Good Old Boat Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022
After managing and running a catering company on land, Vivian went on to a yacht cookery school to enhance her skills in the galley. Photo by Nathan Zahrt.
with a mission and we enjoyed the freedom and adven- ture it offered.” The trip convinced the pair that this was the life for them. “We loved the idea of traveling while still working and focusing on self-sufficiency. Sailing was unlike anything we’d ever done in our lives, and it was (and
work was. Vivian would often criss- cross the country unaccompanied, relying on the kind-
ness of strangers and airline staff to deliver her safely to whichever uncle, aunt, or grandparent was waiting at the other end. It was a lonely life for a child, and the constant moves made friendships and academic achievement a real challenge. But it also made her strong and self-reliant. “My childhood wasn’t normal,” she says. “Not every- one’s is. But I give a lot of credit for my determination to being raised by people who expected me to survive on my own. My parents came to this country with close to nothing, worked for themselves with sheer guts and drive to earn a living. Sure, my parents and I didn’t get along a lot of the time while I was growing up, but looking back, I can see that they did the best they could. I thank them for giving me that independence
and the confidence to set out to wander around this world on my own.” That wandering embedded within her a desire for an adventurous life. She observed the professionalism of the many flight attendants who were “my temporary guardians of the sky” and thought about how one day maybe she could have a job that would let her travel the world as they did. Eventually, that idea began to evolve into a life on the water when friends talked Vivian and Nathan into moving to Melbourne, Florida, to help them refit a 1973 Irwin 37. It sounded like a crazy, fun adven- ture, and the couple jumped at the opportunity. The plan was to fix it up, teach themselves to sail, and then go cruising in the Bahamas.
The friends had very little experience on boats. Living aboard full-time for over two years while simultaneously upgrading the boat made for a steep learning curve. They learned a ton, but the reality of sailing as two couples with four very different personalities eventually led Vivian and Nathan to head in a different direction. They sold their share of the Irwin, and the pair took a job with a professional captain who was delivering a Hylas 54 from the British Virgin Islands to Newport via Bermuda. “Our flights and food expenses were covered, and we got to explore foreign ports, even if it was only for a few days,” Vivian writes in a blog post on extremenomads. “It felt like a grand vacation
still is) so intriguing,” she says. Their goal was to save enough money to buy their own boat, to be able to make their own destiny as sailors. Not surpris- ingly, they encountered various opinions on the concept, not all of them positive. “I had multiple people tell me, ‘You’ll never make it in sailing,’ ’’ Vivian says. “But I was determined to push ahead, make a little money, and buy a boat that we would be able to fix up ourselves, mostly with our own skills and time.”
Finding oily rags while refitting Vivian and Nathan’s first boat, Hobo Chic , at bottom left. Photo by MeaganWildwoods. Vivian works to replace the interior headliners and paint the fiberglass on Ultima. Photo by Nathan Zahrt.
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January/February 2022
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