Society's collapsing... let's sail to Greece and learn survival skills

A BRISTOL couple have sold their home and all their possessions and bought a boat – to give themselves a better chance of withstanding the collapse of Western civilisation. Naomi Smyth, 30, and Sam Rossiter, 34, have sold their Montpelier home and bought a 22ft yacht – to follow their dream of sailing to Greece. ​ ​The couple will be leaving behind the Bristol sights such as the Suspension Bridge in favour of Greece's Acropolis •••..The couple set sail from Bristol Harbour over the weekend, heading initially for London via the Kennet and Avon Canal. When we caught up with them aboard their boat, Lexia, yesterday, they had only gone as far as the Jolly Sailor Inn at Saltford. "It's not about seeing how quickly we can get to Greece," Miss Smyth said. "It's about taking our time, meeting as many interesting people as we can along the way, and learning as much as we can from them." Miss Smyth, a freelance film- maker, and website administrator Sam, have left behind their Bristol- based careers to make the journey, which they believe will take them at least a year. "We think we should get to Greece around this time next year," Miss Smyth said. "First we travel on the inland waterways to London, in order to get more used to the boat. Then we cross the English Channel and join the French canal network at Dunkirk." The couple will spend the winter travelling slowly through France, before emerging at the Mediterranean in the spring. "We then want to take a detour across to northern Spain for a few weeks, before following the coast of southern France and Italy, before finally island-hopping through Greece." The couple hope to pick up survivalist skills along the way, which they believe will help them to survive in a post-banking collapse world. "A couple of years ago, when we first started planning this journey, people couldn't get their heads around why we would want to visit Spain, Italy and Greece to find out more about living without money," Mr Rossiter said: "But now they see the euro collapsing in those three countries, and they're increasingly starting to get it. "We were very conscious that the skills we had picked up in our careers were all very good for filming documentaries or running websites but when it came to being self-sufficient and living in a post-industrial world, we were hopelessly naïve." The couple bought the boat for just £500 from an internet auction site last year, and have spent the last few months making her sea-worthy. "Our parents are particularly worried about the periods where we will be going out to sea," Mr Rossiter said. "I can't blame them really. I have been on some sailing courses, but it's fair to say that our maritime knowledge is at about the lowest point at which we could realistically take this challenge on. But we're hoping to pick up a lot along the way – that's the whole point of the trip." Miss Smyth said: "It is far more than a gap year. It is also an exercise in seeing how far we can strip down our lives – how few material possessions we actually need in order to have a happy life. Parting with all our possessions was traumatic at first, but once we started giving things away it became addictive and very liberating. "The money we have from selling the house, we are hoping to put to one side, and when we return from our journey we will buy some land and set ourselves up with a more self-sufficient life in the countryside. "This whole thing began because Sam and I were starting to think about settling down properly and having children. But we were both genuinely concerned about bringing children into a world where we didn't have the right skills to look after them if the financial system that we all rely so much on was to totally collapse. "The fact is, it is already happening in Greece. So perhaps we can learn from the Greek people a bit more about what may be facing us in this country a few years down the line – and what basic skills we will need to live more self-sufficiently. "I personally would like to pick up skills like blacksmithing, foraging, food cultivation, and above all food preservation – something that every woman in England knew how to do 100 years ago, but which few people care much about in today's throw-away society." Miss Smyth will make a series of short documentary films along the way, and upload them to the couple's website. You can follow their journey at: www.howtosurvivethefuture.org.