Selkie - Called to the Sea

Family Name:

Hirt is our family name. My husband calls himself an “island mutt” with his Scottish, Irish, English ancestry, and I join in the water party, with my Dutch blood.

Names and Ages of people on the boat :

Our crew on Selkie is a crew of kids. We slide under the double-handed rule but do much more than any double-handed couple. Our “crew” is composed of boy bookends: Tristan is 18, Lily is 16, Mara is 11, and Rory is 8. They lived aboard Selkie for 6 years, and before that crewed on our Great Lakes Michigan boat, Raven, as babies and smaller children for a decade. Rory was only one, still in diapers, and breastfeeding, when we became live aboard  cruisers in 2017, if that gives it a bit of perspective.  

Selkie In Fatu Hiva

Boat name & type:

Selkie is our s/v name. For the love of Scotland, we decided on the name due to the folklore involved with it. From the crashing seas on the craggy rocks of Scotland, there is a tale of seal-women, who can shed their skins to become human. In the Galapagos, we had sea lions fighting over resting on our transom. At night when we slept in our aft cabin, we were awoken many times by them jumping off and on rocking the boat or barking at each other. We were magically close to living up to our name.

How long have you been living on a sailboat while travelling?

In June of 2017, right around Father’s Day, we packed up our kids to go try being a live aboard family. Three weeks turned into six years before we even began to question it. It stretched to the summer of 2023. Our family of six sailed and wintered in the Great Lakes of Michigan, Canada, the Caribbean, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Azores, Ireland, Scotland, Norway, the circle of the Baltic Sea (Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Russia, and Finland), the Netherlands, the Bay of Biscay, Spain, Canary Isles, Cape Verde, back to the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Panama, French Polynesia (Marquesas, Tuamotu Atolls, Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora), the Kingdom of Tonga, New Zealand, and soon-to-be Fiji and Australia. These ports and crossings complete an Atlantic circumnavigation and a Pacific crossing. We took a year and a half off to try school in the States, and we are currently back on board again.

SeaLongingSelkie.net is our website that contains links to our socials, YouTube, and publications. Our YouTube channel is @PoeticSeaMomma with a lot of very raw footage. On Facebook, you can find Nick here and Maggie here. On Instagram, you can find Nick here and Maggie here. To purchase Maggie’s first five poetry books, click here, or her first book in poetry and prose here.

What were you doing before you moved aboard?

Nick was an affordable housing developer and is still one currently. When the housing department said that he needed to create more jobs, his job went mobile. While cruising, as a family, we are used to him conducting business via phone or email and are happy to share the boat as his office. I was teaching. Certified to teach grades 7-12 in Michigan and Ohio and college freshmen and sophomores. I earned my first MA in English Literature while living in Toledo, and my second MLitt in Scottish Highlands and Islands Literature while at sea. I have enjoyed many years homeschooling my four children.

Motivation: What inspired you to embark on a sailing adventure?

Nick’s favorite book growing up was The Boy Who Sailed Around the World Alone, by Robin Lee Graham, so it was always his dream, but he was far from alone when it began to come true. We had a twenty-year plan, that with a few weeks, adjusted to a two-year plan, and then a two-week away plan. Once we had the goal, and befriended Sailing Totem, a sailing family that helps sailors make dreams become seaworthy, it snowballed into a reality when we located a boat that would fit our needs. Selkie, a Westerly 49, has had a good sea life. She was previously Laridae, and before that Happy Hippie. We are in contact with both previous owners.

I would say sailing is in our blood. My husband’s Scottish ancestry calls him to the sea, and my Dutch genes call me to canals that open to the world. We are motivated to sail, because travel keeps the blood flowing—the constant change, the adapting, and the high-highs and low-lows. We sail because it opens the world up to us much like a campervan does on land, our “campervan” can cross oceans.

Any unforgettable destinations / moments you have been to or experienced?

Scotland is our absolute favorite place on earth. Her countryside is eye-candy for the soul.

Tuamotu Atolls I cried tears of joy out on a sandbar just a few feet away from a deserted island, and my kids enjoyed swimming with rivers of sharks.

Norway’s Fjords were absolutely unreal. At the end of one destination, skydivers descended around us.

New Zealand is like a kids’ playground for adults. There are endless good things to say about it.

BVIs were our first love. Chartering boats there, before we bought our own.

Later Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean Sea became a close second.

Lake Michigan is where Nick learned to sail, and I grew up. It is also where we have seen the worst weather, even worse than any ocean crossing, but the sandy shores up the entire coast have to be felt with your own feet to understand the love of this fresh water we call home-home, because Selkie is our home.

Caught in high seas and building winds, we took refuge at Beveridge Reef on the way to Tonga, and it was indescribable and teaming with life. We were beyond grateful.

At Sea during crossings gives endless wonder and good cockpit conversations.

Is there a typical day for you?

We’ve been asked about storm stories so often that I always try to steer the curious to a typical day. It’s described well in my article “Predawn Sea Secrets” published in Enchanted Living. A shorter version of it is published as the intro for my poetry and prose publication, Distant Story Blue. You can read it here.

How do you handle education for the children?

Because we have had six years, we have tried everything! My favorite to date is Moving Beyond the Page Curriculum, until the kids age out in high school, and then started curriculum through Oak Meadow. As a teacher, this saved me hours in lesson planning. Links are provided. Click on them. If your kids need a thorough education that will place them right back into the curriculum in the States, you won’t regret it. My kids returned and were placed directly into their age bracket.

What were the biggest challenges you find about this lifestyle?

Our biggest challenge so far was leaving it and missing it beyond comprehension. Our kids mentioned that they would like to try, what we came to call, “brick” school (versus boat school) and we did not argue. We said, “Okay, how about a half year?” Well… society and the daily wheel of life that turns quickly gets its claws in you, and a half year turned into a year and half that resulted in only half our kid crew returning to the life.

Nick and I, to stay sane, cannot live without it anymore. Tristan, our eldest, has it in his blood as well. He is a senior currently and has applied to the Coast Guard Academy. Lily just turned sixteen, and she adores her friends, sports, and land life. Mara, eleven, is adaptable and is excitable when she discusses the life of either. Rory, our youngest, now eight, did not know anything different, and he assumed, until recently, that everyone lived the way we did.

So… our biggest challenge is juggling the dreams of our kids as they turn into adults. We try to value everyone’s opinion equally, including our own. This takes an insane amount of preparation and care but is still achievable for a family of six.

Has this lifestyle helped you grow and learn?

This lifestyle has changed everything. It changes how you see the world, what you think is possible to achieve, how to survive, how to enjoy time, and what it means to be with family. If this is even a thought that has crossed your mind, you should do it. As I said, our three-week trip turned into six years. That speaks volumes.

How do you connect with others while sailing?

Joining cruising clubs, like the ARC, has been the best way to connect with others. We have made life-long friends, my eldest son had a girlfriend for a bit, and my two daughters made great friends that they still see. Online resources, like Kids4Sail, which Nick helps moderate, helps sailors connect with other kid boats. It is also wonderful to just sit in a bay and see a boat with kids crawling all over it. My kids are not shy anymore. They just swim or dinghy over and there is plenty of time for adults to have fun too.

Do you have any memorable cultural experiences?

Everything is a memorable cultural experience. Right now, we are rehabbing our boat in New Zealand to get to Fiji. We have spent the day provisioning and working on our electronics. I feel the water under my bed move me slightly, the waves lapping on the hull, and native birds of New Zealand chirping. Locals with thick accents have been helping us with everything, and we went to a bird eco-sanctuary this past weekend. Answering this question would go on for novels. Every moment is extraordinary, whether it is one fighting for your life in a storm or enjoying a sunny day. I’ve looked out my window and seen castles in Scotland, deserted islands in the Pacific, the Panama Canal, endless ocean, or pods of dolphins. You choose this life, there is no way to avoid swimming in culture.

What items would you not go without ?

GPS, water pumps, and sails. Fun stuff? Movies on USB, paddle board, cards, and books.

What Lies Ahead: Do you have future plans or new destinations in mind?

Plans change like the weather. For now, Fiji, because we aren’t ready to leave the Pacific, which we have fought so hard to experience and cross. We also have four children to assist in making their dreams come true. Juggling this happiness on and off the boat may turn us into seasonal sailors for a bit.

Do you have a heartfelt message or piece of wisdom for people looking to embark on similar adventures?

Many heartfelt messages, I am pleased to say, are in my published works. They speak on the importance and absorption of place, of capturing moments that are in between the unforgettable storm stories, but those are included as well. There are five poetry books through Finishing Line Press that are in sequential order via publishing and with interior poetry. My sixth published work, Distant Story Blue, through Sea Crow Press, finishes the Pacific and involves a sail/campervan trip around all of New Zealand. Some heartfelt articles are also published: “Predawn Sea Secrets,” “Wintering Aboard in the Scottish Highlands,” “Finding Your People,” and “Sailing the Baltic with a Shakespearean Sensibility.”