Finding Karelia our Beneteau 50 sailboat

About how we found Karelia.

So to properly tell this one we must start with some background. We have been living here in Menorca, Balearic Islands, Spain for the past two years. Before coming here we spent a few years in California and Denmark before that.

All this to say, we have been on the rental market for quite some time now, moving from one temporary home to the next for over 10 years following educational and work opportunities around the globe.

When we said our goodbye to California to come to Spain it was with one fairly large vision in mind. We were going to find our forever home, a house out in nature in the tropical paradise. Menorca has for more than 20 years been declared by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve. So nature is fairly much secured. No more city living for these guys. Now just to find a house with a garden, something we could make our own and settle down for a few years while the kids get to place some roots and grow up.

We came to this decision mainly after spending Covid lockdown in our little apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area. We wanted to explore more, and spend time together. More like we had during lockdown. Not having hours taken of our day commuting to and from work, to have the kids experience some type of independence in their day, walking free around outside, and not have our stomachs turned upside down every time there is an active shooter drill at school. Something simple and green is what we were on the lookout for. So Google, and mainly Google Maps were explored quite a lot. We knew it would be someplace quite warm, it needed to be close to the ocean and preferably a bit forward-thinking on their policies. It was really just spinning our fingers on a map of the Mediterranean and somehow we ended up in Menorca. We had never been here before, but neither had we ever been to San Francisco nor Denmark before moving there.

So off we went

Life on a Paradise Island.

When we moved to Menorca we had really just booked a hotel room and a rental car for a month. We used the time to explore the island a bit, set up an independent worker business (Autónomo), and started our paperwork for a relocation. Our Icelandic Passports give us more or less free access to all of Europe. This was one of the main reasons we decided to come here rather than try our luck in North or South America. Visa process is not our favorite thing to deal with.

When our time at the hotel was coming to an end and we realized we might have been a bit too optimistic in the time it would take us to find a permanent home for the family. So we folded back to the rental market, which is quite small here on the island. Practically none existing, everything that isn't owned and lived in, is used for summer holiday rentals. But we finally managed to find a cosy space for us. We've been here for about 2 years now in an apartment in the center of Mahon.

We had a small office that was being used far too little, and we figured if we moved out of the city into one of the smaller towns. We might gain some outdoor space, and by terminating the office we'd be able to use the difference in a larger home for us all.

One of our friends on the island had heard about a house 15 min outside of the city that was coming up for rent. So we reached out and vent to take a look. It was exactly what we had been looking for when we first came to the island. A nice house that fits all of us, with a large outdoor space to enjoy during summer and the potential to grow our own fruit and veggies.

There were few things that we had to figure out. The rental term was for 2-3 years, so that would mean our own dream house would not be in sight for a few years since we would be stretching our budget on the rental market again. And we would definitely not go sailing around the world in the near future as we had dreamed of for a few years.

But we felt we could use a change after spending 2 years in the city, surrounded by tourist crowds that would gather right outside our doorstep.

So a family meeting was held, and the kids all loved the idea of a more private outdoor space. But, they didn't want to lose their independence in walking to and from school and sports. Having most of their friends within walking distance and being able to walk to 4 different playgrounds within 2 minutes, was something they would lose. So during the vote, it was obvious that we would be staying in our apartment for some time still.

The always-just-out-of-reach dream

Feeling defeated on the sofa Kristjan spent the night scrolling Facebook and somewhere in the marketplace, where he stumbled upon Karelia, a 50ft Beneteau sailboat for sale in Mallorca.

Now a bit to the history again, we've been looking at boats for about ~10 years, with the ultimate dream of sailing around the world with the kids. A few times quite seriously, but usually we find that the models we would like are in far away countries, or quite overpriced considering age and usage. Or at the time we just really couldn't afford one or it just wasn't the right time.

But this time she was right next door, one of our top 3 brands and models that we had been looking for all this time, and priced to sell. So we talked it through for about 2 seconds and decided it was best to go and see if the boat was worth blowing up our idea of settling down on the island for now. For a potential couple of years sabbatical travel around the Med and possibly venture across the pond to the Caribbean. (and beyond?)

The next morning Kristjan had already gotten a plane ticket and made arrangements to see the boat. The current owners at the time had been working for the past 2 years on fitting her for a circumnavigation. When they got an opportunity to circumnavigate working on a mega yacht. So they placed Karelia up on the hard in Mallorca in a yard that their friend owns and had initially planned on keeping her there waiting for them to return.

But a few months passed and they reluctantly decided to sell their own boat, rather than have her sit there for the whole time breaking down and collecting dust.

This is where we come in and absolutely fall in love with her and decide to continue their work on fitting her for a world cruise and plan to sail off from here in the next year or two.