Selling our home, purchasing a catamaran, and living on a boat full time was not something Kory and I thought of one day and then jumped into the next. It wasn’t a quick or hasty decision. Rather, it was a slow, deliberate, and prayerful process. For over two years, we contemplated, researched, studied, inquired about, and surveyed all that went into boat life before taking the plunge.
We began with talks about what it would be like. We watched sailing videos by those who had gone before us to learn the ups and downs of life at sea. We read books by American Sailing Association to learn the ins and outs of sailing. We enrolled in online classes with NauticEd to learn the theory behind wind, weather, sailing, safety, navigation, anchoring, maneuvering, and so much more. Then we took a five-day hands-on sailing course through RYA to put into practice all that we had learned, and get our ICC certifications in the process.
After all of this due diligence, labor, considering the cons, and continual prayer, we still had sailing on our hearts and minds. This was a big decision, and we wanted to know if this was God’s will for our lives? If He wasn’t preparing the way before us, we didn’t want to go. But doors kept opening for us to move ahead, and so we did, waiting and hoping for confident assurance that this was the right decision. Thinking it was, we flew to Florida to meet with a boat broker to look at different types of catamarans. We wanted to see what size and style of boat would work best for us. After being fairly confident that this was a journey worth the taking, we decided to charter a catamaran and get our feet wet.
Chartering the catamaran was the final stretch. Would we go back home after a ten-day charter on our own with renewed excitement about this adventure? Would we return home and still be reflecting on cruising our own catamaran? Would we have the confidence that we could do this full time? Would we be willing to give up all that we knew for something so new. The answer to all of those questions was yes! And that’s where it all started. Two years in the contemplation. Two years of invocation. Two years of preparation. All for this culmination. This is where Sailing Hope began.
