Hello! We are Keely (Keel) and Pavel (Pav). We are a couple who live in the Pacific North West of Canada. After a few years of living in a small coastal town and spending our time enjoying the ocean by surfing, swimming and the odd boat trip, we decided to purchase a 32 ft sailboat in February 2024 and learn to sail.
There was a sailboat for sale in our town which was on Facebook Marketplace. Pav saved the listing in the fall of 2023, as he was beginning to dream about owning a boat. Then, in the winter of 2023/24 we seriously started to talk about owning a boat and living aboard, for both financial reasons and for the housing aspect. We crunched the numbers and it just made sense!
We viewed 2 sailboats at our local marina in January 2023. The owner of Wahine X had actually taken down the listing, but because Pav had saved it, we were still able to reach out to the owner to see if it was still available. We liked Wahine because she was ready to sail, well maintained, and of course because she was a pretty boat. The previous owner was a nice guy, selling to buy a bigger boat for his growing family. By early February 2024, we had purchased the boat, and by April, we had moved aboard.
That was the beginning of our journey to learn how to sail, live aboard, and ultimately led to the both of us realizing that we loved it all. We soon discovered that we want to work towards more of this lifestyle of sailing, exploring and swinging on anchor watching the sun set.
At this time, we are weekend warriors- getting out on the water every chance we get on weekends, long weekends and time off. We work full-time year round jobs, saving for the lifestyle we want in the near future- a life of flexibility in our days, to sail, explore and spend as much time with family.
Living aboard has brought us many lessons and lots of clarity, including what we really need to be happy and healthy in this life. That is why we created this website and blog, to share those thoughts with the world and celebrate a different type of lifestyle, one of watching the sun rise and set, of slowing down and admiring the beauty of nature, while building wealth slowly and steadily. Even if we are only going 5 knots, we will get there!
-Keel and Pav
5knotstofreedom 