Young sailors are living their (liveaboard) dream.
Cruisers Michaela and Patrick Farwick learned about the liveaboard lifestyle from YouTube while living in a van in 2022. They decided to sell their van, backpack overseas for a year to save money, and come back to the states to buy a sailboat. In August of 2023, after a year in Asia, they arrived back in California, bought a car in Los Angeles, and took a road trip to the East Coast to start looking at sailboats. At the time, Michaela and Patrick were aged 28 and 29 years respectively. Here Michaela shares in her own words a bit of their story.
The leap to sailing and boat ownership
When we transitioned from van life to the cruising life, Patrick and I originally thought that we would end up on a 36-foot monohull sailboat; however, as we searched online for hours each day, we came across a catamaran listed on Facebook Marketplace that seemed to be perfect for us. From an off-gridhome perspective, it was turn-key, with great batteries, solar, and a water maker. We bought the boat, Thalia, in Miami in December of 2023. She is a 1987 Prout Snowgoose 37 Elite, 37 feet long with a beam of 16.5 feet. We had nearly no sailing experience when we bought her, but we moved aboard straight away.
First sails
We bought Thalia at Dinner Key Marina, and we lived aboard her there for three months. Although the wonderful captain who sold us our boat gave us three days of lessons, we couldn’t move her ourselves because of insurance restrictions, so we hired a captain to train us for five days, living aboard the whole time. After that, we sailed around the bay three times before ambitiously taking off toward the Bahamas, where we spent one month. When our engine broke down, we sailed with no engine back to West Palm Beach, with the help of a friend. After repairing the engine, we made our way up the coast, taking the ICW for some of the way but also a few overnight and double overnight sails to make it north of Cape Hatteras for hurricane season. By August, we were in the Chesapeake. We have sailed 1500 nm in the last eight months.
Big dreams
In November, after spending nearly three months in Annapolis, we headed back south. We plan to spend this year cruising to the Bahamas, and work our way back up the coast toward Maine for next summer. We hope to spend more time next year exploring the Chesapeake, but this year we had to take a three-week trip to pick up engine parts as well as do a bunch of repairs and upgrades to get ready for next season.
We haven’t really decided what to do after next summer. Plans are often written in sand at low tide, as they say. We often talk about circumnavigating, but as new sailors, that still just feels like a dream.
Preconceived notions about sailing
Before we investigated the cruising lifestyle, we had the impression that you have to be wealthy to sail. Coming from the Midwest, we didn’t grow up around sailboats and really had no idea of the size and scope of the hobby. In the movies yacht clubs for sailors paint a picture of million-dollar boats, but after learning more and getting into the cruising lifestyle, it is very apparent to us that sailing can be for everyone. There are of course million-dollar boats, but there are also people racing dinghies on the weekdays and people living the cruising lifestyle on a boat they fix themselves (which is where we are!).
Like nothing we’ve ever experienced
One notion we had that has proved to be true is how welcoming and kind the sailing community is. As we started throwing around the idea of buying a boat, we heard from folks that the sailing community is the best, but it wasn’t until we actually got on the water that we realized how close-knit the community is. Everyone is so ready to jump in and lend a hand or give advice, and that has been incredible to us. It really is like nothing we’ve ever experienced before.
Advice for someone interested in learning to sail
Just get out there! There are many great Facebook groups, apps (we like Sea People), and even old-school forums that help coordinate people getting out on the water. If you live near the water, head to a local yacht or sailing club and ask what night they host casual races. Beer can races are a good way to get out on the water and experience sailing. You could also do what we did and just buy a boat to see how you like it, but there is certainly more risk involved in that. There are always obstacles when trying to do something new. Whether it is anxiety and fear due to being out in the great blue ocean for the first time, weathering a storm, having to fix the engine with nearly no diesel experience, or figuring out paperwork and insurance to register your boat, there are always things you have to overcome in order to live your dream.
Follow Michaela and Patrick's adventures: YouTube @patrickandmichaela
