Six years in the boat–without missing a single day of school

So many times, when we talk about dropping everything to sail around the world on a boat, the main impediments are always the same: family, children going to school, money, work that we will not find when we return… These are all valid speeches, but they are increasingly losing relevance today thanks to… the Internet! Yes, because the opportunities to work wherever you are in the world are multiplying. More importantly, school programs made specifically for distance learning are also increasing. An example? The Sail for Good project.

AN ALMOST NORMAL LIFE
Take a “normal” Finnish family, consisting of a father, mother, and three young children, who dream of leaving everyone’s life behind and embarking on a world tour–slowly. He, Tuomo, 43, a successful background in the tourism industry; she, Riikka, 41. The first step was to contact the Finnish Ministry of Education (which, to be fair, was already considered to be at the forefront of distance learning programs), to set up a special plan for the couple’s three children, ages seven, five and three.

“It was clear to us from the very beginning,” Tuomo says when we meet him in Sardinia, as the family prepares for the long voyage that will take them out of the Pillars of Hercules, into the Atlantic Ocean, “that what we wanted to accomplish was not a ‘simple’ round-the-world trip, but something that could leave a mark. that’s how we thought of using the advantages of technology to create an educational project that would not only be dedicated to our children, but also to the children of the places where we would stop during our round-the-world trip.”

An ambitious project, not least because six years on a boat around the world requires challenging funds (and here we come back to the economic problem).
“At the beginning of the project we didn’t really know where to turn, first of all because both my wife and I studied economics, we certainly can’t call ourselves teachers. I have major problems with dyslexia, and I had my fair share of problems in school. However, we did not give up and started to contact different technology companies with teaching programs, with the idea of creating a real digital school to follow on the boat. was a very long challenge, consisting of hundreds of emails and phone calls. In the end, our efforts were rewarded: we brought together more than twenty companies that believed in the project and that we repay with various promotional activities on social networks.”

SCHOOL IS A SPECIAL BOAT
In practice, Tuomo and his family turned their boat, a Swan 57 designed by Sparkman & Stephens, into a small electronic platform, with various hardware containing learning programs. Instead, a portion of the classes are conducted via Skype. Of course, we assure you, it is strange to see such an amount of technology aboard a 1982 boat.
“We purchased Panacea in 2012 and subjected it to a lot of work, including in preparation for our world tour. For example, we replaced all the electronics. Some work also involved the rigging; in fact, we decided to modify the mast and rigging to make the boat more maneuverable. The list of work done is really very long….”

A ROUND-THE-WORLD TOUR-QUIETLY
Tuomo and his family have also been preparing for this adventure from a practical standpoint for the past two years. The boat has been based in Turkey, and each vacation has been an opportunity to test not only the family’s seafaring skills but also … living together on board! Six years in the boat is definitely a long time….
“True, six years is a very long time, but in reality we will actually sail for about a year. We will spend long periods on land; for example, we have decided to travel overland to New Zealand for about four months. Compatible with the practical problems and inconveniences that always occur on a trip of this kind, we have tried to draw up as precise a schedule as possible, also taking advantage of the help of various professionals, from doctors to educators, and obviously involving several navigators who have already had such an experience. We have also planned to spend these overland stays in conjunction with the usually less meteorologically favorable periods.”

The Meretniemi family set sail on their adventure in the spring of 2016 and spent much of the year roaming the Mediterranean, starting in Turkey and then “getting lost” among the dozens of small Greek islands, before arriving in Italy and embarking on a discovery of Sicily (“A wonderful experience,” Tuomo commented) and Sardinia. Instead, autumn was the time to set the bow westward, touching the Spanish coast and then reaching the Canary Islands and finally crossing the ocean.
But what is it that drove you to this adventure?
“The desire to realize a personal dream. But also the hope of creating the most important “family sailing project” (that’s what he calls it: “family sailing project,” ed.) ever in the world. I hope that sharing our experiences will inspire many other people to do the same.” www.sailforgood.org