Have you notice I talk about sailing and use nautical terms in my emails and on my website? Even my email sign-off has “Bringing you Fair Winds and Calm Seas?”
It all begin when I was only five years old, I fantasized about living on a tropical island near the ocean. My ex-husband, had a similar dream, and I wanted to make sure this became a reality for both of us. We started looking for a boat in 1987 and upon selling our business in 1993, our years of hard work paid off. We sold the company at a price that allowed us to follow our mutual desire.
This dream was not only for the love of sailing but more to move freely from Point A to Point B and meet new people on our journey. There is a camaraderie in the sailing community that I have never experienced living on-land.
A Dream Realized
We purchased an Alajuela 48’ sailboat in 1991. Knowing I wasn’t ready to cast off, I attended Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamanship in Newport Beach, California. The curriculum included Coastal Navigation, Marine Weather, Survival at Sea, Sailmaking, Marlinspike Seamanship, and All about Anchoring. I had the privilege of studying Medicine at Sea with well-known Dr. Don McGillis and learned from two of the best, Lin and Larry Pardey, about Storm Tactics.
Who knew about all of the topics I needed to become an expert to make my dream come true! Similar to what business owners experience as they don all the hats required by entrepreneurs!
My penchant for entrepreneurship became evident while outfitting our sailboat Lachesa. I worked at West Marine as the Department Manager of Safety and Navigation, Nautical Charts, and Marine Books at the Point Loma, Shelter Island location. This education provided me with a wealth of knowledge for my coming adventure.
Cast Off!
We launched Lachesa in June 1993 and sailed from San Diego, California to the Sea of Cortez, Mexico, and on to Central America. What a day that was. I was filled with excitement, joy, and, admittedly, a lot of anxiety.
However, rather than just living life in paradise and having umbrella Pina Coladas drinks, we quickly realized we enjoyed taking people out sailing. We wanted them to experience sailing on a nice sailboat and seeing 20’ mantras and humpback whales. We would head out when we wanted and return when ready. No fixed schedule.
1993 on the Internet
When we cast off our lines in San Diego, I had a laptop computer with an email account with AOL. I had no idea how I would send emails off the boat or what I was doing on the computer; it was a traveling journalist who shared her computer tips and set me up with Hotmail.
There I was in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico learning all about the internet in a remote location. I use to lug my big laptop from the sailboat to the marina office in various ports and hookup to their DSL landline to upload emails and download my newsletter to family, friends, and associates.
Seven Wonderful Years
Seven years of living on a sailboat and traveling the waters along remote coastal communities strengthened my self-reliance and intuitive ability to think three steps ahead, planning and executing ideas from start to finish.
We decided we would have to go “home” to the mainland because it would have cost $35,000 (in 1993 currency) to have our boat imported into the country. The games we had to play to stay in Costa Rica got to be too much.
For instance, Richard had to go to Nicaragua every three months to renew his visa, I was left alone on the boat for four days, and it was not a good idea to leave the vessel without someone on board. I don’t remember being scared, I just accepted this as a standard operating procedure.
Sail On
When we made the hard decision to return to dry land and back to the states, I knew I wanted to use my enthusiastic, energetic, and highly motivated “people person” self to assist others with meaningful work, aka business owners. I want to provide that same feeling of the community I felt onboard with my community of clients.
What I learned from living abroad and coming back to the states is how you have to take the risk to live life to the fullest, experience things in life you never imagine would see. If I had not taken the chance to leave everything that I am familiar with, I would not have experienced the simplicity of living on a sailboat in a faraway place and being one with nature.
So this is why I leave each of my messages to you with “Bringing you Fair Winds and Calm Seas.”
