Prologue

It all started as a dream. My whole life, I’ve been fantasizing about living at sea, circumnavigating the world. I was a restless young man, always searching for new adventures. A dreamer.

And as for most dreamers, life happened. Fresh out of school, I wasn’t sure about which direction I should choose, so I ended up calling the armed forces, asking if they had any use for me, and I joined the Army for a year. Then I joined the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon. Next, I stayed in arctic Norway for a number of years, starting a business, and taking random positions, before staring my education as a geologist in Tromsø.

At some point, I decided to go to Spitsbergen, Svalbard, to finish my geology education, and I started another a business and had a few jobs. I also started a family up there. Not by myself obviously, but with a beautiful lady I met up there.

After 22 more years of life happening, the marriage ended. We then lived in Asker, in my childhood home, with dogs, a cat, cars, kids leaving the nest, and whatever else normal life had to offer. What probably usually happens during divorces happened, and in the end, I managed to keep my childhood home, a car, and some furniture. I was also the soul owner of a lot of debt.

I stretched the rubber band even further by renovating the basement, to make an apartment in my basement, to let out. It kept my head above water for a while. Then the war in Ukraine happened, and at the same time, the prices of power, food, renovation, water and sewage started going up. Being a local politician, I also found out that the renovation, water and sewage would keep on rising for the next five years, at least.

I was ready for a change in life, traveling more, both domestic and international, and having a house meant a lot of expenses, and a mortgage meant more work. In April 2022, my neighbor was preparing a sale of her house, and that gave me the idea to sell my house as well. I calculated that selling my house, buying a cheap condo closer to Oslo would give me more freedom, and with that, I used less than a month from deciding, to selling my house in early may. 

Having sold the house, I followed the property market, and had since April. And I also followed the boat market, while planning to buy a sailboat and a condo for myself. But the more I looked at boats, the less I looked for condos. And the idea grew on me to buy and live in a boat instead. An idea that I had also talked about with my wife when moving from Svalbard some 20 years earlier. 

I travelled around Norway, looking for older boats in acceptable condition, and within my price range. I wanted a solid hull, and a decently equipped boat. In the end, I decided to buy my current boat. A Mikado 56, built in 1978. I had looked at the boat around 15 may 2022 in Lødingen, Vesterålen, some 2000 km away from home, and ended up calling the seller from Florida around 20 may, making him an offer. After a short conversation, I bought the boat.

I had effecteuated my Plan B, which became her name.