Ever since James and I first met, we have fantasised about going on some kind of boat-based adventure. Every time we go on holiday, we lament the fact we can’t keep going for more weeks, months, even years.

Every time one of our three children has a birthday, we express our horror at how fast they’re growing up and wish we could spend more time with them. And all the many, many times our work-life balance has felt entirely out of whack, we’ve wished we could just get off the treadmill and go sailing.

Then Covid happened, followed by one geopolitical or economic crisis after another, one of our parents was taken prematurely by cancer; our eldest child approached 10… life is short. Suddenly we found ourselves in the headmaster’s office:‘Has anyone ever taken a year off – could we?’

Photo: Ivan Kmit/Alamy Stock Photo

In the end we’ve negotiated one term of remote schooling, and all of a sudden we’re racing towards an Easter departure and are planning for five months exploring the Norwegian fjords and the west coast of Sweden. We are beyond excited – I have to keep pinching myself to check it isn’t all a dream.

When we met with the headmaster last summer, we told him we had the perfect boat to do this on. She was entirely ready to go. Our beloved Atla, an Arcona 410 that we’d owned for seven years and knew like the back of our own hands.

However, during a miserable summer holiday in the Scillies last year, in the pouring rain and howling wind, a kind Canadian family invited us for a cup of tea on their Discovery 55.

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Within minutes of being on board their floating home, the benefits of a pilot house and slightly more space were evident: our three children plus the two Canadian children vanished into various nooks and crannies, and I marvelled at how the rain was somehow less miserable if you could sit in the warm and dry but on deck level and with a view outside.

By the time we returned to our beautiful, sporty, shiny Atla, her fate was sealed. She sold within days of us listing her, and suddenly we were full of doubt. Had we really done this – sold our dream boat?

And now what on earth would we go adventuring on? With work and school arrangements all confirmed, it feels like our window of opportunity – April to September 2025 – is truly our once-in-a-lifetime shot at this. And yet now, we found ourselves without a boat!

James went into overdrive – every evening as I fell asleep he’d be on Yachtworld looking at adverts and messaging brokers; by the time I woke up there’d be yet another EasyJet flight booked.

In the space of three weeks, he viewed boats in Majorca, Italy, France and Sweden. He even considered a trip to the US, and the whole family went along for a second viewing of one boat in the south of France. But in the end, we settled on a Farr 56 that was based in Stockholm.

Farr 56 Zina being launched: no mast, no steering, no problem!

Refit race against the clock

Zina is now at Fox’s in Ipswich undergoing an incredibly time-pressured mini-refit and not a day goes by when we don’t at some point wonder what on earth we were thinking.

As I write this, we are three weeks and four days from departure. She was launched yesterday, but without her mast or rigging, and with no working steering or hydraulics! How did we end up in this situation? But as I stand in the pilot house, looking out in all directions, I can’t help but think, ‘This is going to be great, whatever the weather!’

James is an engineer, so I feel no shame in leaving him and the yard to worry about ensuring that we have a boat to go away on. In the meantime, I have been busy applying for Swedish visitor permits, getting the dog vaccinated against rabies, and learning how to navigate Google Classroom!

I’ve also thrown myself into reading all about the places we’ll visit along our route – the kids and I have enjoyed pinning Viking museums, water parks and sailing clubs where they can race their Optimist dinghies with local children to a huge map on our kitchen wall. Our children will be 10, eight and one on departure day and we’ll be celebrating second and ninth birthdays when we’re in Norway!

By documenting our travels, I hope we might persuade other families teetering on the edge of adventure to go for it and bite the bullet!

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