The turning point was 1996. I was 11 at the time, and my own dad was about to go to sea for good. He was 34 years old and was striving for new horizons and the opportunity to wander around the world without working at all. He didn't know the word “downshifting” at the time, but that's exactly what he decided to do. He was offered to take part in an expedition aboard a historic sailing ship.

Saint Nicholas is a three-masted Pomeranian merchant boat built in Petrozavodsk. It was launched in June 1991. The vessel is 17 meters long, excluding bowsprit, 5.3 meters wide and has a maximum draft of 1.75 meters. It is equipped with a 40-horsepower diesel engine and can accommodate a crew of 12 people. The sails have an area of 160 square meters. Lodja was actively used to participate in international festivals and other events.

In the summer of 96, they left Petrozavodsk and reached Kaliningrad, where they were repaired in a dry dock until autumn. In autumn, they left Kaliningrad and set off on their journey. At that time, the shipping box office was very leaky, and they had to start living from the barrel that stood by the ramp to collect donations.

And I went to 6th grade and didn't even see the ship my dad took to sea. Up to this point, we had very few meetings with him, and it was when he left that I realized how important all those rare hours together were to me, and how much I miss him now and how much I love and need him.

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