A couple has spent £62,000 to embrace a full-time life at sea, despite having no sailing experience.
Dianne Swain, 27, and James Toutounji, 35, first met while working for a cruise line company. Their relationship quickly grew after a chance meeting at a bar, and within a year, they were living together.
It didn’t take long for them to realize that traditional home life wasn’t for them, leading them to consider living on a boat.
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“Living in tropical North Queensland with the Great Barrier Reef right at our doorstep, we bonded over our love for the ocean,” Dianne, a marketing assistant, and James, a seafarer, both originally from the Sydney area, told Luxury Travel Daily.
“However, working full-time meant we could only get out to the reef on weekends, and that too if the weather was good.”
The couple, feeling worn out from the lasting effects of COVID-19, work burnout, and the loss of a loved one, began craving a significant change in their lives.
“It made us yearn for a big change, an adventure to re-ignite our mojo,” they shared.
After meeting in 2021, they felt the time was right to “jump into something headfirst” before settling down and thinking about starting a family.
Dianne admitted that the idea of living on a sailboat was inspired by watching other young cruisers online.
“We did think about other possibilities for the ‘big change,’ but we kept circling back to living on a boat,” she explained.
Though James had plenty of boating experience, he had never sailed before. The couple briefly considered buying a motorboat, but with the rising fuel costs, sailing appeared to be the more economical choice.
“It also seemed like a great opportunity to learn a new skill together,” Dianne added.
In 2023, they found a second-hand sailboat for £46,560 (AU$90,000) and invested an additional £15,520 (AU$30,000) in renovations, bringing their total expenditure to £62,080 (AU$120,000).
“We cleared out four skip bins of the previous owner’s stuff—he had lived on the boat for 17 years and left with just a backpack,” they recalled.
Despite the extensive work still needed and their desire for various gadgets and upgrades, the couple remains mindful of their budget.
“We need a new sail bag, and we’d love auto-pilot and wind instruments, bigger solar panels, a fresh turquoise paint job, and even a stovetop cappuccino maker!” they said. “But everything is quite expensive, so we have to be selective about what we upgrade.”
The couple set sail in May this year, leaving from North Queensland.
Reflecting on their journey, Dianne noted, “We really did dive in headfirst without much of a plan or preparation. In hindsight, I wish we had taken some lessons beforehand, but we just didn’t have time while working so much.”
They joined local sailing clubs, learned from the community around them, made friends in Cairns, and practiced on small trips out to the reef.
“Eventually, we took the plunge during a good weather window and left the mainland for good!” Dianne exclaimed. “I wouldn’t say we were fully prepared for what lay ahead, but we had a solid foundation and a strong eagerness to keep learning.”
The couple’s biggest challenge has been learning how to sail.
“Sailing and all the terminology are so foreign to us!” Dianne confessed. “We’re slowly learning the names of everything—like how the ropes that raise the sails are actually called ‘sheets.’ It was confusing when our rigger told us we needed to replace all the sheets!”
Another challenge was not receiving a handover from the boat’s previous owner, which could have saved them from much trial and error.
Despite these challenges, the couple loves their new life at sea, which they say has brought them closer together.
“It’s an exciting time in our lives, being a newly engaged couple on the adventure of a lifetime,” Dianne said.
As they continue documenting their journey, they are learning more about themselves and each other.
“It’s also important to find time to do our own thing each day, or we can get a bit agitated,” Dianne added. “But we’re learning how to work as a team and develop routines for sailing together.”
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