By Rachel & Josh
Nearly a decade ago, my wife Rachel and I cast off the dock lines of our Tayana 42, Agà pē, and headed south in search of warmer waters and adventure. Since meeting, we had always dreamt of a life of travel. We backpacked throughout Central America and tested the waters of van life before realizing we wanted more. Not necessarily more stuff or even more comfort, but more adventure, and longer adventures.
Combining Rachel’s love of travel with my love for sailing, cruising was the next natural step. Sailing south from Ventura, California, in 2016, the world felt like it was ours—or at least it would be until the cruising kitty dried up and we begrudgingly had to return to the American dream.
Rachel and I originally planned to take a five-year sabbatical to sail around the world and have a grand adventure.
Obviously, those plans were written in the sand, because faster than the tides change, so did our minds. I fell in love with cruising immediately. Coming from a construction and mechanical background, I found a slightly masochistic pleasure in the constant work an old boat requires. Rachel, on the other hand, had always loved photography, and the ever-changing horizon offered her endless opportunities to practice and hone her craft.
We spent the first two years slowly drifting down the Pacific coast of Central America. Truly, we needed this time, because although I knew how to sail when we left, there is a big difference between sailing and cruising. The first two years of life aboard were full of growing pains as we fine-tuned both our boat and our mindset for this new lifestyle…
