I love reverse engineering(RE) seemingly insurmountable problems. Simply put it is just satisfying. The Boat Plan has many challenges, all of which are solvable through the time and trusted method of RE. Every time I’ve pulled this off before I had to go through virtually the same process. It starts with a large whiteboard followed by brain dump filled by lots of lines and circles everywhere, interspersed with some pacing, staring at the board from a distance and tossing back a medium hop IPA. Create some rough timelines. Research. Validate ideas with others that have done the same thing. Draw more lines and circles. Create spreadsheets. Then one of the most important elements comes into play, picking a date and letting the world know. After that things just fall into place.

Example:

1: I don’t know how to sail: Many people have done this with minimal sailing experience. If I didn’t have children I would be down for that, but I would like to play it safe. Plan: Take sailing courses and join local yacht club which will enable me to take their boats out to learn on. I’m fortunate to live near the San Francisco Bay, which offers a great variety of conditions to practice in. Have confirmed this plan with others that have done the same.

2: What about our jobs? Money? I’ve been a nurse for over 11 years and I’ve for the most part enjoyed it…but I can feel it starting to eat away at my soul, the part that deals with empathy. The constant yelling, screaming, demanding, abrasive nature of the ER population starts to wear on you. We can translate the sailing goal into dollars and adjust all future spending and purchasing decisions to support this goal. Save, save, save. Additionally, creating the departure date finally gave me the push to officially start my own business, Baseline Finances, and we will use that income as well to help support this endeavor.

3: What about our stuff? Easy…sell it…all of it! Obviously I’m sure we will keep a few select items in storage.

4: What about school? Homeschool. I’ve read 100’s of blogs about other families that have done the same thing. Their story is the same. They worry if they are going to damage their children’s education, they start with a rigid homeschool schedule, then end up with a loose version of schooling, and the children plug back into regular school with straight A’s. Scholarships to Colleges. The child just experienced a life changing journey, schooling just isn’t something to worry about.

5: What about safety? Will be treated the same as we treat it now. Pirates? I wouldn’t drive my car through some neighborhoods and we won’t visit places with pirate activity. Storms? We will travel the same route everyone else does when they want to avoid storms. Middle latitudes. Sail East to West. Sail only during the correct season(won’t be in the Caribbean during Hurricane season), pick large weather windows when doing passages, etc. As far as health goes we are all healthy, and my 10 plus years in the ER will cover unforeseen injuries.

If you have a challenge or a dream you’re trying to accomplish, get a good nights sleep, grab a whiteboard, marker and a beer and start writing things down.