Adventurous Couple’s Home Is for Sail

While many Californians were worrying about how to buy their dream home, Doug Owen, 50, and his wife Jamie, 36, were selling theirs. The Owens went from living in a four-bedroom, three-bath home with all the modern conveniences to living in a 31-foot boat that does not even have a refrigerator.

In 1987, the San Francisco couple abandoned successful careers as executive recruiters and set sail for Mexico.

With their boat now safely at anchor in Costa Rica, they returned to California this month to share their story with audiences in Orange Coast College’s “Sailing Adventure Series.”

The series will get under way Friday in the Robert B. Moore Theatre. In addition to the Owens, there will be presentations from three other seagoing adventurers, including world circumnavigators Dom Degnon and Peter Tangvald, and antarctic explorer Gerry Clark.

“We’re honored to be asked to be in the series,” said Doug Owen, who will appear with his wife Jan. 26. Their topic is “Breaking Away: Putting Yourself in the Picture.”

During the 8 p.m. program, the Owens will talk about the decisions that led them to pursue their new life style, which includes eight months of sailing and four months of working to support the sailing. Each summer the Owens return to Southern California to work at Catalina Island, where Doug is a Harbor patrolman and Jamie is a dispatcher.

“Our concept of creating our own retirement is that we do not touch our investments or the interest,” says Doug. “But if we work four months out of the year at minimum-wage jobs, we can live the way we want. And there are always jobs available if you are willing to take minimum wage. It doesn’t matter. You can be flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s in Miami.”

While the Owens were in Orange County during the holiday season, preparing for their upcoming appearance, they both worked at a Costa Mesa flower shop where Jamie was a salesperson and Doug was a delivery man. At the end of this month they will return to Costa Rica, where “home” is a 31-foot sailboat named Teal.

Selling out and setting sail was a liberating experience, said Jamie, who had proposed the idea to her husband. “I have a great feeling of freedom,” she said. “It is traveling without a suitcase, being able to explore a country in a non-tourist sense.”

Said Doug: “I have never had a day since I moved aboard the boat that I have not been at peace with myself. From what we read in books, most people say for 20 years, ‘Someday I’m going to break away from all this and sail around the world.’ I had never thought that. I had read about such things for entertainment.”

It wasn’t until the Owens met Barre Stephens, a well-known cruiser, that they began to think about giving up their jobs. “He was our mentor,” said Doug. “He looked at our boat one day and said, ‘That boat will take you anywhere.’ ”

At the time, the Owens were using the boat for weekend excursions in the San Francisco area, where they had both learned to sail.

Later, during the 1986 Thanksgiving holiday, Jamie turned to Doug and said simply: “Honey, I want to go sailing.” By January the Owens had sold their home, and by spring they set sail south to Mexico.

If their decision seems hasty, Doug explained, “it might help to understand us if you know that I asked Jamie to marry me on our first date and she said yes.”

“Anybody who wants to can do this,” Jamie added. “For six months, six years or 16 years.”

During the first year of their cruise, the Owens, parents of a combined family of seven children, ages 16 through 29, were accompanied by their son Jim, 18.

What does Doug miss most about land-bound life? “There are seven things I miss, and they are all my kids,” he said. “I miss the time with them, the special occasions.”

But with trips back to the United States every Christmas and with their summer jobs in Catalina, the Owens still see their family, and they are now staying with friends in Orange County.

As for the future, the Owens want to voyage through the Panama Canal, to Guatemala and then the Caribbean. Eventually they would like to cross the Atlantic and cruise the Mediterranean.

And how long do they expect to be gone?

“As long as it is fun,” said Doug. “I’d like to have Teal back in San Francisco for my 70th birthday.”

Ticket information about the “Sailing Adventure Series” is available by calling (714) 432-5880. Series tickets are $27 in advance and $31 at the door. Single admission tickets are $7.50 in advance and $9 at the door.

The opening program at 8 p.m. Friday will feature Degnon, an East Coast sailor who completed a seven-year world circumnavigation aboard his 41-foot ketch. On Jan. 19 French-born Tangvald, also a world circumnavigator, will be guest speaker. Tangvald, whose two children were born aboard the 49-foot boat he built, lives in the Caribbean. Tangvald’s first wife was killed in the South China Sea. His second wife drowned in a freak accident at sea.

The series will conclude Feb. 2 with a presentation by Clark, a New Zealander who completed a 3 1/2-year, 38,000-mile antarctic circumnavigation to survey antarctic sea birds. He survived two dismastings and five capsizes.

Shearlean Duke is a regular contributor to Orange County Life. On the Waterfront appears each Saturday, covering boating life styles as well as ocean-related activities along the county’s 42-mile coastline.