Watt Sailing Adventure: Managing the Experts and final preparations!

Well in less than one week we will be beginning our awesome adventure, we will be aboard our schooner and getting ready to sail her! We have packed, sorted, organised and arranged all that we can for the transition from a life of work, school and ordinary suburban living to a freedom we have not known before, where our day will be focussed on spending time with each other and planning for our next destination. In the midst of all our preparations we have been fascinated by how, when mentioning our plans to people, so many are suddenly experts!

Mention that you have bought a sailing boat and are going to sail around Australia and then further afield, and suddenly everyone you know has something to say from the banal to the plain insulting!

'Have you thought about pirates?'

'Do you realise there might be storms?'

'Can you swim?'

'Have you thought about what you will do if you get sea-sick?'

'What will you do if you find you don't like sailing?'

We have learned to smile and nod and try not to take offence at the comments, the assumptions, the suggestions.

We really are novices! Novices and proud of it! Well not exactly, but the thing that separates us from novices that might get themselves into difficulties is that we know we are novices and have a lot to learn and have ensured we will learn!

We know that we are embarking on a great adventure, taking a huge risk, leaving a safe, stable, comfortable life and putting our dreams of peace, freedom and a simple life on the line as we throw caution to the wind and just go for it.

In reality, we have done a lot of research. We do have some experience - we have loved the sailing we have done thus far. We have a lot of great skills that will equip us and assist us in this adventure. Peter can fix just about anything - and so can I if it involves a sewing machine. Peter is very capable and able and inspires the confidence of everyone around him. Will things sometimes go wrong? Assuredly. Will we make mistakes? Without doubt! Will we learn from them? Definitely - and then write about them here!

But all jokes aside, we both believe that the most important thing we take into this adventure with us is the very fact that we know we don't know it all and have a passion to learn more. We read, we talk to other sailors, we listen to their wisdom and the advice given and we adapt what we plan to do accordingly.

My ultimate writing hero, George MacDonald (Scotland's favorite story teller) said that if a man can do something then he can do anything. While we don't pretend to know it all (thank God) we do know that we have acquired some skills in our travels so far and will undoubtedly acquire more as we go. Even as I write, I heard a report on the 7pm Project that a huge part of learning anything new is about taking calculated risks. Well that’s exactly what we are doing. Things may go wrong. The children may get sea sick. We might encounter problems no one has even mentioned. What we know for sure is that nothing in life is a given - we could drive home from work tomorrow and have an accident. What we are doing is accepting that there is an inherent risk in leaving our easy lives behind and embarking on this journey, but it is a calculated risk and we go informed.

We feel proud of ourselves for having the guts to do what we want to do.
We are just simply looking forward to the days that stretch before us in which we can spend lots and lots of time together, enjoying and developing our relationships, relaxing, reading, playing, exploring and best of all, not having to worry about the balancing and juggling act that has characterised our life over the past few years!