Finding Via

-by Mike-

I’ve always loved machines of all kinds. As a kid and teenager, I was obsessed with cars, trucks, trains, tractors, and basically anything with an engine. I always liked boats, but my love affair with sailboats didn’t begin until after we moved to Seattle in late 2011. We moved here sort of as a compromise - I wanted to live in a ski town again and Taylor wanted to be near the ocean. Seattle is a pretty amazing spot, surrounded by water, with Puget Sound on one side, Lake Washington on the other, and Lake Union in the middle. Our first years in Seattle were spent in a tiny apartment near Fisherman’s Terminal, on the ship canal that connects Lakes Union and Washington to Puget Sound. In those first years here I began to notice this pull towards boats, especially sailboats. It was barely noticeable at first, and I don’t think I would have actually described it in that way. But by 2015 I knew I was interested in learning more about sailboats and seamanship in general. The problem was, I was so ignorant I didn’t even know what to type into a search engine to get what I was looking for. I vaguely knew that people lived and travelled on sailboats, and I finally came across some good books on sailboat design and later on cruising.

At this same time I picked up an overtime gig at work that basically just had me sitting in a car for 9 hours overnight. It was the easiest and maybe most boring money I had ever earned. The saving grace was that I had a computer with 4G internet. I went to Youtube and typed in something into the search bar in an attempt to learn more about sailing. I didn’t know it then, but that search changed the course of my life. I clicked on a couple videos that looked intriguing, one by Sailing SV Delos and the other by Sailing La Vagabonde. I watched one video from each channel, and that was it. I immediately started watching from the begging as the Delos crew made their way around the world by sailboat. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it was like having the lights turned on in a dark room. I felt sure that this is what I was supposed to be doing.

I began devouring every book and video I could find on cruising boat design and cruising in general. I think it was after a month or two that I told Taylor about this dream I had to buy a boat and sail the world. I think she thought it was cute and a little annoying, and probably that it was just a phase. The pull for me only got stronger, and the more I learned about the lifestyle, the more I felt certain that it was a perfect fit, not just for me, but for both of us. Taylor, who loves the ocean and being outside, said she was happy to own a boat, but would NEVER live on one. At the same time, we were newlyweds, new homeowners, I was only a few years into a new career, and Taylor was still trying to get her business off the ground. We were comfortable, but were definitely not rolling in extra cash. We took the ASA 101 course in Shilshole Bay, and I was spending hours every day researching cruising boats, maintenance, seamanship, navigation etc.

A couple years later, we had enough extra cash for us to buy a little trailerable sailboat. I found a Com-Pac 19 which we kept in the Everett Marina in the summer and on the trailer in the winter, saving us marina fees. It was really just a way to get out on the water and get some sailing experience. We named her Pathfinder to honor Taylors 2000 Nissan Pathfinder, which had finally died after years of adventures back and forth across the country. She was a good little boat with a tiny cabin. We did a couple of overnight trips on her, giving us the smallest taste of the cruising life.

We also managed to book a week long charter in Croatia. We had an amazing week sailing 130 miles from Split to Hvar and back in the deep purple, turquoise and aqua marine waters of the mediterranean. I remember getting to our charter boat, a Bavaria 33 named Allori. Taylor stepped aboard and went down below, and said “hey this is pretty big”. I think this was the first time she had been on a real cruising boat, and even at just 33 feet it was a surprise at how comfortable a boat could be. I think that week of cruising opened Taylor’s eyes to what I had been going on about for the last few years, and it only solidified my desire to go cruising.

I was at work a couple weeks after getting back from the Croatia trip and Taylor texted me saying she was binging SLV videos. She had caught the bug. That summer we made a plan. We would save money, and in about 8 years, we would buy a boat and sail the world! It turned out that we did not have the patience to wait 8 years. Over the next few months we whittled the plan down to 5 years, then 3, and then one day in May 2020 we were sitting on the couch and Taylor looked at me. “I hesitate to say this” she said. “But what do you think is the absolute earliest we could buy a boat and just leave”. I was floored, and I may have done a back flip. I thought about it for a minute, ran some numbers in my head. “I think we could actually do this now”, I said. The next day I called a broker.

We looked at dozens of boats over the summer and early fall, and immediately began selling everything we owned. I informed work that I would be leaving once we found the right boat. During our search we began to narrow down what we wanted. We knew we wanted a blue water design, about 40-45 feet. We almost put offers on a Norseman 44 and a Hylas 47. We loved a lot of stuff about them, but the companionway ladders were going to be a problem with the dogs, and there were some other potential issues. I saw Via’s listing on Yachtworld while we were in California for a week with my family. I knew Caliber 40’s by reputation, and we had actually looked at a very tired old Caliber 38. When we got back to Seattle I arranged to look at the boat, then named Seeker. I honestly thought we would like it, but not love it.

We drove up to Bellingham and stepped aboard on a beautiful late August day. As we walked her deck and stepped below, we kept saying to ourselves, “Hey, I could make this work”. We loved the large cockpit and it was one of the best companionways we had seen. Huge and easy to navigate. The boat had enough headroom everywhere for my 6’4” frame, and was well outfitted with basically everything we would need. The systems were well installed, and the boat had obviously been well maintained. It just felt right, and best of all it was in our budget. We looked at her a second time, and submitted an offer that night, which was accepted the next day. About a month later, Via was officially ours, and a month after that, we had sold basically everything we owned, including our house. We packed our few remaining things into a Uhaul trailer, shut the door on the place we had called home for nearly 5 years, and drove up to the Bellingham marina. We were now officially liveabaords, almost exactly 6 months after making the decision in the living room of our house. Now we would just have to survive the long, cold, dark, and very wet PNW winter living aboard a small boat.

Via, a 2004 Caliber 40 LRC, on the day we first went to look at her in Bellingham, WA.,

Hauled out for our survey

The beautiful kitchen at our house in Shoreline, WA. We had just renovated it 2 months before making the decision to go! I do miss that kitchen…

Some of our belongings on display at our garage sale