Lynne & Peter – EQUINOX – Outremer 55

Author : Nikki Henderson

Owner’s story: Lynne & Peter on EQUINOX – Outremer 55

“We counted back the years left and asked ourselves: well, what do we want to get done?”

I could just about see Lynne’s hand resting on Peter’s forearm at the bottom of the screen.

“And we just knew. We were going to sail around the world.”

Peter’s hand crossed over to hold Lynne’s. They both smiled and stole a loving glance at each other whilst I melted in towards my computer screen like I was watching the happily ever after scene in a romantic movie. Except, for Peter and Lynne, this is just the beginning of their story.

To fall in love with your partner just a little bit more every day… it is surely a universal lifegoal. Don’t we all hope that we’ll still be madly in love into our 60s, 70s and 80s?

But, the problem? Domestic life. It being the romantic thing it is, with increasing energy bills, sleep apnoea machines, neighbourhood speed limits and obligations ‘we’re lucky to have’ – grandchildren, aging parents, managing the second home – for most of us this idyllic story we thought we’d signed up for sadly becomes just that: a fairytale.
But Lynne (61) and Peter (70) have bravely chosen a different reality.
The interview had barely begun, and I already felt like I was a part of their love story. I noted down: you want the fairytale?

1. Take inventory of your life – 2. Identify the shared dream – 3. Go after it

Buying an Outremer to cruise the world is their retirement plan, and in this way Lynne and Peter are a quintessential blue-water sailing couple.

“Well,” Lynne laughed, “as of November, I’m clean and done. But Peter is trying to be retired.”
They’ve worked demanding careers, Lynne as chief engineer for Boeing and Peter in software and development. Whilst it’s taking Peter longer to hand over the reins and detach from his working life, which isn’t unusual for someone in the Outremer community, they’re both clear: it’s time to enjoy life and reap the reward of their hussle.

They met at the Seattle Yacht Club, of which they are both members, whilst attending a talk about the Race to Alaska, which coincidentally was delivered by a mutual friend of ours. Evidently, they were both interested in a big adventure!
I asked them if they think that wild spirit is what drew them together. They laughed and explained they were both going through divorces at the time, launching their six collective children into the adult world, and that the relationship was more of a slow burn friendship at first.

“But, let’s just say, we were both intrigued…” Lynne added.
That seed of curiosity clearly lasted and some years later, they set off on a holiday to India. On the way home to the Pacific Northwest, they diverted to La Grande Motte, and the rest… well it happened fast.

“Matthieu met us immediately after we landed. On a Sunday afternoon! We had a test sail with Marc on Monday. And by the time we’d finished lunch we were configuring our Outremer 55 with the amazing Julien!”
Lynne and Peter are boat people through and through. Lynne started sailing 30 years ago on dinghies in the Puget Sound and raced ever since. Like most Seattle waterfolk, she branched out into motorboating and still owns a few.
“Lynne has a fleet!” Peter joked.

He’s had his fair share too though, having owned three different catamarans. He sailed to French Polynesia on a sun reef 62 with his four young children and then traded his, “heavy, heavy boat,” for a Lagoon 620. It was on that, in the ARC 2022 where he first came across Outremer.
“There we were – queen of the fleet – hoisting our huge spinnaker straight off the start line and I look to my right and see a smaller catamaran accelerating off ahead of me and I thought, what the hell is that?”
He shook his head as he told the story, re-living his surprise.

“It was an Outremer 55! And by night they were already 20 miles ahead. They finished in St Lucia a whole day in front of me. Coming from a racing background, I was sold right then. I knew I had to have one.”

That was Chilli Pepper, the eighth Outremer 55 hull, skippered by John and Anne. The three of them became fast friends, in all senses. Now Lynne and Peter’s quick decision in La Grande Motte made more sense. But still, planning the hull layout of your boat the same day that you test sail still seems quite impulsive for an engineer! I asked Lynne if they’d done much research. Lynne turned to Peter, implying she thought he should answer.
“Well I got Lynne onto Cat Great Circle. And we binged it ,” Peter said. “We watched every single episode from the first one. We were obsessed!”
“Yes, there was this one afternoon.” Lynne interrupted Peter, the topic of Cat Great Circle was clearly one that excited them both!
“Let me finish,” Peter cut back in.

Neither of them could get their words out fast enough. I noted how comfortable they were with confrontation; an important dynamic on a boat. Unphased by the brief conflict, Peter continued and Lynne listened smiling. “Yes, if I watched just one episode without Lynne, she’d come home and we’d have to watch it again.” I now regret not asking them if they were planning on becoming YouTube sensations themselves. So, we will all have to stay tuned!

As of July 2026, Peter and Lynne have sailed onboard Equinox, their Outremer 55, for three months and clocked up 2500 miles. They’ve signed up to the next Grand Large Yachting World Odyssey rally which gives them a year to cruise the Mediterranean before they set off with the fleet of 30 other boats in November 2027.

“The thing you need to know Nikki, is this project is all about being equal,” Peter said just as I was about to ask them what their favourite upgrade was on the boat. “Equinox means equal.”

Lynne cut in. “A boat is stronger with two captains than one.”

“If one of us has been doing a role too much we switch.” Peter explained. “It’s very important to us that we can both drive the boat and park the boat and sail the boat.”

Now, this is where Lynne and Peter start to become more unique. Unique in the best way.

“You have to move the task and the relationship forward.” Lynne explained that they apply an analogy taken from the her career in the airline industry. “You can’t just sit back quietly and let one person run the whole boat just to maintain the status-quo of the relationship. But equally, you can’t spend the entire time training the weaker sailor and never actually go sailing.”

I agreed with them. I admire their approach, feeling every Outremer owner couple would benefit from this mindset. I asked them what advice they’d give two sailors who perhaps didn’t come with quite so much yachting experience.

“They’ve got to go and get the experience.” Lynne said. “Go get some training while the boat is being built.”

“And if you’re more experienced than your wife, you have to learn to step aside.” Peter added. “Mistakes will happen, sure. But that’s just part of owning a boat. It’s better to have a mistake and learn, than to have one person doing everything.”

I couldn’t agree more.

After an hour and half, I called the conversation to a close with Lynne and Peter. We could have carried on. It’s always the case when you get a few people in a room reliving an adventurous life – life will feel full to the brim of experiences there’s never enough time to talk about all you’ve seen, achieved and learnt.

The conversation swung through the entire breadth of boat ownership from their surprise that they receive “circulars from Outremer HQ – like in the airline industry” when there are problems discovered on boats already sailing – to the love of their dog who sadly they have to leave behind. They shared how much they feel like they are learning all the time. And they recollected a difficult night coming back from Corsica where it blew 30 knots and the dinghy came loose.

“We just worked together and got it sorted,” Lynne said. “It was hard. But exciting. We don’t really like 30 knots.”
Hard, exciting, working together – what great words I thought to myself. I bid them farewell and asked if there were any final words of wisdom they’d like to share from the comfort of their waterside home and their rich, red coloured kitchen.

“Three things: Be equal. Don’t yell. Practice a lot.” Peter said. “And remember – the hardest thing to do is to untie the lines and leave the dock.”
Yes – when are we “ready enough” for such a grand adventure? It’s the constant conundrum of every sailor. A question that ultimately comes down to risk and reward. For in the end, sailors have to embrace the knowing that we will never be 100% sure that we are ready to slip lines. Eventually, we have to justify our choice in the faith that the adventure that awaits, is worth the risk.
Amidst the uncertainty though, is one sure fact: confidence and faith that it’s “worth the risk” is strengthened by living examples like Peter and Lynne. These two prove that not only does a great voyage and travel and a circumnavigation await us, but also an opportunity to fall in love with one another all over again every single day.