Hi, I’m Chris!

I grew up in Maine along the coast and have always loved boating and sailing.  There’s something magical about it.

After I graduated college and started working I realized I wanted to abandon land and live full time on a boat.  It was a winding path but eventually, at the age of 45, I was able to make it happen.

The biggest challenge for me was the frustrating child custody order I had, while I had sole custody of my two boys and their mother only saw them in a supervised setting she still had her rights, and given how prickly family court can be my lawyer made it clear to “be normal” and “play the game”.  So I did.  Lived in a house until we moved to Portland Maine where we lived in a lovely little condo.

I ended up working for the school district, got my master’s degree, became a school librarian, and eventually earned my doctorate and moved up to teaching grad school online.  As far as “playing the game” as advised by my lawyer I think I did pretty well.

These days I work as an associate professor and program director at a midwestern university with all of my courses online.  I teach in the hospitality management program and the instructional design program. My focus is on instructional technology, distance education, educational media, and other instructional design-related areas.  With my focus on educational media design and development, I’m hoping to share what I learn about living on a boat with some gusto once we arrive at our goal.

Eventually the boys’ mother moved 1,000 miles away and with my oldest then 19 and my youngest 15 we decided to take the chance and move full time on the boat and roam.  We roam from Maine in the summer to Florida in the winter.

And as the boys get ready to move off the boat I’m about to discover singlehanding.

Apollo is a Seal Point Siamese cat, he moved full time on the boat when he was just 6 months old and now refuses to get off.  Taking him off the boat for things like vet appointments feels like a battle.

He loves living on board and exploring the different places we go, from the safety of the boat, and he especially likes meeting new people.