GET TO KNOW OUR STORY
We are Peter, Sarah, Michael and Nicholas, and currently make our home in Silicon Valley, California USA. Time off is hard to come by and with all the different schedules and time constraints we look forward to the moments we can all be together to make new memories. We have many friends and extended family around the world, and feel lucky when they have time to join us on and off the water.
I (Peter) have been sailing on and off for decades ever since I was a Sea Scout in NZ. Living always close to a coast meant we spent a lot of time at the beach and on the water. Career building and relocating shifted priorities, and sailing was not as much a priority any more. One day I suddenly realized that my work-life balance, wasn’t very ‘balanced’ anymore and needed a change. The San Francisco Bay beckoned. It had been there for decades right in front of me. One of the best sailing areas in the world on par with the Chesapeake Bay and Hauraki Gulf in NZ, and I had never sailed on it! What an idiot!
I decided to do something about it and brushed up my skills at the local American Sailing Association (ASA) club nearby. Getting back into sailing would be good for the body and good for the soul.
“Luck is where Preparation meets Opportunity.”
The Covid years were tough years for everyone. A lot more people were affected a lot worse off than us and of that I am painfully aware. With all of the lockdowns there wasn’t that many outdoor activities that were still permitted. Luckily sailing was still one of them that you could do.
Casually browsing the pages of YachtWorld one day, a particular listing jumped out at me. A 46 foot Bavaria Vision 46 Sloop, located in … Turkey? Whaaat! The age of the boat was perfect, the equipment was perfect, the upgrades were perfect and it had been lovingly taken care of. I was tempted!
In the middle of the ‘Delta’ variant, and being fully vaxed, I bought a plane ticket and boarded a plane bound for Marmaris, Turkey. The next day I landed and a few days after that, managed to arrange for the boat to be surveyed. The survey came back clean and the offer was accepted. We now owned a boat and we called the boat ‘TUI’!
Turkey? The boat is almost 10,000 nautical miles away from California!
What do we do? Where shall we find crew?
How do we bring her home?
… check out the rest of WindSeekers for answers! 🙂
STANDING WATCH
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If you want to just look at the sailing side of things then go to the sailingtui.com part of WindSeekers.
