Welcome aboard!
We’re Ryan + Sophie.
We’ve been exploring the world on our boat, Polar Seal, since 2016.
After buying Polar Seal in 2016, we spent two seasons exploring the Baltic Sea before officially quitting our office jobs. In the early summer of 2018, we cast off the lines and headed for a six-month sailing sabbatical that turned into a full-time lifestyle.
Why we sail
We initially left the dock and began sailing for what we thought would be a six-month adventure. Over four years later, here we are — still at it!
Sailing the world is the ultimate form of freedom and a unique way to discover new destinations. Home is wherever we drop the anchor. For short periods, we get to experience a place the same way the locals do.
Since we began, we’ve sailed down to the North Sea via the Kiel Canal, then to Sophie’s hometown in Brittany, France, before we crossed the Bay of Biscay to Northern Spain and Portugal.
We spent a winter season at the dock in Almerimar, Spain, before setting off for a tour of the Western Mediterranean, then headed to Malta, where we decided to cross the Atlantic later that year.
After a 3500 miles journey from Gibraltar, via the Canary Islands and Cape, we landed in Martinique on January 1st, 2020.
Like everyone else, our lives stopped in March of 2020 with the pandemic, and we spent three months locked in Saint Martin.
We finally escaped to Curacao, where we left Polar Seal and took a six-month break before returning to the boat and deciding to undertake an Atlantic circuit. In 2021, we sailed from Bonaire up to Bermuda, East to the Azores, and South to Madeira and the Canary Islands.
There, Ryan decided he wanted to try solo sailing across the Atlantic. We met again in Antigua in March of 2022. We closed our Atlantic loop in Bermuda before attempting to sail up to Nova Scotia and Canada — someplace we’ve wanted to sail for years. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to abandon that plan and sail to the United States instead.
For 2023, we are staging a small American loop up the canals, to Lake Ontario, and out through the Saint Laurent River.
Our biggest dream is to sail to Japan and eventually complete an “accidental circumnavigation,” aka, continuously sailing so far west that we end up sailing around the world, well, accidentally!
How did we end up sailing the world?
On a dark and stormy night of winter 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden, I was healing from a bad break-up like any girl in her late twenties would:
Eating ice cream from the pint and binge-swiping through Tinder, when I suddenly came across the profile of a man in a ninja turtle costume.
Ryan and I met in person on an equally dark and stormy night at a pub in Södermalm, a hip district of Stockholm – we quickly knew that the two of us were destined for some great adventures together.
Our adventure officially began a couple of months after we met. In those following months, Ryan was training for Stockholm’s upcoming marathon. One day, he encountered a mother Canadian goose who was overprotective of her offspring and irritated by his presence.
While trying to escape the goose that was now flying at him, Ryan slipped in a puddle of mud, fell on his arm, dislocated his shoulder, and broke the socket bone. He had to undergo massive reconstructive surgery and physical therapy. He was left to grieve the loss of his adventurous plans and his inability to participate in the marathon.
In a bout of grief…
Ryan stumbled upon an article about Matt & Jessica, a couple of adventurous souls who had quit their jobs, bought a boat, and left their hometown to sail the world.
After reading that article…
We kept asking ourselves, “Why not?” Until one day, we decided to just do it. But of course we had no idea that...
Sailing is the most expensive way to go somewhere for free ;)
things you may not know about us…
Ryan is Mr. Legs “whitest legs” (Iowa State Fair 2017).
Sophie is the only French person in the world to hate cheese.
Ryan is a pilot with 1000 hours of flight time, which of 4 of those hours taking place in a helicopter.
Sophie specializes in applying for her travel authorizations at the airport right before check-in.
Meet Polar Seal
Polar Seal is a Beneteau Oceanis 40 from 2007, 2 cabin-version, that we have equipped for ocean sailing and self-sufficiency.
The two-cabin layout gives us a good kitchen, actual shower space in the bathroom, two cabins of good size, a big garage, and a nice living area.
When we became the owners of Polar Seal, our total experience with boats consisted of the two weeks of sailing lessons we had taken (plus one boat show!). Our only criteria was that she needed to be 1) comfortable enough to live onboard and 2) fit our budget.
Buying a Beneteau Oceanis 40, a newer production boat, made sailing accessible and enabled us to find our dream boat within our budget. Polar Seal only came with some basic equipment, so we upgraded the equipment we felt we needed as we went.
Over the years, we’ve upgraded Polar Seal…
…with 1000W of solar panels distributed between our solar arch and the foredeck, 680AH of lithium batteries, a SeaWater Pro watermaker, brand new Raymarine electronics, a washing machine, and an extra freezer.
We absolutely love what Polar Seal brings us regarding sailing, functionality, and comfort. While we would love to eventually have a bigger boat, Polar Seal is even better than our dream boat — simply because we get to live our dream onboard!
Meet The Crew
Sophie Darsy - she/her
Sophie is a bread-loving French girl and the writer/producer/director/SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER OF THE FLEET behind Ryan & Sophie Sailing.
Ryan Ellison - he/him
Ryan is an Iowa farm boy turned skipper and sailing tech nerd. Visit Ryan’s Tech Corner to see more of what he’s into!
Barnacle - she/her
Barnacle is our 90% floof, 10 % rabbit Maltipoo puppy. She started traveling the World with us as soon as we got her at 9 weeks old, and she loves sailing!
