Maya, on Magic Carpet I, a boat she refitted with her husband, Aladino, a Swiss and Italian sailor and boat builder.Courtesy of Maya and Aladino”We have a massive housing crisis here, it’s crazy expensive,” she told Insider, of Canada’s housing market. “So a lot of my friends around me were all thinking about alternative housing options. I was like, ‘Well, I love sailing. And this sort of seems like these two worlds can combine’.” When she was 18, Maya bought a boat for $1, refitted it and lived in it while she was finishing her degree in journalism and marine ecology. Maya and her husband, Aladino, asked to be identified only by their first names to retain some anonymity in public-facing jobs. Insider has verified their identities.