Never let a plan get in the way of your dream. That could be the mantra for JP Baudains and his partner Charlotte, who had a dream to sail the world, but, while in their late 20s, assumed the plan would include waiting several years to be able to do it. But then they decided to just do it, and three months later, in May 2022, they bought a 50-foot German Frers-designed Fast 500.

Since then the pair have embarked on a frantic refit and the start of their goal to sail around the world and hopefully inspire people along the way, something they call Project World Sail.

Neither JP or Charlotte were strangers to sailing and the sea. JP grew up surfing and racing sailboats in the British Isles’ Guernsey, and Charlotte’s father was a sailboat captain. They both became professional sailors, sailing and racing on some of the most prestigious yachts in the world, and they met along the way. 

“Every time we would pull into a new anchorage working on someone else’s boat, we couldn’t help but feel a little envious of our neighbors owning their own boats, running their own schedules and following their own dreams,” Charlotte said. “So that was it. Neither of us remember quite when we made the decision to buy a boat and sail round the world, but all of a sudden it was happening, and the boat search commenced.”

The couple had just sailed a boat from the Caribbean to Newport, Rhode Island, when they found their future boat. 

“Driving up to see her after work was, if anything, a little underwhelming,” JP said. “Squashed into the back of a boatyard shed, decks covered in dirt and the interior completely ripped up, this boat was far from the vision we had. However, when we started to look a little closer, underneath the layer of dirt we saw a boat that had been beautifully designed to sail offshore, and do it fast.”

The boat needed a lot of work, particularly considering the pair hoped to launch the boat and sail across the Atlantic by late August. They didn’t get started until June and the worklist covered a whole wall. The previous owner told the couple they we were doing more to the boat in a couple of months than he had done in 18 years.

The couple sometimes worked 20-hour days whipping the boat in to shape, and making their August deadline, launching the newly named Jacquea—a word they make up during a Scrabble game—in the middle of the month. 

With the start of the hurricane season breathing down their necks, the pair prepared for four weeks at sea and set off out of Newport. They arrived at Cape Cod Canal at sunrise, with the current pushing them along with only a breath of air. 

But their trip would be unceremoniously upended. A loud noise signaled a major issue: The mechanism that joins the propeller shaft to the engine failed, bending the shaft and cracked the shaft log. The boat was taking on water with no engine or steerage as the current pushed them through the canal.

Sails were quickly raised, and the Canal Patrol called on the VHF. When they arrived, they brought an emergency pump and towed the boat to a local marina.

Jacquea got a replacement shaft, but the couple’s plan was disrupted almost before it began. The unexpected work meant that crossing the Atlantic would have to be put off, but the couple adjusted and explored the East Coast and the Caribbean, then finally crossed the Atlantic, spending the summer sailing and surfing in remote Scottish islands. Another Atlantic crossing east-to-west is imminent.

The pair fund their journey partially through a rental property but also occasionally work as freelance sailors, doing deliveries or races. They also have sponsors, including Ocean Bottle, that offer support. 

Along the way, Charlotte and JP, who occasionally have friends join them onboard, also work to bring people who might not have the opportunity to learn to sail on Jacquea. 

“We try to touch base with local sailing communities when we reach an area, and they usually have an outreach program we can connect with people through,” Charlotte said.

And that gets to the heart of what this young couple is trying to do.

“Sailing around the world was a bit of a by-product of what we really wanted here which was to have the opportunity as humans to push ourselves mentally and physically more than we have done before,” JP said. “We wanted to see what just us two could do alone. Since then we have faced situations where we were tested to the limit with only each other to trust and when you’ve made it through those situations then that pretty anchorage in the Caribbean that you reach at the end feels a little more rewarding.”

And while proving something to themselves was part of what led them to set sail, they now have another hope: that others might find inspiration in their story.

“We’re not doing what we’re doing to prove that we are different, but instead to hope that we can inspire as many people as possible to follow their dreams. We didn’t have a huge amount of savings but were clever with what we had, making it go as far as possible. If that inspires other people to stop talking about it and do it, then we are happy.”

Follow Project World Sail at their website www.projectworldsail.com and on social media at the same name.