Mothership Adrift Podcast

We spent years talking about sailing off with the kids and doing precisely nothing about it. Then came Steve: a friend with a deafening motorbike who turned up every week to ask what we had actually achieved since last time. He was our accountability buddy, and he is the reason we stopped dreaming and started looking for a boat. This one is about finding your own Steve, dodging Someday Isle, and why a big plan lives or dies on whether you keep it moving. Cockpit Sessions serialises our book, one section at a time, as a conversation between the two of us. The book: https://www.alanwoodywood.com/books/doit Everything else: https://www.mothershipadrift.com

Eight years sailing round the world, three kids aboard, and the bare minimum of insurance backed by our own emergency fund. In all that time we never withdrew anything close to what full cover would have cost. Irenka's broken finger in Martinique that should have been €1,800 and came to €200, the dinghy claim we regretted, the bilge pump that could have voided a total-loss payout, the rabid dog I only worried about months later, and why healthcare outside the US costs far less than most people fear. Insurance can be a safety net. It shouldn't be a set of handcuffs. Cockpit Sessions serialises the book, one section at a time, as a conversation between the two of us. The book: https://www.alanwoodywood.com/books/doit Everything else: https://www.mothershipadrift.com

I don't think anybody is born practical. Irenka and I talk about learning to fix our own boat: the pub conversation I couldn't follow, the dead outboard I bought for 25 quid, the mechanic who rang me from a bar at nine at night to argue, and the time I asked ChatGPT how to wire a switch and fried the unit. Irenka also tells me why she was really in tears in Malaysia. Cockpit Sessions serialises the book, one section at a time, as a conversation between the two of us. The book: https://www.alanwoodywood.com/books/doit Everything else: https://www.mothershipadrift.com

Irenka can get an eight-year-old sailing in 16 hours. She taught for years before we left, and she's blunt about it: the sailing was never the thing standing in anyone's way. So we spend this one on what actually is. Where to start with no boat and no money, why a flotilla beats a course, the honeymoon couple who stopped speaking on day one, and what skippers really look for when they take on crew. Cockpit Sessions serialises our book, one section at a time, with both of us arguing about it. ▷ The book: https://www.alanwoodywood.com/books/doit ▷ https://www.mothershipadrift.com

Getting rid of almost everything weowned was one of the most freeing things we ever did. Irenka and I talk through what you really do with all your stuff when you sail off: selling, storing, digitising and letting go, and the china dog she made me sell. Cockpit Sessions is our sailing book,serialised one section at a time. Free book sample:https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook Website:https://www.mothershipadrift.com Getting rid of almost everything weowned was one of the most freeing things we ever did. Irenka and I talk throughwhat you really do with all your stuff when you sail off: selling, storing,digitising and letting go, and the china dog she made me sell. Cockpit Sessions is our sailing book,serialised one section at a time. Free book sample:https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook Website:https://www.mothershipadrift.com Getting rid of almost everything weowned was one of the most freeing things we ever did. Irenka and I talk throughwhat you really do with all your stuff when you sail off: selling, storing,digitising and letting go, and the china dog she made me sell. Cockpit Sessions is our sailing book,serialised one section at a time. Free book sample:https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook Website:https://www.mothershipadrift.com

SPOTIFY DESCRIPTION: Walking away from a career feels like career suicide, but the wage is usually the least of it. What you’re really giving up is the identity and status that come with the job. Irenka and I get into what actually happens to your work when you go, whether you can take it with you, and why a break is more survivable than it looks. Plus the ten year gap that knocked Irenka’s confidence, and why we skipped the tennis lessons and gave the kids the Galapagos instead. Cockpit Sessions is me and Irenka working through our book, Mothership Adrift, one section at a time. ▷ BOOK & FREE SAMPLE: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook▷ WEBSITE: https://www.mothershipadrift.com

Money stops more families going than anything else, so this episode is the honest budget. What a boat really costs, the bargain boat trap, how five of us lived on about £2,000 a month, the £200 wedding, and why Irenka would do the whole thing again in a smaller boat. Cockpit Sessions serialises our book one section at a time, as a conversation between the two of us. Free book sample: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook Website: https://www.mothershipadrift.com

You can't convince a reluctant partner to sail round the world, and trying is how these plans fall apart before they start. Irenka and I on the difference between fear and simply not wanting to go, why convincing is the wrong goal, and how we found out years in that we'd wanted the same trip for different reasons. Cockpit Sessions serialises our book one chapter at a time, a two-hander on escaping the rat race by sea. Book and free sample: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook Website: https://www.mothershipadrift.com

Everyone warns that the hardest part of sailing away is losing your people. Friends, family, the whole sense of belonging. Eight years and a full circumnavigation later, it went the other way. The friends that mattered got closer, and we found a second family at sea on top. Before you even leave, some people start pulling away, which feels a lot like grief. Irenka's mum kept our spirits up with a steady supply of newspaper clippings about boats sinking. Then you get out there and find a community that forms so fast you can knock on a stranger's hull and be best mates by sundown. Irenka will talk to anyone. I get peopled out the moment a crowd forms. We never did settle which of us is right. Cockpit Sessions is the podcast where we work through the book behind our eight-year family circumnavigation, one conversation at a time. 📖 Book (working title) and free sample: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook 🎬 More from us: https://www.mothershipadrift.com

Taking the kids out of school was the most frightening part of going. It felt like hitting a big red eject button on their future. Eight years and a full circumnavigation later, both boys are back on land and reintegrated, and the honest answer is: they were fine. Better than fine. Just not in the ways a report card measures. This is the answer to the question more Telegraph readers asked than any other. Their academic side held up. What threw them was the slow grind of the institutional school day on the way back in. Yewan can't understand why school takes a whole day to teach what the boat taught in two hours. Darry was refused GCSE biology, and now gives talks on entomology. We also disagree, properly, about whether an AI tutor could ever beat a real teacher. We didn't reach a verdict. Cockpit Sessions is the podcast where we work through the book behind our eight-year family circumnavigation, one conversation at a time. 📖 Book (working title) and free sample: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook 🎬 More from us: https://www.mothershipadrift.com

The problem was never inspiration. It was hesitation. Procrastination. That fatal gap between deciding and actually doing. This is the episode where we admit how close we came to stopping. The maintenance disasters in Colombia, Malaysia and Australia. The canal crossings where turning back was still an option. The businesses we folded, the friends we didn't expect to miss, and the identity each of us had to give up to leave. We also disagree about whether Starlink and remote work have made the modern version of this too easy. Next episode we start taking apart the real reasons people don't go, beginning with the kids' education.Cockpit Sessions is the podcast where we work through the book behind our eight-year family circumnavigation, one conversation at a time. Cockpit Sessions Ep.06 — out now on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. — We're the Wood family — Woody, Irenka, Rowan, Darroch & Yewan. 8 years circumnavigating on a sailboat with 3 kids • ~40,000 miles • ~40 countries & territories • BOOK RELEASE July 2026 (working title): "Mothership Adrift: A Dad's Guide to Escaping the Rat Race" ▷ FREE SAMPLE: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook

We're the Wood family - Woody, Irenka, Rowan, Darroch & Yewan. 8 years circumnavigating on a sailboat with 3 kids • ~40,000 miles • ~40 countries & territories • BOOK RELEASE July 2026: "Mothership Adrift: A Dad's Guide to Escaping the Rat Race and Living a Life of Freedom, Travel and Adventure on the Sea with Your Kids" ▷FREE SAMPLE: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook -- 🎬 AS FEATURED IN: ▷Amazon Prime's "Adventure in Wonder" - Sizzle Reel: https://youtu.be/0YJSjKO4js8 - Trailer: https://youtu.be/7OfAmECKj7E ▷The Telegraph: We quit rat race for eight-year sailing adventure - Read Through: https://youtu.be/5NnprymsWC0 - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activity-and-adventure/eight-year-sailing-adventure/ ▷The Telegraph: We spent 8-year sailing around the world. This was the scariest part - Read Through: https://youtu.be/w7tgipworFE - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trips-of-a-lifetime/red-sea-around-the-world-sailing/ ▷BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ep8w192yno ▷BBC South East Today: https://youtu.be/BuJe4VtLLmQ ▷GB News: https://youtu.be/KN5yhpD1csA ▷Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/we-are-raising-kids-sea-during-covid19-1530315 ▷Yachting Monthly Award Winner: https://youtu.be/Y1icRewwML8 ▷Lonely Planet: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/families-living-on-the-sea ▷Full press: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/about -- MORE MOTHERSHIP CONTENT: ▷BOOK: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook ▷PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift ▷YOUTUBE MOTHERSHIP MAINTENANCE: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipmaintenance ▷YOUTUBE MOTHERSHIP ADRIFT: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipadrift ▷YOUTUBE PODCASTS: https://www.youtube.com/@MothershipAdriftPodcast ▷SPOTIFY PODCASTS: https://open.spotify.com/show/7uv5MGLkCP1xsr9Thc0MYi?si=8a4326c9bef34c86 ▷INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mothershipadrift ▷FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/mothershipadrift ▷WEBSITE: https://www.mothershipadrift.com --- There are 2 ways to start. Woody's spreadsheet method or Irenka one-way ticket method. Both ended up sailing around the world for eight years. This episode covers what the first step looked like for 2 completely different people, the families they met out there who started with even less, and why the question is never where to start or how to start. It's just.. start. Along the way: a Russian family from Siberia who bought a concrete boat and are still sailing. An Israeli family who bought a boat during COVID and learned as they went. An American who binge-watched YouTube for a year and is now completing his circumnavigation. Why interpersonal skills and a good pot of stew will get you further than a Yachtmaster certificate. Why your boat will never be ready. And why secondary port calculations are the nautical equivalent of learning to ride a horse in case your car breaks down. --- 💙 SUPPORT OUR CHANNELS: A big THANK-YOU to our MOTHERSHIP PATREON family who make these videos possible. What is a Patreon? A Patreon is a regular person like you, who helps content creators like us, to make entertaining and useful stuff like this! If you'd like to help towards the filming, editing and data costs of our Mothership Adrift channels, please: ▷ Click the SUPER THANKS button below the video ▷ Follow the Paypal link: https://paypal.me/Mothershipadrift ▷ Follow the Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift --- KEYWORDS: Cockpit Sessions, Mothership Adrift, go chase whales, adversity and resilience, sailing circumnavigation, family sailing, liveaboard sailing, blue water sailing, sailing podcast, escape the rat race, sailing with kids, sperm whale research, whale darting, Indian Ocean sailing, confirmation bias, safe spaces, conformity and independence, sailing lifestyle, adventure lifestyle, how to live differently, sailing couple --- #EscapeTheRatRace #FinancialFreedom #AlternativeLifestyle #LifeDesign #FamilyAdventure

We're the Wood family - Woody, Irenka, Rowan, Darroch & Yewan. 8 years circumnavigating on a sailboat with 3 kids • ~40,000 miles • ~40 countries & territories • BOOK RELEASE July 2026: "Mothership Adrift: A Dad's Guide to Escaping the Rat Race and Living a Life of Freedom, Travel and Adventure on the Sea with Your Kids" ▷FREE SAMPLE: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook -- 🎬 AS FEATURED IN: ▷Amazon Prime's "Adventure in Wonder" - Sizzle Reel: https://youtu.be/0YJSjKO4js8 - Trailer: https://youtu.be/7OfAmECKj7E ▷The Telegraph: We quit rat race for eight-year sailing adventure - Read Through: https://youtu.be/5NnprymsWC0 - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activity-and-adventure/eight-year-sailing-adventure/ ▷The Telegraph: We spent 8-year sailing around the world. This was the scariest part - Read Through: https://youtu.be/w7tgipworFE - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trips-of-a-lifetime/red-sea-around-the-world-sailing/ ▷BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ep8w192yno ▷BBC South East Today: https://youtu.be/BuJe4VtLLmQ ▷GB News: https://youtu.be/KN5yhpD1csA ▷Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/we-are-raising-kids-sea-during-covid19-1530315 ▷Yachting Monthly Award Winner: https://youtu.be/Y1icRewwML8 ▷Lonely Planet: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/families-living-on-the-sea ▷Full press: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/about -- MORE MOTHERSHIP CONTENT: ▷BOOK: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook ▷PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift ▷YOUTUBE MOTHERSHIP MAINTENANCE: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipmaintenance ▷YOUTUBE MOTHERSHIP ADRIFT: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipadrift ▷YOUTUBE PODCASTS: https://www.youtube.com/@MothershipAdriftPodcast ▷SPOTIFY PODCASTS: https://open.spotify.com/show/7uv5MGLkCP1xsr9Thc0MYi?si=8a4326c9bef34c86 ▷INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mothershipadrift ▷FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/mothershipadrift ▷WEBSITE: https://www.mothershipadrift.com --- Life is a book and it's shorter than you think. This episode is about the people who write a better one.Woody grew up in a mining village in northern England where you got in the trades. Irenka was a latchkey kid in a blended Czech-English family, They both ended up sailing around the world by refusing to follow the preset path. This is how that happens.Why adversity builds resilience rather than damage. What happens to your brain when everything is made safe and why it's the same thing that happens to an astronaut's legs! The moment Irenka encountered the concept of safe spaces and was entirely unconvinced. Why people born into a religion or a culture tend to stay there, and what it takes to break out. And why Woody once jumped into the Indian Ocean with a blood-tipped dart, an angry sperm whale below him and sharks in the water, waiting ten minutes for the boat to come back. --- 💙 SUPPORT OUR CHANNELS: A big THANK-YOU to our MOTHERSHIP PATREON family who make these videos possible. What is a Patreon? A Patreon is a regular person like you, who helps content creators like us, to make entertaining and useful stuff like this! If you'd like to help towards the filming, editing and data costs of our Mothership Adrift channels, please: ▷ Click the SUPER THANKS button below the video ▷ Follow the Paypal link: https://paypal.me/Mothershipadrift ▷ Follow the Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift --- KEYWORDS: Cockpit Sessions, Mothership Adrift, go chase whales, adversity and resilience, sailing circumnavigation, family sailing, liveaboard sailing, blue water sailing, sailing podcast, escape the rat race, sailing with kids, sperm whale research, whale darting, Indian Ocean sailing, confirmation bias, safe spaces, conformity and independence, sailing lifestyle, adventure lifestyle, how to live differently, sailing couple --- #EscapeTheRatRace #FinancialFreedom #AlternativeLifestyle #LifeDesign #FamilyAdventure

We're the Wood family - Woody, Irenka, Rowan, Darroch & Yewan. 8 years circumnavigating on a sailboat with 3 kids • ~40,000 miles • ~40 countries & territories • BOOK RELEASE July 2026: "Mothership Adrift: A Dad's Guide to Escaping the Rat Race and Living a Life of Freedom, Travel and Adventure on the Sea with Your Kids" ▷FREE SAMPLE: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook -- 🎬 AS FEATURED IN: ▷Amazon Prime's "Adventure in Wonder" - Sizzle Reel: https://youtu.be/0YJSjKO4js8 - Trailer: https://youtu.be/7OfAmECKj7E ▷The Telegraph: We quit rat race for eight-year sailing adventure - Read Through: https://youtu.be/5NnprymsWC0 - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activity-and-adventure/eight-year-sailing-adventure/ ▷The Telegraph: We spent 8-year sailing around the world. This was the scariest part - Read Through: https://youtu.be/w7tgipworFE - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trips-of-a-lifetime/red-sea-around-the-world-sailing/ ▷BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ep8w192yno ▷BBC South East Today: https://youtu.be/BuJe4VtLLmQ ▷GB News: https://youtu.be/KN5yhpD1csA ▷Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/we-are-raising-kids-sea-during-covid19-1530315 ▷Yachting Monthly Award Winner: https://youtu.be/Y1icRewwML8 ▷Lonely Planet: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/families-living-on-the-sea ▷Full press: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/about -- MORE MOTHERSHIP CONTENT: ▷BOOK: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook ▷PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift ▷YOUTUBE MOTHERSHIP MAINTENANCE: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipmaintenance ▷YOUTUBE MOTHERSHIP ADRIFT: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipadrift ▷YOUTUBE PODCASTS: https://www.youtube.com/@MothershipAdriftPodcast ▷SPOTIFY PODCASTS: https://open.spotify.com/show/7uv5MGLkCP1xsr9Thc0MYi?si=8a4326c9bef34c86 ▷INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mothershipadrift ▷FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/mothershipadrift ▷WEBSITE: https://www.mothershipadrift.com --- The difference between people who dream about a life of adventure and people who actually go and live one comes down to a single thing. Mindset. This episode - two people with completely different approaches to risk, planning and uncertainty talk through what actually separates the ones who go from the ones who don't. Irenka left home at seventeen with a borrowed one-way ticket to Southeast Asia and no plan. Woody bought a round-the-world itinerary and trained for four months before stepping on a boat. They both ended up sailing around the world. Also: why in Brighton, you're never more than twenty feet from a juggler, what a five-year-old building a sandcastle could teach Seth Godin, why having an escape route gives you the courage to escape. Cockpit Sessions is the series in which Woody and Irenka work through the book behind their eight-year sailing circumnavigation, one conversation at a time. --- 💙 SUPPORT OUR CHANNELS: A big THANK-YOU to our MOTHERSHIP PATREON family who make these videos possible. What is a Patreon? A Patreon is a regular person like you, who helps content creators like us, to make entertaining and useful stuff like this! If you'd like to help towards the filming, editing and data costs of our Mothership Adrift channels, please: ▷ Click the SUPER THANKS button below the video ▷ Follow the Paypal link: https://paypal.me/Mothershipadrift ▷ Follow the Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift --- KEYWORDS: Cockpit Sessions, Mothership Adrift, sailing mindset, escape the rat race, sailing circumnavigation, family sailing, liveaboard sailing, blue water sailing, sailing podcast, sailing with kids, adventure mindset, how to quit your job and travel, sailing around the world, Seth Godin, risk taking, adventure lifestyle, how to stop making excuses, sailing couple, Brighton, mindset for travel --- #CockpitSessions #MothershipAdrift #FamilySailing #BlueWaterSailing #EscapeTheRatRace

No podcast this week. Just an update from the cockpit of our boat in Aktio Yard, Lefkas, in the Ionian Islands. The boat has been on the market for six months. The market is flat. There are repairs to finish, batteries to check, a seized generator to coax back to life, and an antifoul hull that has developed an unfortunate chalky white bloom thanks to the new EU-approved environmentally friendly formula. Progress.The other job today is walking to the airport to collect my dad. The taxi is €25 each way, which is the price of two meals at the local taverna, so the maths on that is straightforward. It is almost exactly nine years since my dad came out to Cleopatra Marina, just next door to where the boat is now, to help us get her ready for the circumnavigation. He is coming out now to help get her ready to sell. That is quite a bookend. Normal podcasts resume next week with Irenka back in the UK. We're the Wood family - Woody, Irenka, Rowan, Darroch & Yewan. 8 years circumnavigating on a sailboat with 3 kids • ~40,000 miles • ~40 countries & territories • BOOK RELEASE July 2026: "Mothership Adrift: A Dad's Guide to Escaping the Rat Race and Living a Life of Freedom, Travel and Adventure on the Sea with Your Kids" ▷FREE SAMPLE: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook -- 🎬 AS FEATURED IN: ▷Amazon Prime's "Adventure in Wonder" - Sizzle Reel: https://youtu.be/0YJSjKO4js8 - Trailer: https://youtu.be/7OfAmECKj7E ▷The Telegraph: We quit rat race for eight-year sailing adventure - Read Through: https://youtu.be/5NnprymsWC0 - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activity-and-adventure/eight-year-sailing-adventure/ ▷The Telegraph: We spent 8-year sailing around the world. This was the scariest part - Read Through: https://youtu.be/w7tgipworFE - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trips-of-a-lifetime/red-sea-around-the-world-sailing/ ▷BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ep8w192yno ▷BBC South East Today: https://youtu.be/BuJe4VtLLmQ ▷GB News: https://youtu.be/KN5yhpD1csA ▷Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/we-are-raising-kids-sea-during-covid19-1530315 ▷Yachting Monthly Award Winner: https://youtu.be/Y1icRewwML8 ▷Lonely Planet: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/families-living-on-the-sea ▷Full press: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/about -- MORE MOTHERSHIP CONTENT: ▷BOOK: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook ▷PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift ▷YOUTUBE MOTHERSHIP MAINTENANCE: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipmaintenance ▷YOUTUBE MOTHERSHIP ADRIFT: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipadrift ▷YOUTUBE PODCASTS: https://www.youtube.com/@MothershipAdriftPodcast ▷SPOTIFY PODCASTS: https://open.spotify.com/show/7uv5MGLkCP1xsr9Thc0MYi?si=8a4326c9bef34c86 ▷INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mothershipadrift ▷FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/mothershipadrift ▷WEBSITE: https://www.mothershipadrift.com --- 💙 SUPPORT OUR CHANNELS: A big THANK-YOU to our MOTHERSHIP PATREON family who make these videos possible. What is a Patreon? A Patreon is a regular person like you, who helps content creators like us, to make entertaining and useful stuff like this! If you'd like to help towards the filming, editing and data costs of our Mothership Adrift channels, please: ▷ Click the SUPER THANKS button below the video ▷ Follow the Paypal link: https://paypal.me/Mothershipadrift ▷ Follow the Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift --- KEYWORDSMothership Adrift, boatyard update, Aktio yard, Lefkas Greece, Ionian Islands, sailing circumnavigation, selling a yacht, boat maintenance, liveaboard sailing, blue water sailing, sailing family, Cleopatra Marina, sailing podcast, yacht for sale Mediterranean, sailing life update #MothershipAdrift #Sailing #IonianIslands #Boatyard #BlueWaterSailing

We're the Wood family - Woody, Irenka, Rowan, Darroch & Yewan. 8 years circumnavigating on a sailboat with 3 kids • ~40,000 miles • ~40 countries & territories • BOOK RELEASE July 2026: "Mothership Adrift: A Dad's Guide to Escaping the Rat Race and Living a Life of Freedom, Travel and Adventure on the Sea with Your Kids"▷FREE SAMPLE: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook -- 🎬 AS FEATURED IN: ▷Amazon Prime's "Adventure in Wonder" - Sizzle Reel: https://youtu.be/0YJSjKO4js8 - Trailer: https://youtu.be/7OfAmECKj7E ▷The Telegraph: We quit rat race for eight-year sailing adventure - Read Through: https://youtu.be/5NnprymsWC0 - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activity-and-adventure/eight-year-sailing-adventure/ ▷The Telegraph: We spent 8-year sailing around the world. This was the scariest part - Read Through: https://youtu.be/w7tgipworFE - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trips-of-a-lifetime/red-sea-around-the-world-sailing/ ▷BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ep8w192yno ▷BBC South East Today: https://youtu.be/BuJe4VtLLmQ ▷GB News: https://youtu.be/KN5yhpD1csA ▷Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/we-are-raising-kids-sea-during-covid19-1530315 ▷Yachting Monthly Award Winner: https://youtu.be/Y1icRewwML8 ▷Lonely Planet: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/families-living-on-the-sea ▷Full press: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/about -- MORE MOTHERSHIP CONTENT: ▷BOOK: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook ▷PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift ▷YOUTUBE MOTHERSHIP MAINTENANCE: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipmaintenance ▷YOUTUBE MOTHERSHIP ADRIFT: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipadrift ▷YOUTUBE PODCASTS: https://www.youtube.com/@MothershipAdriftPodcast ▷SPOTIFY PODCASTS: https://open.spotify.com/show/7uv5MGLkCP1xsr9Thc0MYi?si=8a4326c9bef34c86 ▷INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mothershipadrift ▷FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/mothershipadrift ▷WEBSITE: https://www.mothershipadrift.com --- What does freedom actually mean day to day? That is the question this episode tries to answer. It starts in a boatyard in Spain during the strictest COVID lockdown in Europe, with a family who had quit everything to be free, stuck on a boat - no sanitation and 3 kids. It ends with Orwell, a quiet walk to the pub, and the realisation that the definition of freedom tends to get smaller and more honest the more of it you actually pursue. In between: the sound of an anchor chain, an engine cutting out, sailing into a bay in Vanuatu with a small beach bar. The freedom from maintenance versus the freedom to just sit and think. Tofu versus steak. Why the opposite of freedom might be responsibility. And why the people with the least money sometimes understand it best. Cockpit Sessions is the series in which Woody and Irenka work through the book behind the circumnavigation, one conversation at a time. --- 💙 SUPPORT OUR CHANNELS: A big THANK-YOU to our MOTHERSHIP PATREON family who make these videos possible. What is a Patreon? A Patreon is a regular person like you, who helps content creators like us, to make entertaining and useful stuff like this! If you'd like to help towards the filming, editing and data costs of our Mothership Adrift channels, please: ▷ Click the SUPER THANKS button below the video ▷ Follow the Paypal link: https://paypal.me/Mothershipadrift ▷ Follow the Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift --- KEYWORDS: Cockpit Sessions, Mothership Adrift, what is freedom, sailing circumnavigation, family sailing, liveaboard sailing, blue water sailing, sailing podcast, escape the rat race, sailing with kids, freedom philosophy, COVID lockdown sailing, sailing lifestyle, adventure lifestyle, sailing couple, Vanuatu sailing, sailing around the world, meaning of freedom, sailing family life, life after circumnavigation --- #EscapeTheRatRace #FinancialFreedom #AlternativeLifestyle #BlueWaterSailing #FamilySailing

We're the Wood family - Woody, Irenka and 3 kids circumnavigating on a sailboat for 8 years • ~40,000 miles • ~40 countries & territories • BOOK RELEASE July 2026: "Mothership Adrift: A Dad's Guide to Escaping the Rat Race and Living a Life of Freedom, Travel and Adventure on the Sea with Your Kids" https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook -- 🎬 AS FEATURED IN: ▷Amazon Prime's "Adventure in Wonder" - Sizzle Reel: https://youtu.be/0YJSjKO4js8 - Trailer: https://youtu.be/7OfAmECKj7E ▷The Telegraph: We quit rat race for eight-year sailing adventure - Read Through: https://youtu.be/5NnprymsWC0 - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activity-and-adventure/eight-year-sailing-adventure/ ▷The Telegraph: We spent 8-year sailing around the world. This was the scariest part - Read Through: https://youtu.be/w7tgipworFE - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trips-of-a-lifetime/red-sea-around-the-world-sailing/ ▷BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ep8w192yno ▷BBC South East Today: https://youtu.be/BuJe4VtLLmQ ▷GB News: https://youtu.be/KN5yhpD1csA ▷Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/we-are-raising-kids-sea-during-covid19-1530315 ▷Yachting Monthly Award Winner: https://youtu.be/Y1icRewwML8 ▷Lonely Planet: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/families-living-on-the-sea ▷Full press: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/about -- MORE MOTHERSHIP CONTENT: 🎙️ Share this Podcast channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MothershipAdriftPodcast 📺 Travel and Sailing channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipadrift 🔧 Learn how we fix our boat: https://www.youtube.com/c/Mothershipmaintenance 📧 Free book chapter: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook 💙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift 🌐 Website: https://www.mothershipadrift.com 📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mothershipadrift 👥 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mothershipadrift --- Before the boat. Before the circumnavigation. Before any of it, there were two people in two different cities who had both quietly made the same decision without knowing the other existed. This is Episode 01 of Cockpit Sessions, a new series from Mothership Adrift in which Woody and Irenka work through the book behind the voyage, one conversation at a time. This episode covers the moment before the decision: a canal boat in Leeds, the Thames in London, a competent crew course in Ibiza, a transatlantic crossing with someone she'd just met, a flotilla season in Greece, a pregnancy that wasn't in the briefing notes, a financial crisis that took five years of savings, a veiled birth, a £7.50 Lego engagement ring, and a wedding reception that nobody had booked a table for. --- 💙 SUPPORT OUR CHANNELS: A big THANK-YOU to our MOTHERSHIP PATREON family who make these videos possible. What is a Patreon? A Patreon is a regular person like you, who helps content creators like us, to make entertaining and useful stuff like this! If you'd like to help towards the filming, editing and data costs of our Mothership Adrift channels, please: ▷ Click the SUPER THANKS button below the video ▷ Follow the Paypal link: https://paypal.me/Mothershipadrift ▷ Follow the Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift --- KEYWORDS:Cockpit Sessions, Mothership Adrift, sailing circumnavigation, family sailing, liveaboard sailing, blue water sailing, sailing podcast, escape the rat race, sailing with kids, Neilson flotilla holidays, learn to sail, RYA sailing, veiled birth, en caul birth, sailing lifestyle, adventure lifestyle, sailing couple, how to sail around the world, flotilla skipper, sailing origin story--- #CockpitSessions #MothershipAdrift #FamilySailing #BlueWaterSailing #EscapeTheRatRace

We're the Wood family - Woody, Irenka and 3 kids circumnavigating on a sailboat for 8 years • ~40,000 miles • ~40 countries & territories • BOOK RELEASE June 2026: "Mothership Adrift: A Dad's Guide to Escaping the Rat Race and Living a Life of Freedom, Travel and Adventure on the Sea with Your Kids" https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook -- 🎬 AS FEATURED IN: ▷Amazon Prime's "Adventure in Wonder" - Sizzle Reel: https://youtu.be/0YJSjKO4js8 - Trailer: https://youtu.be/7OfAmECKj7E ▷The Telegraph: We quit rat race for eight-year sailing adventure - Read Through: https://youtu.be/5NnprymsWC0 - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activity-and-adventure/eight-year-sailing-adventure/ ▷The Telegraph: We spent 8-year sailing around the world. This was the scariest part - Read Through: https://youtu.be/w7tgipworFE - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trips-of-a-lifetime/red-sea-around-the-world-sailing/ ▷BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ep8w192yno ▷BBC South East Today: https://youtu.be/BuJe4VtLLmQ ▷GB News: https://youtu.be/KN5yhpD1csA ▷Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/we-are-raising-kids-sea-during-covid19-1530315 ▷Yachting Monthly Award Winner: https://youtu.be/Y1icRewwML8 ▷Lonely Planet: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/families-living-on-the-sea ▷Full press: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/about -- MORE MOTHERSHIP CONTENT: 🎙️ Share this Podcast channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MothershipAdriftPodcast 📺 Travel and Sailing channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipadrift 🔧 Learn how we fix our boat: https://www.youtube.com/c/Mothershipmaintenance 📧 Free book chapter: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook 💙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift 🌐 Website: https://www.mothershipadrift.com 📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mothershipadrift 👥 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mothershipadrift --- Eight years. 40,000 miles. Three kids raised at sea. Then… Brighton. In this final episode, Irenka and Woody unpack the reality of coming ashore, and it’s not what they expected. Irenka arrives first, technically homeless, cycling the seafront with three kids, feeling she belongs out at sea. Woody follows two months later expecting a homecoming… and finds life has already moved on. They talk cost-of-living shocks, kids adapting to land, and Darry - rejected for GCSE biology - now giving talks on ants at national conferences. Turns out eight years of problem-solving doesn’t switch off when the boat does. --- 💙 SUPPORT OUR CHANNELS: A big THANK-YOU to our MOTHERSHIP PATREON family who make these videos possible. What is a Patreon? A Patreon is a regular person like you, who helps content creators like us, to make entertaining and useful stuff like this! If you'd like to help towards the filming, editing and data costs of our Mothership Adrift channels, please: ▷ Click the SUPER THANKS button below the video ▷ Follow the Paypal link: https://paypal.me/Mothershipadrift ▷ Follow the Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift --- KEYWORDS: family sailing vlog, sailing around the world, sailing with kids, family cruising sailboat, liveaboard sailing life, offshore sailing, Amel Super Maramu, escape the rat race, financial freedom family, alternative lifestyle, quit job travel, life design, unconventional parenting, worldschooling, family gap year, sailing circumnavigation, returning from sailing, coming home after sailing, life after liveaboard, reintegration after travel, reverse culture shock, sailing family coming home, leaving the boat, end of sailing adventure, kids growing up on a boat, liveaboard kids, sailing family Brighton, was it worth it sailing, circumnavigation family, sailing retirement, sailing sabbatical, back to land life #familysailing #Circumnavigation #LiveaboardFamily #SailingWithKids #MothershipAdrift

We're the Wood family - Woody, Irenka and 3 kids circumnavigating on a sailboat for 8 years • ~40,000 miles • ~40 countries & territories • BOOK RELEASE June 2026: "Mothership Adrift: A Dad's Guide to Escaping the Rat Race and Living a Life of Freedom, Travel and Adventure on the Sea with Your Kids" https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook -- 🎬 AS FEATURED IN: ▷Amazon Prime's "Adventure in Wonder" - Sizzle Reel: https://youtu.be/0YJSjKO4js8 - Trailer: https://youtu.be/7OfAmECKj7E ▷The Telegraph: We quit rat race for eight-year sailing adventure - Read Through: https://youtu.be/5NnprymsWC0 - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activity-and-adventure/eight-year-sailing-adventure/ ▷The Telegraph: We spent 8-year sailing around the world. This was the scariest part - Read Through: https://youtu.be/w7tgipworFE - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trips-of-a-lifetime/red-sea-around-the-world-sailing/ ▷BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ep8w192yno ▷BBC South East Today: https://youtu.be/BuJe4VtLLmQ ▷GB News: https://youtu.be/KN5yhpD1csA ▷Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/we-are-raising-kids-sea-during-covid19-1530315 ▷Yachting Monthly Award Winner: https://youtu.be/Y1icRewwML8 ▷Lonely Planet: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/families-living-on-the-sea ▷Full press: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/about -- MORE MOTHERSHIP CONTENT: 🎙️ Share this Podcast channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MothershipAdriftPodcast 📺 Travel and Sailing channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipadrift 🔧 Learn how we fix our boat: https://www.youtube.com/c/Mothershipmaintenance 📧 Free book chapter: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook 💙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift 🌐 Website: https://www.mothershipadrift.com 📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mothershipadrift 👥 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mothershipadrift --- Irenka shook me awake. Told me there was a boat tailing us. I came on deck in my pants. That was the Red Sea. It lasted about 12 hours and compressed every possible risk factor into one stretch: armed men, a stuck anchor on a disputed border, a leaking engine, low fuel, free-diving at dusk in shark territory, an active war zone. The actual risks were piranhas we didn't know were there until we asked in Suriname. Fire ants on the sand, tarantulas in the kayak, and water you couldn't stand in too long. Crocodiles named after the dogs they'd eaten. An Australian beach sign that helpfully listed how long you had to reach hospital before each type of jellyfish sting killed you. Darry hanging his spearfishing catch over the stern to avoid blood on the deck, then waking at five in the morning when the sharks arrived. Someone left a comment on our Telegraph article saying our kids had virtually no experience that would equip them for life in the UK. Irenka has some thoughts on that. --- 💙 SUPPORT OUR CHANNELS: A big THANK-YOU to our MOTHERSHIP PATREON family who make these videos possible. What is a Patreon? A Patreon is a regular person like you, who helps content creators like us, to make entertaining and useful stuff like this! If you'd like to help towards the filming, editing and data costs of our Mothership Adrift channels, please: ▷ Click the SUPER THANKS button below the video ▷ Follow the Paypal link: https://paypal.me/Mothershipadrift ▷ Follow the Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift --- KEYWORDS sailing with kids safety, family sailing risk, sailing around the world dangers, is sailing dangerous with kids, Red Sea sailing family, liveaboard family safety, worldschooling risk, two skippers one boat, mothership adrift podcast, sailing family circumnavigation, risk management sailing, sailing Sudan Red Sea, family adventure risk, sailing with children safety, boat kids resilience #TwoSkippersOneBoat #FamilySailing #MothershipAdrift #SailingWithKids #RedSea

We're the Wood family - Woody, Irenka and 3 kids circumnavigating on a sailboat for 8 years • ~40,000 miles • ~40 countries & territories • BOOK RELEASE June 2026: "Mothership Adrift: A Dad's Guide to Escaping the Rat Race and Living a Life of Freedom, Travel and Adventure on the Sea with Your Kids" https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook -- 🎬 AS FEATURED IN: ▷Amazon Prime's "Adventure in Wonder" - Sizzle Reel: https://youtu.be/0YJSjKO4js8 - Trailer: https://youtu.be/7OfAmECKj7E ▷The Telegraph: We quit rat race for eight-year sailing adventure - Read Through: https://youtu.be/5NnprymsWC0 - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activity-and-adventure/eight-year-sailing-adventure/ ▷The Telegraph: We spent 8-year sailing around the world. This was the scariest part - Read Through: https://youtu.be/w7tgipworFE - Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trips-of-a-lifetime/red-sea-around-the-world-sailing/ ▷BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ep8w192yno ▷BBC South East Today: https://youtu.be/BuJe4VtLLmQ ▷GB News: https://youtu.be/KN5yhpD1csA ▷Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/we-are-raising-kids-sea-during-covid19-1530315 ▷Yachting Monthly Award Winner: https://youtu.be/Y1icRewwML8 ▷Lonely Planet: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/families-living-on-the-sea ▷Full press: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/about -- MORE MOTHERSHIP CONTENT: 🎙️ Share this Podcast channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MothershipAdriftPodcast 📺 Travel and Sailing channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/mothershipadrift 🔧 Learn how we fix our boat: https://www.youtube.com/c/Mothershipmaintenance 📧 Free book chapter: https://www.mothershipadrift.com/mothershipadriftbook 💙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift 🌐 Website: https://www.mothershipadrift.com 📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mothershipadrift 👥 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mothershipadrift --- People worried our kids would have no social life at sea.They had hundreds of friends across 40 countries. Irenka built the village. She joined knitting groups, scared families into staying in the marina with creative weather forecasts, arranged play dates 3 weeks in advance across 2 countries, and tracked teen boats across the Pacific. I found the whole thing quite exhausting. In this episode we go back through 8 years of building a social life on the move. The Kids For Sale Facebook group. The Mormon families and the lost city in Colombia. The gravitational pull of a 5-boat convoy. Screen time rules. And Yewan arriving at the local skate park to find it completely empty. Coming home turned out to be harder than being away. Friendships on land form through repetitive routine. Our kids have never had that Two Skippers, One Boat. Same journey. We don't always agree on what happened. 8 years of that social life is on the main Mothership Adrift channel. 250 videos of it. Link above. --- 💙 SUPPORT OUR CHANNELS: A big THANK-YOU to our MOTHERSHIP PATREON family who make these videos possible. What is a Patreon? A Patreon is a regular person like you, who helps content creators like us, to make entertaining and useful stuff like this! If you'd like to help towards the filming, editing and data costs of our Mothership Adrift channels, please: ▷ Click the SUPER THANKS button below the video ▷ Follow the Paypal link: https://paypal.me/Mothershipadrift ▷ Follow the Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/mothershipadrift --- KEYWORDS sailing with kids social life, boat kids socialisation, worldschooling social life, sailing family community, cruising community kids, liveaboard family social life, two skippers one boat, mothership adrift podcast, sailing kids friendships, boat kids coming home, family circumnavigation socialisation, buddy boating families, kids for sale sailing network, sailing teens social life, reverse culture shock children #TwoSkippersOneBoat #FamilySailing #MothershipAdrift #Worldschooling #BoatKids #SailingWithKids