There are signs when the sea starts calling.
For some, it’s a childhood memory of a three-day sailing trip with their parents. For others, it might be that strange, unearthly peace that washes over them every time they look at the ocean.
Once it starts calling, it gets louder every time you miss it.
And once you hear it, you need to do something with it.
But what?
That’s Built Around the Sea. A series of conversations with people who heard the call and shaped their lives and work around it.
I’m Frank, and I heard it too.
For most of my life, work came first. The sea wasn’t calling at all.
I actually remember watching a friend stare into the endlessness of the ocean and asking him: what do you find there? What is there to stare at?
But over time, I found myself interacting with the ocean more and more. Diving, then freediving, boating on rivers, getting my skipper’s license, sailing. And eventually, after successfully bankrupting my previous business, I found myself asking a much bigger question:
Could I actually build my life around the sea instead of squeezing it into weekends and holidays?
I realised there are people who have already done exactly that, in a million different ways.
They became adventurers. Captains. Built boatyards. Started marine companies. Designed yachts and technology. Changed careers. Crossed oceans. Created businesses that gave them a reason to stay close to the water.
They’re the minds building the culture of the sea today, turning visions into reality and shaping what this world is becoming.
And I find their stories fascinating.
Not just what they do now, but what came before it. The events and decisions that changed the trajectory of their lives. What they gave up. What went wrong. What they learned. And whether the life they built turned out anything like the one they imagined.
Maybe even better.
These stories are Built Around the Sea.
It isn’t really a blog about boats, cool gadgets, or the top 100 budget destinations.
It’s about people who felt that pull, chose to take it seriously, and actually did something about it.
Frank Karro Built Around the Sea