Global Sailors Land In Anne Arundel County, Plan To Buy Home In MD After Boat Show

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Ryan Ellison and Sophie Darsy start their mornings like most remote workers. They get dressed, pour a cup of coffee and stroll to their laptops before their first meetings.

Most full-time employees daydream while staring at a tree or a squirrel out their office window. Ryan and Sophie are full-time sailors, so they get lost in a more nautical view.

The couple of seven years lives on their 40-foot sailboat, island hops across the world and shares their story on a YouTube channel with tens of thousands of subscribers. The duo is now in Annapolis for the United States Sailboat Show. While they are in town, Ryan and Sophie plan to buy a house in Anne Arundel County for a home base between their global treks.

Patch set sail with Ryan and Sophie Tuesday on the Chesapeake Bay. Here’s what we learned.

Humble Beginnings

Ryan and Sophie met in Sweden in 2015 when they both worked in Stockholm. That explains the Swedish flag flying on their vessel.

Ryan, now 40, is originally from Iowa. Sophie, 36, was born in France.

The two hit it off after meeting on a dating app. Within three months, they started thinking about living on a boat.

“Nobody believed me,” Sophie told Patch during our exclusive interview. “My friends really laughed at me when I told them that the guy that I had met on Tinder and I had this idea that we were going to buy a boat and go sail the world.”

They took intense sailing lessons, bought their boat in 2016, and sailed around the Stockholm area for the first two summers. They traveled to the Mediterranean Sea in 2018 and voyaged to the Caribbean during winter 2019 into early 2020.

Ryan and Sophie have now crossed the Atlantic Ocean three times, visited 17 countries and sailed 25,000 miles in their 4.5 years living on their boat.

Inside The Sailboat

Their 2007 Beneteau Oceanis 40 features two captain’s helms at the stern. Those steering wheels in the rear lead up to an outdoor entertaining area, where a pair of cushioned benches flank a shared table.

Stairs descend into the cabin, which offers an enclosed stateroom up toward the bow and another bedroom back near the stern. The central dining space converts into extra sleeping areas with protective dividers to keep boaters from falling out during rough seas.

An American flag pillow adorns a seat on the left, and a sign joking about the price of boat repairs is hung outside the bathroom on the right.

The galley, or the kitchen, sits behind the steps and to the left. Spices from around the globe fill a rack with labels in English, French and Spanish.

Everything on the boat is designed for lengthy maritime journeys.

The stove sits on a gimbal, letting the cooking surface sway with the waves to prevent spills. The main stateroom has a single, compact laundry machine that can both wash and dry clothes. The head has a toilet and a separate shower, unlike most boats where mariners must hose off while seated on the porcelain throne.

A desalinator assures the boat always has drinking water. Solar panels and a motor alternator supply the vessel with electricity. Those resources generate enough energy to run all the appliances, including a microwave and a coffee pot.

Ryan and Sophie installed a Starlink dish to give them satellite internet from anywhere in the world. That is a major boost because the couple previously had to buy SIM cards, or data chips, everywhere they went. Ryan and Sophie bought so many SIM cards from one salesman in Antigua that he picked Sophie up from the airport to show his gratitude.

The sailboat is named Polar Seal. That’s a combination of Ryan and Sophie's nicknames for each other. Sophie calls Ryan “Polar Bear,” and Ryan calls Sophie “Baby Seal.”

Trip Planning

It takes a lot of planning to sail Polar Seal between destinations.

“Sailing is actually the easier part,” Ryan said. “There’s so many other things involved with this life than just sailing a boat.”

Ryan and Sophie conduct an extensive safety check to make sure the boat is in perfect condition before departure. They can’t afford for parts to break when they are hundreds or thousands of miles from civilization.

The duo buys food as their voyages draw closer. Nonperishable goods like rice and pasta are always onboard, but they must stock up on vegetables when they are in port. Sophie usually pre-cooks some meals because the first few days at sea are usually the most turbulent.

About 10 days before their estimated departure date, Ryan and Sophie check the forecast to find the ideal weather window.

They assure any crewmates coming along are healthy. The deckhands must have negative COVID-19 tests or vaccines to enter some countries.

Ryan and Sophie must finalize their arrival itinerary before showing up on another nation’s doorstep. They select their port of entry, secure visas and decide where to anchor or dock their boat.

All this pre-trip planning is tedious, but it is necessary to legally enter a country’s waters.

“A lot of people have the dream, they buy the boat, they go to the marina, they get it fixed up, but leaving is the hardest part of this whole thing,” Ryan said. “It’s nerve-wracking. There’s so many unknowns.”

Close Calls

The couple has faced some frightening moments along the way.

They weathered Tropical Storm Alex in June while 70 mph gusts sloshed waves in Bermuda.

They outlasted a tilting boat for five consecutive days while strong winds made it impossible to sail upright.

They battled 15-foot swells and their ensuing seasickness off Europe’s coast while sailing to the Caribbean Sea.

“The stakes are really high,” Sophie said. “It’s not just you’re late for a deadline for your client. You know you’re not going to die of that.”

Ryan and Sophie’s safety requires constant teamwork and communication on the open water. They must stick together, even during the most stressful situations.

“You’re not just a romantic partner anymore,” Sophie said. “You are the nurse, you are the psychiatrist, the confidant, the friend. You’re everything, and not all relationships can bear that weight.”

YouTube Channel

The partners show these challenges on their YouTube channel, named Ryan & Sophie Sailing.

Commenters sometimes argue that Ryan and Sophie shouldn’t complain because they are living the dream. The sailors acknowledge they have a unique lifestyle, but they also remind viewers that they only lounge on the beach about 1 percent of the time.

They still have jobs to work, bills to pay and a boat to maintain.

“The age of social media is so polished,” Ryan said. “The reality of life is not polished. And that’s what’s led, I think, to a lot of mental health issues in the last 10 years.”

Sophie learned that lesson firsthand. She still remembers the trauma of magazines pushing her to lose 5 pounds to fit into her summer bikini.

Sophie promised to never portray false ideals about sailing. That’s why Ryan and Sophie’s YouTube channel tells their raw and unfiltered story.

“I hate the idea of creating unrealistic expectations for people,” Sophie said. “I will not participate in that.”

Sophie has always wanted to make videos. The serious interest started when Sophie's friends gave her a high-tech DSLR camera for her 30th birthday, nudging her toward her passion.

Sophie dove in hot and heavy when she started sailing with Ryan. The camera eventually became a friend that she talked to it when the seas got dicey.

“That was my outlet to crack the most stupid jokes,” Sophie said with a smile. “I found, in the process, a lot of people who laugh with me.”

Sophie never set out to be a YouTube sensation, but she and Ryan have uploaded more than 200 videos and amassed nearly 67,000 subscribers.

Despite Ryan and Sophie’s success, YouTube is not their primary source of income. They each have full-time jobs.

Ryan runs a lithium battery company in the U.S., and Sophie builds online educational modules for businesses in Europe.

Sailing Course

Sophie is applying her professional skills in the couple’s latest endeavor.

Ryan and Sophie are designing a virtual course that prepares beginners to sail the world. This class will be available on Bright Trip, a website that teaches advanced travel skills.

The project has been a year in the making. It features 37 videos and 10 hours of content spread across three sections.

“We’re just so pumped about it because there’s nothing like this on the market right now,” Ryan said. “Feeling like we can contribute to the community a little bit is super cool.”

The first portion goes live on brighttrip.com/sailing this Nov. 10. This part will cover how to sail, buy and prepare a boat.

The second module is expected before Christmas. It will explain how to navigate weather and foreign entry obstacles.

The third section will follow early next year, outlining how to maintain a boat and a relationship at the same time.

Ryan and Sophie will address common sailing struggles that most are afraid to discuss.

“It is scary,” Ryan said of sailing. “It is anxiety-inducing sometimes, but that’s also okay. And you’re not alone.”

Next Steps

The captains will be at the United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis through Monday, chatting about all these ventures.

After the show, Ryan and Sophie are adopting a small dog. The Maltipoo is named Barnacle, paying homage to their shared love of the sea.

The new dog owners will then move to Iowa this winter to live with Ryan’s parents.

They will soon return to Anne Arundel County, however. The partners plan to buy a house in the Annapolis area.

Ryan and Sophie have learned that they need a place to relax between trips around the globe. The bayside city of Annapolis seemed like the perfect town for them.

“Annapolis is the sailing capital of the world,” Sophie said. “We arrived three days ago, and we already have friends here. It’s amazing, and it’s beautiful.”

Following Dreams

Everybody has a dream. Some people save their entire lives for retirement travel, but nobody can guarantee they will be healthy enough to explore as they age.

Ryan and Sophie decided to snatch their dream while they were still young enough to take a chance. Thousands of miles later, they hope to inspire other dreamers to take the leap of faith.

“You don’t have to cross oceans like we do,” Ryan said. “If you just want to sail up and down the Chesapeake, good on you. Do it. But do it. Don’t wait for something magical to happen because it’s not going to happen, and you know time ticks away.”

More information on the sailors is posted at ryanandsophie.com. Visit annapolisboatshows.com to learn more about this weekend’s event.