IT was not until f lights were booked
that I had the courage to tell my parents
I was quitting my job to buy a sailboat in
Florida. With almost blind enthusiasm and
sheer determination we purchased Life Is Good
and have been learning and laughing a lot
along the way.
Our Catalina 38 is not the typical shiny
new boat you normally read about in Cruising
Helmsman, she is a 1982 classic with a
reasonable price tag and far more sailing
experience than the two of us put together.
Buying a boat in Sydney to sail on the
weekends was something that my boyfriend
and I had often talked about and even started to
shop around. After really enjoying our keelboat
sailing classes with the Pacific Sailing School we
realised having just the weekends on our boat
might not be enough.
My boyfriend’s family had also lived aboard
sailboats in the Caribbean when he was young
and their stories of exotic islands and fresh
lobster sounded like bliss. But could we really
check out of our inner city lifestyle to chase this
dream? Would this be financial suicide for a
couple in their early 30s?
Several spreadsheets later I seemed to have
the numbers telling me exactly what I wanted
to hear and a budget for the boat purchase and
cruising fund for one year had been established.
We were determined not to spend all our life
savings on this adventure and, therefore, our
boat purchase budget was set in the range of
AU$30,000 to $45,000.WHY BUY IN FLORIDA?
With one of the largest number of boat per state,
it is no secret why Florida’s secondhand market
is so extensive and competitively priced. From
searching the Internet we found that older
sailboats sold in Florida were approximately
40 per cent cheaper than Australia.
Another benefit of the Florida market
is that foreign boat buyers can file an
exemption to the 5% sales tax if you remove
the boat from the state within 90 days of
purchase. Furthermore, the east coast is
connected by the Inter-coastal Waterway, on
which you can travel south then make a short,
approximately 60 nautical mile, Gulf Stream
crossing to the Bahamas.57
Prepared to travel
WHY WOULD TWO AUSTRALIANS TRAVEL TO FLORIDA
TO PURCHASE THEIR ALMOST PERFECT FIRST YACHT?
for the good life
YVETTE CARMAN
MY BOAT
ABOVE: Oh, that pinched-in
transom of older designs. Has both
advantages and disadvantages.