A couple who met in Cayman just a few years ago have set off on a sailing voyage around the world. Sue and Chip Ogilvie set sail from West Bay in early June and are currently heading towards Panama on the first leg of their epic adventure.
While Chip has been a keen sailor for years, it was a whole new world to keen traveller Sue, whose experience on the water had been limited to sitting back and enjoying sailing holidays rather than taking an active part, but who had always wanted to give it a try.
“I’d never taken part in sailing myself, but I love being on a boat and I love the water,” said Sue. “And I’ve always been a traveler, so my travels have taken me all over the world.”
Cayman connection
Sue’s connection to Cayman began in 2017 when she came out to visit her friend, Sue Winspear, the former Auditor General. It was on a return trip in 2022 when Sue Ogilvie, who had retired from the UK prison service, took a temporary role at the Breast Cancer Foundation. She met Chip through mutual friends and the pair soon discovered a shared love of sailing and golfing.
For his part, Chip moved from Missouri to Cayman in 2010 to work as director of property for Dart, managing the maintenance and service projects as well as alternative energy installations. With a sister already living on island, Chip said that moving here “was a no-brainer” and he acquired a sailboat, Orion, within months of arriving on island.
The couple started racing with the Cayman Sailing Club and the seeds of future adventure were born. When Chip retired in early 2024, the intrepid pair took to the waves on a 3,000-mile trip, sailing to Mexico, Florida, Bahamas, Jamaica and back to Cayman, a notable trip made even more memorable by Chip proposing to Sue on a remote reef called Hog Sty Reef with 2,000 birds as witnesses and not other soul for 70 miles.
This turned out to be just the beginning. The couple decided that a world tour was now on the cards and with famous filmdom words realised, “We’re going to need a bigger boat.”
They sold everything they had in Cayman including their home, furniture and car, and moved to Sue’s home in Poole, southern England. Back in the UK, the couple bought and refitted a Moody 42-foot monohull boat and spent six months fitting it out, finding the time to get married in the historic site of Corfe Castle in Dorset, England – Chip’ Scottish ancestry meant he sported a kilt for the big day – and honeymooning at the Americas Cup in Barcelona.
Dream journey
The newlyweds set off in May last year, taking part in the Atlantic Relay Crossing, sailing along the coasts of France, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, and then Morocco to Cape Verde. Although the boat did have an official renaming ceremony before taking to the waves, it is now called, ‘Fortuitous’.
“We consider ourselves fortuitous to have met and now be fulfilling our dreams of traveling around the world,” said Sue. With both of them now in their 60s – Sue is 64 and Chip is 68 – they are proof that age is just a number.
While the pair weren’t racing, they managed to take third place in their sailing category in the first leg. Aside from the challenge of sailing such long distances – and living and working together in very close quarters – the Ogilvies had to contend with a host of other hurdles, including avoiding Iberian orca that have a reputation for attacking sailboats.
Having rested and restocked in Cape Verde, the couple sailed to Grenada and on through the Caribbean, joined sometimes by dolphins and even a sperm whale, and took part in a daring mid-sea refuelling mission when a boat ahead of them was stranded with broken rigging and insufficient fuel to make it to land.
After some time catching up with friends on Cayman, it was time to head off again, ahead of the hurricane season. The pair left Cayman early June and will shortly be sailing through the Panama Canal before heading onto Colombia, Peru, Chile and then off to the Galapagos Islands. Then it’s all the way to the other side of Fortuitious’ world map, which is pinned to a cabin wall, to Australia, New Zealand, Vietman, Philippines, Japan and then back to Cayman.
“If we stay healthy and get all the way around the world one and a half times, we’ll end up back in England eventually, and then we’ll decide what to go from there,” said Sue.
Onboard routine
With space at a premium on the sailing boat, the couple can rely on their “marriage-saving devices” – aka headphones – and often take it in turns in cockpit duty, dividing tasks between them.
“By day three you get settled into a routine,” says Chip. “There’s some catnapping, and then Sue might take the first shift, and I’ll relieve her one or two in the morning, or I’ll take it until sunrise until she gets up, and it goes on like that,”
In quieter moments they will play card games such as Uno, digital chess and listen to audio books or watch a DVD, but the natural world with its waves, bioluminescence and starry night skies is as compelling as any movie.
The boat is as self-sufficient as it is possible to be, with solar energy to power the boat and a device to turn salt water into drinking water. Fishing provides fresh fish including tuna and mahi mahi and Sue has mastered the art of baking bread in the small galley kitchen.
While sailing the oceans can be a risky business – floating containers, wildlife and other vessels all being potential hazards – the Fortuitous crew has all the latest safety features, with self-inflating life-jackets with built-in transponders, satellite communications and a ready-stocked life raft.
With a master bedroom at the back of the boat, spare bedroom at the front, two ensuite bathrooms, a galley kitchen and a lounge, as well as the open-air deck, there’s room for friends and family to stay, with Chip’s children and granddaughter Naia, and Sue’s goddaughter all visiting so far.
Every new destination gives a chance to explore and even fit in a game of golf if possible: the couple document their travels on their YouTube channel From Sea to Tee named after their shared passions.
Making the most of life
Both Chip and Sue have underlying health issues and have lost those dear to them, which has taught them to make the most of every moment.
“Most people I speak to think we’re completely mad,” said Sue, “but we always talked about traveling. One of my earliest conversations with Chip was telling him about my dream to sail around the world in my retirement.”
Whenever she had mentioned this to friends, they would invariably point out, “But you don’t know how to sail!” but with Chip, it was a different matter.
“My goodness,” laughs Sue, “we’re making it happen now!”
You can follow Chip and Sue’s adventures on You Tube and track their journey on eur-share.explore.garmin.com/RZQHM
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