A
Beginning (23-01-14)
I suppose I had
better get it out in the open and admit this is not the first silly thing I
have done. I have been doing silly things for most of my life and am on the point
of doing it again. Frequent doses do not dull the fear; rather it is born anew
each time with each fresh situation. As a young man I would quit a job, maybe
pack my panniers and peddle off on my own. This time I have a boat to sail off
in but also a wife, two daughter and a son due to be born in twenty days;
inshallah. Plus some baggage, a house, in-laws; the sort of things that stick
to middle aged men like burrs to a mohair jumper.
So this family
sailing blog starts with me offshore and quitting my job. I am currently
sitting at 6’N 60km off the beach in Nigerian water. It takes organization and
perseverance to undertake silly things, even more so when wearing the mohair
sweater of middle age. If it didn’t more people would do it. The planning has
been planned. Now we just have to execute the plan, trouble is as military
friends are keen to remind us “few plans
survive contact with the enemy”.
Yesterday, five
days ahead of the plan, my very pregnant wife flew from Lagos Nigeria to
Edinburgh Scotland, pausing long enough in Heathrow airport for my eldest
daughter to lose her first tooth. I was sitting in a hotel in Port Harcourt
Nigeria and got the call last night to say the Tooth Fairy would be visiting.
There seemed some level of karmic justice that her first tooth should be lost
in an airport. We, as a family, have squandered too much of our lives in
them. However, not for much longer if we
follow the plan.
I read an
autobiography years ago by a famous Alpine climber; the author admitted that
his main motivation to attempting the North Face of the Eiger was shame. Years
previously he had dropped into conversation while unsuccessfully trying to chat
up a girl on a Mediterranean beach that he would soon attempt the route. The
author found it uncomfortable to live with the bull-shit of his own
unsuccessful chat up line, years later he finally attempted the route. Shame in
my experience is a prime motivator for men, more so if this involves a woman in
some way. In a well rehearsed conversation (monolog) with my wife after a good
dinner and a poor wine, I was oozing about us buying a boat and heading off
cruising. I remember Rebecca turning to me and saying “are we really going to do this”. Shame as explained is a powerful
force in men. What could be more motivating than shame in front of your own
dear wife? Within two months we had finalized the plan and were having a boat
surveyed. The time for bull-shit is over the time for quitting the job just
around the corner, we have a plan with a time line and a calendar marked up. We
just need to work the plan, and overcome each obstacle as we gallop towards
them.
Well that is
something on history, seeing as this is a blog about family cruising maybe I
should mention the boat. The boat was built by Southern Ocean Shipyard in 1979,
she is an Ocean 60. That is LOA 60ft of GRP schooner. Yes a schooner. Rebecca
is from Nova Scotia and so I felt I had little choice but to buy her a
schooner. The plan is to complete the refit and move aboard this summer. Sail
from the Isle of Wight where she is now, down to the West Country, then across
to France and towards the Mediterranean. Ok, it’s a pretty simple plan, not
great statements of a circumnavigation or daring do. The prime aim from my side
is to live afloat and spend time with the kids while they want to spend time
with me. Lucy is six so in a few short years she will be off doing her own
thing. I don’t want to spend the time between now and then sitting in airports
or talking to my kids on skype. Neither do I want to look back on decades of
marriage to realize half the time was spent in different countries, or working
separate jobs and barley meeting at the weekends. We aim to live on and cruise
the boat for as long as we as a family are having fun and stop when there is
something else we would rather do. That may be six months, a year, two years or
more. I personally have no criteria of success apart from all of us looking
back and believing that it was time well spent. After all few on their death
bed regret not having spent more time in the office!
The Plan
·
Due date for birth of son 20th
February, Edinburgh (in UK for the birth)
·
Quit the job, 19th
March, serve the three months notice in Nigeria
·
April all back to Lagos Nigeria
to finish up my job Rebecca’s job and kids school year
·
5th of June Rebecca
stops teaching in Lagos and the kids finish school
·
Second week of June, move out
of Nigeria and clear house in Edinburgh ready to be rented
·
Finish re-fit of boat June -
July
·
August head off sailing
·
All of above subject to change
