Nathan Outteridge was all in when SailGP's new Swedish team Artemis reached out to hire him as skipper - but there was one slight problem.
Outteridge couldn't report for work straight away as he was on a remote French Polynesian island, halfway through a round-the-world sailing trip with his whole family.
The Australian Olympic gold medallist has been a SailGP regular since skippering the now-defunct Japanese team in the high-speed league's 2019 debut season.
But without a full-time gig for last year's fifth season, Outteridge bought a cruising catamaran in Europe and made plans to embark on the trip of a lifetime with his wife and two sons.
"It was a bit of a dream of ours to go and do something different," Outteridge told AAP.
The Outteridges left Europe after dad won the America's Cup with Team New Zealand in October 2024, first heading to the Canary Islands for Christmas.
From there, Outteridge's in-laws joined for the 20-day trip across the Atlantic, before the clan spent a few months kicking back in the Caribbean.
Outteridge's sons celebrated their fourth and sixth birthdays on the journey, which took the family through the Panama Canal, Galapagos Islands, French Polynesia, Tonga and then on to New Zealand in October.
It was on a remote atoll in French Polynesia that Outteridge received a dream job offer to join the SailGP's new Swedish vessel.
"I had an email from Torbjörn (Törnqvist), the owner of the team, and also an email and a WhatsApp from Iain Percy, who's the CEO," Outteridge said.
"It just said, 'We just bought the team and we need you back ASAP'. And I'm like, 'I'm so far away from being contactable right now'."
Outteridge and the team's owners began laying plans for Artemis' entry into the league as the skipper finished his passage home to Auckland.
Those plans culminate in Perth, where the SailGP is kicking off its sixth season with two days of racing this weekend.
Artemis' preparation has come with challenges.
Crew member Chris Draper required stitches after landing face-first on the F50's trampoline during practice this week but is expected to compete on Fremantle Harbour.
Outteridge acknowledges it may take time for his boat to challenge three-time champions Australia and defending champions Great Britain.
"Everyone always wants to be competitive as soon as they can be," he said.
"We need to be realistic that even though we've got really good people in the team with a lot of experience, we still need to gel."
AAP's reporter travelled to Perth as a guest of SailGP
