Somewhere deep down it’s a dream many of us have—sell the house, sell the car, quit the job, and travel the world. The concept of sampling new cultures and laying eyes on every land this planet has to offer is appealing, if not tantalizing.
Rational and practical thought however, usually tell us to abandon this dream, to hold on to our possessions, to keep ourselves anchored to a home base—that world travel on such a scale is a privilege of only the wealthiest among us. Against the odds, former Ledyard resident Tom Lawler was unwilling to give up the dream.
Tom, his wife, Kim, and their 7-year-old daughter, Emily, have embarked on what is planned to be a five-year, world-encircling voyage, pushing off from the Shennecossett Yacht Club in Groton on July 15.
The odyssey was not planned in haste; just the opposite, Tom’s plan was put into motion years ago. Having grown up near the ocean and boats their whole lives, Tom and Kim always knew they shared a joy for both. After landing a job as an engineer at Electric Boat, with Kim finding success in the dental field, the couple bought a house in Ledyard where they immediately began saving their pennies.
Financially secure, but by no means wealthy, Tom and Kim decided to dabble in the stock market, hoping their investments would pay dividends down the road. And while the couple was smart with their income, they always made sure they had some budgeted away for their favorite summer vacation—cruising the Caribbean.
“We’ve been vacationing in the Caribbean for years and years, we really fell in love with it,” Tom said. “We’ve been to a majority of the islands down there at least once. What can I say? We like it where it’s warm and tropical.”
After working at EB for more than 20 years, Tom and Kim began planning for their grand adventure just after they welcomed Emily into the world.
First, Tom began calculating the costs and researching the logistics. One thing crucial to the plans was how old Emily should be when they set sail.
“I read a lot of articles on the topic,” Tom explained. “We wouldn’t have wanted to leave when Emily was only 4 or 5, because she’d really be too young to understand how important it is to be safe at all times, that if someone fell over it’s possible that they might not be coming back. And we didn’t want to leave when she was 11 or 12 because from everything I’ve read there isn’t a boat in the world that’s big enough to live on with a teenager.”
By choosing age 7, Tom and Kim felt Emily would have enough boat savvy, and in five years, she will be only 12 years old, with plenty of time to re-enter a school system and make friends before the formidable teenage years.
Tom researched all types of boats and became adept at reading coastal charts and maps and took classes to learn the necessary skills to live on the water for five years; diesel engine mechanics, ham radio operation, and even astral navigation. Kim has a solid medical background, not only being licensed in CPR and first aid, but she also knows other basic medical techniques and procedures.
“Yes, I’m the resident nurse onboard, so they’ll be fine, but if anything happens to me I’m just out of luck!” Kim joked.
With a game plan in place, it was time for the most important step: buying the boat.
Giving himself plenty of time to become acclimated to his vessel, Tom purchased a boat in 2006, selecting a Nordhavn model 46, essentially a 50-foot trawler, naming their soon-to-be home the Emily Grace, after his daughter. Excited by the prospect of sailing off to sea in her namesake, Emily let her creative side loose and painted an animal with the tail of a mermaid and the upper body of a unicorn—a combination of two of her favorite creatures—on the side of the dinghy’s outboard motor. Tom and Kim were so impressed they had the same creature embroidered on the flag that now flies at the front of the boat.
While becoming accustomed to his new boat, Tom also began to compile a list of all the repairs, alterations, and customizations the boat would need before it would be ready to become their home. An avid woodworker, Tom built much of the furniture and made more than 500 alterations in all, making the boat as space efficient and comfortable as possible.
The finished Emily Grace includes a family/dining table, a full compact kitchen, a mini washer and dryer, multiple sitting areas, two adequate bedrooms with a third sleeping area in the wheelhouse, two topside decks, a “back porch,” three diesel engines (one for propulsion, one for electricity, and one back-up), two kayaks, two dinghies, bikes, a gas grill, and even broadband Internet available anywhere in the world and DIRECTV.
So, with stores of food, various prescription medications (precautionary), a “classroom in a box” for Emily’s home schooling, and all their inoculations done, the Lawler family was finally ready and Tom’s preparations had finally paid off.
Now comes the journey.
Tom plans to sail north and stay around Maine for the remainder of the summer, staying out of range of any storms during the hurricane season. The family will sail back down along the East Coast in the fall, saying their final goodbyes to friends and family along the way. Tom hopes to be in the Caribbean for the winter to visit many of the islands they love. A trip to Venezuela and a few other parts of northern South America are also on the itinerary.
“That’s going to be our trial run,” Tom explained “That’s when we go all or nothing. Two things could happen. We could sail back home and get divorced, or we’ll commit and sail around the world.”
Assuming the latter, the family will then sail through the Panama Canal and make their next stop at the Galapagos Islands, one of the places Emily is most looking forward to visiting.
“I love animals,” Emily said, “and they have all kinds of different animals there. They have birds with blue feet and lizards that swim in the sea and penguins and lots of other animals, too!”
From there, the Emily Grace will sail to French Polynesia, down to New Zealand and Australia, then up to Indonesia and Malaysia. There the family will make another crucial decision. Depending on the amount of piracy being reported in and around the Indian Ocean, Tom and Kim would like to skirt along the shore of India, travel up the Red Sea and into the Mediterranean Sea, where they’ll visit all the historic areas along the southern European coast, something they want to do specifically for Emily.
If, however, the threat of piracy is too high, the family will sail south, past Madagascar and South Africa, and into the Southern Atlantic, then turn north to visit the Canary Islands before making their way back across the Atlantic, and eventually to Ludlow, Mass., where Tom and Kim intend to build a house.
Tom anticipates spending around $50,000 a year during the journey, a budget that was made possible through saving, wise investments, and the sale of their cars and house. Though it takes immense planning and an equal amount of courage, Tom is sure it will be the grandest adventure and experience of all of their lives.
“It’s a leisurely trip,” Tom said. “We’re just going to explore. We don’t have a real rigid schedule or any specific places we need to go. We’re just going to check it all out and stay at the places we like and sail off from the places we don’t. We’re all very excited.”