Intro

Where to begin.


Hi my name is Barry, self employed at a security company in South Africa. My wife and I wanted to immigrate to new Zealand to start a new life as conditions here were becoming a bit shaky, when I suggested that instead of going that route why don’t we buy a yacht and take our kids on an adventure instead of changing one saw mill for another.

I mean come on what is the difference, slave month to month in SA or slave month to month in NZ. At first Lola told me I was mad but after thinking about the idea for a while, she changed her mind and stepped into the light. Now Lola is an accountant so instantly the mind started to calculate, how much will it cost and how can it be achieved, and what do we need to know.

Well firstly not one of us has even set foot on a sailing yacht ever. So point one we decided to go for a day skippers course. After some investigation which consisted out of reading a few monthly SA Sailing magazines, which I had been buying for some time as I am a consistent dreamer, in other words my life seems incomplete without having some ridiculous unachievable goal to look forward to, it was decided to use Sunsail in Durban for the course.

As we are a family we had to book the entire boat for the duration of the course. The course was done in December ‘08 and was a combo course comprising of 4 days crew and 5 days skipper. We slept on the yacht for the duration of the course.

The first few days on the course where pretty tough and here after day 3 Lola and I decided that a power boat may be just the answer. I think our instructor Brett heard this and then eased up on us a bit making the rest of the course a lot more fun, and giving us one afternoon off to lounge by the yacht club. We used this afternoon to swim and study navigation, which Lola of course understood first time with ease, but Amy, my daughter, and I were to thick to grasp in such a short time. I need to understand things before I can remember them. I suppose I have some sort of learning disability or maybe I’m just dumb.

This was the first time I was in a classroom situation with my wife and kids and it will be the last time. You know that feeling when everybody around you seems to catch on instantly and you think the instructor is speaking in Greek. Well I think the kids and wife now have a slightly different picture of me in their minds and it not good.

The course itself was extremely interesting and I never thought that I could learn so much in such a short time. Our instructor Brett was a very knowledgeable sailor with many hours of sailing experience, and I believe he taught us a lot more than was required due to this. As I said before the first few days were very tough because things you do on a yacht like sheet the main sail and grind the winches is a new kind of exercise to the body and the body took strain. I also found that I have wimpy feet and all the uneven surfaces and ropes everywhere killed my feet, but after the initial pain and suffering and using pain killers it became easier. Oh yes the boat shoes also made a world of a difference, never used the shoes the first few days.

Funny thing about life, one feels so much better about yourself after you have achieved something, even simple things like riding a bike or walking must do this. I say this because after passing the course I felt so proud of myself, I suppose that comes from years of underachievement and bad marks at school, then again if school had been half as much fun and informative I may even have done better back then. If I think back on the course it reminds me of being in the army, you hated being there at the time but miss it now its gone, okay not quite the same.

The whole family enjoyed the sailing and not one of us really got sea sick so the plan continues.