Always on the water!

'We exchanged hearth and home for freedom, happiness!'

Daan and Sylvia are water sports enthusiasts in heart and soul. Together they have been sailing for 48 years! After a six-month trip in 2022, they decided to make their dream come true: living on the water. They sold their house and found their dream yacht in the Zijlmans 1500 Eagle Cabrio 'Wildebras' at 4 Beaufort. Staying and sailing. Daan and Sylvia combine it and enjoy it to the fullest!

Daan: "We retired last year. To celebrate that freedom, we decided to travel for six months with our ten-meter yacht. We sail through the whole of the Northern Netherlands. Man, we enjoyed it so much! Once home we found our garden, a complete wasteland... And all those empty bedrooms, because our kids are all out of the house. We decided to drastically change the course of our lives."

House for sale

Sylvia: "On the way with our motorboat, we regularly saw larger yachts passing by. We'd say to each other: 'How beautiful, isn't it?' To create the financial space for such a yacht, we put our house up for sale. Life on board was so good that we wanted to camp permanently on the water. From that moment on, we started our search for the ideal yacht to live and sail on."

Daan: "We first had our eye on a Lindenkotter. For that yacht we traveled to 4Beaufort in Sneek in July. But a few days earlier, the Zijlmans Eagle Cabrio 1500 "Wildebras" had also come into mediation. The photo shoot of that yacht was still in full swing, when we were already on board. We were immediately wild about it. The space, the comfort, the amenities: this was the yacht on which we wanted to make our dream come true."

Request a postal address

Sylvia: "On Friday we went to have a look, on Saturday we made an official offer and on Monday we had already bought the 'Wildebras'. The official handover took place in September. Then we also had the sale of our house off the precipice and our new life could begin. We applied for a postal address and have been living a nomadic existence on the water without a fixed berth ever since."

Daan: "We moor near cities and towns. We walk into them with the handcart to do some shopping. Or we explore the area with our electric bikes. Soon we will also buy a dinghy, to make everything even more accessible. We really sold our house for freedom, happiness. Filling up with water and fuel is the only thing we have to do, for the rest nothing is necessary and everything is allowed."

Discover Europe

Sylvia: "We regularly welcome our children, family, friends or acquaintances on board. We let them enjoy it so wonderfully. Although they will have to do without us in the summer months. We want to discover Belgium, explore France and travel to Berlin. Then we are really off the radar for a while. As long as we can still do it physically, we want to keep our dream alive."