We are Michael and Marita, the crew of Let's Dance, and this is our way of staying in touch with family and friends whilst we settle into our new life abroad on a boat.
This, our latest adventure, started in August 2015 when climbing over boat after boat at the Sydney International Boat Show, something Michael has done every year now for a number of years. Having sold our beloved 35 foot Riviera Maxed Out we were sort of looking around thinking it would be nice to purchase again now that we had relocated from Port Macquarie and settled into our new Sydney life.
Since selling Maxed Out we have been researching sailing cats, a whole new world for us as we have always been power boat owners. We were almost done for the day when we spotted the boat – a small model of the soon to be released Fountaine Pajot New 40.
We were familiar with the Fountaine Pajot brand as we had previously looked at and liked the Lipari. The New 40 is the replacement for the Lipari and yes we fell in love with her – all 80cm of her on display in a glass case.
Long story short we signed a contract to purchase off the plan one of the first New 40’s to be built. A slightly crazy move for a pair of fairly conservative, well-organised people like us. Hope we like the real thing!
A shipyard half a world away.
It gets crazier - in a moment of madness we decided to pick her up ex factory in La Rochelle, France, the starting point of a big adventure to sail abroad and eventually bring Let’s Dance home. Two non-sailors kicking back on the high seas. We think we can!
Our loose plan – very loose at this stage – is to pack up, leave our careers which we have built successfully and enthusiastically for more than 25 years, cab to Sydney airport, fly to Paris, train to La Rochelle and sail the long way home. Oh, and learn to sail might be a good idea!
So where do we start?
Lots to plan, lots to do, lots to learn in the coming months. Michael is the appointed project manager and skipper in training while Marita plows on with her life long career, struggling with the idea of soon leaving a workplace she loves to leap into an unknown future. At the same time, it is all incredibly exciting.
Paris Boat Show here we come!
As we post this first blog we are preparing to travel to France to take our first look at what will become our home for the foreseeable future and slip in a quick ski at Val Thorens while we're there. We are making most of this up as we go along, but if all goes well, we pick our boat up from La Rochelle in April/May 2016 and plan to sail the Mediterranean for a season or two before we make our way home.
Dear family and friends, this will be our main form of communication whilst we are away. We hope to share our adventure via this blog, staying in touch and keeping you up to date on our whereabouts. We also want this blog to be as interactive as possible. Your feedback, suggestions or just a simple G'Day is encouraged - pop on over to our contact page to see how you can stay in touch. And follow us on facebook.
If you have stumbled across this page by chance, welcome, thank you for stopping by, stay tuned and enjoy our journey as we pick up our new boat/home and sail the seas for who knows how long…
See you in Paris,
Cheers,
M&M