Hi everyone! Looking forward to getting to know you all a bit better!
I am a 26-year-old information
security manager from the UK but currently based in
Amsterdam. I have been very interested in sailing and the
liveaboard lifestyle for years, having soaked up hours and hours of sailing vlogs on YouTube (yes I know, I'm a bit influenceable but aren't we all?). The lifestyle of living in an apartment and working 9-5 Monday to Friday has always just felt off to me - like this isn't what life's supposed to be like. That's why I'm starting my journey with
liveaboard sailing.
My sailing experience is very small. As a child of about 7, I went for a few day
sails with my friend and his Dad, but at that age I was more concerned with pretending to be a pirate than actually sailing. Then at university, I joined the
sailing school and did about 6 hours of lessons in their fireflys, but as a man of plentiful width, I felt that they were uncomfortably small.
In October this year I will be doing a 14 day
Novice to RYA Day
Skipper course in
Gibraltar with Jolly Parrot
sailing school. I am hoping that 14 days on board a sailing yacht will give me a good taste of life onboard a sailing yacht and give me a little bit of the knowledge and experience of knowing how to sail to be able to get me started - I'm fully aware that I have a huge amount to learn and that the
learning never stops, but I have to start somewhere right?
If I enjoy the course as much as I am expecting to, then next year I will look to move back to the UK and buy a boat! In the meantime, I am here mostly to lurk (having no significant sailing experience to contribute yet), but I want to soak up as much knowledge as possible so that when I start sailing properly and have some experience, I'll also be able to contribute!