So this is the journey of a family with a thirst for adventure who plan to sail around the world – as they say, The World is your Oyster, (or in our case, worldsuroyster). We are a family of 4, and for a number of years have been thinking about sailing away for a few years. Suddenly, this thought has crystallized and turned into action and in July 2022 we found ourselves ready for our departure. We just had a couple of little jobs to finish. Those little jobs became major issues. Just before we were due to depart, it was discovered that we had a major structural issue. Our aft deck had delaminated and fittings (especially turning blocks) were in danger of coming out of the deck. It required a curtailing of plans, a winter in a shed in Southampton, a house rental in Lymington and a lot of work. Now, 2023, and on May 15 we finally departed the UK. We will cruise down to the Canaries and join the ARC+ 2023 and then the World ARC 2024. Who knows how far we will get, but the plan is to return the girls to mainstream education for Sep 2024.
Valent – now back in the UK and nearly ready to go!
We are Will, Suzy, Lucy and Sophie and out yacht of choice is Valent, an Oyster 55 built a long time ago (1989 to be precise) but with beautiful lines, great space down below for a family and lots of safe usable space up top.
Our plan was to leave the UK late summer 2022 and join up with the ARC team in 2022. Now it is the ARC+ in 2023, later this year. The itinerary is to join the ARC+ (crossing the Atlantic with a stop at Cape Verde) arriving in St Lucia Dec 2023. We will then join the World ARC in Jan 2024 and commence our journey around the world. All being well we will make it to Australia in July 2024 and fly back to the UK in time for term start Sep 2024.
We look forward to sharing our journey with you and would love to receive feedback (even if it is a spelling mistake).
Safe journey on the next leg of your adventure. Thank you all for letting me join you on the mini desert trip and our long trip the Marrakesh. It wouldn’t have been the same if I’d done it on my own. Thanks again
Happy 11th birthday to Sophie. Hope you have a fantastic day onboard!
Belated Happy birthday Lucy !!! Hope you are having so much fun. Love the updates and the photos
When you leaving, Will?
Hi Nicholas, we plan to depart the UK at the end of July and join up with the World ARC departing St Lucia Jan 2023. Valent is one if the early Holman & Pye designs (Hull 10 dating from 1988/9).
Very pleased you gave me your blog details in your Christmas card. Look forward to following your progress once you set off. So exciting!
This is so exciting, you are so adventurous! well done you for breaking the mould!
Fantastic! I can’t wait to see more pictures and follow your journey. God bless you all!
So envious, even though I have no idea how to handle a boat. Such an education for the girls. Have a brilliant time, looking forward to updates from summer 2021.
Wow – what an incredible experience you all will have ! We will enjoy following your journey so much – very jealous of all the places you will visit but not so jealous of the sailing 😂😂
A website! So exciting to see the boat and we will be following your adventures with enormous interest. It’s exciting to think that the plans you have talked about for several years are almost ready to become reality. The girls will return with so much knowledge to share and adventures to retell. Good luck x
I know it is a year away but lets try and make as many memories as possible before then.
I know I will miss you both very much but you have not started on this amazing adventure yet and until then we will make the most of Bamboo Island !!!!
Well done Will and Suzy for making this dream a reality for yourselves and the girls. We will delight in following you around the world.
Love from Roger and Carmel in NZ
How exciting 😁
So lovely to see the website up and running. It’s really lovely to see people making their dreams come true. A really invaluable couple of years for Lucy and Sophie. An experience that will build their neural connections like no other. I can’t wait to see how they grow. Of course we will miss all of you. Especially badminton sessions with Suzy but great to be able to keep in touch on this forum. I am good at spotting spelling mistakes😏.
What an adventure! Hopefully we can meet up somewhere on the journey. Safe travels!
Wishing you an amazing adventure.
Will and Suzy – how wonderful. And those lucky two young ladies – what an adventure. Can I stow away? Look forward to the build up and seeing Valent progress xx
So excited for you all that this amazing trip is getting so close to happening. What a fantastic experience you and Suzy are giving your super girls; what unbelievable memories you will create together xx
This sounds fantastic William. I will never forget that journey back across to Portsmouth in a force 8 gale and those noise of waves hitting the vessel. You remained so cool throughout and your sailing skills brought us home safely. I am sure you make a great success of this adventure, I will certainly be following you.
So excited for you all, you’ll have such a good time building these family memories, the real gain from such an adventure. ‘May fair winds be forever at your back’.
Oh my goodness, this is so incredible William. What an amazing venture you and your family will have. Just amazing, I wish you well!
William, bloody amazing. I love your sense for adventure and what an experience for the children as well. Godspeed to you all. Safe travels, wonderful memories and above all living the dream. Huge respect, you are an adventurer in every sense of the word.
Well done! What a great adventure!
All sounds fabulous – and yes please to more pictures of the boat! All so exciting!
All now very real! You’ll have an amazing time and always remember to be in fabulous, easily accessible places during school holidays for all your visitors 😀
Fab! Well done Alex x
Wow! Brilliant! All the best William, great adventure for the family.
Amazing!
Great stuff. Can’t wait to see down below… can we have a tour?
Exciting times. XxxX
Go for it Will
Journey of a lifetime
Looking forward to following your adventures! I’m so incredibly jealous!