The Ripple Effect of Going for It

Can you learn to captain a yacht at 62 and turn it into a world-traveling lifestyle? Absolutely! Below, Sine Maria shares a first-hand account of her family’s latest charter with Dream Yacht in the Balearic Islands. Read on for an inspiring look at courage, partnership, and what happens when you say yes to a new adventure on the water. 

The Ripple Effect of Going for It

On breaking into worlds you weren’t born into, and what happens when you actually do the thing.

By: Good Life Designed and Sine Maria

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my mom, it’s that life has so much to offer and the limit of your world is only limited by your ability to keep expanding.

In the middle of the pandemic, as part of our collective pause, she and I decided to go through the whole Good Life Designed program together again. It was through that process that she decided she wanted to be closer to nature, swim more, and learn how to sail. She didn’t grow up around sailing, knew it was costly and a bit of a boys club, but always admired the access it gave those who knew how. That hobby could take you anywhere in the world.

The world of sailing requires a unique blend of resources, courage, technical education, practice, and willing crew members to go along for the ride and be there while you figure things out on your first trips alone. It thrives behind heavy yacht club doors that some are born with access into – but most don’t even know exist. The dream of being certified as a sailor has an even smaller niche- attracting those who thrive on the pressure to read and respond to the chaos of the elements at sea while holding the responsibility of passengers’ lives in their hands. Now that I have experienced the reward that comes with that kind of responsibility – I see the draw.

Breaking Into a World You Weren’t Born Into

I tried to look into data about women certified sailors but couldn’t find any credible data because no one seems to be particularly interested in that stat – however I can tell you there aren’t many.

Sailing, just due to the nature of it, the time it requires, the unease that comes with the experience, especially as you’re getting your first solo trips under your belt, is enough to send anyone right over the edge. It’s heady, it’s overwhelming, it’s complicated, it’s technical, and it feels uncertain and dangerous before you’re skilled and experienced enough to feel truly comfortable and at ease on the water.

When Pernille got the ping to learn to sail, the biggest question was how, as a 62-year-old woman, was she going to do it.

She tried visiting yacht clubs but as someone who wasn’t interested in the social component and was really looking for the technical skills to captain her own ship, it didn’t feel like the best place to spend her time or money. The classes and day sail opportunities to get out on the water were nice, but if she really wanted to learn everything she needed to, she needed something different. She came across Nautilus Sailing, a week-long course in the Sea of Cortez that would teach you everything you need to know about sailing and cap off the week with a test that would certify you to sail on your own anywhere in the world.

My dad at the time was in the most stressful period of his career, navigating his independent school and their 400 families through Covid. Using his coveted spring break to learn to navigate another set of uncharted territories felt not quite like the vacation he needed. But he took a leap of his own and joined her anyway. They spent a week disconnected from everything to focus on learning the thing that would later give them access to the life they live now – barely imaginable to them then. Heading out on what feel like once-in-a-lifetime week long sailing experiences all over the world with friends and family. In 6 years since becoming certified, have now completed their 15th sail and have endless shared albums to show for it.

They’ve sailed all over, eight times in La Paz, Mexico, once in the Bahamas, Italy, Greece, Croatia, and they are currently in the middle of two separate sails with different sets of friends in Spain through the Balearic Islands.

Photos courtesy of Sine Maria / Good Life Designed.

One of my favorite parts of sailing with them this time was seeing their partnership in action. So much of sailing is preparation, but the other part is being able to assess and navigate risk when the unexpected comes up. Every morning, they revisit the plan over coffee and breakfast on the boat – reading wind charts in real time with new technology (when they first started, pre-Starlink, my dad printed wind charts like Mapquest directions and hoped the conditions remained true). Every afternoon they make their way to find the perfect anchor spot for the evening – looking for a place to tuck in to protect the group from the weather condition ahead. The conversation about where to anchor sounds to a newcomer, a bit like bickering. But after you see it play out each night- you realize it’s the back and forth that needs to happen between two equally trained and competent people who value each other’s strengths and differences in perception.

Once the anchor is down and the tests are complete – they sit down to have a drink while they triple check the boat stays right where they want it. It’s then that my dad often praises my mom for her intuition and she praises him for his technical knowledge all while the rest of us recount the best one-liners that stood out during the inevitable stress pinch of the nightly anchor drop. Lots of laughs knowing that every bit of that experience is necessary in order for us to all sleep soundly through the night even as the wind picks up and the boat spins (yes, spins).

What Courage Actually Looks Like

They just finished circumnavigating Mallorca, their 15th voyage since getting certified. I send her a voice note telling her I miss her and can’t wait to catch up when she’s back, that I’m so proud of her, and that every time I think about what she’s out there doing I feel inspired to ask myself what what exists beyond my own fear – beyond playing small? The way she lives her life is a constant reminder that anything truly is possible at any life stage – with a direction and a plan.

She texts back and finishes with “I just wrote the following to Ulf” (her mentor).

“I think back to when I decided I wanted to learn to sail. I dreamed of being out on the ocean, feeling the wind on my skin, using the wind to take me places and sharing this magic with others. I had to overcome my fear of the ocean and overcome sea sickness. Sailing this past week was another magical experience. I still have fear of big storms, running into a reef and being dragged out to sea during the night, but I keep doing this anyway. And as Jason and I become more experienced, the fear minimizes and the joy keeps growing.”

“I keep doing this anyway.” That’s it. That’s the whole thing. She didn’t wait until the fear was gone. She didn’t wait until she felt ready or qualified or like she belonged in that world. She just came up with a plan, kept at it and the fear got smaller while the joy grew to meet her.

Photos courtesy of Sine Maria / Good Life Designed.

An Invitation to Witness Someone Else’s Dream Realized

The invitation Sharief and I got to join them on a sail was the result of Pernille’s decision in a terribly uncertain time – in the middle of the pandemic, to see what she could control and start designing her next phase on purpose.

Pernille chose to get uncomfortable at 62. She chose the course, convinced my dad to come, showed up not knowing what she was doing, and built something over years that she now gets to share with the people she loves most. When the invitation comes up to join her and witness it all first hand, saying yes is a no brainer. At 34, 4 months pregnant, in the middle of my own hectic, dream-adjacent, beautifully busy life, I was so happy to be the beneficiary of her yes.

I rarely see that perspective discussed when it comes to making the decision to do what truly makes you happy. It doesn’t just change you. It changes what becomes possible for everyone around you.

Sitting on that boat, watching my parents move through the world they built together or getting their photo updates now, as I sit at my desk – inspire me not to ask “when will I learn to sail” but what is my learning to sail at 62, and what do I need to say yes to now, at 34, to get there?

The question alone makes me feel more free.

The Space to Dream

What you dream of today could literally be your reality a few years from now, if you’re clear about it. Figure out what you need to do to get there, act on the steps that will move you in that direction and before you know it, you have 15 sails under your belt.

The real question is whether you can give yourself permission to dream beyond today’s reality, no matter how good or bad it is, and figure out what would truly light you up. The space to dream up what could be is really the first step.

Pernille started with a dream and a process. Now she’s on her 15th sail.

That’s what Good Life Designed is for – not to tell you what to want, but to give you the structure, the space, and the permission to dream + build.

Happy designing.

x Sine Maria

Read the original article on Substack.