Bluewater plans

Kelly Rashleigh has turned to sailing in pursuit of a better life with her family. Follow their journey on YouTube channel ‘Five go Sailing’.

- Kelly Rashleigh

Running away to sea seems very dramatic but 2020 was dramatic for so many in so many different ways. We are musicians first and foremost. My husband Hugh has done his stint at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and I used to spend four to five nights a week entertaining drinkers and revellers.

We were making a pretty good living doing something we loved and it had been that way for years; we were happy, we were content. Then along came 2020 and overnight that lifestyle was completely taken away – no goodbye, no final lingering looks behind. It was just gone.

The arts has been hit hard by COVID-19 – long-serving institutions such as the RSC are making redundancies and when a powerhouse like that is struggling you know you are in trouble. So after the initial confusion, upset and anger it was time to decide what we were going to do next. Do we sit around and mourn for the life we’d lost? Do we fight with others for the few remaining ‘real’ jobs? Or, do we do what we have always done, something different.

We decided now was the chance to take our three young children on the ultimate geography field trip; sailing around the world.

After all, we are both of Naval descent. Hugh’s grandparents were high-ranking naval officers stationed in India, whilst my Grandad had a cushty life as a Quarter Master travelling the world and dining very well on things he’d ‘forgotten’ to sign in.

Maybe that’s why we chose a replica Dutch barge as our first home nine years ago, and have been live-aboards ever since.