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Larissa and Duncan are sailing around the world with their two kids to spot wildlife and collect vital ocean data.
ADVERTISEMENTQuiet nights during the COVID-19 lockdown led a pair of sailing enthusiasts to start talking about their dream to sail further into the world. Planning the adventure became a recreational pastime for the pair that helped pass some long nights in Norway. They would put pins in maps of places they’d like to visit and line up a route to work with the world’s weather patterns. They decided to wait until their children were “big enough to be more independent – and young enough to still think we’re cool enough to be around,” says Larissa. The young family finally set off on their voyage around the world in July 2024, and plan to spend several years at sea. What’s more, the adventure is already benefitting several marine conservation projects.A love of the ocean had become daily yacht lifeLarissa Clark and Duncan Copeland met back in 2006 when they were both working at the UK’s Environmental Justice Foundation and started dating six years later.Duncan had spent much of his childhood as a ‘boat kid’ on a world voyage. While Larissa didn’t grow up sailing the seven seas, travel has always been a big part of her life, inspired by her grandad, who would tell her that ‘travel is the greatest education’. To avoid flying to South America in 2011, Larissa “took the plunge” to join a historic tall ship as a trainee crew member, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain to Brazil. This month at sea nurtured her love of ocean voyaging.Taking their two children, aged six and eight, aboard their 50ft sailboat ‘Freeranger’ seemed like a natural step. The family packed up their home in Canada – where Duncan was executive director of an NGO dedicated to combatting illegal fishing in Africa – and began the greatest adventure of their lives. Paddle on: The ocean is wonderfully unpredictable“This is the kind of life-affirming experience you only get when you step outside your comfort zone,” Larissa tells Euronews Travel. “So you could say that we got what we’d asked for on New Year’s Day as a crocodile slipped off a mangrove estuary on the Pacific coast of Mexico and disappeared silently beneath the hull of our 9ft inflatable dingy.” Duncan encouraged the family to ‘paddle on’ in what she describes as “his best ‘everything is fine and normal’ voice” as they managed to avoid the danger. This was not the first hair-raising incident on their voyage, however.Just two months earlier, off the California coast, a 60ft Sei whale – the third biggest whale in the world – turned mid-course and dove under their boat, “to which Duncan bellowed, ‘Everyone hold on’,” Larissa reminisces.On the ocean, no day is the same, and there are epic memories for the young family – from highs such as journeying with humpback whales on their migration from British Columbia to Mexico to lows of untangling a discarded fishing net from the propeller in a major great white shark breeding zone. But Larissa describes it as “all part of the tapestry that makes for an incredible adventure.”ADVERTISEMENTThe dream of a family sailing adventure began years beforeThe journey, Larissa says, is a “chance to roam around the one ocean that connects us all, powered by the wind and curiosity.”It’s also “a chance for our kids to grow up learning important life skills…and giving them a break from what can be an overwhelming material culture.” The parents hope their children’s time at sea will help them become resourceful, thoughtful, and help them to better understand “the power of nature”.These experiences grew into what is the family’s biggest adventure yet. ADVERTISEMENTTheir children, Skye and Eden, have been “waddling around decks since babies”. The Copelands bought their first family sailboat in 2020 when they were working in Norway and explored the local fjords together.Larissa is happy that, so far, “they love the family time, the new experiences, especially wildlife and swimming, and the cosiness of life on board.” Perhaps the biggest transition for the children, Larissa acknowledges, is that they’re homeschooled on the boat, aided by a Canadian school programme.“There’s a quote we often think about in life and sailing,” adds Larissa: “‘The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist hopes it will change, the realist adjusts the sails’.”ADVERTISEMENTCitizen science makes the family adventure a journey with purposeThe couple want to contribute towards the ‘ocean we need for the future we want’. That’s why they decided to participate in citizen science and ocean conservation projects along the way.Finding the right boat was crucial, and they eventually settled on a secondhand, safe and fast boat that allows them to generate electricity on board from six solar panels. The boast has four cabins so that friends, family, and “early-career ocean researchers and communicators” can share the experience. “It’s a great boat that balances being our family home and an expedition vessel,” says Larissa. ADVERTISEMENTBefore they set off, the couple founded a not-for-profit organisation called Free Range Ocean and launched the Ocean Citizen Science Project directory, which has since been endorsed by UN Ocean Decade. This freely accessible online platform allows anyone in the world to explore and discover interesting research projects that they can participate in – be it families at the beach surveying for invasive species, fishers reporting on kelp forests, or tourists sharing photos of whale sightings. And, even if you don’t live near the ocean, you can still contribute remotely. “Collecting data from our ocean is a vast, difficult, and expensive task – one that quite honestly needs all hands on deck to achieve,” Larissa adds.ADVERTISEMENTSo far, the family have contributed to more than half a dozen citizen science research projects, such as supporting researchers in British Columbia to better understand local whale populations by sharing their cetacean sightings. They’ve also helped UK scientists understand climate change impacts on phytoplankton by taking regular Secchi depth readings and sharing them on the interactive app – which the children love.The family crew are also using their ‘Freeranger’ sailboat as a testbed for green-operational maritime technologies. Even the most experienced sailors must prepare for offshore sailingGetting to grips with their own boat was the first step the family took. They surrounded themselves with experienced sailors through various cruising associations, getting certified in everything from offshore first aid to boat electrics.ADVERTISEMENT“An offshore sailor needs to be a jack-of-all-trades and master of as-many-as-possible,” Larissa muses.“The most surprisingly useful course was a weekend workshop into the ‘psychology of cruising for couples,” Larissa notes, which helped prepare them mentally and emotionally.“It got us thinking about our different appetites for risk and how to find a balance them in a harmonious way.” What does each day look like on board?The couple’s family and friends have been really supportive of their years-long journey. ADVERTISEMENTWhile some worry about what can go wrong at sea, particularly when living in a confined space with young children, they’ve also received glassy-eyes looks from friends telling them that they’re living the dream. “In many cases, a bit of ignorance can be bliss,” Larissa laughs.And how are the confined spaces? “You learn to live with much less,” Larissa explains. “Even then, it often feels like we have too much on board!” The Copelands shop locally and in-season and choose low-impact cleaning materials. They also make their own drinking water rather than buying bottled water. ADVERTISEMENT“Routine is really important, especially for the kids. They say that the sailor’s midnight is 9 pm, so we tend to go to bed early and get up to crack on with homeschool first thing,” she adds. The family has found their own rhythm, so afternoons are spent exploring, meeting friends, and working on boat projects. The couple have so far successfully navigated all the logistics, from preparing papers for immigration to receiving urgent mail by ‘WhatsApp screenshots’ from Larissa’s mum in England. They’re not completely off-grid as an on-board Starlink that gives the vessel an internet connection, which Larissa feels is both a “blessing and curse” but handy to stay connected.Larissa herself is taking digital nomadism to the extreme, as she is still remarkably running her boutique PR business that specialises in conservation expeditions alongside her low-impact, extraordinary journeys travel company, Another World Adventures, all while at sea.ADVERTISEMENTHowever Larissa says the concept of a weekend has altogether disappeared – particularly as they have to stay flexible to unpredictable weather.Wildlife sightings at sea continue to inspire the family’s conservation effortsIt took a while for the Copelands to get familiar with the “big weather and sea conditions.”When taking an offshore route to California, Larissa admits “she was puking most of the way” but that “any sight of a whale, dolphin or bioluminescence made it all worthwhile.”Stopping at wildlife hotspots like Monterey Bay and Catalina Island and a highly demanded day at Disneyland by the youngest crew members has also broken up the journey so far. ADVERTISEMENT“It’s always fun to disembark and stretch our legs!” exclaims Larissa. “For the most part, we’re cruising down the coast and can take daily trips to the beach, mangroves and nearby towns.” They’ve had incredible wildlife sightings, including gray whales and humpback whales along the coast of Baja California in Mexico, to swimming with whale sharks in a “mind-blowing experience.”They’ve observed black bears combing the beach for berries and sea otters playing in kelp forests right from the boat and heard sea wolves howling at night. What’s more, Larissa shares, they’ve seen “humpback whales, sei whales, dolphins, porpoises, sea turtles, crocodiles, iguanas, and so many birds like albatross, puffins, and blue-footed boobies.”With future plans to head across the South Pacific through Polynesia, Fiji and onto Australia and Asia, later this year, the Copelands will set sail on their biggest offshore passage to date, where they won’t step foot on solid ground for almost a month. ADVERTISEMENTThe family will journey to the remote Pitcairn Islands, a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. With less than 50 inhabitants, Larissa is excited: “It’s not a place many people get to visit”. To follow the family’s journey and find out how you can support their citizen science projects, visit Free Range Ocean.
