Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca & Paul Leser.
Hi Rebecca & Paul, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Paul and I met and fell in love while in undergrad at North Carolina State University. In 2010, the summer after I graduated, we took an afternoon sailing class on a Sunfish on a local lake. Paul caught the sailing bug, and two years later, after relocating to the Chesapeake Bay, we bought our first sailboat, a 1976 Irwin 25. In 2015, we upgraded to a 1972 Pearson 33. When we started sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, we just spent afternoons out on the water, learning how to handle the boat and enjoy the weather outside. When we upgraded in 2015, our goal was to cross the Chesapeake Bay to the Virginia Eastern Shore town of Cape Charles. Once we accomplished that in 2017 (which was about a 5–6-hour sail for us from our home in the Yorktown area), the possibilities really opened up for us. We started dreaming of where else we could sail and my love for destination cruising became apparent. In 2018. we flew to the British Virgin Islands for the first time and chartered a 38-foot sailboat and spent the week island hopping. From enjoying frozen beverages on white-sand beaches to falling asleep under the gentle drift of our boat while tied to a mooring ball, I loved everything that sailing could be. At some point on that charter, I told Paul, “I think I could live on a boat.”
When we returned from our trip, we started researching what exactly living aboard a sailboat would look like, from logistics to what could go wrong. We wanted the whole picture so we knew what to expect. We spent the next two years debating whether or not to sell our home, which we had just finished renovating into our dream home on the water. But then COVID happened, and the nature of the pandemic really put everything into perspective for us, like the fragility of life and the need to make dreams happen now instead of waiting. We decided the summer of 2020 that we would go ahead and sell our home and buy our dream sailboat. The housing market had really taken off, so our home quickly sold and we closed on our 2005 Beneteau 473 named Mystic Hearts. We left the Yorktown area and moved back to Norfolk, where we had close proximity to the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and easy access out of the Chesapeake Bay to head north.
Since purchasing Mystic Hearts, we’ve traveled 4,000 nautical miles and completed cruises in the Chesapeake Bay, up to New England and back (including time in Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and Newport, RI), and most recently spent the winter heading south to Key West. We’ve loved the opportunity to enjoy these once-in-a-lifetime experience where we can bring our floating home anywhere, we wish to go.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Any sailor will tell you that living this lifestyle is not easy. We’ve found that sailboats require more frequent maintenance and upkeep than our house on land did, but still, with all of its difficulties, we wouldn’t trade this life to go back to land – at least not anytime soon! When we’re out cruising and living life on the hook (at anchor), we become completely in tune with nature and the weather. The weather dictates our decision every day on whether we can safely keep traveling, whether we should take shelter, or find a more comfortable anchorage for protection from the wind. Daily chores become harder, whether we’re hauling a laundry bag down a long dock to a marina laundromat, getting into the dinghy to travel to a dock and then walk to a grocery store and back, or even just keeping a tiny house tidy while living with our 3 cats.
Last summer, we were in New England when Hurricane Henri was ripping up the U.S. East Coast, set to be the first hurricane to make landfall in the area in 30 years. At the time, we were on Block Island, closely watching the weather reports and figuring out where we should go next. We decided to make a run for it west into the Long Island Sound. At times, the storm looked to track west, but ultimately went east of us. We made the right call with the weather information we had available but could have easily been in a dangerous situation with that storm.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Currently, I’m a sailing social media influencer. I post content on our Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages showing people what it looks like to live aboard a sailboat and information about our stops on each cruise. The goal with our content is to tell a story and engage with our followers. We’ve made lifelong friends from our adventures at sea and are one of the few sailing accounts that doesn’t ask for contributions from followers.
What do you think about luck?
I’ve been blessed to be able to focus on content creation for fun. Living on a sailboat can have unexpected expenses, marina slip fees, and insurance that needs to be paid, so Paul works remotely full-time from our boat while I create content and keep up with most of the basic boat chores.
Had we not had the opportunity to charter a sailboat in the British Virgin Islands, I don’t think that living aboard ever would have become a reality for us. We needed that experience to cement our desire to live our lives differently. We value experiences, time together, and minimalism over the traditional 9-5 rat race that has people living in debt above their means. Life is better this way.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sv_mystichearts/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SVMysticHearts/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2O3c9teZRzZ3nRGQxG0rYQ
Image Credits
Paul
