Carole Plouffe and her husband Benoit Plamondon have been planning a trip for years — the kind that could see them drowning in problems, if they’re not prepared.
And they’ll be gone for a while.
“A year,” says Plouffe, grinning.
The trip will take them from Montreal, down the St. Lawrence River, down the east coast to Florida then all the way to the Caribbean, then back up the coast to Florida — by boat.
“This boat is a Gibsea 106 1985, 35′ with three cabins,” she explains as she stands beside the white vessel with blue trim, docked at the La Ronde Marina, just behind the amusement park. They bought the boat just two years ago.
“A whole part of my life I always want to go away,” says Plamondon. “By car or bike, but it turns out it’s gonna be by boat.”
They’re stressed, working endlessly and consuming, with little to show for it. So much of their time was spent just trying to keep up, that their family life was suffering. Things even got to a point where their two older kids, who are now on their own, were seriously affected.
“My daughter was almost suicidal and my son was depressed, and us, too,” Plouffe tells Global News.
They decided it was time for a change and discovered sailing while on vacation. It took them six years to plan, save and train.
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“We’ve been taking courses, sailing courses, navigation courses, two of them,” she explains. “We took diesel mechanic courses, maritime radio courses …”
They even took a six-month sailing trip to practice, and now, they say, they’re ready.
They won’t be alone on the trip
“Both of our youngest children are coming as well,” she says. “We have an eight-year-old and a 12-year-old.”
The two boys will be home-schooled.
To prepare and save for the trip, all four have lived on the boat since May. That’s after living for years in a six-bedroom apartment.
“It’s quite a big change,” she laughs.
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Being forced to live with less has taught them about consuming and wasting less, one lesson Plouffe wants her boys to learn.
“You work, work, work, to buy, buy, buy, and consume, consume, consume, consume, and you don’t live your life,” Plouffe exclaims.
Her husband says they’re fully prepared and there’s not much that concerns him.
“Except huge waves when it’s stormy,” he says. “But except for that, I think everybody can manage something. “You just have a take a breath and think about what you have to do.”
They leave Montreal in September. When they return, then they’ll see where life takes them.
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