Jan 26 2009
life on a boat
When I first met Frenchman Franck Ibanez and his Singaporean wife Wang Meng Ngee and they told me they lived on a boat, I thought they were slightly crazy. Then they told me that their eventual plan was to sail around the world with their two young children and I began to seriously wonder about their sanity.
Honestly, most of us who have the privilege and responsibility of caring for more than one child under the age of 5 will tell you what a challenge it is even on dry land! So what more on a 12.5 metre long boat in the middle of the Indian Ocean?
As I got to know them though, I began to understand what Franck meant when he said it was a lifestyle choice. His rationale was that he wanted the world to be his home, the sea to teach its lessons to his children and a life that was pared down to the basic essentials. After all, there’s not much space for frivolity or luxury on a small boat that has to be stocked with the supplies for sea voyages lasting up to 3 weeks.
It was difficult not to be inspired by this almost romantic vision, while simultaneously feeling a little worried about how they were going to meet the unforeseen and unknown on their 2 to 3 year trip from Singapore to Europe.
Talking to Suzanne Jung and Steven Chia in the studio, Meng talked about how her journey began, “I thought well I’ve always liked to travel and what better way to do it than on a boat, because when you take the aeroplane, it’s faster but you don’t see as many places. On a boat you go to places like Chagos island where there is nobody there and you can’t take aeroplane to be there and you can just be free for a month with nobody telling you what to do, you’re able to fish, you’re able to swim on a whole beach for yourself.”
Franck and Meng spent about 4 years at the Raffles Marina in Singapore, planning their trip, preparing their boat and making babies. They set off for their grand adventure a little over a year ago, when their daughters Carmen and Julie were 4 and 2, and have sailed from Singapore all the way to South Africa.
Besides getting dengue in the Maldives and have their boat burgled in Mayotte, they seemed to be having a whale of a time. We kept in touch via their blog (www.constantesingapour.com) and the occasional long distance phonecall. They told of adventures with sharks, catching enormous snapper fish, meeting a wide range of sailing friends, braving storms at sea and dropping anchor at unspoiled tropical islands – things we could only dream of in our small little city lives.
Meng and the girls came back to Singapore recently to spend the Lunar New Year holidays with her family. Sun-tanned and happy from her seafaring life, Meng talked about how their unusual life had changed the girls: “I would say that I have managed to see how they developed in their self confidence that I don’t see in land children. They are very cautious when they are climbing on to things. Thankfully we haven’t had them fall overboard yet, they are really careful. They know where are their boundaries.”
The family intends to head to Argentina next where they might stop for a year or so before continuing on to North America and eventually to France.
(A shorter version of this article was published in the TODAY weekend edition 24-25 January 2009)



Joanne Leow is a producer-presenter with Channel NewsAsia. She is married with 2 young sons and spends her free time reading, writing, swimming, doing yoga and cooking up a storm.