About Us

We are a pair of management consultants from London. Well, thats not quite true. We were consultants and we used to live in London (UK), but Sally is originally from Wales and I born and raised in South Africa. However we MET in London. 

Our chubbier selves pre cruising

I have fostered a desire to cross the Pacific ocean for a long time. In one of my many "you know what I would like to do…" rambles to Sally, I must have mentioned this. As a 30th birthday present, she gave me a crossing guide to the South Pacific. It has some truly beautiful photography. 

I have crossed the Pacific before (aged 6). So my role was more chief tormentor of my little brother (who at the time was age 3) rather than that of active participant in the whole sailing our 44ft yacht across the world's largest ocean. 

I thought it might be fun to give up work and responsibilities to sit back, relax in a hammock and sail across an ocean. Reality was slightly different (the rest of the blog can attest to that). When we had a really shitty day / week at work, we would sit in our tiny 32 square foot, unheated London flat, haul out the book and page through it  to inspire ourselves and discuss our fabled route.

It was a dream really. Nothing more. I recall discussing it with my parents who, although very supportive and encouraging, were probably a little (more like "very") dubious about our actual commitment to something of this size.

Ever the management consultants, we put together our strategy plotting our "as-is" (small flat, London, rat race) and our "to-be" (sailing into the sunset). 

We identified what we wanted and did not want from cruising. Sally was a non sailor at this point and adamant that sailing in cold climates / weather was not going to impress her. She was a little unsure if sailing was even for her. So we booked a 1 week sailing course in the Canary Islands as a little "live aboard, learn to sail, test the waters" (pun intended) trip. On the back of it Sally decided that she could live on a boat and sail around (as long as it was not in the UK / cold places).

We looked for / at boats in the UK with a view to living on board, doing them up and sailing them to warmer climates. To be honest, a shake down sail across the English Channel / to the Canaries / across the Pacific did not appeal to either of us.

So we decided to look for a boat in the US (east coast) as prices were considerably lower than in the UK. In that way, we could spend a good season sailing in the easy sailing conditions in the Caribbean. Learn to sail, learn our boat. At this stage the Pacific crossing was still a dream, but a lot closer than it had ever been. 

I had a great' job at Deloitte and Sally was doing well and enjoying her job in Accenture when we decided that it was now or never. With deep reluctance, we resigned / applied for sabbatical, tied up all our admin loose ends and headed for Florida (via Canada). 

Before leaving I asked William Newton what his thoughts were about having me as a son in law. He said he would not mind. Why he agreed to me joining the family I have no idea as I had just practically kidnapped his daughter for an indefinite amount of time, convincing her to give up a good job in a lousy market (recession) to go galavanting around the world. Incredibly irresponsible (of both of us).

Needless to say the rest is in the blog...

Our sleeker selves after 6 months of sun and fun