How to make it happen...

Once we returned from New Zealand in 2020, Covid struck. Plenty of time to get our heads down and work hard, so we could play hard later. The first decision, monohull or catamaran? Neither of us have ever sailed catamarans, so thought we better go and try one. We did a test sail in a Nautitech 44 which we enjoyed, and could see it size wise working for our family. We spent a year looking for second hand catamarans, with no luck. In September 2021 we went to the Southampton boat show and weren't overly enamoured with the catamaran selection. Andrew who's version of porn is looking at boats, said I should look at the Balance 442. It hadn't even launched yet and from a virtual tour of the 482, we both fell in love. They were selling like hot cakes and with the Anapolis boat show about to start, a couple more orders could put us way off our 2024 departure. So, we bit the bullet and put down a deposit. The day we did this...

What I didn't share then, was details of the committment Andrew and I made. At that point in time the business was haemmoraging cash. We'd not long launched the franchise business, and whilst the forecasts showed the tides would turn before the next boat installment, it was only a forecast. The agreement that Andrew and I commited to that day was, if I felt we needed to, we'd sell our home to keep the dream alive. Gosh, there have been some hairy moments in the journey to getting ready, from Covid, the recruitment crisis, launching a new business, my MD starting a rival company on our doorstep, and more.

We were selling our two rental properties to fund part of the boat, and despite having accepted offers on both early in 2023 the sales were slow to go through. A month before a series of large deposits as the boat went into built, I panicked big time! What if the rentals didn't sell? What if we had spent our life savings on a boat, part built, and couldn't pay the final installments? Our house went on the market pretty smartis. And....thank goodness had asking price offer in the first week and the sale went through quickly. Phew!

Our 4 year plan...

2020 - decision to go - first charter holiday as a family

2021 - bought Karena (beneteau first 375) and put a deposit on a catamaran

2022 - get the kids to love boat life, adventures on Karena

2023 - get the kids strong in and on the water, sell home, yacht masters

2024 - pack up life, various courses (sea survival, first aid, etc) and set sail

Ten months ago we started selling our furniture and packing up our life. We moved into a winter let October 2023. The week we moved the builders announced our boat was delayed a month, then just before Christmas another two months. We hoped to be in Barcelona by August 2024, and watching the America's Cup before joining the Arc. We're now juggling living between an Air B'n'B and Karena - good practice for boat life....albeit the sleeping arrangements a little cramped for the kids but they're super chilled, it's just one big adventure for them.

So one of the questions people often ask is "what about work? What will you do whilst you're away?" Andrew has resigned, but as a Doctor needs to keep up practice so will fly back for a month each year, and may also do some online GP work. We will have starlink, so for me, whilst I'm cutting back massively and entrusting both businesses with my amazing teams, I'll still be able to jump on Teams calls, join monthly Board meetings, and I'll fly back annually for our conference too.

ANother question is "What about the kids?" Yes, we're going to homeschool. There are many different approached from signing up to online/virtual classes to a more free flow approach which we're going to take - keeping up reading, writing and arithmetic. Then, following the kids interests, learning about the amazing places, geography, history, culture and languages for places we'll be visiting. I don't doubt they'll be gaps in the kids knowledge upon returning to mainstream education in 3 years, but I whole heartedly know they'll be richer, fuller little humans from the incredible experiences we're going to share.