Our plans started in the autumn 2015 when we were talking about having a small sailboat at our cabin. Little did we know what it would result later. A cold January day in 2016 we thought that it would be good to have a course in sailing first. We searched the internet and looked for what was on the subject. After a while we found a course in Croatia that lasted for 5 days. It was too tempting to let go and we ordered it at once.

In the middle of June same year, we travelled to Croatia and joined this sailboat course, together with four other participants. Everyone was really satisfied by the insightful teacher. We sailed a Salona 42-foot sailboat and felt we benefited greatly from the sailingcourse in the beautiful archipelago of Croatia.

Back in Halden it was very busy from all sides, and the boat plans got delayed. Many times, we talked about how tired we were from all the stress around us. Annette worked part-time and suffered more and more with chronic pain. We had both a semi-detached house with the rental of one apartment, two cars and a cabin with accompanying boat. Our twin boys also demanded attention. Addition to this Øystein was 50% owner of the crane company, and worked very long days. Even though we prioritized each other as a family, we missed a lot together. Our social life was eventually limited too. It felt as though we had all the things we owned, we weren't happy. Sometimes it felt like things owned us instead. Our lives felt more like a duty than choices based on what we really wanted to do.

Throughout the autumn we decided that we had to make some serious decisions. We wanted to live a fullfilled life, and not what was expected of society and many around us. During this period, we followed some channels on TV, YouTube and on social media about people who had sailed around the planet. Eventually came the thoughts why not we should make this choice too? After many conversations around this, we found out that we should either take the opportunity or continue our lives as before. Our boys had a good last year in kindergarten, so we soon found out that if we were to go sailing, it would have to be now or maybe wait until after the children had grown up. We chose now!!!

But what kind of boat should we have and where should we buy it? We went to several fairs at home and abroad, checked the internet and bought approximately 20 books about sailing and about life aboard the boat. Still we changed the meaning of what kind of boat we wanted, but eventually we came to the choise “Odine”. A boat perfect fit for our little family. Cannot really brag about any long experience in sailing, and in fact we have no more experience than the sailingcourse we went on, but full of impetus we were at least. And "COMPLETELY MAD" we heard. Who in the world travel on earth by sailing with virtually zero experience? "Yup, we are!"

The reason we chose “Odine” was because she was solid with aluminum hull and could lift the keel additional to a rudder. She has been on land for a long time in France, and had not have the opportunity to sail a lot before our previous owner got it. We were so surprised it was docked at Aker Harbor in Oslo, just a few miles from where we lived. We contacted the boat agency and scheduled time to check the sailboat out. Suddenly we learned that someone else had put a bid on it and we threw us around, fixed a babysitter and drove expectantly toward our future. We had a check on the boat, our bid was accepted and completed and we had the dream boat the very same day! Øystein had sold his part out of his company, so fortunately we had some money in the bank.  We were so happy to get the boat, even though she was not ready for a whole family at that point. We upgraded her gradually to fit our needs. 

When we got home, we didn’t have much time to celebrate as we were also in the middle of our house sale. We had to use the winter and spring to do some planning between illness and work, to renovate the things that needed in the house and it was time to put the house for sale. Fortunately, it was sold at once and then the focus went to clear our cabin and the motorboat for sale. It was sold to some nice persons that will most certain take care of the place.

The 1^st of July 2017 we moved in to the sailboat! So nice to actually live in our new home, eventually continue the planning and get the equipment for the boat to be customized for the big journey. We needed some time to get to know the boat and check if everything worked as it should. Public documents, incuranse, vaccines and a plan for homeschooling our kids also had to be in place before we could leave Norwegian waters.

We had previously figured out what our page should be like and what kind of logo we should make, and we hope you will be happy with the choice and not least want to follow us on our inner and outer journey to unknown waters. We really don't know what to expect, and we will take one day at it comes.

Hopefully we'll see many places in the world and meet a lot of exciting people, beautiful scenery and experience the rich wildlife found on our amazing planet. What do we learn about others and what will we learn about ourselves? We want to thank Gaia for everything we have achieved so far and time will show what more we will expect. Join us in good or bad, and you'll see! We promise a fit blend of madness and happiness, so how will this end?