My husband, daughter and I been sailboat cruising, using our savings, for five years. We’ve run out of money so we’ve set ourselves up to offer weeklong cruising experiences for people that want to transition into our type of lifestyle. By offering space on our boat people/couples/families can get a unique glimpse into what it’s like to be a cruiser AND their contribution for our service will help to keep our boat afloat.
As we took the footage for our latest video (last week) we were on our 9th Britican Experience in three months. It’s going well – all our guests have been incredible and we mean INCREDIBLE. We couldn’t have attracted more kind and pleasant people into our lives and home.
We are struggling a bit with the balance of life, however, but that was expected.
Watch the video to get an update as to what’s been going on with our new lives as ‘Charter’ operators and then find out about our rescue at sea, a dragging boat, 50-knot winds a near-miss lightning strike all while we had guests…
Rescue at Sea, A Dragging Boat, 50-Knot Winds & A Lightning Strike (almost) Video
So, while doing Chartering and living the cruisers lifestyle we’ve found ourselves in two very different worlds.
When it’s just us on the boat it’s:
– Sailing as usual
– Hanging with the cruiser community
– Having a routine homeschooling system and arranging playdates for our daughter
– Participating in local events and exploring
– Boat maintenance and jobs
– Creating articles, videos, guides, doing the marketing to promote our services…
When we have paying guests we switch over to:
– Creating sailing plans and determining how best to meet our guest’s goals
– Prepping the boat with meals (made in advance) and enough food to last the week in addition to getting the boat clean, making beds up and hiding all our stuff in the bilge!
And once our guests are on board, we:
– Teach them whatever it is that they want to learn and create experiences for them to gain confidence
– Answer questions, teach and provide feedback as to how our guests our doing
– Offer opportunities to see the beauty of the cruising life so we include beautiful anchorages, tropical beaches…rum punch and a connection with the cruising community
Last week we had our lovely guests Joe and Sarah, on board with us. Joe purchased a similar boat to ours and has managed a refit. Now it’s time for them to get out and go.
A viewer asked me recently, ‘now that you’re chartering will you stop your YT channel?
Will you stop having adventures?’
Interestingly, we see to be having just as many adventures or interesting things happen as usual.
Last week we were able to demonstrate a rescue at sea, how to fend off a boat that dragged on its anchor (and came inches from hitting us), sailing through a squall with winds over 50 knots and narrowly missing a lightning strike.
Join us on a Britican Experience!
