Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited

I often get asked, “why this whole boat thing?” Well, early on in our relationship I learned about Cale’s love for all things air and sea. I knew Cale had a dream to sail. My earliest memories are way back probably in like 2006 or 2007, shortly after Kira was born when we discussed it. Cale told me he had a dream to live on a boat and sail. With a new wife and baby the dream had changed slightly, out of necessity, to doing the sailing thing, but with his family. I was an adventurous soul, so my obvious response was, “sure sounds fun, someday we’ll do it.”
Fast forward many years of having kids and our family growing to 6 before things really started to take shape. Our youngest Kelsey, was about a year old and we had just had an unexpected death in the family and big move. It was 2017 and I think Cale saw an opportunity. We now lived close to family and had babysitters to put things in motion. He signed us up for ASA 101 and 102 in the San Juan Islands to learn how to sail. At the time, I was training for a triathlon and was on my trainer bike a lot during the early morning hours, which meant I had a lot of time to read and watch movies. I decided to go for it and spent hours each morning taking my knowledge of sailing from zero to well more then zero in a few short weeks.
Our classes were held at the end of April. We didn’t have terrible weather, but it wasn’t amazing either. I wore about 3 layers of warm cloths under my rain gear. There were several times we were out sailing and the water was just pelting down on us. We planned and sailed our own routes using a map, way points and a compass. We met some fun new friends in Carl, a 70 something year old long time sailor who just wanted to brush up on his skills, to Jim who was quiet and slow to pick things up (who we later found out was a CEO of a large hospital), to our instructor who had endless stories of being kidnaped to being run over by a boat in the ocean. It was our first taste of what boating is partly all about which is finding a community of people who want a little adventure in their day to day. The classes were challenging and rewarding. I even passed my final exam even though it took me way longer then everyone else and almost caused us to miss our flight.
We left feeling inspired.
I remember listening to a podcast on the way home and they said if you want to live aboard, you have to pick a date to leave, work toward it now, and make it happen. Our oldest Kira was 10 and in 4th grade our youngest Kelsey was 18 months. We talked through scenarios and thought when Kira is a Sophmore would be the right time. We wanted her to be able to still experience Jr and Sr year and when Kelsey would hopefully be old enough to enjoy it. It was settled we would leave January 2023.

Over the next few years we did several trips.

San Juan Island 2019 (Kelsey stayed back with Grandma and Grandpa and met us on some of the islands).

San Juan Island 2020 with Grandpa Greg and Brayden.

San Diego to see Papa and Grandma aboard Amelia

La Paz Mexico to see Papa and Grandma aboard Amelia May 2021. Highlight from this trip was jumping manta rays.

La Paz Mexico aboard a chartered monohull November 2021. Highlight from this trip was snorkeling with hundreds of dolphins behind the boat.

Sailing became our family vacation past time. We created so many memories. With our future trip in mind I was relieved every time we had left anxious for more.