We live and work on a sailboat full-time while traveling around the world — even with high-powered jobs
- Ryan Ellison and Sophie Darsy were living in Stockholm when they decided to buy a sailboat.
- The couple set off in 2016 with the plan to sail for a year while working remotely.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ryan Ellison and Sophie Darsy about living and working full-time on a sailboat. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Ryan: In 2016, I, Ryan Ellison, sent a WhatsApp message to my girlfriend, Sophie Darsy, about a couple who sold all their belongings to cruise the world on a sailboat.Imagine my surprise when Sophie said she'd be willing to do it for a year.Since then, we've built a life we love and found success in fulfilling and important careers — all while living on the boat.We've had medical emergencies, weathered bad storms, and struggled both on a relationship level and with our mental health.We'd both bought apartments in Stockholm during the crazy housing-market days, so we were able to take some equity out of those apartments to buy our 40-foot boat, the Polar Seal.
Sophie: Before we embarked, Ryan had just taken on investors in a battery-tech startup he'd founded in 2015 with his college roommates.
Ryan: Sophie was recovering from corporate burnout and had just begun her journey as a creative.
We thought we'd try sailing for a year in 2016 and return to Sweden. Eight years later, our apartments are rented long-term, and we're still adventuring.
We organize sailing around our work
Ryan: For every week we sail, we are on anchor or in port for five or six weeks. Regardless of being at sea or in port, we still work like everyone else — with a few adjustments.
One of us might need to be on a call while we're sailing, and while technology such as Starlink has made it easier to stay connected, it isn't fail-proof. We plan our travel and leisure around our work schedules.
Sailing changed our career paths
Sophie: When Ryan took the risk of living on a boat while scaling his startup, he left his job at another startup in Sweden.
His company, Dakota Lithium, had only been around for a year when we set sail. Ryan worked remotely with his team to continue scaling — all while at sea.Our boat was the first to have Dakota Lithium batteries installed. Because of our positive experience, other boaters have also put Dakota Lithium batteries in their vessels. Now the company is a major battery brand in sailing.
Ryan: Sophie began documenting our adventures and cracking jokes on camera with a DSLR, a great camera, given to her by a friend. What started out as a hobby turned into a professional YouTube channel. Now, Sophie makes a living from filming.
Sophie wanted flexibility in her work, so she also began consulting with companies to create e-learning content — an extension of her video-editing career.For both of us, sailing allowed us the freedom to reinvent our careers as well as our personal lives.
We manage our alone time differently than most couples
Sophie: On the boat, we share a tiny space 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
We've learned that while other couples have breaks in their relationships throughout the day, we take ours in large chunks.
Ryan: A few years ago, when Sophie approached me saying she wanted to go home to France for some alone time, I felt threatened. However, we realized that we needed time apart to keep life on the boat enjoyable.
Getting our dog Barnacle has also helped because it encourages us to get off of the boat to take her for walks.
When we have the opportunity, one of us will get a desk at a coworking space or take time to go to the gym — all ways to keep this lifestyle sustainable.
The reward of living on the sailboat is extremely high, but so is the cost
Ryan: Living on a boat for six years is a dream for some people. The truth is that we hold each other's lives in our hands.
When Sophie got a third-degree burn off the coast of Africa, I had to act as her medic until we sailed to Spain for professional help.Living on a sailboat means working together and trusting each other as crewmates as well as partners — all of which require excellent communication.
What it costs to sail full-time
Sophie: The cost of living on the boat can also vary drastically, depending on what part of the world you are in and what you are doing.
As Ryan always says, you can live on a boat on whatever budget you have — from almost nothing to living like a king.In Northern Europe, we could get by on $1,500 a month. But in Bermuda, everything — from anchoring and marina fees to insurance to food — is significantly more expensive.
We take breaks from sailing to spend time with family and friends
Ryan: Sometimes, we need to take a vacation from it all, so we leave the boat for a couple of months out of the year and go to land. This lets us spend more quality time with our families in France and Iowa. If we don't stay with family, we stay with friends or rent an Airbnb.
While at sea, we miss having a supportive community around us. We've had to learn to make friends fast and say goodbye fast, both of which are hard. We've had to cultivate a strong relationship because we are everything to each other on the water.
We want to get a bigger boat
Ryan: Our next big adventure involves buying a more purposeful boat with a separate workspace for each of us and room for a bit more crew.
For the time being, we're about to move into our first apartment in six years. Annapolis, Maryland, will be home base for the foreseeable future, though we will continue sailing.As Sophie has always said, we wanted to build our work around the life we wanted to live. Eight years on, we've done just that.