Hi, I’m Quinn

I live in British Columbia, Canada. I moved to Canada in 2012 with my wife and kids. I’ve worked as a software engineer for a company for a little over 10 years, but I lost my job in 2023. All my kids are grown. My wife is ready to retire. I’ve been hooked with the idea of sailing around the world for several years. My finances are tight but may be manageable. Would it be a mistake to jump into sailing life at this moment?

Why sailing?

I love the idea of traveling, visiting somewhere I haven’t been to, seeing and experiencing something new to me. However, I think traveling is expensive. I didn’t have as much luxury to travel as I wanted. On the other hand, I was lucky to move and live in different parts of the world. When I moved to the USA from Japan to study, everything I saw and interacted with was new. It is beyond the words how I enjoyed seeing the differences. I will never forget those years. 

Probably the cheapest way to enjoy traveling is backpacking, or so many think. However, I think it’s still difficult to manage the budget in the long term, and you can only own what you can carry. That’s a very difficult life I think, especially if you are not young. RVing or van life can be also an alternative, but I think that has its own downsides. Besides, I love water. I was a very good swimmer as a kid. I always loved fishing. Harnessing the power of wind to get places only few people visit appeals to me more than road trips. 

My Background

I was born in Japan in 1971. I grew up in Japan. I lived in the USA for college. After that, I moved to the countryside of Japan, married, and raised kids. I was very bad at making money for a long time. Just before hitting my 40s, I was starting to make somewhat okay income with my freelance business. Then, I moved to Canada. I suppose I am never a fan of staying in a comfortable zone. I like changing my environment every decade or so and enjoy dealing with the challenges that come with it.

As a kid, I was fortunate to do many things as my curiosity leads. I was a boy scout, learned ropes, and camping tactics. I was a very good swimmer and had a school record for a very long time. I fished all the time. As a teen, I was hooked into bass fishing. Since middle school, I worked as an assistant electrician as my father was an electrician/contractor. Even before that, coppers and tools were all over in the house and they were my primary toys while growing up. 

I learned photography in the USA. I loved the art created by those photographers in California such as  Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. 

How I met Elspeth

A few years after I moved to Canada I bought a canoe. I had a blast with it. My wife and I went canoeing almost every weekend. We did lots of paddling, crabbing, fishing, and camping. Later I had no place to keep the canoe so I had to let it go and changed to inflatable kayaks, but gradually we didn’t paddle as much as we used to. 

I was working toward an early retirement. My wife is older and I believe she deserves it. Also, I’m not too confident with my health. I see that aging is very real. We live on our own property and debt free, living super frugally, and we are building investment assets. 

Then, I was let go with my job late 2023. I calculated our projected assets and it was a little bit short from what I was hoping for. However, I decided to look for a sailboat. 

Luckily, I’ve met a sailor/boat builder who has decades of experience. He has been giving me so much advice while searching for my first sailboat. We went to see many sailboats, and finally 6 months later, I met Elspeth, a 1982 Vancouver 27 in Nanaimo, BC. 

My journey as a sailboat owner has just started from here.