One Day : Alex Lakin & Lars Sandved - Sailors
Location : Antibes, France
Profession / passion : Sailors
Website : www.navikasailing.com
Instagram : @navika_sailing
One Day is an ongoing project sparked by the Covid-19. In the days of isolation we would like to focus on what we do best; bringing people together. Read more about the project here.
We will be posting one new day of someones life every day until we run out of contributors. See our instagram stories to experience these peoples One Day in action.
A text, song or film that everyone should experience.
‘Demain’ the film (followed by its sequel ‘Après Demain’). Optimistic and really uplifting.
What is the story behind your profession/ passion?
Living on a boat and sailing around the world has been something we’ve spoken about doing for a long time. We absolutely love being on the water and what the lifestyle allows for - living sustainably, being autonomous, being close to nature with access to amazing places you can’t otherwise get to.
About two years ago we left our corporate jobs in London and took some time to figure out what life we wanted to create together. Each idea we came up with we ran into the same problem: that we probably can’t do it from a boat. So after a while we decided, if all we really know is that we want to sail, let’s start there and do what we need to do to make it happen. We were falling into the trap of wanting the timing to be perfect, to be completely ready, completely sure, etc. We were basically afraid to commit. But we knew the timing was as good as we could hope for.
So in October we bought Navika and haven’t looked back since! We don’t have all the details figured out yet, but we know we’re doing what we love which makes all the challenges worthwhile. For now we are making our way by selling our custom designed sailor ‘ditty’ bags and Lars works in academia doing meditation neuroscience research and teaches meditation from the boat.
If you work with a partner, when and how did you meet?
We actually met at high school in France! That was 13 years ago and we’ve been together ever since. We almost can’t believe how long it’s been ourselves! We always cringe a bit when we answer this, we definitely don’t feel like the same people now as we were then. We’ve just been lucky that we’ve continued to be interested in similar things and love hanging out.
Define what beauty means to you.
Nature doing its thing. Kindness. People getting outside their comfort zone and going beyond what they thought was possible.
Quality or quantity?
One of the things we quickly learned on the boat was ‘buy it nice or buy it twice’.Quality is so important - things are more likely to break or get damaged being in such a harsh marine environment so having quality gear, tools and material is crucial for safety and comfort. We’re finding that it’s actually cheaper to buy quality in the long term, it’s just hard to have that long term view!
We also don’t have the space to store loads of stuff so we’ve had to select fewer quality items that last longer (clothes etc).
When was the last time you learned something new and what was it?
Owning a boat forces you to learn new things all the time. You are basically trying to be fully autonomous, which means being able to fix anything onboard on your own. You have to become an electrician, mechanic, carpenter, plumber, seamstress, painter - on top of being a sailor!
Recently we’ve taken on the massive project of refurbishing the teak decks on the boat. We both underestimated the time and effort required for a job like this and it’s been a non-stop learning experience.
Most importantly though, the whole process has given us a huge appreciation for the skills tradespeople have!
Have you actively chosen to live in the city/town you live in?
We’re currently based in Antibes port, on the south coast of France. We lived here for a while before we bought the boat and decided it would be an ideal place to fix it up over the winter before properly setting sail. We’re really looking forward to living in lots of different places once we’re on the go. That’s one of the things we love the most about sailing - being able to bring your home with you whilst you travel to new places.
How do you relax?
We’re both big fans of yoga and find that a morning practice helps us start our day relaxed but also energised. Alex loves to pick up the guitar and sing. Lars is a meditation teacher so he basically relaxes for a living!
What does freedom mean to you?
Freedom for us is only being limited by our imagination. Ultimately that means being free from attachment. For us the boat is the external manifestation of that idea, free to move autonomously, not held down anywhere. But an even bigger part is the internal freedom, being free from artificial limitations we put on ourselves, fears, beliefs and limited ideas.
Should calm come from within or be facilitated by the environment?
Both! But we overestimate how much we can control the external environment, which causes frustration when things don’t work out as planned. And we usually underestimate how much calm we can cultivate from within (with practice). Meditation has been a game changer for us with that. Sometimes a storm will hit and you can’t do anything about it except make some tea and wait it out.
Lastly, how do wish to see this current situation have a positive impact on our lives?
Hopefully this time can remind us how valuable we are to each other. Suddenly not being able to see anyone shows you that you never know when the last time you see someone you love will be. In general it’s been interesting how stopping everything is forcing us to take a moment and re-examine what's important to us. We don’t usually have that luxury, rushing from one thing to the next.
It’s also been humbling to realise that we are all intrinsically connected to a wider, global ecosystem. Hopefully we can collectively start thinking on a more holistic level, we’re going to need it to respond to the growing climate crisis.