Janice and Blaine Carmena had no intention of returning to life at sea, but while scrolling through classified information they discovered an abandoned 76-foot motor yacht that would become their new home.
The Canadian couple, who first met while working on a luxury yacht nearly 20 years ago, had long ago traded a life at sea for a life on land.
The two married in 2002, raised two children, and built new careers, Janice working as a police officer and Blaine running a company that builds and customizes performance cars.
“It was a pretty extreme change for us,” Blaine admits.
Everything changed in 2019 when Blaine was browsing YachtWorld, a marine marketplace for buying and selling boats and yachts, when he came across a 1969 aluminum sailboat, then named Wind Barker, built at Stevens Brothers Shipyard in Stockton, California.
Intrigued by what he described as a “beautiful boat” with “classic lines,” they decided to fly from their home in Victoria, British Columbia, to Ragnell, Alaska, to see it in person.
What they found was far from a purely online listing.
“I thought, ‘This is not the same boat as in that photo. There’s no way,'” Janice recalls. She said the ship was “lying under a tarpaulin,” was “small wrecked,” and had no “work lights” or heaters and was “covered in black mold.”
“She was literally attached to the ocean floor and the seaweed and mussels.”
Despite the ship’s appearance, the couple was immediately attracted to it. They knew they were the “right person” to take on the ship.
Although they had no intention of returning to “a life on the water,” Janice, who was diagnosed with PTSD several years ago, explains that she felt it was better for her health to return to a boat.
“After a 20-year career in land, I was like, ‘This isn’t fun anymore,'” she added, admitting that life was “lonely” and she missed the “feeling of peace” that being at sea provided.
“I think it was a kind of kismet,” she added. “I think we were crazy, but she needed someone like us who would know what to do with her and set her straight.”
They offered $200,000 Canadian, or about $150,000 at the time, which was well below the asking price. The bid was initially rejected but later accepted by the seller.
“Then we were like, ‘Oh my god, what have we gotten ourselves into?…'” says Janice. “‘This ship is big, and we’re not billionaires.’ But we knew we could fix it, and we knew we could do it all ourselves.”
Once the sale was complete, Blaine returned to Alaska and prepared the ship for sea trials. In December 2019, the couple flew home to pick up their new boat, which they renamed Tangaroa after the Maori sea god.
“After being on the ship for three days and not knowing much about her, we brought her back down right away,” Janice said, noting that some thought it was “a little silly” to attempt the trip, given that “the engine hadn’t been running for a long time.”
Trusting their experience, Blaine as the engineer and Janice as the first mate, they completed their trip to Canada in 10 days and began converting the yacht into a home for themselves and their children, Josh and Izzy.
Their first priority was to make the ship habitable. Despite installing heating equipment, he continued to live at home in Victoria during the week and slept on a mattress in the yacht’s main salon on weekends. “That was the only place with heating.”
Once the situation improved and the children finished school, the family settled down.
Over the next few years, Janice and Blaine worked on a long list of projects, including installing solar and battery systems, repairing the hull, refurbishing the interior, and dealing with unexpected corrosion in the upper aft deck area.
Work was also carried out to remove the paint from the hull, but the work became so extensive that it was ultimately necessary to hire outside help.
In the meantime, they launched a YouTube channel about their project, “The Never-Ending Sea Trial.” They posted their first video in October 2020 and quickly gained a loyal following.
“We’re just doing what we always do, but we put it on YouTube and make a story out of it,” Blaine says. “And a lot of people have told me they like it because it’s authentic to us.”
When it was discovered that the diesel engine was consuming approximately 10 gallons of fuel per hour on early trips, a major power overhaul was undertaken and the installation of a new engine reduced consumption to 4.5 gallons per hour.
“When we did the power-up, it was a big shock for the channel,” Blaine says. “Thanks to that, viewer ratings have increased significantly.
“People really like fixing things, so we worked on engines in the yard for four or five months and got a huge subscriber base.”
Blaine’s online success provided him with enough income to quit his job in July. Although they have secured sponsors, they are being cautious about who they partner with because “it’s very difficult not to look like a sellout.”
Today, Tangaroa remains visibly worn, and the couple has come to terms with it. Blaine says that despite spending about C$200,000 on renovations, their boat still stands out from the flashy yachts they once worked on.
“If we walked into a marina in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, we would be the odd ducks,” Blaine said, speculating, “What are they doing here?” The reaction you’ll probably get from onlookers. “And I love it.”
There were some upgrades. After taking their first big trip to Princess Louisa, a fjord on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast in 2020, and then returning to Alaska, Janice and Blaine started talking about ways to reduce the impact of their ships, reducing their noise output to have less impact on marine life such as whales.
They have since begun the process of converting the Tangaroa into a hybrid electric boat, installing a battery bank that allows it to switch from diesel to electric and sail quietly for hours at a time. They are also making decorative interior improvements with new woodwork. The engine room is now completely white.
“Once this power supply is complete, it will look like a brand new yacht,” Blaine says.
But Tangaroa’s “rough” appearance will remain for some time to come. The couple has little interest in painting the exterior walls, pointing out that “maintaining paint is a pain,” and would rather focus their energy on exploration trips.
“You might be able to polish it up a little bit more, but it’s never going to be like, ‘I’m going to go to the Miami Boat Show and make it look like a nice boat,'” Blaine says. He added that not having to worry about paint peeling or scratching provides “a lot of freedom.”
The couple are well known at the port by people who follow their story on social media, and some even visit the ship for a beer.
“Everywhere we travel, we get recognized, and that’s the weirdest thing, because we’re just normal people,” says Janice.
After a few years on board again, they say they are much happier and can’t imagine going back to a “normal life.”
“There’s something special about living on the water,” adds Janice. “Sounds of the sea and wildlife…
“Being able to go into the harbor and go out on the shore where people have been walking for years and throw a rod overboard…it’s a free life. It’s a simple life.”
The son is back on land, but the daughter still lives on the ship with her dog, Maggie.
Looking back on their decision to purchase the boat about six years ago, the couple say they have “no regrets at all.”
“There was a huge learning curve,” Janice says. “It was fun.”
They’re now planning their next big trip, aiming to head off into the sunset “as soon as hybrid electric comes along,” returning to Wrangell, then passing through the Aleutian Islands, across to Japan, then on to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia.
Janice and Blaine are looking forward to more adventures aboard Tangaroa in the future, and stressed they are determined to seize the day rather than waiting for the perfect moment to arrive.
“If you wait until your life is perfect or your boat is perfect, you’ll never leave the dock…” says Janice. “Otherwise, you won’t be able to do what you want to do because there may not be tomorrow… Life is not guaranteed.”
