In late 2018 my wife, Roxy, and I took a few suitcases of belongings and moved aboard our 47ft Cheoy Lee monohull to start the cruise of a lifetime. So far, a familiar start to a familiar-sounding story. Except unlike most liveaboard cruisers, we took something else with us onto Sonder: our careers. We are not sailing vloggers or working in the marine industry, but 30-something entrepreneurs running a consumer retail business who stumbled onto the realisation that we can do what we do (running a company making pop-up 3D greetings cards), from literally anywhere.
There have been digital nomads working from beach bars and converted vans for years, but the combination of improved digital infrastructure and huge swathes of the previously office-based workforce now working remotely has created a unique opportunity for sailors to take their jobs with them on the water. Over the last couple of years of cruising, we’ve talked with similar 'work-aboards' with careers as varied as real estate, engineering, tech start-ups, and even airline pilots who have taken to the seas when off rotation. This is some of the advice we gleaned on combining cruising with a career.
REALITY BITES
Picture the scene: you’re walking down a narrow, sandy path, lined with overgrown Bahamian shrubs, heading towards the sound of reggae music. You come upon a beach with a legendary rum bar, dotted with a few dozen sun-drenched partygoers dancing around a jumble of tables and hammocks strung up between palm trees. It all sounds lovely, except it’s Monday and you’re just there to grab the wifi password and try to concentrate on getting some work done.
“We learned some valuable lessons,” said Victoria and Mike Stenhouse about their first season blending work and cruising life. The Stenhouse's run a real-estate development firm based in the UK and produce a podcast on property investment (Inside Property Investing) while cruising in the Mediterranean aboard their 40ft Fountaine Pajot catamaran, Havanesey Day. They moved aboard in 2019 to be able to work from any location of their choosing, but quickly realised that the pace they'd set for themselves in that first year – some 5,000 miles from La Rochelle, circling the Med – simply wasn’t sustainable combined with the day job.
“Trying to move too quickly or see too many places will lead to far more stress than is necessary,” Victoria explained. There’s real value in travelling slower and at a pace more in-step with your work life. It might mean not circumnavigating in a year, but instead you have the flexibility of time to explore the places and cultures you’re sailing to more deeply.
A work-from-anywhere mindset allows for this flexibility, expressly because you’re not taking limited time-off from jobs on land and trying to cram it all in before the money runs out.
“When we moved aboard, we didn’t see it as a time-limited project, but as a way of living,” says Greta Höller, an Italian industrial engineer and researcher who works full-time while sailing in the Caribbean on a Beneteau 393, ForTuna. Her partner, Michael Hofer, also does consulting for startups. “We chose this life because it allows us to travel the world in an eco-sustainable way, on our own terms,” says Greta.
Continue reading your story on the app
Continue reading your story in the magazine
Albatross Mission
Skip Novak’s final adventure on pelagic Australis was a mission to save the Albatross
The J Way
This fast, but civilised, cruiser has a timeless appeal that will resonate with J/boats’ many long standing devotees
To the Edge
Taking a luxury cruiser to the margins of arctic ice, photographer Mike Jones experienced true wilderness sailing
The Wall of Sharks
Joshua Shankle explores French Polynesia’s ‘dangerous archipelago’ above and below the surface
5 Expert Tips
Shirley Robertson on offshore preparation
Atlantic Divide
This year’s Atlantic Rally for Cruisers proved a reminder that no ocean crossing is ever straightforward. Rachael Sprot and Helen Fretter report
Remaking of a Classic
Crosbie Lorimer reports on a dramatic Rolex Sydney Hobart race
Special Report: Helen Fretter on Sailing With Young Children
Would you take your preschooler cruising? Or are toddlers and yachts a recipe for stress, sleep deprivation and restricted sailing?
Taken by the Wind
Memoirs of a 1970s Pacific voyage reveals a time when sailors had to rely on their own pilotage skills for safe passage
Taking on Big Weather
Heavy weather is not always avoidable. Andy Schell has expert advice on how to prepare for and handle the big stuff
Still Yawning at the Apocalypse
Why is the world ignoring the latest U.N. climate report?
GRETA VAN FLEET
BATTLE READY CAN ONE OF ROCK’S MOST POLARIZING YOUNG BANDS ONCE AGAIN SILENCE CRITICS WITH THEIR CINEMATIC NEW ALBUM, THE BATTLE AT GARDEN’S GATE? GUITARIST JAKE KISZKA AIMS TO FIND OUT
REJOINING THE GREAT CONVERSATION: Reconnecting with the Soul of the World
LLEWELLYN VAUGHAN-LEE delivers a heartfelt plea to all of us to open our hearts and care for our Mother Earth, value her sacredness, and reconnect with her soul.
From Tolerance to Appreciation
MARILYN TURKOVICH is the current Executive Director of the Charter for Compassion, which provides an umbrella for people to engage in collaborative partnerships worldwide. In December 2019, she spoke with MEGHANA ANAND about the organization, its partners, and the work done through the Charter in different countries. Marilyn is an educationist-author and writes about world religions and cultures, bringing out their diverse and uniting threads.
PROPHETIC POP - Matty Healy
Matty Healy Is Glad to Not Be a Junkie Cliché and Believes the New 1975 Album Is Quite Prescient
Shell Is Looking Forward
The fossil-fuel companies expect to not just survive climate change but profit from it.
Greta Gerwig
El mundo es duro con las mujeres ambiciosas.
La ambición de las mujercitas
Greta Gerwig adapta y actualiza uno de los grandes clásicos literarios, y le da a Louisa May Alcott el final que siempre soñó.
Squishy Science
Carbon offsets are a less than optimal way to reduce your carbon footprint.
Greta – La líder mundial de 16 años
Esta niña genio es la activista a favor del medio ambiente con mayor arrastre en la historia. Su meta es lograr que gobiernos y empresarios tomen acciones inmediatas para detener el calentamiento global. Inició su protesta sola, y a 12 meses de distancia ya logró que millones de personas se unan a su movimiento. Ha dado discursos en grandes escenarios, como el Parlamento británico y la ONU. Gracias a la causa trascendental que encabeza y a su capacidad para despertar la conciencia fue nominada como candidata oficial al Premio Nobel de la Paz. Este año podría convertirse en la persona más joven que jamás haya recibido el prestigioso reconocimiento.