A British couple have packed in their overworked schedules to live on a 42ft yacht – but it’s not all plain sailing.
Having grown tired of their 9-5s, Laura and Ross Colledge, from Cornwall, decided to sell their house and splashed out on a £100,000 yacht.
For the last five years, the pair have been sailing around the Greek islands with their two sons, nine-year-old Noah and Josh, 12, living a life of “purpose, joy and fulfilment”.
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But the bold move has not come without struggle.
“Sailing life is very changeable so getting a work/life balance is tricky,” Laura, 43, told What’s The Jam.
“Maintaining any kind of routine is a challenge.
“You have to be able to ‘go chameleon’ when the weather or other circumstances demand a change of plan.”
Laura and Ross, 39, who are directors of Sailing Holly Blue on YouTube and BoatFit Online Health and Fitness Coaching, decided to take the leap after reevaluating their lives.
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She said: “Ross was working 50 plus hours a week and we were like ships in the night.
“He felt our children’s formative years were slipping away before our eyes and he was missing so much.
“We wanted to be able to better meet Josh’s extra educational needs, as he has ADHD and is suspected high-functioning autistic, while providing them with an exciting, adventurous, non-consumerist upbringing that would make them more worldly.
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“Ross remortgaged our newly-renovated house and took a gamble on a boat we’d stepped on and loved a few months earlier, when we were just browsing marinas.
“We have both been water babies as surfers and kayakers in Newquay for many years so the ocean has always drawn us in.”
After buying their 2005 Bavaria 42 yacht in 2018, the couple began darting between Newquay and Plymouth to sharpen their boating skills.
The plan was for Laura to fly to Cyprus with the boys while Ross began a three-month sail to meet them from the UK.
But disaster struck when the mum’s health took a turn for the worse.
Ross said: “Laura has fibromyalgia, which is a CNS condition triggered by stress, so we originally wanted an ocean-based life to be healthier on the whole.
“But while Laura and the boys were in Cyprus she experienced a massive flare-up due to the stress of leaving our old life and me navigating dangerous seas.
“She had to spend a couple of weeks in hospital.”
In the end, the couple changed their plan and decided to meet in Greece in June 2019 so they could be back together sooner.
They fell in love with the country and never left.
Laura said: “We started our journey as a family in Mykonos.
“We sailed through the Aegean and Dodecanese Islands and eventually came to find a slower pace of sailing life here in the Ionian Islands.”
Over the course of their five-year adventure, Laura and Ross have upgraded and renovated their yacht.
She said: “Some of it has been self-funded but most of it has been through collaborations with our channel and social media accounts.
“We have completed numerous upgrades to improve our living experience.
“We’ve included solar power, lithium ion batteries, a watermaker and other mod-cons that mean we can live completely off grid, utility bill-free and self-sufficient if we choose.”
Ross is captain of the family’s boat and Laura is first mate.
Noah is currently homeschooled, while Josh attends an online virtual secondary school.
The family has expanded with addition of their two cats Ronnie and Smidge – whom they adopted while on their travels in Greece.
And their adventure is only just starting.
She added “Once we achieve residency here in Greece we plan to spread our wings further afield.
“One day we would love a bigger boat as the boys become teens and we start to run out of room.”
As for their mental health, the mum says there’s “nothing more grounding than being so close to nature and at the mercy of elements.
“All other things become so trivial.
“And relationship-wise, you will soon learn if the person you are with is your soulmate.
“Sailing life is a 24/7 pressure cooker at times and you not only have to learn to pick your battles, but also where you will and will not compromise.
“Your relationship deepens to an incredible level and your respect, as well as admiration for each other strengthens too.
“It’s also great to be able to choose who we socialise with and when.
“The boys have friends, young and old, from all over the world.”
