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Life on the High Seas UK


By Shannine O’Neill

**EXCLUSIVE**

THIS GEN-ZED couple have revealed how they turned their backs on the UK in favour of life in the open sea on a yacht that cost them just £48K – and you can too.

Youtube Creators Zach Seward (26) from Hampshire, UK and Becka Eva (26) from Surrey, UK left their humdrum lives in England as an Environmental and Sustainability Business Partner and Social Researcher for a life full of adventures at sea where they have clocked up over 5,000 miles and visited France, Spain, Portugal, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Antigua Lesser Antilles, ending up in their present location of Grenada in the Caribbean.

In March 2022, the couple decided it was finally time to start their dream of living full-time on a sailboat and bought a 40ft 1987 Colvic Victor Ketch for £38K in Plymouth, UK.

This was to replace the university student house they were recently staying with a friend in.

Becka and Zach had been eyeing-up sailboats for some time and had been saving for over three years for the opportunity to arise for them to set-sail on their dream life, when in 2022 after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK, they realised it was their perfect opportunity.

During the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK in March 2022, Becka and Zach were confined to Backa’s room in her University house share.

During this time, the pair were itching to get out and see the world, which prompted them to finally take the leap and buy a boat to set sail on their new path.

Once they had decided that the 1987 Colvic Victor ketch was the boat for them, they spent nearly £10K restoring and renovating the boat before they started sailing.

Although the boat was as far as they were concerned, nearly perfect, they had decided to add a few more touches before they set sail.

They added safety gear, new batteries, redid the electrics, added solar panels and got the boat fully off grid, added a new VHF radio, another antenna as redundancy, took the mizzen mast down to inspect, replaced sea skin fittings, added anodes, and antifouled.

The whole restoration took around six months in total and around £10K, but was well worth it to Becka and Zach as they began their sailing journey a week after they were completely finished in September 2022.

Becka and Zach have since sailed over 5,000-nautical miles and have lived on their sailboat full-time since starting their journey, bar the odd stop to avoid dangerous stormy weather.

Both have thoroughly loved their experience sailing full-time as it has added so much freedom and independence to their lives that they felt was lacking, especially throughout the pandemic lockdown.

“During the first lockdown in March 2020, Zach and I were shut in a room in my uni house together, and we were itching to see the world,” Becka said.

“We didn’t want to take a plane everywhere and although van life is really cool, we really wanted to go to small remote islands, which would have been hard to get to on foot, let alone bringing a van to.

“We were looking at much older boats with far more issues and this one was far out of our budget initially (we ended up getting a really good deal).

“So after a friend sent us a link on Facebook with ’this would be perfect for you’, we decided to go to see her just to window-shop and daydream about what we would love to buy one day, and she was incredibly perfect.

“The moment we stepped on board, we knew somehow, we would make this our home.”

Becka and Zach spent the next six months restoring the boat and making it perfect for their new life on the water.

“She didn’t need a lot of work doing to her when we first got her, but there was zero safety gear on board, so the first job was to add all the safety gear,” she said.

“We then added new batteries, redid the electrics, added solar panels and got her fully off grid.

“We added a new VHF radio, another antenna as redundancy, we took our mizzen mast down to inspect, hauled her out and replaced sea and skin fittings (the points where water enters or leaves the boat), added anodes, antifouled, the list goes on.

“We bought her in March 2022 and finished all the jobs we wanted to a week before leaving in September 2022.”

Becka and Zach threw themselves into sailing life with little boating experience, although they both crewed on a boat going from Swansea to Cardiff four months before they sailed on their own boat, and achieved their Day Skippers qualification, which gave them some knowledge about sailing life before they started their own.

“We had both dingy sailed since we were young (Zach more than I) but in terms of big boats, we didn’t have too much experience,” she said.

“We crewed on a boat from Swansea to Cardiff about four months before we bought our boat, and did our Day Skippers (a week long qualification), but that was about it, until we hopped on our own boat.

“Asides from the course, almost no big boating experience.

“But thanks to the incredibly kind boating community, we have learnt a tonne.

“Also from books, YouTube and just by doing, even if it resulted in a few electric shocks along the way.”

However, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Backa and Zach as they acknowledge that sailing life can be stressful and lonely at times, with the pair having their fair share of stressful moments on their journey.

“It's not the easiest life, It’s physically demanding, can be stressful at times and unless you speak to people and make friends where you go, it can be isolating being on a boat,” she said.

“Just to name a few, our engine did not start in the channel in Plymouth so we had to come into the marina under sail, being hit full force by a storm coming across the English Channel, just after leaving the UK.

“A Catamaran crashing into us in an anchorage in Martinique.

“A week of 50 mph winds in the middle of the Atlantic ocean when we crossed from Cape Verde in Africa to Antigua earlier this year.

“We say that it's ’not always easy, but it's always worth it'.

Becka and Zach have been everywhere from Plymouth to Grenada, but they each have their own favourite spots that they’ve been to.

“Zach loved the Ile Sainte islands south of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, I loved the east coast of Antigua, where we were the only boat off a tiny beautiful island,” she said.

“But then again, Tobago Quays marine park was incredible, and the North of Spain in a tiny place called Muros where we sat in an anchorage with glassy water and low clouds, it felt like we were in a fairytale.”

Although sea life can prove challenging at times for Becka and Zach, they see no plans in stopping their adventures any times soon, and plan on travelling all around the world.

“We plan to do this as long as we enjoy it, simple,” she said.

“We would like to circumnavigate, but it’s not the goal as we don’t want to feel like our journey wasn’t complete unless we go the whole way around.

“We aim to keep moving for the time being, but maybe once we get to New Zealand, we may have a few weeks off.

“After being at sea for over 35 days from Panama to New Zealand, I think we will want to for a little bit.”

When asked what advice she would give to those thinking about sailing full-time, Becka said that you should do it no matter what as life is too short, but make sure you are prepared for what is to come.

“If anyone is thinking about getting into sailing and following a similar route, firstly, 100% go for it,” she said.

“Life is short, and the world is wide.

“Secondly, if you want to get experience, we would really recommend crewing on boats first, and then chartering a boat, all before buying.

“Getting qualifications is great, but it isn’t until you are actually out there, on a boat, which you learn the most.

“And doing it in the safest way possible is vital, because the ocean is big and powerful.”

ENDS