Brian Whatcott wrote:
jeff wrote:
....
we have had absolutely no desire to work since returning. Fortunately
all of our assets are in real estate and the stock market, so our
future is secure!

I guess that was intended as a 'sad but true' kind of epilog to the
adventure?

Thanks for sharing.

BrianW

Well, its not that bad - our house is in a prime location so its value
has held up well, especially compared to locations we are considering
for our final retirement in about 4 years. The stock market lesson is
obvious with hindsight: at the moment you think you have "enough,"
diversify into stable investments.

In an effort to live within our new budget, we do not have a "home
marina" for the summer. The last several summers we've spent 8+ weeks
traveling on the boat, so a slip for the couple of weeks we were home
was a huge luxury. Now we'll have to minimize our "home time" and spend
almost the whole summer aboard. Life is rough!

One odd thing is that our boat, which depreciates 5-10% a year was
actually our best investment last year!

jeff wrote:

One odd thing is that our boat, which depreciates 5-10% a year was
actually our best investment last year!

Ha! I had an airplane like that - it nominally doubled in value in the
five years I owned it. But I should mention annual CofAs, a tire here,
a transponder there.... :-)

Brian W

The 1210 TR chart (Martha's VIneyard to Block Island) is one of the
"frozen datum" charts. The chart was "frozen" in the 1960s so they
would not have to keep rewriting the textbooks & exams every time the
chart was updated. Obviously not for actual navigation anymore! -- but
they are fun to look at for the flavor of the cruising ground.

Another TR chart is the 116-SC, which shows the N part of Long Island
Sound in the vicinity of Mystic CT and close-up charts of some rivers
in CT -- useful to train on for in-tight navigation.

And it's interesting to look at the 39 TR chart, which shows the W end
of Lake Erie. Interesting because it's a Polyconic projection, not
Mercator -- used for the Great Lakes. Some folks who are trained on
the coasts & move to the Great Lakes have trouble with this. These
charts also use statute miles, not nautical miles -- an odd sensation
of always "getting it wrong" when you have become accustomed over
years of experience at estimating how fast you're going & how far
you've traveled over ground.

, jeff wrote:
BTW, one slightly unexpected issue with taking a long sabbatical is that
we have had absolutely no desire to work since returning. *Fortunately
all of our assets are in real estate and the stock market, so our future
is secure!

And you can take that to the bank!

DSK