# Family's 1st cruise - Eastern US for a year?



## SansaBoat (Feb 23, 2010)

What do you think about a year-long cruise up and down the east coast of the US for a first-timer cruising family? 

Never owned a boat, but dreaming about cutting land ties for a year or three and thought maybe coastal cruising for a year might be a smart way to get started.

Kids are 10, 9, 7 yrs old. 

Probably a 38' or larger catamaran? Seems like the best choice given the size of our crew? Or a 45+ foot mono?

Maybe work our way up to Maine (and further?) for the summer, then head south as late summer/fall sets in? If everyone is enjoying the lifestyle, then we head for the Caribbean and ???

Any and all comments welcome!


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## labatt (Jul 31, 2006)

We did this for almost a year - with our two kids (8 and 12) left Annapolis in December (a bit chilly), headed south through Norfolk, Beaufort, Charleston, (skipped Georgia because of our draft but hear it's great), several places in FL, Bahamas, back to FL and north. We stopped in many of the east coast ports for 1-2 weeks (or more in a couple of cases) and explored the history, culture and people (and just relaxed). The Bahamas are phenomenal in the Winter. Northward to Maine is a standard in the Summer, but be prepared for bugs and fog. It's definitely a very viable trip and one that can act as a great training run for longer term cruising in the future. The ages are perfect too - old enough to appreciate what they see, young enough that they are focused on family and not their friends at home.


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## kd3pc (Oct 19, 2006)

Not knowing your family, it would be difficult to know whether everyone is up to the task, or is this a "dad dream" thing. If everyone is on board, great. Else I would buy a small boat, do some weekends and see how it goes. A big cat or mono is a heavy investment in the dream.

late summer and fall are hurricane season, please plan accordingly.


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## labatt (Jul 31, 2006)

Sorry - I should have said the same thing as kd3pc. If you have never sailed with your family I would make sure that I do a number of weekends/weeklong trips before you decide to spend a year doing it. We met several families that were ripped apart by the experience, or just realized that their kids always get seasick, or other things like that.


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## SansaBoat (Feb 23, 2010)

Great points.

It is, of course, mostly a dad dream, but wifey is on-board with the concept, but we are a ways away from saying "let's do it".

We may do a 10 day bareboat in the San Juans this summer. That $3000 bareboat cost is probably a good investment to see if they like it. Then again 10 days on a boat may not extrapolate to 365 days. 

Makes me think.... same thing for me - even thought it's mostly MY dream, how do I know that I will enjoy cruising? 

Thanks for the thoughts. Ideally, we'd keep the house so we have an "out" if we need it. I seems, however, that we'd need a $200k+ boat (?). ("need" vs "want", of course, is debatable  ).


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## wolfmanmike (Jan 26, 2011)

$200k + boat!! wow, i want to go.


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## SansaBoat (Feb 23, 2010)

wolfmanmike said:


> $200k + boat!! wow, i want to go.


Send me your sailing resume. Can you cook? Are you a good anchor yanker? How do you look in a bikini?


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## labatt (Jul 31, 2006)

Nah - kids that age can easily double up in bunks. We originally planned to buy a 50'-55' monohull to cruise on. Timing ended up being right before we bought it so we ended up cruising on a Passport 40 and were fairly comfortable. Depending on your cruising grounds, you spend more time up top than down below anyway. You will find that boats suited for cruising with 5 people will probably average $70k-$80k on the low end to $150k or so on the high end (unless you want to go bigger than 45', go new, or go with an Oyster or something). Then add on outfitting and updating - that's what may push you into the $200k+ side. We got our boat for the $150k range and probably put about $70k into it before cruising - but I tend to spoil my family and myself.


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## svHyLyte (Nov 13, 2008)

For the trip you describe and the size of your family, you might find that a Gemini 105 Catameran would be just the ticket. A cat is somewhat easier to adjust to for non-sailing wives and the boats are pretty easy to handle with a bit of training. Moreover, they are good coastal cruisers and could easily take you from Maine to the far Bahamas in reasonable comfort. The boats are also relatively simple making fixes less problematic; and one in reasonably good condition can be had for well under $200,000.

The nice thing about coastal cruising in the US is the common language, the largely friendly natives and a super abundance of interesting places to visit. Note, however, that there can be challanging conditions even along a friendly coast so the initial learning curve will be steep.

Do it while the kids are young. They can be home schooled without too much difficulty for a year and, by using events on the boat, they will learn as much history, geography, math and science as they might in a classroom, if not more.

FWIW...


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## FromINtoKN (Feb 28, 2011)

My wife and I are too in your "boat". We are only a family of three right now, but when we plan on going we will be a family of four. We are 6 years away we think from our trip but are in the planning/dreaming phase as well. We won't be working with a $200k boat budget but are looking at cat's around the 50-60k range. There are quite a few older but refitted boats in that range.


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## BoatMama (May 4, 2011)

Hi there... I just joined. We are leaving in September from PA/NJ with 2 girls (11,14). Planning on 2 years, mostly Carribean...and crossing with the ARC next year for 6 months or so. We bought a 56' ketch, that way everyone has their own space!! Good Luck to you and your family!


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## hawaiisun (Aug 8, 2010)

*sailing with kids*

Boatmama, saw your post about Caribbean with kids. We, too are leaving (although likely from NC) and heading to bahamas and southward from there. We have a 12 (13 in Sept.) year old girl and just looking for kids along the way. Wanted to send a PM, but I need 5 posts and I usually just read instead of posting.


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## captiantim68 (Oct 16, 2010)

My wife and I are currently living on our boats with our 3 kids in preparation for a 5 year cruise.

If you pack up your wife and kids and throw them onto a boat and leave everything they love behind you might want to leave them packed because they will be leaving soon.

On the other hand from experience that if you break them in slow living on a boat can be a challenge for any family it can be made too be heaven or hell depending onn how well you and your family have planed together, it can not be just dads dream.

My kids have desided that there is no way they will become dirt dwellers ever again they love the boat and have helped plan every step of the way and are now helping repair our old sailboat 33 feet awl for a trip that will last 5 years

When it is the families dream nothing will stop you, if its just your dream get a good lawyer because your wife may get your boat inn the divorce.

One more thing to rember it does not take a huge luxury yacht to live in and sail in total comfort It will take time to figure out how to live on the boat as well, we moved everything in our boats a million times before we found the perfect spot to stow it.

45 feet is way to big for your first boat in my opinion.

Plan right and it will be the best time of your life, practice for a while first play liveaboard for a while see how it is to sleep on anchor. And then go for it.
you will love it.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

Sansa, if the kids have never been sailing before, even ten days on the water may be a bit of a gamble. I'd suggest 5 days or a week, and what's the worst thing that can happen? The kids will say "DADDY I WANT MORE!"

Way better than getting halfway through ten days and having them all miserable if they don't take to it.


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## captiantim68 (Oct 16, 2010)

It took us a while to get the girls accustomed to sailing but now they are bunging me to get there own day sailor that they can chase us around in.


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## labatt (Jul 31, 2006)

A great place to make friends for your kids while cruising is Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas. From February - March there are usually a lot of kid boats there, and then they head out after. When we were there our kids had about 20 other kids to hang out with and we all kept in touch after. We left Georgetown in the company of five other kid boats and explored Cat Island, Eleuthera, Long Island, etc. with them. It was wonderful!


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## hawaiisun (Aug 8, 2010)

labatt,
I was familiar with Georgetown being the social "mall" and we will likely be there by late January/early Feb. depending on weather. My goal was not solely just to meet other kids, but to find kid families in here to see how they handle home schooling, communications, etc. I know we'll run into folks along the way; just want to see if anyone has suggestions/tips before we go.

Thanks


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## Daddyo55127 (Aug 17, 2011)

I would definitely urge you to try a weekend first, and to shop around for a boat. Boat prices here (Minnesota) vary a lot, mostly depending on the circumstances of the buyer.


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## Daddyo55127 (Aug 17, 2011)

But heck, dream big!


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