Learning to Blog

 Before starting this blog, I had to get some experience. I had been reading blogs for along time but still wasn't confident that I could do it. I assumed a facebook page when the former Admin passed it over to me. I wasn't really thrilled with the topic but went with it the best I could. Eventually , I passed that one on to someone else and started my own page.

http://www.facebook.com/tarvacustomboats

 With this page I researched and posted the history of the boat brand that I owned along with links to boats available and quickly gathered 22 permanent readers. This was significant as there were only 23 of these boats were ever built over an 8 year span.

http://bluewaterboats.org/

I found another blog page that also had a Facebook presence and discussed with the pages owner if I could contribute on some stories with him. He agreed. This site  shows in detail descriptions of boats suitable for an extended cruising adventure offshore.

Over a couple of months I helped research to put the following stories on his blog. This was fun because at the same time I was researching possible boats to take our trip in I was getting much needed writing experience.

http://bluewaterboats.org/endeavour-43/



The first story was on the Endeavour 43 by Endeavour Yachts.

http://bluewaterboats.org/hardin-45/





The next story was on the Hardin 45 “Voyager” by Bill Hardin.

http://bluewaterboats.org/kelly-peterson-44/

And finally We wrote about the Kelly- Peterson 44.

This gave me the confidence to start this blog page and share with you all that we learn as we prepare ourselves to untie those dock lines and head "Out There".



One Hull or Two?

Illustration by Nick L Ange

 Sailing boats with one hull are "mono-hulls", those with two are "catamarans". As we plan for our life aboard we must reach a decision of what vehicle is the best for our needs. Each one has it's pros and cons. As I have been researching possible boats for our voyage, like most I had only looked into mono-hulls. Partly from tradition, partly because of availability and certainly from lack of knowledge about catamarans.

But something changed to make me inquire this week into that other world known as catamarans. For several years now I have been following another pair of sailors completing a five year circumnavigation. As I came across the latest update I noticed their boat is now for sale, and for the first time I actually noticed it was a catamaran. This lead me into a week long of research and discovery into this new possibility.

 I found a whole lot of information, and I suggest everyone do their own due diligence before plunking down all their money for a boat. I'm not sure at this point if we have come to any final conclusion yet, but we have walked away from the discussion with an open mind to considering either for our trip. I guess it really comes down to where your sailing, and what is the most comfortable decision is for you.

Cats are better when it comes to:
Speed
Comfort
Space

Monohulls are better when it comes to:
Sea worthiness in a bad storm
Cost
Finding dockage

 This last year, We attended the Americas Cup races in San Diego and as many others did we marveled at the catamarans speed and agility on the race course. And it seems that more options in this category are being designed and built for cruisers as well. Just look at any ad's for a charter yacht and most likely they will be showing a catamaran. For us, we will look at the further refinements made over the next few years as we continue to plan for our future purchase but are certainly intrigued by the many new options now presented.

In this video you will see one of the boats we would really have to consider if we were to go with a catamaran presented in a very unique way. The boat is the Performance Cruising Gemini 105Mc.

So , tell us what are your thoughts or advise on the subject? We are eager to continue the discussion.

Our Recent Boating Experience

 So we have already spoke of transitioning from power boaters to sailors. And you may ask what kind of boating experiences have led us to this point. Chris grew up in a "Boating" family as his parents had many boats throughout his childhood.  Currently, we are traversing the beautiful Arizona and California waterways on the restored 1981 Tarva custom mini day cruiser you see above. Amanda got into boating when she met Chris, and together have spent countless weeks,weekends, and vacations aboard a variety of boats that we've enjoyed over the last 10 years.  Since buying our first boat together, you can say the lifestyle fit us.

 We started small with the 2001 Sea Ray 215 Express Cruiser. This 22' boat was awesome as it got us on all the lakes and had a good size cuddy cabin we could overnight in. This was really proof that we could live in a really small space together. After 2 and a half years though we had the itch to get something bigger.

 That's when we traded up to the 2006 Rinker 27' Express Cruiser. And for the next 3 years we explored everywhere we could tow it. The photo above was at Lake Havasu in the winter when you could have the whole lake to yourself.  We also enjoyed a two week vacation aboard exploring the amazing Lake Powell where we cruised and explored only a fraction of that lakes 1,500 miles of shoreline.

After launching the boat in Wahweap bay and provisioning for our trip across the lake. We set out at top speed for the 4 hour trip towards Colorado through the beautiful vistas of Utah. We wound up in a slip Bullfrog Bay at the back of the Lake then spent The next few weeks working our way slowly back. If you have never been to this lake we highly recommend it.

 After the epic adventure we had bought it to enjoy had culminated we sold the Rinker and went  over a year without a boat........a feeling of loss that was indescribable. So we decided that the only cure was another boat.. We picked up a fantastically preserved 1985 Sea Ray 245 SRV in Las Vegas that had been used primarily by it's last two owners exclusively on Lake Mead.

 We moved the boat into a slip in our local Lake Saguaro as seen here and we had a wonderful year together. It was nice to be out to the boat in under 1 hour from our home.

Here we were able to really enjoy being a part of the Marina and the local boating community. We also got more practice fixing an old boat and enjoying each other in close company.  Deciding that we had spent too many years boating and wanting to spend more time traveling and seeing friends and family with our vacation time we reluctantly sold the boat.

Although you would think this was the end of the story, it really is just the beginning. We realized  through our travels over the last few years that we wanted more and hatched the plan you see on this blog. We wanted to travel and see more of this world and as you can see it was natural as boaters to be drawn to the "Cruising Lifestyle" by combining the two.

Since we love the water and it is  such a great way to escape our working life. And until were able to set sail we simply could not be boat less. We decided to go a different direction with the purchase of our current boat. Also realizing the many miles of Arizona's coastline along the Colorado river could only be explored by shallow draft boat we chose the Tarva. This will now fill our summers when we cant be sailing to continue to stay connected to the lifestyle we love.

Where to Begin?

  Well, we are a middle aged couple who love to travel and decided a few years ago that we were not getting any younger. There is a lot of world to see, more then could be done with only a few vacations a year. So we decided to make a plan for a sabbatical from our jobs and as avid boaters it was easy to chose the cruising yacht as our vehicle of choice.
We embraced sailing around the world because it would allow us to see places only available to get to by boat. They say when you fly into a country your treated as a tourist, but when you arrive by boat you fit in like a local. That, and having the comfort of our own bed to sleep in every night is very appealing.
Also, so many people have done this before and many more are out there now. So finding resources for our research and planning was made much easier. I will now try to go through some of that research with you. Stay tuned.

Welcome Aboard !

 As I start this blog today, I'm looking forward to sharing with you what I have learned so far in the last 2 years of research and discovery. By collaborating with you as we plan together and move forward to that day we untie our docklines and push off for a 5 year "Sailing Sabbatical" and begin our circumnavigation. Hopefully by participating in this blog you will be more prepared for your plans as well. Welcome Aboard, and thank you for joining us as we learn and prepare for our future adventure!

 This blog will be interactive as we ask both those in the sailing community now and those who are seeking the same future lifestyle to join in and comment on there own experience as we explore topics relating to plans for purchasing & outfitting a cruising sailboat, learning the skills from novice to sailor, and finally untying the dock lines and changing our occupation to circumnavigator and world traveler.

Hopefully we can create with this Blog a one stop resource of information thats available through active conversation and sharing of links to other web pages as well as substantive conversation.