South Africa is surrounded by water from the warm Indian Ocean on the east to the cold Atlantic Ocean on the west. We used to go to the beach for holidays, but our knowledge of cruising and ocean navigation was zero.
When we decided to buy a sailboat, we did not know any sailboat designs. In my mind's eye, a sailboat is linked to those thrilling scenes in movies and tragedy stories from the news. Come to think of it, it seemed that I was looking up at an unattainable peak at the foot of the mountain. I knew all the potential dangers of climbing to the top of the mountain, but I was not equipped with any climbing tools or skills.
Pierre was enthusiastic about looking for a cruising sailboat. At first, I was very reluctant. To me, it was acceptable to have a small boat, so we could go offshore during the holidays. But do we have to play the big game to buy a houseboat for crossing all three oceans? No more house! No more job! And no more career! Instead, we were going to spend a few years drift on the ocean and wander around the world? I was not so unrestrained at the time, my head was full of fear, and I knew nothing about the "cruising life". It seemed that something strange was pulling me into a far and unknown distance, I was extremely reluctant, but unable to turn back or prevent the pace of progress.
Several close friends who heard our plan all said that we were out of our mind, and I thought so too. Until one day, Pierre spoke to me solemnly and said, "buying a sailing boat is to travel around the world, otherwise, we will stay in the current state and abandon this plan completely." Although he said so, from what I knew of him, I realized that the sailing would be a thing between us from that moment onwards. We could just be like the other sailing couples around the world, either the husband and wife follow this exotic life together, or part to an end of marriage sooner or later, and there is no room for relaxation. This is how the trajectory of life in couples begins to diverge.
The only solution to the problem was that I should look at Travel-Around-The-World from his perspective. I must see what the unknown frontiers are and find out whether it is as terrible as I imagined or not. The best decision could only be made after you know it well.
Pierre started collecting all kind of sailing magazines and cruising books, familiarizing and understanding the terminology and theoretical of sailing. The Internet is undoubtedly the best teacher. It became the breakthrough point of our dreams of traveling around the world. The doubtable future was gradually cleared in my mind, and it changed into a magnificent dream. I found that if any other family could do it, so could we.
First of all, are there any families going sailing with children? The answer is yes. There are many cruising families on the Internet, and some of the children were even born on the ocean. In conclusion, toddlers before adolescence were the most suitable for sailing. The two we have, age of five and seven, when we started sailing, were precisely at the golden age.
Then the second question was coming, what about children's schooling? I found a new concept, homeschooling, which I never knew before. Most cruising parents teach their children themselves. But Pierre and I were not engaged in education, could their schooling be delayed? I found numerous cases on the internet. Many children study well on a boat while cruising with their family although their parents are not schoolteachers. With homeschooling, parents are mostly their school instructors and tutors.
A year after we moved on board in Durban marina, we were fortunate to meet an American cruising family, who had been sailing for four years and they were doing homeschooling. When they completed their circumnavigation and returned to the United States the next year, their eldest son passed his matric exam and successfully entered a university in the USA. Overall, the advantages of homeschooling over traditional schooling outweigh the disadvantages. When you research homeschooling or home education on the internet, there are loads of resources and information available to guide you.
Then how about sailing? My husband and I both had zero knowledge of sailing. So we needed to learn at a sailing school. There was a special combination course for beginners during the coming Easter holiday. We should not miss the chance to go!
Okay then, next question is about the communication. How could we receive the weather forecast and get in touch with our family or friends while sailing in the ocean? Yes, with satellite communication, via Satellite phone, fax or modem. In the end, we choose the Iridium Go device as a WiFi modem on the boat. It allowed us to download weather Grib files, sending messages and making phone calls from our smartphones.
Finally, there was a key question. How should we solve out the cruising money? Without money, sailing around the world is just an empty dream. After assessing the status of our finances, we realized that it was not an easy task. Both of us were old-fashioned people and all we could do was saving enough money before leaving our home port. According to The Voyager's Handbook and the internet, the average expense of an ordinary cruising family is around 1,000 to 2,000 US dollars per month. We needed to save a lump sum of money for three years cruising based on this budget.
Later, the boat refurbishing costs greatly exceeded our initial estimated budget, and on top of this, South African currency was not stable and continued to depreciate. This situation forced us to reduce our initial budget, which was unexpected. But we were already the arrows that leave the bow, how could we go back to continue living in the Matrix! We stopped buying new clothes, going out to restaurants and enjoying luxury holidays.
By now, after getting a taste of freedom, nothing could make us relinquish the dream of travelling around the world.