Ahoy there! We’re Liya, Armand, and Pinot, your delightfully unconventional millennials sailing the high seas as SmoCo Sailing! Sure, we jumped on the ‘crazy couple’ express and got hitched after a mere 6 months, but that was 12 years ago so our crazy decisions may have some footing after all. After living in Europe for 4 years and traveling to 37 countries together we concocted a master plan to retire at 36, because why wait your entire lifetime to truly live out your life? We are now living and sailing fulltime on our sailboat, Cosmo, and exploring everything the world has to offer, one anchorage at a time.
Liya
Liya (or Smo) hails from the sunny shores of Hawaii, but don’t let the palm trees fool you—this gal has a fascinating backstory featuring a detour through Russia and North Carolina! She’s definitely an island girl at heart, unable to fathom temperatures below 70 degrees, which begs the question: how on earth did she survive eight icy years in Russia? A proud Air Force vet and retired corporate girlie, she now revels in a blissful life free from the soul-crushing sounds of Slack notifications and the dreaded “Can you hop on Zoom real quick?” Liya’s sailing experience? Well, it all started with a misguided attempt to impress Armand (pre-dating) in 2012 by joining him at a hobie cat class in Biloxi, MS. However, the only thing she remembered from the class was the murky lake water they had to dunk into during a turnover drill. She redeemed herself by learning the ropes (or should we say lines?) when Armand picked up ASA classes in Monterey, CA. Fast forward to the COVID lockdowns, and a little wine-fueled magic mixed with endless YouTube sailing marathons led Liya to dream big—sail the world! Liya is the planner in team SmoCo so she has been the financial planning, calendar maintaining, spreadsheet building, organizing, project managing, supply purchasing and stocking guru and also a mastermind in the galley whipping up the most fabulous meals when the crew is down the very last provisions.
Armand
Armand is a red head rascal from the Northeast but you wouldn’t ever pick it up from his accent, but you also wouldn’t guess that he speaks Mandarin, French, German, and is getting pretty good at Spanish. Hailing from the bustling wilderness of New Hampshire, Armand didn’t experience life by the water until he moved to in Monterey with Liya in 2018. Love at first sail? More like love after freezing cold, foggy lessons that felt like a waterboarding session—thanks, Monterey Bay! But Armand had dreams of taking his sailing skills somewhere warm and sunny and good thing he had Liya onboard (literally and metaphorically) in this crazy scheme; it wasn’t long before Armand has some boats in mind and a plan for sailing down to Mexico. Onboard SV Cosmo, Armand is the superhero you never knew you needed: mechanic, DIY whiz, plumber, and electrician—all without a cape, but a toolbelt instead. He’s the first to dive headfirst into the bilges, tackle the engine bay, or scale the mast like a determined squirrel on caffeine to fix whatever’s gone awry, and he’s somehow managed to repair 95% of the chaos. When he’s not on a mission to save the day, you’ll find him strumming his ukulele, bravely wading through Spanish lessons, or, let’s be real, diagnosing yet another disaster waiting to happen!
Pinot
Pinot, the pint-sized maltipoo who crashed the SmoCo family party in 2018, is not just the smallest member of the crew on SV Cosmo—he’s also the loudest! This little furball loves long walks on the beach, chasing flies, barking at dolphins, and soaking up the sun. On our passage down the Baja coast of Mexico, he finally nailed the art of using his fancy on-deck bathroom turf pad—the biggest accomplishment of his life! Does he love sailing and boat life? Oh, you betcha! You’ll often find him snug as a bug in his dog bed, right next to the captain at the helm, dreaming of cheese treats and sunny beaches!
SmoCo Sailing 