Marivi is a permanent adventurer and Stefano, a photographer by profession, is a tireless traveller. Both are always accompanied by Thor, half dog, half wolf.
A little over two years ago, they decided to do a 180-degree turn in their way of life. They sold their house, put the furniture and the rest of their non-essential belongings in a container, threw the blanket over their heads and bought an ocean-going sailing boat model ‘Belliure 50’ called ‘Ymir’ to discover the world.
Once the boat was ready, they started to sail around the Mediterranean, as they bought the boat in Port Ginesta, and later they sailed along the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal. Today they tell us about their plans for this new season and also about their adventures of life on board ‘Ymir’ on their excellent Youtube channel.
Calipso Life Sailing & Traveling
We thank Marivi and Stefano for sharing with us in this interview, their experiences and the projects they have for the bow.
Interview with Mariví & Stefano.
Mariví, Stefano, what motivated you to make such a drastic change in your way of life, was it difficult or easier than you thought?.
The circumstances we lived through during the Covid made us reflect a lot, everything was very convulsive. Stefano worked mainly for a company in China, in fact he spent the period of closure in Spain there and Thor and I in Mallorca.
After some reflections on what could happen in the next few years we decided to sell the house and start this way of life. What at first seemed to be a few years of sailing and discovering the world has now become our life. Everything little by little became more defined and today we are very happy to have made this decision.
We never thought it would be difficult, so it never was.
Choosing the right boat to live and sail on must not be easy, how was the process of buying the ‘Ymir’ sailing boat, what qualities did you look for?
Indeed, it is not easy. Stefano did a lot of research, comparing, evaluating, looking for the priorities that we needed the boat to have. He had spent two years researching and came to the conclusion that the Belliure 50 could be a perfect candidate both in terms of performance and price. When he started visiting boats we were in the middle of the post Covid period so we couldn’t visit all the boats we would have liked to, but we did visit 5 Belliures before we went ahead with the purchase of Ymir.
We believe that life brings you what you need, so after a lot of looking, comparing and discarding, this Belliure and its owners appeared in front of us and it was like love at first sight. What happened is that the stars aligned and bamm we bought Ymir.
Living on board permanently has its advantages, but also its discomforts compared to living on land, what are the differences you would highlight, what do you miss?
At the beginning I won’t deny that it was a bit overwhelming. We knew just enough about boats, we had sailed, or rather we had chartered boats with friends many times for holidays, but we were not sailors, nor ship owners or anything like that, so learning everything at the same time has been a challenge. Also adjusting to the new spaces, the constant movement of the boat, going ashore several times a day to walk Thor … everything has been a process of learning as you go along.
On a boat you have to be self-taught, otherwise it’s bad, you have to learn everything quickly, you have to take risks, you have to be active, daring, ingenious, otherwise this way of life becomes complicated. In a house if it rains you look out of the window in a bucolic way, on a boat if it rains you must close the hatches, check the weather twenty times, make sure that no water gets in anywhere, look where the storm is heading if there is lightning, your anchorage, how the battery level is, etc.
The spaces are also smaller, but one thing is clear: we live with too many things, most of them dispensable, a boat makes you confront this reality, the space is small, so less is more.
We have to say that we miss almost nothing and I say almost nothing because sometimes I do miss the goldfinches in the morning or the crowing of a cockerel, what nonsense maybe I don’t know….
The Balearic Islands are one of the favourite destinations for many sailors, how has your experience been in these islands, any special moment?
The Balearic Islands are a luxury destination in every aspect. Sailing is absolutely recommended, the crystal clear waters are the best we have ever seen. We already lived there so we knew them well. On the other hand, if you sail there you have to know that the marinas are the most expensive that we have found so far, Mallorca and Ibiza in summer the prices are a nonsense, but if you avoid these dates for example Formentera in October is a delight, the whole island almost for you, anchorages with free buoy stable weather and very few people, what more can you ask for…..
While anchored in Ibiza we lost our anchor, this has been the worst moment we have experienced so far, it was very distressing and more because they did not help us, we were near San Antonio at 6 in the morning we called to enter the port urgently and we were denied! We were without anchor in very complicated weather conditions and they told us that they would not open the office until 9 o’clock, can you imagine? what novices we were, these things make you callous, we had to moor near the coast guard to solve the problem momentarily. Today they tell me that and I go in if I have to, before the safety of the crew and the boat.
How is life on board with your dog Thor, has he ever had a scare while sailing?
Life on board with Thor is a privilege, but it’s not always easy. Thor weighs 42 kg of pure stubbornness and stubbornness, we have had to make some modifications to the boat to be able to get him on and off the boat and bring him ashore so that he can walk inside the boat without any problems. Today he has become a real sea wolf! He loves swimming, playing in the sand and above all spending time with his family.
While in Sardinia we were sailing in strong winds, we had decided to spend the night in port, a storm was approaching and we wanted to be sheltered. A mile from the port we started the manoeuvres for the mooring, Stefano lowered the sails and I went to set the fenders, at that moment a blow from the sea made Thor unbalanced and he ended up in the water, we panicked.
Stefano reacted very well because I didn’t see him, he immediately gave me the instructions and each one of us took up positions, in a few minutes we managed to save him, Thor was in shock for 3 days, well the three of us were in shock for a while.
We learned to always keep him tied up when we sailed and we put a protection net on both fins. That event marked forever our way of sailing with him in Ymir.
Is the ship’s documentation, insurance, inspections, berthing bureaucracy, etc., easy in foreign ports, is it easier to sail under a particular flag?
We carry the German flag, Stefano has German nationality. The previous owner was also German so we were able to keep it. We had to arrange the change with the German authorities, but it wasn’t too difficult. At the beginning we took out comprehensive insurance, fearing that something serious might happen to us. Today we have already lowered the cover, not for nothing but because it was too expensive for us and here you have to look very carefully at all the costs.
The entrance to the port is always the same, they ask you for the documentation of the boat, the insurance in force, where you come from and where you are going and that’s it, no more, no less, so far 0 problems.
Is it more complicated to sail in the Atlantic than in the Mediterranean?
The Mediterranean has a short wave that is very annoying when the sea is rough. The Atlantic has the all-pervading tides and squalls that all come through here. Both are complicated or easy depending on the weather conditions.
The most important thing is to check the conditions before setting off and be prepared for any eventuality, as you never know what might happen. Being cautious and prudent is a virtue that you have to cultivate at sea from my point of view.
What are your sailing plans for 2023?
We want to go north, Scandinavia and spend the winter in Germany, although we are worried about the war in Ukraine and the consequences that this may have on the decisions of the governments.
We will see, this is the plan but if we see that something happens that could put us in trouble we will change course, the good thing about living on a boat is that if something gets complicated you can do these things.
And after 2023, would you like to go on a longer voyage, such as crossing the Atlantic?
Yes, of course, as I was saying, this way of life, which began timidly, is becoming a real life project.
We would love to go to the Chilean Patagonia, we have been there several times by land and we would like to do it by sea. Although we are held back by our family because our parents are elderly and we are afraid that something will happen and we will be too far away, this is one of the things you always think about when you travel far away, not being able to be there when you need to be, but it is part of this way of life, it is part of the package.
Finally, an obligatory question, since many of our readers would like to live on a sailboat, what would you say to someone who dreams of starting an adventure like yours, but can’t make up their mind?
That life is much shorter than we think, that time flies by even if it is a cliché to say it, that they should live their dreams or illusions without fear or with fear of course! because they feel the fear I am not going to deceive you, but that it does not paralyse them that they have to let go to live, because we leave this life with the experiences lived not with the objects collected.
Live, be happy and enjoy everything you can.
From ‘Bluewater Sailors’ we would like to thank Mariví and Stefano for sharing with us their sailing experiences and sailing projects, and we wish them the best of luck in their next voyages. We will follow you !
You can follow their life experiences on board on this Youtube channel:
