Ryan Ellison and Sophie Darsy were living in Stockholm when they decided to buy a sailboat.
The couple set out in 2016 with a plan to sail for a year while working remotely.
Eight years later they are still on the water. The couple talk about how they balance work and travel.
This essay is based on a conversation with Ryan Ellison and Sophie Darsy about living and working on a sailboat. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Ryan: In 2016, I, Ryan Ellison, sent my friend Sophie Darsy a WhatsApp message about a couple who sold everything they owned to travel around the world on a sailboat.
Imagine my surprise when Sophie said she would be willing to join for a year.
Since then, we’ve built lives we love and thrived in fulfilling and important careers – all while living on the boat.
We’ve had medical emergencies, weathered bad storms, and struggled with both our relationships and our mental health.
We had both bought apartments in Stockholm during the crazy housing market period, so we were able to take some of the equity from those apartments to buy our 12 meter boat, the Polar Seal.
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Sophie: Before we set off, Ryan had just secured investors for a battery technology startup he founded with his college roommates in 2015.
Ryan: Sophie was recovering from corporate burnout and had just begun her journey as a creative.
We thought we would sail for a year in 2016 and then return to Sweden. Eight years later, our apartments are rented long-term and we’re still looking for adventure.
We organize sailing around our work
Ryan: For every week we sail, we are at anchor or in port for five or six weeks. Regardless of whether we are at sea or in port, we work like everyone else – with a few adjustments.
We have to work whenever we can, sometimes even in the middle of the night.
This is because Sophie advises companies in Europe and I work in the USA. We often have different office hours than our colleagues, especially if we are in a remote part of the world.
There may be times when one of us needs to talk on the phone while driving, and while technologies like Starlink have made it easier to stay connected, they are not fail-safe. We plan our trips and our free time around our working hours.
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Sailing has changed our career paths
Sophie: When Ryan took the risk of living on a boat while scaling his startup, he left his job at another startup in Sweden.
His company, Dakota Lithium, had only been around for a year when we set sail. Ryan worked remotely with his team to continue scaling – all at sea.
Our boat was the first to have Dakota Lithium batteries installed. Because of our positive experiences, other boaters have also installed Dakota Lithium batteries in their boats. Now the company is one of the most important battery brands in sailing.
Ryan: Sophie started documenting our adventures with a DSLR, a great camera she got as a gift from a friend, and cracking jokes on camera. What started as a hobby developed into a professional YouTube channel. Now Sophie makes a living from filming.
Sophie wanted to be flexible in her work, so she also started advising companies on creating e-learning content – an extension of her career as a video editor.
For both of us, sailing meant the freedom to redesign both our careers and our personal lives.
We handle our alone time differently than most couples
Sophie: On the boat we share a tiny room, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
We work side by side in the cabin all day. Ryan’s job requires him to be on the phone a lot, while my job requires a lot of concentration.
Doing both at the same time is really difficult in such a small space, so we need to communicate effectively.
After work we sail together and spend the evenings exploring ports or the open sea. Keeping our relationship healthy is an important part of making this life work.
We learned that other couples take breaks in their relationship throughout the day, while we do it in big blocks.
Ryan: When Sophie came to me a few years ago and said she wanted to return to France to spend some time alone, I felt attacked. However, we realized that we need time for ourselves to make life on the boat enjoyable.
We have a great couples therapist who is helping us navigate this unique situation.
Getting our dog Barnacle has also helped because he encourages us to get off the boat to go for walks with him.
If we have the chance, one of us finds a desk at a co-working space or makes time to go to the gym – all ways to maintain this lifestyle.
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The rewards of life on a sailboat are extremely high, but so are the costs
Ryan: Living on a boat for six years is a dream for some people. The truth is that we hold each other’s lives in our hands.
When Sophie suffered a third-degree burn off the coast of Africa, I had to act as her doctor until we sailed to Spain to get professional help.
Living on a sailboat means working together and trusting each other as crew members and partners – all of which requires excellent communication.
What it costs to sail full time
Sophie: The cost of living on a boat can also vary drastically depending on what part of the world you are in and what you are doing.
As Ryan always says, you can live on a boat on any budget you have – from next to nothing to living like a king.
In Northern Europe we were able to get by on around 1,400 euros a month. But in Bermuda, everything from anchorage and marina fees to insurance to food is significantly more expensive.
We take breaks from sailing to spend time with family and friends
Ryan: Sometimes we need to take a break, so we leave the boat for a few months a year and go ashore. This means we can spend more time with our families in France and Iowa. When we don’t live with family, we stay with friends or rent an Airbnb.
Wherever we are, we still work. But on land, everyday amenities like a flush toilet, dishwasher, and unlimited showers make life more enjoyable.
At sea we miss a supportive community around us. We had to learn to make friends quickly and say goodbye quickly, both of which are difficult. We had to build a strong relationship with each other because we are everything to each other on the water.
We want to buy a bigger boat
Ryan: Our next big adventure is to buy a more functional boat with a separate work area for each of us and space for a slightly larger crew.
We are currently in the process of moving into our first apartment in six years. Annapolis, Maryland will be our home for the foreseeable future, although we will continue to sail.
As Sophie has always said, we wanted to align our work with the life we want to lead. After eight years, we did exactly that.
Read the original article on Business Insider.
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