We’ve done some crazy things over the years. Like sneaking into a prison island to surf, or that time we moved onto a new boat mid pandemic with 6month old twins to start a family-friendly charter business (!) It’s exhilarating to do risky things that can bring lots joy to us and others!  We made this reel to celebrate some of these moments: 

And now…  we are selling Selaví to the most unlikely buyers!  What makes this so crazy?  

Well, we passed up on full cash offers for our boat, and instead we’re taking a much bigger risk —  partnering with a family with young children who we don’t know, and who are still learning how to sail, to keep running Green Coco trips. And we’re loaning them the money ourselves! 

It doesn’t make sense right? But it feels right.  

Our co-op has empowered us to do things we thought were impossible. Now is our time to help this family live their dream too… and keep expanding the dream to others.  That’s what this is all about. 

Here’s the nuts and bolts of how we went through it. 

You might remember our post in October “Business Opportunity: Seeking New Owners for a 46ft Community Catamaran”  We received some super cool applications in the month that followed. 

People wrote us from Caribbean, Greece, Mauritius, California, Australia, and Phillippines. We were fielding video chats on all time zones to interview candidates. 

Amazing couples wrote us, with experience ranging from mega-yachts, delivery yachts, racing yachts, and all mechanical skills.

Most of these applicants were experienced sailors. Since they didn’t own a boat themselves, they recognized and appreciated the opportunity to leap frog the hurdles of bank financing, which is super tough, to gain ownership of an amazing off-grid catamaran, AND immediately have a private revenue earning potential from the co-op, which at the very least would cover their costs. 

But we’re not just handing the dream on a silver platter to them. 

Although the Green Coco sailing co-op provides a revenue stream, it is not guaranteed. Partners run their own business independently, and we help each other to succeed. 

Our goal is to run a cooperative that empowers others to live this lifestyle — not to manage employees running boats.  That’s not our approach. Green Coco needs to be run by real sailing families. This is what makes it authentic, unique, and cost effective too. 

So yeah, there are risks involved in running an expensive boat. As such, many applicants felt they weren’t in a solid place financially to launch this project. They got cold feet because they were unsure they could pay their loan. Others felt they weren’t quite ready to move to French Polynesia and jump into full-time boat ownership so far from home.  

Although living the dream is appealing, it is actually a bit scary once you start considering all the factors! 

It takes courage and faith in ourselves to do this… luckily, we found a couple with these very qualities. 

When the dust settled, only one couple had many of the prerequisites for co-op partnership. 

David & Eleanor were in the Philippines looking at eco-lodges to run when they came across our opportunity for Green Coco partnership. A year before they had researched catamarans to purchase, but hadn’t seen a way to make it financially viable in the near future. Thanks to Green Coco, that far-away dream was possible, now.

They had the right timing, the right personality, a burning desire, and decent financial backing. Only one prerequisite was missing.  They are learning how to sail!!  Oh… details.

At first we thought that was a deal-breaker. How can you run a sailing business, live aboard the boat, without have lots of experience sailing?? Yet, once we read their remarkable resumé, we were intrigued. 

• They are tough adventurers: bike touring in dozens of countries around the world, and most recently with their 3 year old in Baja over 2 months, offroad in through dust & rain. 
• They are mechanical all-rounders: they  restored an old house and custom-built a camper van to explore with their newborn. 
• They are business-savvy professionals: they were partners in an international architecture firm for years before choosing a life of adventure.
• Most importantly, they are supremely even-keeled: they are calm, collected, and fun, under all kinds of stressful situations. 

Plus, we thought: isn’t this what Green Coco is all about?  Make impossible dreams possible?  As long as people have the right fundamentals, we believe skills are learn-able.  Having the right attitude is harder to teach. These guys obviously have that:

To get around any handicap of sailing skills, David & Eleanor outlined an audacious plan: to hire captains for the first year to run the boat while they slowly began to host guests. They laid out a thoughtful approach, backed with enough resources to ride out the ups & downs. From the level of planning detail in their proposal, it was clear to us: these are people who will succeed at what they do. We are totally confident that within a year they’ll be competent sailors and great hosts.  We’re honored they are entrusting the Green Coco cooperative to this phase of their livelihood and family wellbeing. 

Green Coco continues to evolve as a private way to connect people who love sailing. By keeping it private, we can bypass the problems of conventional charter boat offerings — outrageous prices and inauthentic, floating hotel experience. Green Coco is about the magical lifestyle of sailing, and keeping it real so our guests can be part of it.

After a month of discussion (and lots of nail-biting I’m sure!) David & Eleanor signed a purchase agreement and put down a deposit through our maritime attorneys’ escrow. Then another month passed as the holiday whirlwind passed, dialing in questions of insurance, financing, and launch operations. A lot of heady stuff! We really appreciated their communication & openness through it all. 

Then it was time to meet, shortly after the new year. Outside the ferry terminal in Moorea, it felt like a strange dream! Here we are, two families about to embark on radical life changes. They are taking over a superb catamaran in Tahiti; we are heading to Seychelles on our world schooling expedition.  After all those video chats, it was uncanny to see each other in real life. In this moment we realized, whoa, this is happening! 

We spent the last several days cruising around Moorea, sailing in good wind (we even hit 9 kts of boat speed!) and showed them what the Selaví can do. Theory and reality are now in alignment. 

How is this all going to shake out for our co-op members and investors? Those with Green Coco credit will be able to use their credit in many ways — aboard Nesi in our world-schooling expedition, or aboard Selavi in French Poly, or Aldebaran (which has been run by Billy & Kimber). Each of us brings a special community, and together we’re able to offer more amazing experiences to more people.

Finally, it’s time to move forward and sign the papers.  We welcome our new Green Coco partners: David and Eleanor, with their kids Adie (“Ay-Dee”) & Julian.  It’s going to be a super fun ride — let’s go!

Check out David & Eleanor’s photos here: Instagram @designedtoexplore