The cruising lifestyle is so many things – risky, itchy, sweaty, smelly, salty, sometimes bloody, character-building, life-enriching, dizzying shifts between monotony and novelty, a complicated way to live simply… and 1% of it is sailing euphoria too. Aren’t those moments of perfectly exquisite, euphoric sailing what we sailors are all in this for? And yes, it’s worth it!
We are Tim and Mary, a middle class, middle-aged couple who sold everything in the middle of a pandemic to buy a boat we’ve never seen in a country we’ve never been to – with the goal of sailing around the world. Some of our friends and family think we’re a little crazy, but we think not doing this would have been even crazier.
As it turns out, our boat is far from perfect and a constant work in progress… but so are we. For us, this adventure is all about (and only possible with) a lot of hard work, humility, humor, courage, creativity, friendship, love, and the best part… sailing euphoria too.
Why We Blog and Vlog
(MARY) Nothing makes my brain happier than sailing, writing, and editing video. As luck would have it, although my skills in these areas aren’t elite (yet), they don’t completely suck. While I hold my part-time remote job writing marketing content and editing video for a sailing school, my long-term goal is to alchemize this life’s blessings and burdens into art that will entertain, educate, and inspire others… and earn an honest livelihood while I’m at it.
Monetizing seems like a long shot, considering the hundreds, if not thousands of other sailing bloggers and sailing channels on YouTube. How will we distinguish ourselves from the hoard? We’re not exactly clickbait! Our age is starting to show. And we only have a very basic collection of video production gear and skills to start with.
Well, we’re certainly not going mislead you by representing our lifestyle as somehow ideal or glamorous. It’s not. It’s a lot of hard work. It’s messy, it’s smelly, it’s often uncomfortable, and it sometimes reduces us to our most basic nature. A lot of the time it’s cook, clean, eat, drink, sleep, sail, hammer the keyboard, and fix broken stuff. Try to minimize the bruises and scrapes, try not to stink too much, try to be courteous even when feeling cranky, and try to set the work aside and have some fun together once in awhile.
The work also builds character and has its rewards, which is why we are here. Learning about ourselves and each other, the doe-eyed discovery of novel destinations and foreign cultures, the freedom to set our own pace, the close relationship to nature in our daily life, and the euphoria of sailing make it so worthwhile.
Unless you’re a trust fund baby or a self-made retired gazillionaire, life is work. We have simply chosen the work that life aboard a sailboat demands over rush hour traffic, workplace politics, performance evaluations, narcoleptic nap-inducing Powerpoint presentations, mortgages, mowing the lawn… you get the idea.
All we have to offer you are the unvarnished, gritty, and beautiful truths that we discover about the world cruising and seafaring lifestyle. We hope that at least a few of you sailors and dreamers will find our honesty and humanity entertaining, educational, and inspiring.
Thank you for being here.
Tim’s Story (coming soon)
Sailing Euphoria Too 