Thursday, July 2, 2009

Defining what "The Plan" is.....

-Often in this blog you will find me referring to "The Plan", and today's topic will be defining and visualizing what that plan is and how it came to be. Let me start by telling you that "The Plan" is flexible and changes ever so slightly from time to time. Any major life change, or plan for change has to adapt to the current situation. The plan in its simplest terms is to enjoy a live aboard lifestyle while working a variety of new jobs in exciting locations.
-To be more specific, "The Plan" includes a circumnavigation of the Caribbean, a trip that would go clockwise from South Florida. This part of the journey could take anywhere from one to five years.




-After we have successfully accomplished this portion of "The Plan", I hope to use the experience gained from cruising in the Caribbean to allow us to make a successful circumnavigation. This portion could take an entire decade or more to accomplish. Remembering that "it is not the destination, but the journey that is important". I realize these are grand dreams for any person, but they are especially grand when you take into account the fact that I am just a regular guy. What I mean by regular guy is that I have little education and specialized training. And possibly as important as training and skills, or lack of, is the fact that I am not a wealthy American. Of course, I am not poor, but probably in the lower ranks of the American middle class, as far as income is concerned.

- But hopefully through determination, accented with a little old fashioned ignorance, these grand dreams can be accomplished. It is quite possibly true that some of the most profound human accomplishments have been achieved because the person attempting the feat was just plain ignorant to the fact that it couldn't be done. Don't get me wrong, many, many people have done circumnavigations before, even more have circumnavigated the Caribbean, and still more folks have simply gone cruising. It is just that it has been a relatively small percentage of the population to pull any of these feats off.

- If I had to guess, I would say that more people have climbed the Himalayas than have circumnavigated the pretty blue rock that we call Earth. (I will try to get some statistics on how rare this accomplishment is for a future post) Maybe I can create a cool chart showing how many have done it solo vs. as a couple, and sailing vs. power vessels. I have been inspired by many. It was Robert Beebe's Voyaging Under Power his definitive guide for those who yearn to expand their cruising horizons, and cross oceans with speed and comfort, that initially got me dreaming of a circumnavigation. And most recently, I have been inspired by the writer of a very similar blog written about a couple trying to create a new live aboard lifestyle for themselves. Her writing and photography are top-notch; and she has inspired me to do better.

It is comforting to know that there are others out there trying to pull off what at times can seem almost impossible.

I borrowed the following quote from her blog.


"if a man must be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most". — E. B. White

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