Boat U.S. - January 2009 - (Page 67)

Photos Jim and Lisa Favors he 1960s hit song by The Byrds perfectly answered the question of when my wife Lisa and I should retire. We grappled with that question, and others, as many of our friends were doing. When should we sell our home? When is the right time to embark on a life-altering adventure? Finally, the answer became clear. We were healthy. Our family was grown. We should do it as soon as we could. It was A secluded spot at Crocker Island in Canada’s North Channel, one of many our … turn! turn! turn! Lisa and I have been in and around dinghy explorations. water all of our lives, and love the boating life. So it makes sense that a 45-mile voyA Different Circumnavigation age north to Charlevoix, Michigan, on our America’s Great Loop is a 6,000-mile circum42-foot Silverton Convertible in the summer navigation of the entire Eastern Seaboard, by way of of 2003, would be the catalyst that changed the Great Lakes, inland river system, Gulf of Mexico, our lives. Charlevoix’s harbor sits in a proICW of Florida, and the East Coast, Chesapeake Bay, tected lake just inside a channel that leads to Hudson River into the Erie Canal or Lake Champlain, Lake Michigan. It was in this protected Round through to Canada’s Trent-Severn Waterway or Lake harbor that we took a leisurely dinghy Rideau Canal, Georgian Bay, and the North Channel. ride on a sunny afternoon, and noticed a This “Loop” can be started from any of these loca48-foot pilothouse trawler named Bacaruda tions. anchored in the harbor with a hailing port While we’d become avid boaters during our marof Seattle, Washington. We were intrigued. riage, Lisa and I were never aware that recreational What would it be like to travel from the West boats could do this trip as easily as the Millers were Coast, we wondered, through the Panama describing. From that moment on, we became Canal, all the way up to the Great Lakes? We obsessed about retirement, and began planning to introduced ourselves, and invited the Millers make this adventure a reality. We wanted to become over to our boat for cocktails that evening. “Loopers.” The rest is history. That chance encounter As a financial advisor, I was acutely aware of what made us take a second look at our future. it took to make retirement work. So after determinWe were surprised to learn from the Millers ing where I thought we needed to be financially, we that a boat their size, or even ours, could set aggressive savings goals to make our new dream a make a journey around the eastern United reality. We’d been preparing for retirement for years, States on a circular route. The Millers had but our preparations now picked up steam. We set cruised the West Coast, Panama Canal, and up the goal of paying off our debt, continuing to the Caribbean. Lisa and I became hooked on maximize the contributions to our respective retirea similar idea. ment accounts, and save everything we could. Jim and Lisa decided to quit their jobs, sell their house, move aboard, and enjoy the cruising life while they had their health and the resolve to do it. BoatU.S. Magazine January 2009

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Boat U.S. - January 2009

BoatU.S. - January 2009 Contents At The Helm Reader Forum BoatU.S. Reports Brokerage Boats Invasion Of The Access Snatchers Don’t Move A Mussel Tech Connection BoatsGearWheels A Defect And Its Aftermath Obama Onboard? Fast-Water Fly-Fishing How I Got That Shot A Loop Through The Heartland Why Boats Sink At The Dock Install Your Own Trim Tabs BoatU.S. Exchange At Your Service/Mbr. Benefits

Boat U.S. - January 2009

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