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Anthony Green, a keen kiter and paraglider, is the Graphic Designer for Airwave. With Covid and improved satellite internet making working remotely easier, he set off on his catamaran with his family, to sail round the world and kite at spots inaccessible to those without a boat. If you’ve ever fantasized about doing the same, read on…
Mother Nature bestowed upon me a twin brother who became my best friend and partner in crime. We were never destined to park up in our home town, and at 18 we both set off seeking adventure. We left California and headed to the European Alps where we took up skiing, paragliding and paramotoring. And when my brother got a kite I joined in the fun too. Through paragliding I started working with Bruce Goldsmith Design – who went on to found Airwave – and kiting became a part of my life as much as paragliding and paramotoring. After I met my wife, Verity, who works for Cross Country magazine, we bought a small sailboat and would spend summers in the Med. Then Covid made it more acceptable to work remotely, and with Elon Musk’s Starlink company providing reliable satellite internet, we no longer had to worry about our internet connection dropping out if we anchored up behind a cliff. We could go almost anywhere and still work. It was all perfect timing to fulfil our dream for an ocean-faring life on a bigger boat.
We’d been looking for many years for the right boat that could be home for us and our young daughter Remie, who luckily loves sailing too. We finally found the perfect vessel, Sea Fantasy, a 40-foot catamaran, and bought her outright. We don’t have to worry about any loans or making payments, so we can just work to live. We saved for years to afford her and really put our heart and soul into it. We’re completely off grid with solar panels for power and water desalination. We even have a washing machine onboard! The first year we bought her, we wintered in Sicily and then sailed all summer in the Med, finding some great spots to kite, particularly in Spain. As autumn arrived it was time to change continents. We ventured out the Strait of Gibraltar, down past the Canaries and Cape Verde, then my brother joined us for the Atlantic crossing which we did in 16 days, timing it as the trade winds kicked in. Now in the Caribbean we’ve visited and kited Antigua, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas and Florida – we’re moving all the time.
Our boat is full of all the toys, including my paragliding and paramotoring equipment, SUP’s, twintips, foil boards. Luckily my Airwave foil kites pack down small. I’ve had to learn to launch from the boat doing water starts, which is surprisingly easy on the foil kites. I let them float downwind until they inflate. Even if I get water in the kite by mistake, I can still eventually get it to fly by letting it drain first. Packing down the foil kites is also really easy too. I just tried some wingfoiling in Martinique so that will mean even more toys onboard now. As it is easier to launch from a boat and you don’t have any lines to worry about if there are other boats nearby, I’ll be doing more of that. I will keep kiting though too, but it’s good to have different options.
Kiting for me is a recreational thing, I’m no pro! But it’s a great way to explore the world, and I feel so lucky to have been kiting in these beautiful, unspoiled and remote spots. Now with foiling there are even more options of places to kite and actually, anchoring up in a windy spot ideal for Big Air can make living on the boat a bit too wobbly, so spots with lighter wind are ideal. I love being able to get to spots where no one else is on the water and we tend to avoid busy places near airports where people have flown in for their holiday. You don’t need to worry about us getting lonely though! We’ve had friends from back home fly out to meet us, and along the way we’ve met plenty of people also living the sailing lifestyle. Our daughter gets to socialize with other kids too – there are Facebook groups for families like us to arrange meeting up and sometimes we’ll sail together for a while. But what I honestly can’t understand is why more kiters aren’t living this lifestyle – hardly any of the sailors we’ve met are kiters or wingfoilers. Come and join us!
We’re not on permanent holiday though, it’s not all picture-postcard views and sipping cocktails on deck. There is a lot to do every day and life is a balance of working, playing and home schooling our daughter. I tend to start work first thing in the morning to fit in with European office hours while Verity simultaneously works her job and homeschools Remie. Then in the afternoon there is often maintenance to do like oil changes, filters, scrubbing the barnacles off the bottom of the boat, tracking leaks, sewing sails, repairing electrics or plumbing, as well as the usual household chores like cooking – which usually involves barbequing fish we catch ourselves or lobsters, squid, crabs or octopus that I forage during a night dive. Every few days we head to shore to get in provisions. Shopping days allow my daughter to use her scooter and the handlebars make a great place to carry the laden bags back! About twice a week we’ll move to the next island or anchorage, and some weekends are spent doing bigger passages when the sailing will require our full concentration. Then we also have to fit in time for water sports or taking Remie to the beach. The time flies by and after a game of chess we usually fall asleep on the outside sun bed, to be woken up at the first light of day.
So, does this lifestyle take your fancy? I certainly feel very lucky to be living this life, but be aware that there is a lot to learn and it’s a big commitment. It’s almost like I’ve spent my whole life learning the skills needed for this trip – understanding electricals, plumbing, GPS and navigation, wind, weather and currents. One night our radar stopped working in the middle of the ocean, and you need to know how to fix it if you don’t want to bump into anything in the dark! You also need to understand when bad weather is coming in and get to the more sheltered side of an island for example. To avoid the worst of the hurricane season, we’re shortly heading north to Chesapeake Bay in the US. Here the boat will be lifted out of the water for some repairs and a repaint while we head back to Europe for a visit where I will collect Airwave’s new Alma kite to add to my collection of toys. Then we’ll get the boat back on the water and head south again, then west through the Panama Canal. I can’t wait to kite the beautiful and seemingly endless islands of the South Pacific Ocean…
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