The most intimate ambition of Jorge Torres (44 years old) and his wife Peggy Lagadec (42) was born long before their family was complete. We go back to the summer of 2012, in the Glénans archipelago of French Brittany, where they decided to take a sailing course shortly after meeting in Paris. After that experience, which they did as a simple hobby during the months of recess, they realized that they moved better on the waves of the sea than on the asphalt of the French capital.
The following year, Jansan arrived, his first sailboat, a Django 750 from the Marée Haute shipyard. “It was a little boat with an outboard motor, an open stern and hardly any comfort. We bought it in Tarragona, and even though we had a lot of problems because we had no idea about navigation, we enjoyed it a lot,” explains Jorge. “We had it until our first daughter, Lou, was born in 2015.”
You might think that the arrival of a child freezes a couple's most intimate ambition, but this was not the case in this story. “With the birth of Lou we became even more eager to travel as a family and we began to research how to sail around the world,” says Peggy with a strong French accent from the region of Brittany, where she comes from. Before purchasing the boat to cross oceans and explore countries, they bought a van to learn how to travel as a family with the house on their backs.
The sailboat of his dreams had to meet at least three requirements: “It didn't have to be too big, because the bigger it is, the more money it will cost and the more difficult it will be to maneuver and repair,” says Jorge. “She had to allow us, yes, a minimum of comfort to live inside and have a steel hull to withstand the onslaught of the sea,” adds Peggy. Some friends told them that a couple made up of a Uruguayan, Miguel, and a Madrid woman, Dora, were selling a boat that met the requirements. A few weeks later, in May 2017, Jorge arrived in Greece to see and buy the boat.
“I fell in love instantly. It was a sailboat that they had loved very much and that shows and is important. “They acquired just the hull and hired a carpenter to build it from scratch,” she explains. The boat is ten and a half meters long. Two cabins in the stern and one in the bow, kitchen, bathroom and living room and chart table. “They left it equipped for us to live in: with sheets and cutlery included!”
Dora and Miguel baptized it Ocean VI because it was the boat with which they fulfilled their greatest dream, the one that many do not dare to imagine and that, the majority of mortals, even if they are capable of wishing it, rarely fulfill: a return to the sea. world aboard the boat that would last about ten years.
The summer of 2017 was spent on the island of Leros, Greece, with their new couple of friends learning how to handle the sailboat. And the next, Jorge brought the boat from the Dodecanese archipelago to Barcelona. It was a trip he took with some friends because Peggy was pregnant with her second daughter, Andrea.
Andrea's arrival pushed them to take the final leap. They agreed to leave their jobs and outlined the route to follow for the next three years: They would leave Barcelona to settle on the ship and begin the trip through the Balearic Islands, the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal and the Canary Islands archipelago, and from there they would jump to Cabo Green, where they are currently. Specifically, on the island of Sâo Nicolau.
From the African continent, in a few weeks, they will sail to the Caribbean to settle for about six months and then continue to Panama to tour South America, visiting, among other countries, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina.
The final point of the trip will be French Polynesia, where they plan to send their daughters to school. “On the island of Raiatea,” Jorge specifies. “Although I would like to spend more time in the French Antilles, and maybe we will end up schooling them there. “Anything is possible,” says Peggy.
What is certain is that they will make two major crossings: the Atlantic one, from Cape Verde to Guadeloupe, about 2,000 miles that will take them almost three weeks at sea, and the Pacific one, from Ecuador to the Marquesas Islands, which will be twice as long. (about 3,600 miles that they hope to reach in 30 days of navigation).
“We have saved to buy a few years of our life and travel and spend time with our daughters,” explains Jorge, a former salesman for a well-known Spanish automotive company. “During the last ten years we have prepared to fulfill our dream and that also means that we have saved and bought a small apartment that generates an income,” he adds. The boat cost them around 45,000 euros at the time. And they used around 20,000 to leave it to their liking. The medical kit they travel with is valued at over 1,500 euros.
“We have done everything we can to travel safely, but there are things that are out of our control. If something happens to us during the crossing, we have several doctor friends, a cardiologist, a pediatrician and a nurse, who we can consult and we have taken an ocean first aid course in which, among other things, we have learned to suture on board . At sea you are cut off; Therefore, you have to be prepared,” says Jorge. "Although not everything depends on you, there is a percentage that depends on the luck you have, there are those who call it the lucky star, destiny, and there you have to entrust yourself to the gods and trust in the universe."
Everyday life aboard the Ocean VI is something to learn, explore, contemplate. The girls are enrolled in the French distance education center. From nine to twelve noon, Peggy spends time with her daughters to catch up on the lesson and homework assigned to them by a teacher from Toulouse. Jorge is in charge of weather and navigation strategies, as well as keeping the boat in good condition. Although, sometimes, they exchange roles. After eating, the afternoon is free to get to know the landscape, people, culture and gastronomy of the countries they visit. In total, they plan to visit more than 20.
“Some people have called us irresponsible for traveling with our daughters and taking them out of school, but everything we learned on this trip we undertook six months ago is a school in itself,” says Jorge. “And not only with respect to other cultures, but also in autonomy and family life. In the city you have everything done, planned, easy. Here you have to do everything yourself every day. And girls learn to be responsible. Lou, for example, is essential when it comes to mooring the boat and helps us with other daily tasks, such as washing the dishes. Surely, in Barcelona she would not do it and here she feels proud because what she does is fundamental for the whole family.”
Nights at sea are no calmer. “While the crew sleeps, there is always a person awake ensuring that the ship maintains its course and the weather conditions and controlling the trajectory of the ships we pass to avoid risks of collision. Peggy and I sleep in separate beds, and it's not because we don't love each other,” Jorge says with amusement.
“What we like about the sailboat is that it allows us to travel with the house on top with total autonomy. We have just arrived in Sâo Nicolau, we did not plan to stay for too long, but we loved it and we will stay for a few weeks. Plans at sea change at all times and being flexible and adapting to circumstances are also values for our daughters,” she concludes.
