A couple from the United Kingdom recently quit their jobs and moved with their family to a yacht in Greece, as per a report in the New York Post. The pair, Laura and Ross Colledge said that they took the decision as they were worried that their family was “too disconnected”.
The wife said, “Ross was working 50-plus hours a week, and we were like ships in the night. He felt our children’s formative years were slipping away before our eyes and he was missing so much.”
As per the outlet, the couple wished to give their children “an exciting, adventurous, non-consumerist upbringing” and “make them more worldly”. They also said that they wanted to work on the “extra educational needs” of their children as one of the sons has ADHD.
In the summer of 2019, the family moved to Greece after refinancing their newly renovated home and purchasing a 2005 Bavaria 42 yacht that they had seen a few months earlier.
The Colledge family then departed from Mykonos, travelled through the Dodecanese and Aegean seas, and finally settled in the Ionian Islands. “We have both been water babies as surfers and kayakers in Newquay for many years, so the ocean has always drawn us in,” Ms Laura about living in the UK.
For the past five years, the Colledges have been travelling the Greek islands, and they have enjoyed their nomadic lifestyle despite the uncertainty it brings to their lives. “Sailing life is very changeable, so getting a work/life balance is tricky. Maintaining any kind of routine is a challenge. You have to be able to ‘go chameleon’ when the weather or other circumstances demand a change of plan,” she said.
One of their kids is homeschooled and the other attends an online virtual secondary school.
Laura is the first mate and Ross is the captain of the family’s yacht. They are also directors of BoatFit, an online fitness and wellness website, and Sailing Holly Blue, a blog that documents their adventures on the sea.
The family wishes to upgrade to a bigger boat as their children grow. However, they have made many modifications to the boat to accommodate themselves. “We’ve included solar power, lithium-ion batteries, a watermaker and other mod-cons that mean we can live completely off grid, utility bill-free and self-sufficient if we choose,” Laura said. She said that they mostly collaborate with sponsors from their social media accounts.
“There’s nothing more grounding than being so close to nature and at the mercy of elements. All other things become so trivial,” Laura said about living amidst nature.
She added, “And relationship-wise, you will soon learn if the person you are with is your soulmate. Sailing life is a 24/7 pressure cooker at times, and you not only have to learn to pick your battles but also where you will and will not compromise. Your relationship deepens to an incredible level and your respect – as well as admiration for each other – strengthens, too.”
