Celebrating One Year

One year ago, we closed on the purchase of our 40-foot sailing catamaran, SeaSparrow, and called it home. Tia and Eryk quickly moved out of the villa apartment they were renting in Antigua to move onboard. A couple of weeks later the boys, Roxy (our dog) and I joined them. This journey has brought us some incredible experiences, new friends and a special togetherness. One year marks half-way on the two-year goal we had set out for ourselves and as sad as we are to think that a whole year has gone by, we are also very excited to see what this next year has in store for us.

Many people asked us how we did it, how we sold everything, packed up our lives and moved onto a sailboat. To some, this was crazy and unimaginable and they couldn’t imagine why we would want to do such a thing. Others, however, were very impressed and excited for us and felt that we were living the dream, either a dream they also shared, or a dream similar to the one they had. At the time, we received plenty of questions on how we planned to make it happen, but we didn’t always have all the answers. Now though, a year later, as I reflect back on that time, I can think of several key success factors that helped us realize our dream. We all shared in the dream, we set a clear goal for ourselves, we supported one another, we problem-solved to attain that goal, stayed organized along the way and leaned on our support system.

First of all, we all shared the dream, which meant there was no need to drag anyone along for the ride. The idea of giving up our land life for two years and sailing to new locations was exciting to all of us. This was important because if at any time any of us got cold feet the rest of us were there as a support system for one another. This was particularly true for Eryk and me since we were the ones that were going to make it happen, we supported and encouraged each other along the way and were there for the kids when they had questions or concerns. Now, after some time spent cruising we have met others that had more reluctant members of their party and inevitably those cruisers threw in the towel early and changed their plans. This isn’t meant as a criticism, because the fact that they got out here and tried it is amazing, and furthermore, the fact that they were able to recognize that there were other experiences more suitable to their crowd and make that change is even more incredible. Frankly, there are so many ways to spend your time to experience new things, it doesn’t have to be about cruising on a sailboat. Some have found other means (trains, planes, and automobiles) to travel to new countries and/or continents, while others have gone to the mountains to ski for months on end. There are so many experiences to be had and ways to make them happen from staying in rentals or Air BnBs to house sitting, or traveling in an RV. The point is it doesn’t matter what the dream is, for us it was living on a sailboat. Frankly though, even though sharing the dream is the most important factor, its the easy part, executing on it is when the real challenge begins.

Another factor to our success was we set a goal, a SMART goal, that is to say, a Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely goal. For us, it was:

Live on a sailboat by the end of the year 2018

We determined that gave us eight months to make it happen. To sell our house, pack up our lives and purchase the sailboat and move aboard, we felt that was achievable. Next, we made sure we could not easily back out or walk away from our goal, to do this we let friends and family in on our plans, this made the dream real. The other thing we did was create a poster for our bedroom that we hung on the wall where we could see it every day when we woke up and again before we went to bed, this meant we had the goal in writing and by posting it up it couldn’t be forgotten and served as motivation every day.

Next, I would say we focused on problem-solving. The two top problems we were asked about were finances and education for the children. However, that was only the beginning, we encountered many problems along the way, but as a friend of mine likes to say, there is a solution to every problem. For us, it was about not letting the problems deter us from our goal. Even though it would be far too long to discuss every problem we encountered, here are some thoughts on the top two:

1. How could we afford it? For us, it really came down to how could we afford not to, we really wanted this and so even though it wasn’t a great long term financial decision we decided not to make this the focus of our planning. Instead, we worked on how we were going to get the money to make the dream happen. We determined that if we sold the house the equity we had would give us the money we need to purchase the boat, after that, we determined what our expenses would be for two years on a boat and ensured we had enough money in our kitty. Believe it or not, the cost of living the cruiser lifestyle is significantly less than land-based living. Yes, some expenses switched from house/car insurance to boat insurance or from gas for the car to dinghy fuel, but a lot of expenses disappear, which makes this lifestyle more affordable on a budget. They say there is a boat out here for every budget and that is true, we have anchored alongside superyachts, as well as tiny monohulls, so it was really about finding the boat that suited us and our budget.
2. How could we ensure the children received a good education? Thus began the research on homeschooling where I discovered the legality of it and also options we had for homeschooling, much of which I discussed on my blog post of August 2nd, School’s out for Summer. I will say though that the prospect of homeschooling was daunting but I received lots of encouraging words pointing out that the educational experiences the kids would gain in two years of traveling like we planned to do, would far outweigh what they would receive in a classroom. Additionally, homeschooling has been proven to be a valid education for children where many not only meet but exceed expectations for their age.

It sounds simple enough, but I can ensure you from the time we decided to make our dream a reality until the time we left was a very busy time. We managed all the work closely and pulled on some tools and tricks of the trade from our project management experience. We used a kanban board to track the tasks that needed to be accomplished throughout the various phases of our move. We also had many spreadsheets to keep us organized. This was key to our sanity, we had a spreadsheet for what to pack, a spreadsheet for what to do with our possessions (give away, sell, storage, etc), spreadsheets comparing boat insurance companies, health insurance companies, and the list goes on.

Last but definitely not least, the biggest key to our success was our fabulous support system of friends and family that we were able to lean heavily on to make it happen. This included fabulous neighbors that would watch the kids as we prepared the house for sale, our mothers that allowed us to live with them for a few months before we left, a sister that sold our car on our behalf after we were gone, and the many people who encouraged us along the way. To all those people, we owe a BIG thank-you, without them, we wouldn’t be celebrating a one-year anniversary of our life on SeaSparrow.

In the end, there wasn’t one key to our success in realizing our dream, and if I asked other families out here, they would likely come up with other success factors that were key for them. To us clearing out the house and reducing it down to a 10ft by 10 ft box of our most prized possessions was cleansing. It was a busy, difficult time, but throughout it all we were happy, we had a dream and we were realizing it.