Stephen Webb stopped working earlier this year, but is still up at 5.30am to get ready for his day. Living on a boat with his wife Debbie, they need to be up and out early to take advantage of the day’s conditions.
“It depends on the winds and the tides. Sometimes we just have to catch a tide, or take advantage of winds we know are going to disappear,” Debbie, 65, explains.
The couple are currently aboard their yacht, the T-Shanti, near Loch Fyne on the west coast of Scotland. The 53ft vessel is their permanent home, which they share with their “boat dog”, Molly the spaniel.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R24e4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R44e4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeStephen, 70, a retired engineer who sold his business in the spring, has been sailing on and off since he was eight. But Debbie, who still works as a financial adviser, came to the water much later.
Having separated from her ex-husband in 2005, Debbie turned to online dating and was looking for some adventure.
“I decided to look for a sailor. And I found Stephen, first go,” she says. They bought a small boat together just months after meeting, before upsizing a couple of years later. After enjoying sailing around Devon and Cornwall, the couple decided a life on the water would be their long-term retirement plan.
“Then, out of the blue, came this boat for sale for £35,000,” Stephen says.
Debbie and Stephen plan to sail around the Hebrides next, then Gibraltar - Stuart NicolThe T-Shanti had been out of the water for four years, resting at Dartside, Devon – an area the couple knew from keeping their other boats at Brixham.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2be4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4be4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeStephen says: “It was beautiful on the inside, but it needed painting on the outside. The owner just hadn’t done anything.”
It was clear the yacht was going to require a lot of investment, but the couple were determined to make it their new home. Debbie took a personal loan from the bank for £45,000; 10 minutes and a phone call later, the boat was theirs.
However, they needed more money for renovations. The couple released some funds themselves after remortgaging some of their rental properties, and took out further borrowing.
It would cost more than £65,000 to do the works the yacht needed before it could be relaunched. Nearly a third – £20,000 – was spent on new electronics, including solar panels. A specialist came out to redo all the rigging, and the outside was repainted from blue to white.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2he4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4he4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe“We were covered in blue dust for weeks and weeks,” Debbie says.
After blowing through their whole budget in a year, the boat was launched in July 2020. “We sailed from the River Dart all the way round to the Bristol Channel, up to the marina in Portishead.”
As the couple had been previously renting, they didn’t need to sell a property to move off-land. They lived on the marina there for five years, while both worked nearby. “At the end we were paying about £670 [for mooring] a month,” Stephen says.
Running costs
In the past five years, the couple has spent nearly £159,000 on their yacht, including maintenance and trips to the Scilly Isles and Ireland. This total includes routine costs, such as berthing fees that have added up to £53,780. Another consideration is insurance, for which the couple paid £940 last year.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2ne4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4ne4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeHow much a boat costs to run depends on the size, age, condition of the boat, and where it is moored. Mooring costs are often the most significant, according to Boats.com.
For those using inland waterways, you’ll need a Canal and River Trust licence – and prices for this are rising. The trust introduced a 4pc increase on April 1, and plans to continue to raise prices every year up to and including 2028.
The cost for boats moving all the time – known as continuously cruising – will also increase by up to 25pc every year.
Richard Parry, chief executive of the trust, says: “Our charity is facing a combination of more extreme weather brought by climate change, an ageing network that is costly to fix, with higher material prices, and reducing government funding.”
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2te4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4te4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeFor the Webbs, such price rises leave them undeterred, and they are serious about spending their retirement on the T-Shanti.
Stephen and Debbie spent more than £65,000 on renovating the T-Shanti before setting sail with their dog Molly - Stuart NicolAfter Stephen sold his business – following three years of Debbie trying to convince him it was time – they have been able to plan for longer and more involved trips. They know there may come a time when they cannot continue to live onboard, but have decided to sail for as long as possible and cross that bridge when they get to it.
“It has been very difficult to accept that I am retired, and losing all of those customers whom I regarded as friends,” Stephen says.
‘Expensive, but worth it’
However, boat maintenance keeps him busy. The couple currently have an engine problem which will mean that the T-Shanti needs to come out of the water, so they are pootling around the Lochs until there is space in Clyde Marina, Ardrossan, where they can get it fixed.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R34e4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R54e4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe“Maintenance on a boat is a lot more complicated than on a house because of all the different systems you’ve got on board,” Stephen says.
Despite the challenges and costs that come from life on a boat, it’s the freedom and opportunity to visit beautiful parts of the world that make it worthwhile. “It’s a lifestyle choice, and we have spent quite a lot of money on providing that lifestyle choice,” Stephen says, speaking from Scotland. “Only when you get to anchorages like today do you think, ‘Wow, this was worth it’.”
Once the boat is fixed, their plan is to sail around the Hebrides and in August, go up the Caledonian canal, and then sail down the East coast.
Then, after some time in Ipswich, they might spend winter in the Solent, or head over to Portugal – they haven’t decided yet.
Keeping up family ties
One place they will definitely visit is Gibraltar, where Stephen’s father, who died at the age of 94, first discovered a love of sailing.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R3be4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R5be4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeHe says: “My father died recently. So we’re going to drop a teaspoon of his ashes in each of his favourite sailing spots, finishing off in Gibraltar.”
Living on the water means it can be difficult to see family, but they find other ways to keep in touch. The couple have their post sent to Stephen’s stepmother’s address, and she opens it and tells them what it contains.
Between them, they have four adult children, who are scattered all over the world (one in South Africa, one in Dubai, and another about to move to Amsterdam).
“The girls, it doesn’t really affect them, because we can only see them if we make a plan to actually visit,” Debbie says. “The boys are fine, they’re both starting out on their own careers.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R3ge4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R5ge4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe“We’ve never expected to live around the corner from each other.”
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