When Singaporean Sharon Ee and her British husband John Ramsden sailed back here, it was a homecoming.

The couple moved from Singapore to the UK in 2012—as John became the Managing Director at underwater communications specialist Sonardyne—they had intended to spend no more than three years there. “But it became five, then seven, 10, and then 12,” laughs Sharon, “and by that time, we had established a life, so it was difficult to uproot ourselves again.”

It wasn’t the case for John. Although born and raised in the UK, his family moved around a lot. Besides, as a seaman—he started his career in the Royal Navy—laying roots was not the norm. “Apart from being a wonderful place to be in, I have lived in Singapore longer than anywhere else. It is home,” he says.

SEA TO HOME

Their long journey back home began on 5 June 2023—“long” being the keyword. It was a 495- day voyage by sea as part of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) in their boat Sofa So Good. They prepared themselves and the boat, outfitting her with the most practical and high-tech systems but also stocking up on enough spares for contingencies—for about 18 months before setting sail.

There is no questioning the couple’s love for the sea—in fact they met and bonded over their love for it when John was with the Asia regional office of Sonardyne and a Member of ONE°15 Marina Sentosa Cove.

“I started sailing when I was very young, about four or five years old,” explains John. His parents encouraged it as they were told it would help John with his coordination. It turned out to be the right move “to the point where I became very competitive”, he laughs.

Sharon on the other hand, started in her late 20s, lured into it by a sailing trip to the Greek islands. They met in Batam at a regatta around 1995 and decided to merge their love for sailing and racing, going from dinghies to keel boats to now, Sofa So Good.

It all happened on a holiday to Tahiti, their first-ever rally where they chartered a cruising boat and raced from one island
to another. It struck them then that they could race and still be comfortable if they got themselves a cruising boat as against a racing boat, which is more functional. They put their race boat up for sale upon their return to Singapore and settled on their comfortable Elan Impression 434 sailing vessel, designed by Britisher Rob Humphreys.

“He’s designed an awful lot of yachts—from very small boats to superyachts. I think we made exactly the right choice, because, apparently, the boat that he now owns is the same as ours—out of all the boats he could have chosen,” says John excitedly.

As the crew steps into the boat for the shoot, we can understand why. It is sleek, well outfitted and comfortable, with plenty of cosy seating areas and nooks. “Yes, many sofas. So good!” they laugh.

NEW HORIZONS

Every year, with ARC, there’s a sweet spot in time for departing from the Canary Islands and go to the Caribbean straight across the Atlantic—“the trade winds are sometimes strong, sometimes weak and sometimes, they come in the wrong direction, but there will always be wind”, shares John.

They started out with a feeder rally from the UK down to Portugal to iron out any issues that they might encounter in their voyage.

John’s engineering background came in more than handy throughout—he did an apprenticeship with the navy. “That gave me a background in mechanical, electrical, electronics, and then computing, which is absolutely critical, when you’re on a boat going around the world and 1,000s of miles from anywhere,” he explains.

The duo had their share of technical issues and bad weather among other things—they recall running into especially rough patches getting into and leaving Columbia. The challenges were, however, erased from memory as soon as they reached Panama and the tropical paradise of San Blas Islands, where they were indulged by its welcoming indigenous population.

“You might visit a place, but you wouldn’t really see certain aspects of it unless you were at sea, and that was kind of the magic of being in your own world,” adds Sharon, counting being in the Panama Canal as one of the highlights of the journey. “It is a huge engineering feat—making it possible for us to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. It was quite incredible passing the canal—sandwiched between giant ships and cargo vessels—and experiencing it all from our
own boat,” gushes Sharon.

They had to have its hull cleaned before making their way to the Galápagos Islands and then go through a series of safety checks upon entry and exit. “But once we were in there, all the animals were amazing, and the sight of the hammerhead sharks swimming by our feet was just phenomenal,” counters John. It was a once-in- a-lifetime experience for both of them.

LIFETIME EXPERIENCES

It is very likely that the couple is one of the first to have sailed all the way from the UK to Singapore. “We did it for the journey. People don’t quite appreciate how big a journey this is, particularly in the time frame that we did it,” says John.

It has no doubt brought about a new respect for the power of the sea. And their dynamics as a couple has also developed over the period. “We now communicate telepathically,” laughs John.

“Going to sea in a boat sounds really romantic, but one needs to have the skill and the ability to deal with situations and to get out of them. We went through a lot during the journey, but we had confidence in our boat, and for me, the skipper,” says Sharon in true appreciation of John.

Could they have done this differently; taken a flight, perhaps?

“We could have flown first class to every place we stopped at, stayed in the best hotels possible. It could have taken the same amount of time and it would have cost us less money, but then we would have missed out on all the experiences, the joys, the highs and lows,” they say emphatically. “The highs truly outweighed the lows.”

The original article was published on the January/ February 25 issue of Longitude, ONE°15 Marina’s Club magazine. Read it here.