I haven’t written in a while, not only because I haven’t felt inspired but also because I came to new realisation that I needed to put into perspective.
Barry and I received our latest Amazon order, a book called Sailing Promise, written by Alayne Main. She sailed around the world on a 33’ catamaran with her husband. This book was particularly eye opening as it dealt more with the emotional side of undertaking this trip and gave me a new perspective on the trip itself.
Up until now, I, like Alayne, have had off pat answers to the obviously fears and questions thrown in my direction. What about storms? We will check the weather and avoid them mostly, or we will sail through them. What about sinking? Catamarans don’t really sink they can capsize but then you can stay on the upside down ship waiting for rescue. What about dealing with the motion? Seasickness pills and the knowledge that; 3 days in I will recover and so on and so forth. Every question has a textbook answer.
I never really took any time to consider the real emotions I would feel and the effect that may or may not have on my relationships with my husband and children. Kyle, in particular, has been struggling with the idea of going on a boat and is fearful (as I am) even in calm waters. I just assumed we would both “get over it”. That by the time we had completed the shakedown cruise we would be comfortable and able crew on this adventure.
Reading this book made we realise that perhaps it may end up being slightly more difficult, my fear may not subside rapidly and Barry may take major strain trying to be husband, skipper, father, cook, navigator, teacher, emotional supporter and crew all alone in the middle of a stormy evening! Barry too may feel the fear I feel in these moments and our only help and assistance will be each other. We may argue, disagree and even want to give up at times. None of these things had ever really occurred to me as I had never taken the time to really consider the trip from this angle, to really look deep into my heart to discover the emotional strain this could and probably would place on each and every one of us.
So I guess the questions I had to really ask myself after considering all of this were:
Do I still want to go? Hell YES!
Am I more terrified than before? Hell YES!
But I take refuge in the fact that Barry and I have spent every waking hour together for the last 15 years and still we enjoy each other, we deal with our differences and feed of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I believe none of this will change, I believe we will continue to be a powerful team, dealing with life and all it throws at us with the same attitude we have up to now. I trust we will learn more about each other and compensate more for each other than ever before. I trust this journey, like all those we have already completed will bring us closer, make us stronger and give us greater understanding.
Who am I trying to convince? Myself? Probably, but as our departure date inches closer, so the truth of our decision becomes clearer.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
5th September
We will be returning to Yrumoar in less than 3 weeks time and I am starting to once again gather items that will be going down with us. Every time we are down there, I make a list of the items I feel we are missing. These are small items I believe we can and should either bring from home, purchase during our regular shopping trips or make.
I also add certain research topics to the list, expecting us to take a look at them and come to a conclusion. This usually entails things like measuring the size of the oven to see which roasting pans and cake tins will fit and which we need to sell or printing and laminating the radio procedure and mayday cards as required by SAMSA.
This week my research turned to the roller door I am looking for that will close off the shelf area behind the stove to make it into a cupboard. This is, at the moment, wasted space and with the addition of the under counter fridge and freezer I will loose my pot cupboard. This seems the ideal space to replace it, the pots will fit and we can line it with heat resistant non-skid. It will look great.
Barry and I paid a visit to a kitchen cupboard shop and had a look around. I finally spotted just what I was looking for. The sales lady had a look at the available sizes and they were slightly out, but we could work around that by building a frame into the counter. She then made a phone call and came back with a price…R 5500.00! For a cupboard door? Even she was shocked at that one! We said thank you and left the store, all the while deciding that Barry could and should rather make this particular item himself. The cupboard door saga will continue….
We did manage to tick off a few items on the list. I collected the curtain from the tailor on Friday morning, all sewn and ready to be fitted on our return. While at the stationery shop for work I purchased a duster and some chalk for the new chalkboard, I also had the radio cards that have been waiting for lamination for 3 weeks laminated. We managed to find some hi-ball plastic glasses while looking at 12v fridge and freezer options at the local camping store and found a few other great outdoor things to purchase in the future.
We spoiled ourselves by purchasing a jaffle iron and a waffle maker, both of which can be used on the stovetop or in an open air fire! Those items we did not buy have been added to our list to be discussed further before we spend the money…we don’t want to buy things we may not use and if we have lived without them until now…maybe we do not need them! The most wanted of these items is a 20 litre outdoor shower. In the tropics, a fresh water shower, with hot water will be luxury I don’t want to forgo and if we can control it to allow 5 litres per person per day…what a daily treat! Yes, that we will use for certain!
Kyle’s swimming lessons have been going extremely well! He has managed to go under water and collect items from the floor. He can doggy paddle and he even managed to do crawl using a board held out in front of him. This kid will be swimming like a fish by the end of the year thanks to Just So! Swimming school. The improvement in Kyle’s confidence and the reduction in his fear of water and thereby sailing are beyond our expectations, this is certainly a big step towards our departure!
We also received some new reading material this week and ordered a little more. Among our new books was the Lonely Plant guide to Southern Africa. I decided to purchase the book because we have travelled extensively in South Africa and I could then make a judgement about how useful they would be. This particular book included Namibia and Mozambique, both of which we plan to stop at in the not too distant future!
I am currently going through the South African section, using it for the planning of our detour in February. We plan to go via Graskop, Pilgrims rest and Sabie for a 3 to 4 day visit of the area. Barry and I have been there numerous times and would like to show this to our boys before we leave. There is so much see: the caves, the dinosaur park (neither of which are mentioned in the guide), panning for gold in Pilgrims rest, God’s window and Bourke’s luck potholes. Not to mention the hike in the Blyde River Canyon!
I will use it again for our detour in April (we want to take Keagan with so it needs to fall within the school holidays) to Augrabie’s falls in the Northern Cape. Following these inland trips we will be taking the boat up along the Mozambique coastline…and who knows what adventures will follow!
I also add certain research topics to the list, expecting us to take a look at them and come to a conclusion. This usually entails things like measuring the size of the oven to see which roasting pans and cake tins will fit and which we need to sell or printing and laminating the radio procedure and mayday cards as required by SAMSA.
This week my research turned to the roller door I am looking for that will close off the shelf area behind the stove to make it into a cupboard. This is, at the moment, wasted space and with the addition of the under counter fridge and freezer I will loose my pot cupboard. This seems the ideal space to replace it, the pots will fit and we can line it with heat resistant non-skid. It will look great.
Barry and I paid a visit to a kitchen cupboard shop and had a look around. I finally spotted just what I was looking for. The sales lady had a look at the available sizes and they were slightly out, but we could work around that by building a frame into the counter. She then made a phone call and came back with a price…R 5500.00! For a cupboard door? Even she was shocked at that one! We said thank you and left the store, all the while deciding that Barry could and should rather make this particular item himself. The cupboard door saga will continue….
We did manage to tick off a few items on the list. I collected the curtain from the tailor on Friday morning, all sewn and ready to be fitted on our return. While at the stationery shop for work I purchased a duster and some chalk for the new chalkboard, I also had the radio cards that have been waiting for lamination for 3 weeks laminated. We managed to find some hi-ball plastic glasses while looking at 12v fridge and freezer options at the local camping store and found a few other great outdoor things to purchase in the future.
We spoiled ourselves by purchasing a jaffle iron and a waffle maker, both of which can be used on the stovetop or in an open air fire! Those items we did not buy have been added to our list to be discussed further before we spend the money…we don’t want to buy things we may not use and if we have lived without them until now…maybe we do not need them! The most wanted of these items is a 20 litre outdoor shower. In the tropics, a fresh water shower, with hot water will be luxury I don’t want to forgo and if we can control it to allow 5 litres per person per day…what a daily treat! Yes, that we will use for certain!
Kyle’s swimming lessons have been going extremely well! He has managed to go under water and collect items from the floor. He can doggy paddle and he even managed to do crawl using a board held out in front of him. This kid will be swimming like a fish by the end of the year thanks to Just So! Swimming school. The improvement in Kyle’s confidence and the reduction in his fear of water and thereby sailing are beyond our expectations, this is certainly a big step towards our departure!
We also received some new reading material this week and ordered a little more. Among our new books was the Lonely Plant guide to Southern Africa. I decided to purchase the book because we have travelled extensively in South Africa and I could then make a judgement about how useful they would be. This particular book included Namibia and Mozambique, both of which we plan to stop at in the not too distant future!
I am currently going through the South African section, using it for the planning of our detour in February. We plan to go via Graskop, Pilgrims rest and Sabie for a 3 to 4 day visit of the area. Barry and I have been there numerous times and would like to show this to our boys before we leave. There is so much see: the caves, the dinosaur park (neither of which are mentioned in the guide), panning for gold in Pilgrims rest, God’s window and Bourke’s luck potholes. Not to mention the hike in the Blyde River Canyon!
I will use it again for our detour in April (we want to take Keagan with so it needs to fall within the school holidays) to Augrabie’s falls in the Northern Cape. Following these inland trips we will be taking the boat up along the Mozambique coastline…and who knows what adventures will follow!
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