First, an Introduction

Welcome to new readers. An introduction seems like a great first post. 😀

I’m Pinky, and I’ll be your host for much of this website experience. As a former software engineer and long time web developer, I am enjoying reconnecting to my roots in blogging and website development for our next life adventure on Sailing Vessel Loka. But I’ve already gotten ahead of myself.

Who the heck are we and what the heck are we doing?

As I said, I’m (Pinky) a recovering software engineer/manager, a creatrix (she who creates), and now a sailor. I didn’t start out life even dreaming of living on the water (I was a total land-locked suburbanite!), but being open to new experiences and up for adventures that help me expand my knowledge and skillset. I’m also big into things that open my heart to all of life’s possibilities. Charles is also a recovering IT engineer & manager, and has been a life long boater having grown up on the lakes of Louisiana and North Carolina. His parents owned/operated a bait and tackle store, and his mom was an ex

pert bait artisan. Dreams of living at the beach have always been at the forefront of his longer term plan.

In 2018, Charles got hooked on the various YouTube sailing channels that were prominent, and looped me in as a result. Throughout 2018-2019, we got more and more interested in the full-time cruising and liveaboard life as one of our options as we evaluated early retirement (aka bailing on corporate as early as possible). Of course, 2020 came with the pandemic, lockdowns, remote work, and a significant shift in perspective. What were we waiting on?

October 2020 marked our first sailing experience: taking ASA 101 at Cape Fear Sailing School in Southport, NC. After passing the test and confirming we enjoy sailing (and Pinky didn’t get sea sick!). We were hooked!

Throughout 2020-2022, we got more serious about what a transition would look like. What kind of boat do we want? Do we want to coastal cruise or go full time? Do we move to the beach first or jump straight to a boat? Where do we find a boat? How do we shop for and purchase a boat like this? We spent 2 years reading, researching, learning, and getting advice/consultation from the sailing & cruising community, which is small but willing & resourceful!

A bit on a whim, though we had been getting more serious about purchasing our sailboat with plans to find it in 2023, we checked out a sailboat for sale in Maryland while we were in Annapolis for the October boat show.

For now, I will say the rest is history (for brevity’s sake). That said, it’s a fairly recent experience, and I will be sharing more about our lessons learned in buying a boat that I’d like to share.

I’ve started this blog for 2 goals:

1. to keep our friends and family apprised of where we are and what we’re up to. We don’t use social media that way, and prefer to own our content.
2. to help fellow sailors on their journey. Sure there are already lots of blogs and articles about this shit, but maybe our unique perspective will help someone along the way. If nothing else, it will be great fun in documenting the shit we’re learning.

DISCLAIMER: I fucking swear a lot, so if that bothers you, I get it. Maybe there’s a chrome plug in that will scrub that shit for you. Please don’t come @ me in the comments though.