good mileage at trawler speeds (Bayliner 45/4788 and such); lately I like looking for old Chris-Craft, Hatteras, and Roughwater style cruisers that have been well cared. Like the idea of the sundeck style but we are wary of that climb off and on . We are planning to "actively" look around 6-12 months before final retirement. So hopefully we we narrow it down over the next year or so.
I am enjoying the forum!!! Thanks. I do have one suggestion/request. In reading and doing research on motor sailors I have found a good amount of information on this trawler forum spread about in different places. Actually more relevant info here than sailing forums. It would be nice if administrator could add "Motor Sailors" as a heading under Trawler Builders Forums and move some of the various motor sailor threads there.
We currently live in Albuquerque, New Mexico and just closed on a second house that we plan on moving to in a couple of years when we retire. Our new to us second home is in Counce, TN (by Pickwick Lake). Short walking distance to Freddy Ts, a bit longer walking distance to Aqua Harbor Marina, and within about 40min drive to parents, aunts, uncles and lots of cousins.
Our next "step" is scheduled for this coming July. While we will be looking at primary motor driven vessel in retirement, we have schedule an week long live aboard sailing class (ASA 101, 103, and 104) with San Juan Sailing in Washington. It just seems that the ASA has more formalized training and our thinking is that some of boat handing skills of the sailing class will have transfer to motor vessels. Also it appears that San Juan Sailing has some very abbreviated power classes as well and we will do those in a charter next year.
Being in the desert my current main vessel in a Hot Air Balloon :lol:. We also have a small day-sailor that we can put on Elephant Butte Lake about 3 hours south. My other boating experience is mainly limited a number of years back on ski boats and pontoons. Oh and of course canoes, kayaks, and SUPs.
I have been looking at yachtword for a while now and have flip-flopped a bunch of times on what we will look for that can fulfill our retirement cruising plans. We wanna be able to cruise the TN and inland rivers, do the loop in future, seasonal down Tenn-Tom cruise FL and Bahamas, and if possible maybe go from FL to Cancun area. Sometimes I really like checking out motorsailers with mast height under 50ft from water (Nauticat 33, Fisher 34&37, and such); sometimes like checking out sedan type trawlers 36-44ft; sometimes the bit bigger motored guys that supposedly get good mileage at trawler speeds (Bayliner 45/4788 and such); lately I like looking for old Chris-Craft, Hatteras, and Roughwater style cruisers that have been well cared. Like the idea of the sundeck style but we are wary of that climb off and on . We are planning to "actively" look around 6-12 months before final retirement. So hopefully we we narrow it down over the next year or so.
I am enjoying the forum!!! Thanks. I do have one suggestion/request. In reading and doing research on motor sailors I have found a good amount of information on this trawler forum spread about in different places. Actually more relevant info here than sailing forums. It would be nice if administrator could add "Motor Sailors" as a heading under Trawler Builders Forums and move some of the various motor sailor threads there.
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