Cover Image: Leaving the Safe Harbor

Leaving the Safe Harbor

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Member Reviews

What a story! Before you read “Leaving the Safe Harbor” by Tanja Hackney, I urge you to visit her website and look at the photos of her life and travels with a young family on a catamaran, at TakeTwoSailing.com. The scenes of aquamarine water, the tropical settings and this lively family are wonderful to see.

After 10 years of marriage and suburban living, the author and her husband decide to sell their dirt house and live on a boat. They buy a sailboat named “Take Two”, although they end up taking many more than “two”- they are a family of seven, and their five kids were young when their sailing adventure began.

This well-written book shows you the reality behind the glossy photos. The author gives uses lovely and lyrical language as she shares her family’s life. I savored this phrase, “the sea was like looking through a bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin”. For readers who like to daydream of sailing away, be warned- this family’s life was not all cocktails and sunsets- it was hard work and challenging. Each chapter of this book has a nautical title that highlights a life lesson learned.

I found this book to be entertaining, educational and inspiring. (Great cover, too!) Perhaps a tad wordy and preachy at times, and I did wonder what the kids thought of the sailing life, but overall it is a book that I highly recommend. I hope the author writes more about her adventures. Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGo Social for a digital ARC. This is my honest review.

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I enjoyed this book so much! Imagine raising 5 children on a boat and being responsible for their home schooling, meals, co-captain. The layout of the book made it so enjoyable. Before starting you had a list and description of characters. Each chapter began with an outline of the chapter in paragraph form. This made it remarkably easy to read the book as no interruptions. The reader already knew the how, why, when and where.

The writer not only told the story but pointed out the pluses and minuses of this life style. It might seem like they lost a lot but the advantages in my eyes outweighed the losses. The book did not elaborate unnecessarily on their trips to various places but on the inter-personal relationships. A wonderful book that opened your eyes to a new lifestyle.

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Unfortunately, this didn’t really click with me! I found I had some issues with the pacing of this novel and I wasn’t really invested in the narrative or any of the characters. I still think it was enjoyable and easy to read.

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You know all these books about moving away to a cozy cottage or a farm in some sunny place like Tuscany, Provance or Andalucia? They tend to be a bit cocky aiming to make readers jealous by talking throughout 400 pages about sipping wine and enjoying organic food while looking at the sea or the mountains. They make me want to puke.
Now, THIS book is the opposite.
The couple shared a dream and they were committed to achieve their goal. But buying a boat and living in it instead of in a brick walled house is not easy. You need to have money and good and steady income to make sure, you can continue to sail or just live on a boat once you have it. Boats do require an enormous amount of repairs and upgrading over the years and it´s not cheap. Then you have to be able to insure your boat and insurance companies have very strict and very long list of requirements to meet. So it´s not as easy as, say, buying a car or a kayak.
This is in my opinion the strongest point in this book. First - this is real family talking, not fictional characters. Second - they are not afraid to talk about money. This is important, because they don´t portray their lifestyle as idyllic and carefree as one might have thought. There are a lot of money and responsibility involved. You also need to learn a lot before you even will be allowed to leave harbour.

What is also important, if not the most, is a matter of keeping relationship within a family and discipline in order. The author talks about it openly and honestly. The boat might seem to be big, but if you decide to live in it you have to realize that there is no privacy. It´s a small space shared by a number of people sometimes for months. And this family over the years had 6 children living on the boat and two adults. Problem solving, anger management, conflict solving - these skills are probably the most important to have and master. As the author says - if you are angry, you can´t slam the door, go for a long walk or knock on your friend´s door to let the steam off. You are alone and have to deal with it.
This lifestyle also leads to parenting challenges. The author talks about it with reserved honesty, respecting her children´s privacy. But I would like to see how all of their 6 children who were all home schooled are doing now, after this lifestyle has finished. Were they accepted to good colleges and universities? Are they working in high profile jobs? Are they happy? A little bit of a follow up would be a good idea. Instead, there´s an abrupt finish to this book and story without explaining anything at all. So how exactly this ended? Was it worth it?

Another thing is... I would cut the book in a half.
Anyway, I´m giving it wobbly four stars.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4260853407

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I want to preface this review by saying I am not an expert on sailing nor have I ever been sailing. I also have never really been on a boat. So you're probably wondering, why would you read this book? For one, the idea that a family could even live on a boat is extremely interesting. This is a real family and we take a look into their real life trials and tribulations as this couple and their five kids navigate the waters and their lives. I was worried at first I wouldn't understand nautical terms or wouldn't relate to the author and her story because I am not married or a mother, but I was quickly proved wrong. I related the author's personality, her temper, her childish emotions and impulsiveness (she said it, not me!) The self awareness of the author throughout the entire book was very refreshing and not something I usually get from non-fiction books. There are so many lessons to be learned in this book even for the person who has no interest in dropping their life on land as a "landlubber" and switching it for a life at sea. The way the author started each chapter as if it were a journal entry really gave context and more insight into their lives on a boat. The author highlighted the highs and the lows of their journey, but I was missing the perspective of the other crew members. I longed to know more about how the children felt living on a boat and how they handled the highs and the lows, which I'm sure were plenty. I also kind of found the term "landlubbers" a bit offensive. Ultimately, I think the author did a great job at showing exactly what her title claims the story will be, "the risks and rewards of raising a family on a boat."

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I really enjoyed reading Leaving the Safe Harbor, I found the premise to be super interesting and compelling. It's a great read!

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I was not able to complete this book since it was just pretty slow. I never found myself really connecting with the author and her story.

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Tanya and her husband, Jay make a bold decision to leave their suburban life behind, buy a catamaran, and set sail with their four children. They have wonderful adventures and encounter many troubles along the way, all while teaching their children educational and life lessons. When a fifth child arrives, they must do some remodeling of their boat, and once that's done, they head out again. After ten years, they return to the United States. They've all grown and stretched, and they're ready for their next adventures. My favorite parts of this book were the ones where the author talks about their actual sailing - their day to day living and the work that must be done in order to keep their family afloat. I was amazed to hear they (eventually) were able to do laundry aboard, as well as cooking complete Thanksgiving meals. My least favorite parts (and, to be honest, the parts I skimmed over) were the more philosophical parts. I know the author is a woman of faith, and her whole family learned many life lessons over the ten years, but I didn't find those passages as enjoyable. I liked the action!

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