Trav’s Quarter Life Crisis

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny Southern California day with 7 knots of breeze. We motored out of Marina Del Rey to sea trial Intrepid, a beautiful Frers design Swan 44MkII. Although conditions were not ideal, being on the water was much better than sitting in my cubicle editing spreadsheets.

The sea trial went well and we shipped the boat to the Great Lakes for four years of racing and fresh water cruising. I was content with life until one fateful après ski conversation over a few beers in Sun Valley, Idaho with my dad that led to my quarter life crisis. The conversation went as follows:

Dad: “How is the job going?”

Travis: “It’s going well, I have been working on some big deals lately.”

Dad: “That’s Great! Do you want to do it for the rest of your life?”

Travis: “I sure hope not.”

That was eye opening. I began questioning why I even was doing finance in the first place. I thought about what I enjoy more than anything, and that was being on the water, specifically, sailing. There is nothing in the world like helming on a broad reach with thirty knots over the deck. That is living, not commuting 30 minutes to try to sell people that already have adequate insurance a new policy. At that point, I decided to give my two weeks at my commercial insurance sales job as soon as I returned to Cleveland, and booked a one way flight to Fort Lauderdale to enroll in STCW Basic Safety Training. The quarter life crisis had accelerated.

Since I decided I was going to change careers, I could potentially take a year or two off to sail around the world with my dad when he retired. This would be a massive bucket list item for both of us, and a great father/son bonding opportunity.

Two years later, we shipped the boat back to Marina Del Ray and are prepping for sailing around the world. I have been working on super yachts as a deckhand since I left Cleveland, most recently on Motor Yacht Pacific, and although I loved every minute of that job, I am itching to trade 11,000hp for wind power. Plus, I am promoting myself from Deckhand to Chief Officer, though it isn’t coming with a bump in pay.