Well, it was time to fish or cut bait, Yesterday I made an offer on a vessel capable of passage making. I shouldn't go into the specifics of the deal until it's complete, but I thought it might be helpful to share my thoughts and visit some of the factors that brought me to this time and place. As most of you know, I've been planning a circumnavigation for more than a year. What does "planning a circumnavigation" mean? It means trying to identify the issues and challenges associated with being able to undertake such an excursion. It means making a series of decisions that opens doors to your being able to go, or identify barriers that stop you. Some of these decisions come at your own pace but occasionally a compelling event arrives which makes you realize its time to fish or cut bait. For me the event was the availability of an appropriately configured boat that might be available at an enabling price. Knowing the boat, recognizing the opportunity and being ready to exercise a purchase were all key factors that enabled me to take advantage of a door opening. However, the boats purchase was only one of many factors that must align with the stars. As I see it there are at least three major areas of influence that must align to enable the adventure: Technical, Financial, and Family/Personal Issues. Surprisingly the technical and financial issues usually don't present the biggest barriers. Technical: Fortunately most of these issues have been, or are being addressed by vendors, industry specialists and cruising communities, such as ours. It's no longer true that you are alone in putting a plan together to accomplish a circumnavigation, or a remote cruising adventure. There are numerous resources to assist. The Internet has enabled us to follow the adventures of those that are out there doing it and those of us in the planning stages. Selecting a boat is a function of defining how much you have to spend and making sure the vessel is capable of the journey. Used Nordhavn 46's are available for $300k to $500k, a new Seahorse Diesel Duck can be landed, voyage ready, for about $450k. A new Krogen 44 that's ocean capable is going to be in the mid to high $800k range, about the same as a Nordhavn 43. You can outfit a new Nordhavn 40 for about $620k. Each of these can be done for less, this assumes top quality equipment. I'm certain a frugal person could save 10, 2 0, perhaps even 25% on these estimates, but much more than that would start to compromise quality and safety (IMHO). These are just some of the boats Ive considered. Other lower priced options may be out there. Financial: Based on feedback from this list and other resources, I believe you can undertake the extended cruising or passagemaking adventure if you have the financial resources to purchase an ocean capable boat, and provide a sustained (low risk) income of 2 to 3 grand a month. You also need a financial nest egg that enables you to re-establish domicile in case the vessel is lost. My financial planner advises that you should only plan on drawing 4 percent from your long-term retirement investment accounts. At 4 percent, you should be able to sustain this level of withdrawal for the foreseeable future, with minimal risk of eroding principle. That suggests you need to have 6 to 9 hundred thousand dollars invested to throw off that kind of sustained income. Now, can this be done for less? Absolutely, no question about it. Want to lower the cost of cruising, try a sail boat, want to raise the amount of money taken from the investment accounts, raise the percentage of withdrawa l or maintain a part or full time job or evelop a source of income that doesnt rely on your retirement funds. Family and Personal: Now for the hard part. I believe without question, the single most important factor is where you are in life with respect to family and personal goals and challenges. For me the single most important factor is the encouragement of my wife, the admiral. For those of us with life partners, a voyage of this type is simply not an option without them. If you are lucky enough to have a spouse or life partner that trusts you, is willing to contribute to the effort and wants to make the rest of these sacrifices, then you are indeed a fortunate soul. I believe 95% of couples are not capable of sharing and committing to a dream like this. It's simply too demanding a decision, with such significant long term choices to be made with complicating factors to drive doubt and confusion, that the vast majority of partners can't align their goals and desires. I also believe this is why the divorce rate is north of 50%, regardless of boating being in a couples life or not! If you are fortunate enough to have the commitment of your significant other, then other aspects of family life can be brought into focus. If you have children, where are they in their lives? For us, our two daughters have completed college. The youngest, graduating next week and engaged, we have no doubt she is on track to independence and a wonder life with a great husband. They tell us kids are a few years off, so we have a window of opportunity. The oldest daughter continues to develop her independence every month. Slow to break away, she has recently become involved with another denomination of religion that is having a very positive impact on her life and for the first time in our lives we can see her being able to sustain herself with an alternative positive support structure. We are cautiously optimistic she is on her way. Other family: Mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers are all in various stages of their lives, none needing our direct support. I guess the fact our parents are in ok health is an enabler, as well the fact there are other siblings to help care for them. We also realize this can change and we are prepared to address that possibility, should it occur. Again, going when you can is a key part of pulling the trigger. At some point in this discussion, another factor comes into focus, Motivation. Our motivation is based on time. My wife and I had kids immediately, she 19 and I 23. Weve worked the last 24 years of our lives to support the family, and now it's our turn to focus on us. The kids understand this and while they are concerned, they are beginning to be supportive. It must be hard to see ole' money bags go to sea and spend their inheritance, but they realize its our turn make up for lost time. I do intend to return from our cruising adventure and return to work, so that puts their minds at ease, somewhat. As I said, our motivation is time. My health isnt the best. I have Rheumatoid Ankylosing Sodylitis (arthritis in the spine), a history of blood clotting and most recently a paralyzed diaphragm. Darwin is trying to cull me from the herd, but I feel like I still have a few good years left in me. Ive always marveled that so many people work till they day they die and never enjoy the fruits of their labor. Someone told me there are two kinds of people in the world, those that retire TO something and those that retire FROM something. By far, the ones that retire FROM something find themselves with terrible feelings of uselessness and abandonment. They feel their lives have no value or worth. I watched my Dad retire from 40 years of service to this country to sit in Florida and complain about traffic and trying to find people that speak English. My question to him is why he isnt learning Spanish so he can talk to his newfound neighbors, or leave? I dont understand the mentality of staying someplace and commenting over and over about how its changing and you dont like it. Sorry, I digress. My point is this. If you find yourself with some measure of flexibility as Ive described, develop a plan. Start to identify the doors that need to be opened, or the ones that if closed, will cause you to change the plan. Be ready to go through a door, knowing its based on good decisions and planning, so if things dont work out, you arent left with regret. The only feeling you should have is one of accomplishment, that when faced with the choices you did the best you could and tried to keep to the plan. Things change, people change, economies change. So many things are out of your control it can be hard to realize how many things are within your control. Be ready to fish or cut bait! Scott Bulger, ?????, ?????? PUP List Administrator