Why on earth would we want to move our family from land to sea? Let us explain…
Not having a ‘home base’ is exhausting
Following our journey across Asia, we were exhausted from frequently moving and ready to slow down our nomadic lifestyle. We needed a ‘home base’. Something familiar. Somewhere to rest and regroup. The changes didn’t happen overnight, and we traveled for another year before eventually deciding to take a break and semi-settle in France.
Domestication...came with too many compromises
Buying our own home was not an option - we didn’t have the money nor did we want to tie ourselves to one place. We thus became renters on the Atlantic coast, not far (45 minutes) from Remy’s parents’ inland property. Gentrification is a huge issues in this region, and we struggled to find anything other than vacation apartment rentals for two years, where we were forced to move out (and stay with Remy’s parents) for 2-3 months each summer season. Later, we were offered a longer term rental house where we’ve now been for two years and counting.
School, work, sports clubs, home maintenance, running and maintaining a car, and the steady accumulation of ‘stuff’ ensued. We had all suddenly adapted to a change of lifestyle: domestication.
Covid-19 lockdowns hit and it seemed that our temporary break was spiraling into something much longer. We found ourselves quickly falling into the ‘comfort’ traps of sedentary life: over-consumption, kids’ screen addiction, mounting fixed expenses, debt (car loan), and health issues.
Our attempts to maintain balance - spending time trekking in the Pyrenees as much as possible (the beaches are incredibly crowded down here especially in summer), growing small kitchen gardens, and walking in the suburban ‘managed’ forests - have brought us moments of joy, but overall, domestication has brought us more net negatives than positives.
The sailing Seed
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Angie was working on a small documentary project in West Papua about community-managed marine conservation. Alongside working with and learning from the indigenous communities who inhabit these spectacular islands, spending most days on the ocean and visiting small scale fishing camps, she met a cruising family who were anchored in one of the bays. Inspired, she returned to France just as the borders closed, and began talking to Remy about the idea of full time sailing.
Being ocean lovers and adventurers, it was a surprise that neither of us had been exposed to sailing earlier. Angie’s grandfather was even a navy sailor, surfboard and boat builder, and Remy’s grandfather had built his own wooden boat and sailed it along the Adour (before the police caught him and destroyed his craft).
The idea sprouted to base our family aboard a sailboat, offering us a ‘home base’ that was both essential for our groundedness and yet only big enough to provide essential needs, with the crucial bonus of providing us a means of slowly voyaging the planet, with a reduced impact. It would have to be a purposeful project, not just personal.
Regeneration
As we slowly began to reorient our lives towards our sailing goal, we have still had several hurdles to overcome - predominately financial and medical. What has kept us going through some of the biggest challenges in our lives has been our growing interest in the study of regeneration, and the creation of our Floating Stories Lab. Having recently discovered the field of Natural Intelligence, and with both Angie and Remy actively researching regenerative thinking, we have been working hard to align our values, ethics and a strong desire to shift out purpose - as a family, individuals, and Earth citizens - to be centered around making meaningful contributions towards Planetary Health.
Combining our love of curiosity and adventure, the outdoors, and living simply, we are ready to embark on our quest to create the Floating Stories Lab and discover solutions to regenerative futures.
*Edited 18/03/2023.
