So who hasn't had the dream of sailing off in retirement?  The thought has been with me for years, but it was the stuff of daydreams.  If I didn't get on with trying to make it a reality I would coast through my life and suddenly be at the end of my career and no closer to sailing into the sunset.  I have vacations, so I thought why not start taking them on boats? 

I had kite boarded for a year or two so I began by taking trips with kiting charter companies that sailed around the Caribbean and I was hooked.  Clearly the boat life was for me.  Next step was to learn more about sailing which was limited to small dinghies.   My next vacation was a 9 day class taking ASA 101 103 and 104, one of my best vacations.  Next I had to figure out whether I was a monohull or a catamaran guy.   So Kim and I rented a 40ft monohull and absolutely loved it and we began looking at sailboats.  We took two-10 day charters on a lagoon and we knew that catamarans were the way to go.  I hated giving up the beauty and the feel of the monohull and the cozy deep dark cabins, but if I were to have a partner on this journey I knew that I would have to come out into the light.  You may be able to sail a monohull but you can live aboard a cat.  The comforts, the ability to sail and cook simultaneously and of course the pleasures of space at anchorage make catamarans the absolute bomb.

We went to several boat shows and loved the Lucia 40.  Plenty of room,  easy to handle and not so crazy large so that all the cost would be more manageable.  So the next decision was to try and save money any buy a used one in five years or go new and rent it for 5 years?  I looked at the finances every which way and it always came out a wash, but with one difference.  You can save but the dream remains a dream but purchase the boat and you are committed.  So we took the plunge.  Working through Catamaran Gurus we ordered our Lucia 40 last year.  The basic plan was to get the boat into charter and try to make ends meet  with the concept of "Boat as a business".   And so our adventure begins...