Hello and welcome to the very first Nahoa newsletter! This is a special newsletter and we want to share with you the beginning of a project we are working on. There is so much to come and so much is happening so let’s jump right in. Here’s what you’ll find:
Ridiculous Side Note
Life Update
The Boat
The Future of Sailing Nahoa
Why Build a Boat?
Nahoa 2.0 - The Ultimate Expedition Catamaran
Ridiculous Side Note
We’re trying this out. A ridiculous thing we’ve done in every newsletter.
Imagine Cape Town - famous not just for its scenic vistas, but also for its gales so berserk, they could turn a slight hair muss into a full-blown follicular pandemonium. Now, safety first, of course. We tied our kiddo's stroller – that fancy four-wheeler with more gadgets than a Swiss Army Knife – to our sailboat. Ingenious, you'd think. Perfect solution to stop it from being unceremoniously swept into the Marina waters.
Well, here's the twist. We didn't foresee our boat transforming into a surging, frothing sea-beast with each furious gust. Before we could say "gale force winds", it decided to play tug-of-war with the stroller. Guess what? The boat won. Our stroller took an unplanned diving expedition into the drink. Yes, my friend, we had to stage a saltwater rescue mission to salvage our trusty buggy.
Now, the buggy is as salty as a sea captain, hosed down with a generous dose of fresh water, but it hasn't been the same. It's creaking like a pirate ship, with bearings rusting faster than a politician's promises. The once plush seat padding? Vanished.
Turns out, the saying was wrong - an ounce of prevention, in our case, led to a pound of soggy stupidity.
Life Update
Nahoa 1.0 is shiny, spiffed up and most importantly solid. 90% of the boat work is done (remember 10% of boat work is NEVER done). We are ready to set sail on the 5500nm passage to the Caribbean which should take anywhere from 6-10 weeks. But we’re stuck. It’s late fall here and the low pressure systems are coming over the top of South Africa like bowling balls. One after the other slamming weather windows shut with head winds, large swell and gale force conditions.
Our Naval Architect has been poking fun at us saying it’s like the song Hotel California. “Welcome to the hotel California… You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.”
We remain positive that our departure is imminent (days not weeks).
We are so ready that we even have a fancy new dish that hangs a little ineloquently off our port quarter. This dish, also known as Starlink, will be a game changer for us allowing us to upload from wherever whenever. Most importantly, with this added addition, we can continue working on our little side project… Nahoa 2.0
The Future of Sailing Nahoa
A friend and long time follower visited us in Cape Town recently. He asked “How does it feel to have almost finished a circumnavigation?” Our answer? “We feel a bit lost. It feels as though we are floating in space without a tether.” Do we continue sailing? Do we start another lap?
When we set out 8 years ago we thought of this circumnavigation as a sabbatical. A way to see the world before heading back to desk jobs and creating a family. What’s transpired is a bit different from that original dream. Opportunities have sprung up as we’ve kept sailing. YouTube being the biggest one. Life has also happened. We are now a family of four and are looking at the future. We’ll be raising our children aboard. Homeschooling and showing them the enormity of this world from a boat. Now here’s the catch. It won’t be on the current boat.
Inception Point
Last August, as we crossed the Indian Ocean, we reached a low and pivotal point in our sailing career. Two days away from making landfall in the Seychelles, we noticed our boat starting to fall apart. The Indian Ocean, from our experience, has been the roughest body of water. Nahoa was loudly protesting as she flexed and groaned in the harsh conditions. What we thought were broken bulkheads turned out to be a rotten bridge deck.
This is where we questioned everything. Absolutely everything. We questioned the assumptions we’d built this whole lifestyle on.
Is this the life we want? Do we want to continue sailing around the world? Do we want our lifestyle to be directly linked to our work and our finances? Is this the boat we want to continue sailing on?
The answer to all of these were a “Yes”. Actually they were a “Hell Yes!” (except one). We decided:
"Yes, let's raise our children aboard and sail around the world again. Let's show them the beauty of this world. Let's lead by example and show them it's possible to live your dream.” But on a different boat. Nahoa 1.0 is just not designed for what we want to do next.
Why Build a Boat?
Lots of people have the dream to build their own house. We have a dream to build the ultimate long term sailing machine. A platform to explore the far reaches of the world. A place to educate our children. A cozy, comfortable and most importantly, safe home.
It’s been 8 years of sailing. Mostly near the equator. It’s fantastic. Warm water, sunny skies, gentle trade winds. We yearn to explore more. To go further. Faster.
Doing the same thing over and over again is like reading the same page of a book—it's only a matter of time before you yearn for a new chapter.
We want to experience the Arctic. We want to stretch our legs over to Japan. Back to Asia. Down to Patagonia and around Cape Horn. And then we want to quickly sail back into the tropics and do it all over again.
Ultimately we’re looking for the vessel that is capable to take us anywhere in the world. It’s a tall order but we may have found one…
Introducing the Ultimate Expedition Catamaran
Nahoa 2.0 is brewing behind the scenes. Incubating. It’s a super exciting time for us. We’re somewhat scared. It feels like we’re stepping off the edge of the cliff again. We’re doubling down on this life and YouTube. It’s similar to when we sold all of our possessions before we bought Nahoa 1.0.
By definition, “expedition” implies long distances. It implies remote anchorages. Heavy weather. It’s a whole other level of sailing. It implies preparedness.
When we were home in Canada for the pandemic, a friend said “Dude, you’ve been working on that boat (the current boat) for over 2 years now.” That was 2 years ago. It’s been another solid 2 years of heavy boat work since then. Good friends have a way of pointing out the obvious.
Zero maintenance on boats is impossible but less maintenance is possible if you choose the right hull material. If you design it with simplicity and durability. We’re looking for a vessel that can be banged up, beached, scratched but will last several lifetimes.
This sort of boat does not yet exist yet on the market. Not as a catamaran. Not in the budget we’re looking at.
When something doesn’t exist, it’s an invitation for you to create it.
We will not be buying off a pre-existing production line. We are not slotting into a build queue. We do need to source our own yard and designer.
What’s super exciting is we get to make decisions that very few boat owners get to make. Design decisions that will directly impact our sailing and lifestyle. We will be drawing on the previous 8 years of sailing to make the ultimate expedition catamaran. We will be hull #1.
We have so much more to share. Keep your eyes peeled on our YouTube channel as there may be some news (wink wink). And for those of you who would like to follow more closely in real-time, can follow along on Patreon here.
Honestly it feels pretty awesome. We stand on the precipice of a journey. One that started almost a year ago. Just the anticipation alone breathes life back into our mission.
Stay tuned! Seriously excited over here!
With Love,
Ben & Ashley
Today we will leave you with this…
Fear is going to show up regardless of what we do in life. The discomfort doesn’t mean something is wrong. Often it’s the opposite. Letting you know more is available. The only way forward is to lean into your courage. The beautiful thing is we all have courage.
WITH YOUR VAST EXPERIENCE, YOU, MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE WILL KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT FROM A SAILING BOAT. CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE FINAL RESULT . . .
Hull #1 and #2 hopefully! 😜