At one time in their lives, husband and wife Alec and Laurie Thyrre were U.S.-based commercial pilots flying both domestic and international routes for major airlines, careers they both loved.

But the call of the sea was strong. The couple spent almost all of their time cruising on Alec’s sportfish when they weren’t ferrying passengers around the country.

When son Jack came along, they moved onto a full-displacement trawler and found that they liked the pace, safety and ability to easily reach far-fling destinations in their own vessel. 

The family first did a shakedown cruise from Florida to Nova Scotia onboard Gratitude, their Nordhavn 64. After that, they went for it, reaching Ireland in the summer of 2019.

The couple remanence about their several years in Europe and provide other details about the trip: Where to anchor and where to get a marina, the visa requirements, the Schengen Areas, electronic charting, how local and crowd-sourced knowledge is vital and much more. For more on the Thyrre family, go to cruisingwithgratitude.com.