You could say Ann and Barry Lange’s motto is that life is too short.
It was that simple idea that spurred the former Yellowknife couple more than 10 years ago to do what some might imagine unthinkable – quit their jobs, sell their home and chase their dream of sailing around the world.
“We had friends who were dying and a buddy who was 56 and had a massive heart attack,” said Ann, now 61. “It was just like … we need to go do what we really have dreamed of doing.”
The Langes recently arrived back in Yellowknife from their round-the-world journey.
Ann estimated she and Barry have seen 75 countries, including everything from seals to penguins, sand dunes and towering icebergs along the way.
“We learned how to sail on Great Slave Lake,” said 67-year-old Barry, who moved with his family to Yellowknife in 1989.
When he and Ann “got the bug” for sailing, they decided to go abroad.
They left the NWT behind in May 2005 and travelled to Vancouver Island, purchasing a 1985, 39-foot cutter there that July.
“The next year we sailed around Vancouver Island and went down the west coast,” Barry said.
They passed by the United States, Mexico and eventually crossed the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand, where they decided to live for six months.
Once they moved on, they travelled past Australia and Indonesia and then moved on to South Africa for another three months.
“It was really neat because we just kept calling everybody in our life,” Ann said. “We lived in 11 places … people from 40 years ago called up and said, ‘We’re going to come by and see you.’”
Although the couple took breaks between their travels to visit family and friends back in Canada, they didn’t leave any place out of their adventure.
Eventually they hopped back on their boat, sailing through the Caribbean chain, up the east coast of the U.S. and later crossed across the Atlantic Ocean to visit Europe.
“Indonesia is one of our favourites,” said Barry of their most memorable stops. “The people are wonderful.”
His wife described delicious luncheons, weaving and pottery demonstrations, and making friends with young people from the country through guided tours.
“Each island has its own culture,” she said.
On one particular island off the coast of Australia, Ann said she and Barry walked for four hours up an active volcano that was still spewing as they watched.
“You could just … feel it,” she said. “It would knock the breath out of you, the change in the air pressure when it exploded.”
But not every day was as exciting. Living on a sailboat, the couple said, is a lifestyle.
“You still have to do your dishes and do your laundry,” said Ann, describing how she had to dock the boat and walk long distances in some destinations to find a laundromat.
On other days, they met with unpleasant weather.
“We got hit with a couple of pretty good weather systems,” said Barry, describing a three-day storm he and Ann encountered on their way from Bora Bora, an island in French Polynesia.
In emergencies, all the couple had was what they could bring with them. If their boat experienced problems, they had to make do with what parts they had, or rely on the kindness of fellow sailors – some of whom Ann said they ran into repeatedly on their journey.
Sailing around the world, Barry said, they encountered a kind of “floating village.”
Despite some small storms Ann said she could have lived without, the years-long adventure was “totally” worth it for her.
“You never regret having done it,” added Barry. “Not a lot of people sail around the world.”
The couple said they plan to move to Alberta after visiting with family in town.