The story of how we got started
Karen:
I grew up taking sailing trips with my family in the gulf islands near Vancouver BC. I was the youngest crew member, enthusiastic, loved to jump in the water swimming and watch the sun go down after dinner with my parents and brother. These magical trips put a love of sailing in my heart.
In 1992, my parents Andrew and Janet took my brother Colin and I to the British Virgin Islands for Christmas. This trip became a family legend. 1 week in the Caribbean was all it took - the BVI became ‘our place’. Days snorkeling, evenings in the warm tropical breeze, it was an incredible, unforgettable trip that we all treasure the memories of.
In 2012 My parents decided it was time to return to the BVI, and took my brother, my husband Michael and 6 month old Christian back to the area we had sailed 20 years before. This is where London city boy Michael got his first taste of sailing - and he was hooked! He was pinching himself for the whole trip. We were on a 41 foot Dufour, Island hopping, snorkeling, swimming, sampling the local pina coladas and really loving life!!
There was talk of another family trip. So Michael and I took some dingy sailing lessons at Mac Sailing in Vancouver to up our skills to be able to participate more. I would say the dream had begun here.
2 years later we were back, this time on a 40 foot Lagoon Catamaran, and Colin took the lead as skipper. Kimiko joined us and off we went for another magical trip.
At this point in our lives, Michael and I were focused on our young family, Florence came along and life continued, at its busy pace. Daycare dropoff, commute into work, daycare pickup, make dinner, bath, sleep, repeat. Its a rhythm many know well. Years blast by and the kids milestones mark the time to show you how quickly its going by.
As it all unfolded day after day, we both were feeling the pressure on our time of 2 working parents and not spending as much time as we wanted with our kids. The sabbatical dream started coming into view - what if we took a break? There was no doubt for either of us that it would be a sailing sabbatical!!
For my 40th birthday, I took a women’s sailing course through Nanaimo Yacht charters - and met an incredible group of women who wanted to up their sailing skills - with a fantastic instructor - Marla to show us the ropes.
We then purchased our first boat just as Covid was starting up - a 22 foot trailerable Catalina for $7K. This was an awesome boat to learn on - simple, small and just enough room to sleep on. We sailed it from Salt Spring Island to Vancouver and back, across the Georgia straight in 24 hrs (80nm) thanks to friends who watched the kids, did countless day sails and many week or 10 day trips around the Gulf Islands. We gained confidence.
We chartered a boat and completed our Day-Skipper certification with Andy our instructor. Andy loves kids and has seemingly limitless energy to teach. Michael also did his Yachtmaster Coastal Certification with Andy - another step up in sailing skills.
With our new certification we could now charter on our own, which we did in the Gulf Islands and also in Corfu, Greece. We were joined by Michael’s sister Sharon and nefew Michael for a few days - so great to have them aboard!
With building our skills, it was now a matter of when to pull the trigger - do we have enough money? Are we ready? We sold our condo in June 2023 and moved into Colin & Kimi’s upstairs suite. We started seriously boat shopping. We scoured Yachtworld and tried to narrow down our search and determined we should start in Florida. After a hilarious warmup trial at buying a boat that DID NOT workout, we ended up finding this amazing boat, that was home to a family of 5 for the past 5 years, that was clearly well maintained. The sellers were a dream - recording how-to videos for us, had extensive repair logs and clearly loved the boat. We had found our new home.
It was now time to quit our jobs and get going!
The summer before we planned to leave, my Dad became very ill. He had been diagnosed with mesolthelioma (lung cancer from aesbestos exposure) years before, and it was taking hold. He passed away peacefully with my brother and mum with him every step of the way. I feel my dad’s presence often when we are out here - when I get up in the night to quiet anoisy halyard, or making navigation decisions. Sailing was given to me by my parents and I am deeply grateful.