Leaving to do nothing....for a while
 

Fellow aviators, I have lurked here a long time and enjoyed reading what others have to say, but I have not posted much. It is with mixed feelings of excitement and (not a little bit of) apprehension that after 22 years in this career I have decided to hang up the hat and leave the airlines. I had my offer accepted on a 46' bluewater capable sailboat accepted, and the plan is to leave in September with my soon-to-be wife to circumnavigate the planet for 3-4 years.

Many things have factored into this decision, but the biggest was that I had a scare with a heart problem (despite being only 42 and in great shape) last year and I realized that life is short and I want to realize some of my non-flying related dreams before I get too old or start having health problems. I was lucky enough to make it where I wanted to go in aviation, now I want to do that in other areas of my life as well. I have flown widebodies all over the world, and I have been a 737 and A320 captain in my 15 years with United. I was not happy in the job any more, for the last 5 years at least, despite the fact that it is a 6-figure job with decent days off. I was to the point where I spent my days off dreading going back to work. I firmly believe that rather than sitting around complaining about it, if I did not want to be there I should leave. And that is exactly what I have finally decided to do.

For those of you wondering....no I am not rich. A previous divorce, raising a kid with no support from her mother (19 now and doing well) and the stock market have all taken their toll. I decided to take the financial hit and cash out what is left in my retirement and sell my house, which, along with some of my fiancee's savings, gives us enough to buy an older but well-kept boat (this one: http://www.libertysails.com/html/full_specs.html) and live frugally ($25-35k/year) for 4-5 years. What will I do when we are finished and I am a very non-current pilot? I don't know and I am OK with that for now. My fiancee is a nurse, so she will always be able to find a job, and I am looking forward to finding a new calling. For the first time in a long time, I am actually excited about the future.

Yes, I know many will think I am crazy to gamble on my future, to leave a decent career, to leave all the security of a paycheck and health insurance. But on the other hand, I could stay another 20 years in a job I don't enjoy any more and end up losing everything anyhow due to events out of my control, without ever having pursued this dream. I would rather leave under my terms now. I'll figure it out as I go along...I always have in the past despite 2 previous airlines going out of business and getting furloughed at another. Will I miss it? I think I will miss the flying, well, really the takeoffs and landings. I hated sitting at cruise for 8 hours. I won't miss pretty much everything else.

I'll be starting a blog in the future for anyone who wants to follow along and will post it here when it is up and running. I wish you all smooth skies and good luck in your careers. If I could take my slot at United and give it to a furloughed guy, I would.

Good luck to you. You're going to be fulfilling one of my lifelong dreams. I will live vicariously through your blog.

tausap,
Thank you for writing the above entry. Your upcoming voyage sounds incredible.
Back in the mid 90's I worked with a pilot in Juneau who would fly seasonally during the summer, and during his off time he would sail.
Very interesting older gentleman who had great stories to tell. He used to send postcards of his adventures to the company we worked for.
He wrote a book about his circumnavigation, but I never read it. Your above writing prompted me to see if it was available- it is.

Amazon.com: First Time Around (9780918752215): Jamie Bryson: Books

I think I will get a copy.

Safe travels, best to you and yours, and "fair winds and following seas" to you.

That sounds cool. I am only 28, too young to do that. Maybe in 20 years.

Good luck!

You are never too young....I may be looking for crew on some of the ocean passages in the future, will announce it on the blog I will eventually establish and post a link to, so if anyone is interested keep an eye out.

Kilgore- The flying seasonally in Alaska sounds interesting and like something I would love doing in the future if funds are running low. Not sure if they would want to hire an ex-airline type who had been non-current for a while though. I will cross that bridge when I come to it though. I will look for the book, sounds like good inspirational reading, thanks for the tip.

Good Luck
 

Best Wishes. It will be interesting to follow your progress. My advise would be to start your blog right away and journal your experiences leaving UAL and starting your new life.

Skyhigh

Bon Voyage!
 

A friend of mine did just that almost 30 years ago. He had just separated from the Navy, and no airlines were hiring, so they stocked the boat with supplies and cast off. Took them about 4 years, including some long stops (e.g. Australia), where they chartered out the boat and explored by land. A lifelong sailor, he was comfortable with celestial navigation and said they could just "heave to" in storms. The real danger was in shipping lanes, where a constant watch was required. They got home with a lifetime of memories and friends around the world, just in time to catch an airline hiring wave. :)

I am SO jealous!! Good luck tausap you're doing the right thing.

re:
 

Looking forward to the blog and something new to read when I get bored at my desk job. I'll link it up to my blog if you don't mind...

www.flightstudent.wordpress.com

I feel the exact same way as you. I'm 38 and work at Netjets where I'm completely unhappy with job.

Hoping to make my own exit plan come to fruition.

Enjoy!

Great!
 

I am very happy for you and at the same time it gives me great encouragement and motivation to focus on my exit plan. I am currently at a fractional and going to graduate school. Although flying airplanes is great, I now realize that I would like to fly for fun and not for a living. Anyways, good luck and please share pics and stories from your adventures overseas!:)

Thanks for all the well wishes. I know this is the right choice for me for many reasons, but it may not be the right choice for others. I won't lie, it is scary as hell and many friends and family who think in a more reasonable way than myself have tried to talk me out of it, giving me a little self-doubt. But at the same time, I know I will regret it more if I don't do it.

I wrote to a friend recently about this self-doubt and he replied: "And isn't that why most of us cling so steadfastly to the mundane, humdrum security of the familiar? The unknown can be terrifying; put one foot into the wilderness, and all your primeval instincts will awaken. Step off the ledge and only the present will matter. Take the road less travelled! Whatever hardships you will eventualy confront will be the touchstone of exhilirating personal growth." It was nice to have a friend who didn't think I had gone off the deep end.

Mark Twain once wrote "Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." I can't agree more!

I just don’t wish big enough. My plan was to sell out and purchase an appliance repair van. Hopefully I’ll be able to finally hold a line.

Be safe on the open seas.

Looking forward to following your adventure! I'm sure many of us are wishing we could do the same.

tausap,
My take for your many friends and family: You are simply following the same adventure and determination that took you into aviation in the first place.
Congratulations. It is actually the 'scary' part taken with purpose that provides the best in life!
Enjoy.
Fair winds and following seas!

tausp,

Best of luck to you. I left JetBlue as Capt. on the A320 5 yrs ago after a medical scare from a head on car accident, had the same thoughts, life is to short. I went back to flying a G-IV, while getting my 34' trimaran fitted out for cruising. That gig ended last Dec when the a/c was sold. I'm just putting in some desk time, paying bills until the house sells (?) in this tight mid-Atlantic market.

BTW is the boat now owned by the Geisemann's ? I didn't know that they had it on the market, we know them through SSCA.

Hope you get out there soon! Also going to sell my house, but plan on pricing it for a quick sale.

Yes, its the same Liberty. I know them from when they were living aboard at the same Marina as me in Colonial Beach. I heard recently through mutual friends that Liberty may be for sale and contacted Ty and Suzanne to express my interest. She was the perfect boat for me....very shipshape and I knew her history and how Ty keeps her. They accepted my offer and we are going to complete the deal in June. The boat is in RI, so they are going to sail back to the Chesapeake with me on Liberty.

They bought an RV and are going to be doing some land cruising for a while before buying a smaller boat.

Brett

Blog Link
 

The blog I have started to document this adventure:

Liberty's Voyage

I give you a lot of credit and wish you the best with your decision.
If you follow your heart, you will never be disapointed !
The challenge and experience you will gain will be life changing and I applaud you for going for what it is that matters to you.

Money and career is not what life is all about, But it sounds like you have that figured out. The airline pilot "career" is something of the past. It is now just a High risk J O B..
The example and lessons that your daughter will gain from your experience and your new lease on life are priceless.
Best to you in life and your adventure.
God bless and protect.

That is awesome! Makes me really think about what I want to do with my time! I don't want to wake up at 42 (wait a second, I am 42!) and wish I had done things differently!

Good Luck!

Brett,

Happy to know that you are living out my (all of our) Jimmy Buffett dream! If you need a first mate on your trip in September, let me know. I wouldn't mind taking a LOA to forget about life for a while.

PM me if you would like to meet up for coffee sometime.

Good luck in your travels.

Sounds like you made a tough decision. I'm 42 also, but don't have the stones to make such a change in my routine...believe it or not, I still enjoy going to work. When the day comes that I dred what I'm doing, I hope I can step off into the unknown.

J

My career goals are to retire early (age 45-50), buy a boat and sail the world. Hopefully I can find a woman that doesn't want children, and wants to see the world as well! You are a lucky man Brett. We are all waiting to see how your adventure unfolds! Be safe, and keep your keel in the water.

Congrats to you my friend.... 22 years is a career....

Good Luck... fair winds and following seas!!!

What an awesome and fascinating "second career".

Congratulations for taking the leap that many of us wish we had the courage to do.

I have bookmarked your blog and will be checking back with it. Thanks for committing to sharing your adventure with us.

Way to go.

I spent two years working as crew on other peoples boats in the south west pacific.

If you need any information on this part of the world please feel free to contact me.

My dream is to do it all again, with my own boat.

Would love to talk sometime, I will PM you when back from my present trip!

Well done tausap, good for you. You won't regret it one bit.
There will be tough times ahead when you will ask yourself "what the hell am I doing here" but those are few and far between.
Enjoy the Caribbean, great sailing there, lots of islands fairly close together.
You can always go back to flying if you feel you need to but this adventure will open doors to you.
Be safe, take lots of pictures, share them with all of us.

Tausap--

Not sure when I go to ground school but would love to tag along. By the way I have previous sailing exp but not on that size you have or international.

Tausap-

Got your pm but can't send pm's cause of the phone I'm using(puter is getting fixed). Just send your info in pm since emails work on phone.

New Blog Link
 

I decided to switch to a .Mac blog, it allows me to enter more content and be more creative. If anybody wants to follow along the web page is found here:

Liberty?s Voyage

Cheers!

Brett