George Morgan3 said:I mean, I watch these guys and they think they look so "cool," right? But honestly—half the time they’re just standing there, getting ready to actually catch a wave... like, it takes them forever! And don't even get me started on the fact that they always need a buddy tagging along just to help them out. Then comes the actual "struggle"—the sail just drags them through the channel and ends up hauling them right across the beach. It looks exhausting! 😱 Gravel vs. asphalt... man, what a nightmare! Honestly, just thinking about it gives me a minor panic attack—total stress fest!
I honestly feel like most kite surfers aren't even actually controlling their boards—they’re basically just praying for survival at this point! Like, seriously. One minute you're cruising, and the next, you've caught a gust, launched ten feet into the air, and slammed onto your back. At that rate, you might as well just say goodbye to the ocean for a few months... or forever, if you're unlucky! Honestly? Kite surfing does absolutely nothing for me. In fact, it sounds pretty terrifying. I'll pass!
George Morgan3 said:I gotta be honest—when I’m out on the sailboat, I’m not really doing it for anything specific... I’m just doing it for the pure vibes and the meditation aspect of it all! You know what I mean? Like, you just drop the sails, fire up the grill, and let everything else fade away... it's just total bliss. 😁
I mean, honestly, you could just stab at just about anything! If you hit up the used markets, you can find some seriously decent boats for under $22k—and yeah, we're talking over 30 feet too. There are tons of gems from the 70s just sitting there. You just gotta do your homework, you know? Check if the fiberglass is dealing with osmosis issues or if the wood is starting to rot, and if it passes that test, you’ve basically scored a killer boat. Sure, hauling one all the way from the States would probably cost as much as the boat itself—which is kind of a bummer—but the markets over in Greece, Turkey, or Cyprus have similar price points anyway. Just do a little Google digging and you'll find some beautiful stuff. One thing though—if the boat is over 23 feet, most places are gonna require you to have a permit. And man, getting a skipper certification around here takes forever and runs you about $2,500. I just don't have the bandwidth for that right now—seriously, my schedule is a mess. Maybe one day I'll just grab a few months of vacation time and knock the whole thing out in one go!
If you’re actually into working with wood—like, really getting your hands dirty with it—you seriously need to check out what Dudley Dix is putting out there. He’s got some killer plans for boats that would look right at home in a big-box retailer like Home Depot if they sold blueprints! Seriously though, Dix is the real deal. His Shearwater 45 actually snagged both the cruising world’s Best Traditional Voyager and Best Overall cruiser back in 2000—so he definitely knows his stuff. I was thinking, if he could just find one more person willing to drop something like $22,000, they could probably team up to build a Didij 38. He mentioned that building the hull itself—including the cabin and all the interior woodwork—only cost him about $7,000. Then, once you add in the sails, the electronics, and everything else needed to actually cross an ocean (and believe me, he’s done transatlantic races in a Didij 38 more than a few times!), the whole setup comes to around $45,000. That's a steal for a blue-water cruiser! He estimates the whole project takes about 3,000 hours of work—which sounds like a lifetime, I know—but he also sells kits with pre-cut wood, which honestly makes the whole process way faster.
Check out this site—http://www.dixdesign.com—it’s actually pretty slick! Honestly, I was just scrolling through and ended up down a total rabbit hole, but man, some of these designs are just... wow. Just thought I'd toss it out there for anyone looking for some fresh inspo!
Look, I’m gonna be real with you—3,000 hours is just way too much grind for me! Like, seriously! If you’re pulling ten-hour shifts every single day, you’re looking at a whole year just to get that boat finished. A whole year! My brain can barely handle a marathon movie, let alone a year-long project like that... haha!