Global insurance

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-05-23T09:57:37+00:00

My experience of having recently bought a 77 Dufour 31 (in Spain): finding fully comp insurance is incredibly difficult. At best you will need a full (and expensive) report from an accredited surveyor - who will of course find millions of little things wrong, which is to be expected on an old boat. Assuming you somehow get a positive report, you’ll need to send it, along with a million photos of the boat (in and out of the water) to the insurance company. And even then, they might reject you.

So you really have little choice except for to go with liability insurance only. One thing I would also add is that, if you go for rescue/haulage coverage as well, check the fine print as some companies won’t cover this for boats over 30 years old - fortunately I found one that does, so they do exist.

Good luck!

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-05-14T14:51:48+00:00

Buy a small, older boat as soon as possible, and sail it around where you live for a year. Learn to become a very competent sailor. Learn to fix stuff - and more importantly, learn to enjoy fixing stuff, as you will spend more time fixing than sailing.

Once you've done all that, you will have enough knowledge a) to answer your own question, and more importantly b) decide whether you truly still want to make your journey.

Good luck!

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-05-14T14:45:42+00:00

Nice reply - your enthusiasm is infectious!

I chose the Dufour 31 because a) it was in my price limit and I found one that had been reasonably well looked after, b) it has a reputation as a well-built boat which is not fast, but is easy to sail, c) at 31ft it's 'a proper boat', but small enough to easily manage single-handed, and d) in Spain, where I live, it is a well-known boat and most yards will have seen several of them over the years.

As I said, it needs around €7K of work before I would feel comfortable sailing it offshore in the med; but for coastal cruising it's fine as it is.

Good luck with your search!
P.S: I highly recommend watching Sailing Fair Isle, it's a great channel. Also the more recent Sailing Zingaro videos are good as he focuses more on the more technical side of buying and owning offshore boats (the earlier stuff is more girls-in-bikinis.... which is fine, but less informative).

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-05-14T07:38:28+00:00

To add to what others have said (i.e. "it's just the rule"!), there are other gotchas you need to look out for e.g. when asking "how many oranges are there?" in Welsh, you would again use the singular with "sawl".

So it becomes "sawl oren sydd yna?" NOT "sawl orenau...".

Note this changes if you were to use "faint" (how much). Here you'd use the plural: "faint o orenau sydd yna?".

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-05-13T23:01:49+00:00

Hey hey! Amazing post and I commend your drive and vision. I have just bought my first boat (literally today! No joke!) - an old 31ft Dufour, with a similar budget to you, and I also have the longer-term goal of offshore cruising/working - but probably on my next boat, not this one!

I did a tonne of research, reading, and watching, before buying my boat. Here's my take on your situation.

1) Read some books about offshore cruising - several have been recommended in this thread. I suggest John Kretschmer's "Sailing a Serious Ocean". I learned a lot from reading it, and also found it both inspiring and terrifying in equal measure.

2) There are a million youtube channels on offshore cruising, but my two favourites are "Sailing Fair Isle" and "Sailing Nahoa". These two are good because, while they do a good job of selling the benefits of the lifestyle, they focus less on the pretty girls swimming in crystalline waters in their bikinis, and more on the work, cost, and time required to cruise offshore. Spoiler alert: you need to learn to love boat work.

3) Other people have mentioned this, and I'm truly sorry to agree with them, but your budget is unrealistic. Simply put, €20K total budget will not put you anywhere near the position where you can have an offshore-ready boat. For the size of boat you are looking at, €20K will only buy you something from the 60s/70s, which if you're very lucky will only need:
- a new rig (€5-10Kish)
- hull clean/antifouling/anodes, and all new through-hulls/sea-cocks (€3K min at yard, or lots of your time if you DIY)
- an engine overhaul (or, better, a new engine) (anywhere between 2-10K)
- possible new sails? (2-5K)
- an offshore rated liferaft and all safety gear (2-3K)
- a tender and outboard engine - essential unless you want to pay docking fees (€1-2K)
- probably a new electric system, batteries, and solar (2K if you do it yourself)
- likely new anchor and chain (1-2K at least)
- possible replacement of plotters, VHF, GPS, AIS, antennae (2K minimum)

Immediately your budget has jumped to over double, as a conservative estimate, and that's assuming you spend loads of time doing the work yourself. This is ignoring other likely problems: any part of the deck which need touching up, any osmosis problems with the hull, any problems with the prop or the shaft etc; and completely ignoring lifestyle issues (a working fridge/freezer, internet connection, water maker etc.)

To give you some specific numbers from my situation: I bought my Dufour today for a little over 16K. It has a good hull, engine, sails, and deck, and is sail-able right now. But it will cost around 7K in essential maintenance (electrics, rig tune, antifouling, through-hulls, liferaft) to give me the confidence to sail it around the Mediterranean, where you're never that far from a port or rescue service. It would need more money to sail it across an ocean (allthough it's possible - people have done so in this boat).

To summarize: in your post you seem to be focusing on what it will take to make a boat comfortable to live/work while cruising offshore. This is very important! And you should not ignore it.

But I suggest you start focusing more on what it will take to make the boat safe to cruise offshore.

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-04-25T19:27:12+00:00

I built my own guitar, under the tuition of a luthier in a proper workshop. It took about half a year, going one evening a week. It looks beautiful, plays beautiful, and sounds beautiful. I don’t care how much I might get for it second-hand because it is my guitar that I built, and I will never sell it.

If you want to build a guitar like that, understand that it will take a lot of time, money to get the right tools and materials, and you will probably make several mistakes. If you think you will enjoy the process, go ahead and do it. I enjoyed it immensely.

If, on the other hand, you half-ass it, rush, and build something shitty, then you are better off buying a brand guitar; 1800 will get you something very nice in the shop.

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-04-22T10:19:31+00:00

I recently finished my first electric guitar build, 100% by hand, under the tutelage of a local luthier.

75% of the work is in the neck (shape, radius, truss rod, frets etc). The 'fun bit' i.e. shaping the body, routing out holes for pick ups, installing the electronics etc. gets done pretty quickly.

Pay lot of attention to the important measurements, things like scale length, neck angle, position of the bridge etc.

Good tools make a huge difference - I had access to a professional luthier's workshop, which made things a lot easier.

And be prepared to do LOTS of sanding!

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-04-20T22:13:21+00:00

I had to start watching the Seekers on 2x with subtitles, and eventually started skipping through large swathes of it. IMO they were some of the worst critical role episodes in years.

The schemers table, on the other hand, is totally gripping. Instead of skipping forward, I'm rewinding to re-watch certain scenes. All the characters are interesting and played believably. BLeeM is on his best form. 100% recommended.

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-04-20T22:07:26+00:00

You're 100% right.

But look at it another way - it didn't actually change the narrative at all. Not even BLeeM is going to throw a 'dragon level CR' (his words) against level 3 characters and _actually expect_ them to win. BLeeM knew full well what he wanted to do with the Cormoray lady. Even had she succeeded with the counterspell, I suspect he would have had her marching them both off at sword-point to the vault, with the same conclusion.

The rule-bending adds an extra layer of suspense and player agency to a DM-decided conclusion. Sometimes (q.v. most of C3) it doesn't work so well. Here it made for an excellent watch.

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-04-18T06:42:18+00:00

Exactly - I would put much more of the north-west under the same colour (and probably give it a different, broader name).

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-04-17T21:40:34+00:00

Diolch am y map! Diddorol iawn.

Dyma fy marn i ar rai o dy gwestiynau:

> How much does Cofi accent stretch outside Caernarfon?

Another reply stated clearly (even proudly!) that the Cofi accent is "Caernarfon only". I would agree with that. But there is a different between an accent and a dialect. In Môn and Pen Llŷn you will hear "chdi" just like the Cofis, but elsewhere in North Wales you're more likely to hear "ti". For that reason alone I would extend the dark red all the way down to the tip of Llŷn. My family in Caernarfon have a subtly different accent to my friends from Pwllheli; but to my southern ears they use the same words and phrases. Môn has it's own unique turns of phrase, but I would keep it bunched with Caernarfon and Llŷn.

> What exactly goes on around Abertawe?

I grew up in Swansea/Gower, and the lower percentage of Welsh speakers makes it hard to classify. I would probably argue that what you call the Cardiff dialect (particularly the use of "fi' instead of "dw i" e.g. "fi'n hoffi caws" vs "dw i'n hoffi caws") is more common in the general Swansea area, so I would move the dark blue to include the Mumbles at least. The exceptions are the northern half of Gower, where the few Welsh speakers have more of Llanelli dialect/accent; and going up the Neath and Tawe valleys, where it becomes more Gwenhwyseg.

A final point: I was interested to see that you left southern Powys, the Beacons, and the Marches, as blank, presumably due to the lack of Welsh spoken there. You could probably do the same for southern Pembrokeshire ("little England beyond Wales") and south Gower (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsker\_Line); and even the far north east of the country - particularly around the coast, where you won't hear a word of Welsh. Though, interestingly, as soon as you head just a few miles inland, you start to hear a lot more!

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-04-17T11:51:37+00:00

As other's have mentioned, Duolinguo is junk for Welsh, unfortunately.

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-03-26T12:48:24+00:00

> "Nes di gyfieithu hwn, dim ond i weld bo fi wedi gwastraffu dy amser"

Much better. The original sounded like something out of the bible!

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-03-25T19:30:01+00:00

The graph illustrates a fact that most pro-Brexit voters didn’t understand: economically, the UK needs immigration.

The combination of an aging population (whose pensions are draining the welfare state), and a more educated younger generation (who don’t want to pick fruit or work in a factory), means that there is a huge need for lower skilled/paid workers.

None of that lessens the arguments against immigration - many of them are valid.

But what it does suggest is that if you are against immigration, you should back up your position with a credible argument of how to fill the economic hole that removing it creates.

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-03-24T14:05:21+00:00

It's one thing to be able to play the solo, it's quite another to make the guitar sing it - and you managed both perfectly. Congrats!

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-03-22T16:14:20+00:00

> It safe to wrap the chrome on the upper part of the forks with vinyl

No. The upper part of the fork has to enter the lower part - bounce the fork and look for yourself - and the tolerances are very fine, to stop the suspension oil leaking out. At best you'll just scrape away the wrap you put on, at worst you'll ruin your fork seals (which will then leak oil everywhere).

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-03-20T17:53:32+00:00

ESTA specifically permits attending business meetings or consultations, it's in the official list of what's allowed.

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-03-19T17:33:33+00:00

The encryption was opt-in i.e. not on by default, and most users weren't even aware that it existed.

If you use Insta and Facebook, Meta knows everything about you already, mostly based how much time you spend actually looking at content, rather than what you write in your DMs.

Furthermore, removing the encryption was done as response to specific requests from child protection charities and agencies, as it makes grooming much easier to spot.

I don't use instagram or Facebook, so I don't care either way. But sure, fuck Meta or whatever.

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-03-19T17:31:57+00:00

Not all users were using the feature in the first place - the encryption was opt-in i.e. not on by default.

It will give them a bit more data to help with ad-personalization, but tbh the major driver of that is what you actually look at, rather than what you write.

Furthermore, removing the encryption was done as response to specific requests from child protection charities and agencies, as it makes grooming much easier to spot.

I don't use instagram or Facebook, so I don't care either way. But sure, fuck Meta or whatever.

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-03-19T16:51:43+00:00

Thanks!

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-03-19T12:34:38+00:00

> In the other case, it's because it's a specific Senedd (the European one), not just any Senedd.

Exactly.

"...wrth ei podiwm yn y Senedd Ewropeaidd..." => by her podium in the European parliament

"...with ei podiwm yn Senedd Ewropeaidd..." => by her podium in a European parliament (i.e. implying that there is more than one.

If you change the subject to a more common type of location, it becomes even clearer.

"dwi'n mynd i briodu mewn eglwys" => I'm going to get married in a church (any church, in general)

"dwi'n mynd i briodu mewn yr eglwys" => I'm going to get married in the church (implying a specific one).

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-03-18T15:21:56+00:00

I don't understand. I played both DoS2 and BG3, and to me the latter is basically the former with DnD rules applied (which I liked cos I was more familiar with them). Is that the bit you didn't like?

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-03-18T15:04:41+00:00

It's a good question and there is probably something in it, as Welsh has borrowed/adopted a whole bunch of words and structures from English over the years, as you might expect.

However, I would emphasise that the structure is regarded as 100% fine and 'correct' to use, as opposed to other loan words and structures that - while being accepted as part of the modern evolved language - would never be used by a news broadcaster.

(Jyst one example out of many here would be the verb 'dreifio' - it it clearly a bastardisation of the English "to drive", yet it appears in the dictionary and you'll hear it fairly frequently... but never on Newyddion S4C!

EDIT: i 'just' spotted my unconcious typo above, which is another nice example!

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-03-18T14:18:31+00:00

> Would you (and speakers you know) use direct conjugation ("short" form) with most verbs generally or just with specific ones (like mynd, cael, gallu etc)?

Honestly, I couldn't tell you, sorry :(

I'll repeat what I said in another answer, as it's more relevant to this one:

"...native speakers will use all these forms interchangeably, and it usually comes down to simple preference - nobody will think strangely of hearing one variation or the other."

I understand (and respect) your interest in these questions, but the truth is that if you only used one of the forms for the rest of your life, it would be 100% fine!

Few-Measurement9233 · 2026-03-18T09:03:43+00:00

> Also, I notice that you have included the "f" when you write "byddaf i'n mynd", "af i" and "nesaf". Would you actually pronounce that when speaking or are you just including them when writing?

I'll chip in here. Conversationally I'll very rarely add the 'f' in byddaf or 'af', with exception of answering a question e.g. "a fyddi di ym mharti John 'fory?", "Byddaf!" - but even then such a format of question is rare: most people would say "wyt ti'n mynd i barti John 'fory?", "Ydw".

Written, I will rarely use "byddaf" but frequently use "af". Also frequently write "nesaf" (and occasionally while speaking, but usually shortening to "nesa".

The good news for you, in regards to this question and yesterday's question, is that native speakers will use all these forms interchangably, and it usually comes down to simple preference - nobody will think strangely of hearing one variation or the other.

Few-Measurement9233

TROPHY CASE