What are we called ?

    As I read and research I find this idea of sailing around put into categories . And I am trying to find out who are we. First off you have cruisers a group of people who may or may not live on their boat , but yet they travel around at sea. In most cases they stick to a cruising route mostly around the Caribbean and a select few go through the panama canal and go through the islands in the pacific. Now I read about circumnavigators these tend to take a similar route but go around the world and back to the point where they began. This can take anywhere from 1 year to 4 years depending. A year would most likely be a non stop circumnavigation a four year seems to be a well traveled route and has stops on the way. Then you have the others that just keep going they tend to stop longer in places they love and stay on the move until …….. meaning when it becomes something they are no longer able to do or life turns them back to land for one reason or another.

     My question is where are the people who go off the beaten path who set off to find all those hidden treasures from our history books. Is it safety? Is it fear of the unknown ? What is it ? I go through and read blog after blog of many cruisers who have traveled for a year to several years and  few have I found that go in search of places off the beaten path. Not to say I have not found these, I have . But they are few and far between.

     So what are we. Well our goal is to go to the places first where our family history comes from. As we go forward we want to see well everything. I know thats a stretch , But why not try . I want to go off the beaten path and explore everything . Is that smart? is it safe? is it right? I do not know, but what I do know is we have never said we could not do something , we only give whatever it is a shot and see if it works out . We always feel if someone else did it why cant we ! It might not be as lovely as the professional,  builder, mason, electrician, mechanic , sailor , you get the point . But we never give up and can that same logic go for sailing around the world in search of knowledge , purpose and living ?

   We started this idea of wanting more a few years back . The more part being something beyond the norm. Work, home , family , same routine year after year . Not that we do not love our life and family they are the best . But that stale existence is what became an issue. We both were in search of that something and it started with buying RV’s and traveling and then to wanting to be on the water . Looking at places to live on the water and moving into boat houses. Now that was looking better and then the bug hit us when we bought our first sailboat. The reason for a sailboat was my idea , I had grown up swimming, skiing, fishing, boating on the lake. We had a lake house and a place on the coast so water was something I loved and my father always had a power boat .  So we rented a power boat so that burt could see how that was , the never ending sound of an engine is what he got from that . And then we saw it, a sailboat going by and how nice was that . So we bought one and became hooked. So in these past few years of sailing we thought why not buy one that we could live on and sail around. Well not only sail around , but around the world . So research began on a blue water boat that was great for ocean sailing that was safe strong and could be comfortable to live on, Oh and lets not forget one we could afford and have paid off before we venture out.

     So our find was a 1972 Formosa CT 41 Sea Tiger . I will first say burt found his love for the boat early on he was bound to find this boat . And he did, right in our own back yard so to speak. It had only one owner , they had purchased it new in 1972 and brought it back to the states and proceeded to sail her around the world 2 times and then kept her in florida for several years until they moved up north. At the time we found the boat she had been moved down south to be refitted , removing the cabin top and decking and adding more fiber glass to the hull and replacing the old stainless with all 316 stainless, with new spars and engine. The rework was getting rid of the things that were problem areas and beefing up for global travels. But after all of this work the project became stale due to work and an illness. So the boat had sat for a long time. When we first saw her burt was in love , me not just yet. I was looking for a safe boat one that I knew would handle tough conditions. Project boat ! is what I saw first and not to say I’m afraid of that because our lives so far has been filled non stop with some sort of a project so we were good their. I always tell burt what it was that sold me was the the hull , it was so thick and solid fiber glass and when don came out and took us through the boat and explained all of the work that had gone into this boat and all of the materials that were going with the boat I was sold . Wait , after he said the price I was SOLD !

     The day the boat was moved to our home we both were so excited ! and then we said what the hell did we just get ourselves into. Leave our good jobs and a house that is almost paid for , cars paid off kids through college,  are we crazy . YEP !  Just give all of that up to be poor, uninsured sea gypsies well as I have found we are called transients. I hate that word. So in a nut shell this is how it happened and now we are just trying to figure out which part of the sea world we are . Im guessing part explorer and part live aboard and part cruiser. What is that called SEA GYPSIE right ? Whatever it is I am interested to see where it takes us .