Brian Trautman spent years working 60-hour weeks as a software engineer at companies like Microsoft. Eventually, he realized that the best part of his day was the bus ride to and from work. On one of those rides, Trautman decided he needed to make a change.
In May 2008, after two years of saving as much as possible, he sold all of his possessions, including a three-bedroom townhouse in Redmond, Washington and embarked on a two-year sabbatical to sail the world.
“[I thought to myself] after two years, I’m going to be ready to come back and know exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life, and I just never came back,” Trautman tells CNBC Make It.
Trautman purchased a 53-foot sailboat called the SV Delos for $398,000 with a $81,000 down payment. It has three cabins and two bathrooms. He made his final payment on the boat in 2019.
Trautman purchased his sailboat in the summer of 2008 in Bellingham, Washington.
WE Sail
When Trautman set sail, he had two years of savings, or about $48,000. It ran out three different times, he says. He maxed