Zen life in Alaska aboard a Selene, the full story!

Carl and Melody Gulledge are the proud owners of Ellipsis, a Selene 60 Ocean Yachts which also serves as their home. Not a home from home, mind you, but their home! Carl and Melody are an amazing couple who have had several lives… But their past does not define them at all. And certainly does not define who they are today: a wife and husband team living the dream and constantly challenging boredom and routine.

Perhaps, without hurting their feelings, could one call them « Sea Gypsies », those fascinating nomadic peoples from Europe who place freedom, solidarity and self-reliance above all else. For years now Carl and Melody are happily roaming the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia waters and the Inside Passage. And although they might modestly claim that they are no more than simple mariners peacefully living on the water, their life seems to have been born from of a novel that Joseph Conrad or Robert Louis Stevenson could just as easily have written… A life made of adventures in the wilderness of the Northern hemisphere and on the high seas.

A life made of true friendship and unexpected encounters at the dock or at anchor, of storms and calms and stunning sunsets and sceneries with crystal-clear skies illuminated by the moon and the stars leading them to the next anchorage better than the most sophisticated electronic chart plotter. Their next way-point in life is always their appetite for discovery…

The Zen life

Carl wrote an exclusive story for us, we want to share it with you with a selection of his beautiful photos. It’s inspiring and leaves us with the certitude that when it comes to go sailing, it’s never too early… As Mark Twain wrote — and many sailors have shared this famous quote — « Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. »

A floating photo studio

Carl is not only a competent and wise captain, but also an inspiring professional photographer! One of the things you will pick up from his photos is that he really enjoys images where a yacht is in a very large and impressive landscape. As he says “boating is a great way to get perspective on how insignificant we are in the universe!” And these photos are intended to capture that sentiment.

“We are Carl and Melody Gulledge, and boating is not something we do, it is our lifestyle, and to that end it has been priceless. Out on the water is where we planned our family, raised our children, and continue to share our life together voyaging the remarkable waters of British Columbia and SE Alaska. We purchased our first vessel (28’) in 1991 and never felt comfortable venturing north of Nanaimo. In 2001 we moved up to 41’, which extended our comfort-boundary to the north end of Vancouver Island.

By 2005 we found ourselves out aboard more than a hundred nights a year and our mindset shifting from destination-boating to voyaging. For us the journey itself became as much the experience as the destination. And we began to prefer a nomadic lifestyle, outside the media, traffic and the internet. Our constant, and the place we call “home” is M.V. “Ellipsis”, a Selene 60 trawler delivered in 2007. We boat now without boundaries and enjoy navigating the rugged open waters off the west coast as much as we do the Inside Passage. On the water, life meets death daily. And that grounding experience is one that brings us liberation and peace. Self dependence, teamwork, adventure, and an endless awe in the beauty of it all is also why we boat. Here’s to meeting you and yours, North of the 49’th parallel.