I was doing some more reading on "budgeting" for cruising and came across this quote from Sterling Hayden's book, Wanderer "To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... "cruising" it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in.…

After that little bit of sadness* (not winning last night's lottery) we have picked ourselves up and are once again moving forward. We had some back and forth correspondence with the owner of the boat mentioned below today. The end result of which is that we will be going to meet up with him and view his boat mid-April (it is currently shrink wrapped in Toronto). We are very-much looking forward to this as up to this point our only…

Update: Rebecca did NOT choose the correct lottery ticket. We are still poor. :(

Today was another good news, bad news, good news, bad news kinda day! GOOD - We found a PDQ 32 for sale IN CANADA, not more than a couple of hours away from us. We contacted the seller for pricing and the number he sent us was not over-the-top crazy. BAD - There was no currency listed in the information sheet he sent me so I felt it was prudent to ask. I mean, is it safe to assume that a Canadian…

Our Fast Track to Cruising® course took place in two portions. The second part, the live-aboard course, presided over by Captain Mike, began rather abruptly. The first thing we did (or perhaps the first thing I remember) is the Captain taking Rebecca, our fellow classmate Ken and I below deck and SCARING us with a "discussion" on the four gasses that can kill you on a boat! By my recollection it involved him shoving our heads into the boat's bilge,…

Our house is getting bigger, or at least it appears that way. This illusion is created by the fact that there is now a LOT of empty space in our place. Rebecca has been selling stuff off as fast as Walmart! For those of you who have ever agonized over what to pack for a week-long vacation in the tropics, you may be able to extrapolate that feeling and imagine how hard it is to decide what to keep for…