4/27/2013 0 Comments A Sad and Painful Loss When I was younger and about to begin the amazing process of purchasing my first house, a wise friend told me that home-buying was like a roller coaster ride: full of super, super highs when the perfect house was found, etc, and super, super lows when something went wrong, the finances wouldn’t come together, the perfect house slipped away because of time delays. She warned me to guard my heart and be prepared – forewarned is forearmed.
That advice stood me in good stead over the coming years and the several times I bought and sold property. I was always ready for the moments when it all went wrong, always expecting the possibility, prepared for the impending plummet. It’s just how it is. The first time we looked at a boat I prepared myself similarly. Another type of purchase but surely the principles remained – things could go wrong, it wasn’t over until it was settled. But the process was not at all similar. We looked at a few boats, found one we loved, made an offer, paid a deposit and a week later it was ours. The whole thing had involved no pain, no drama, nothing untoward at all. Within a couple of months we were doing it all over again as we decided to throw caution to the wind and pursue cruising as a way of life, and set about finding a larger boat. Again the process was so simple. Argos was found, a conversation happened and an offer was made and accepted. We scrambled to find enough money to make a deposit, with all our funds tied up in the house and cars and other boat, but we got there and then had everything sold and were off. The final payment was not made until we had arrived in Albany but it all went fine, the boat was ours and we prepared to set off. Boat buying it seemed had not matched the roller coaster ride that I have always associated with the buying and selling of property. Until now. We were very happy with Argos and had no plans to part with her when we were offered, quite out of the blue, a much larger and very lovely yacht that a friend had decided to sell. As live aboard’s we couldn’t say no to a boat that offered us such opportunities – space for ourselves, room for the whole family to visit, the capacity to use it to build a future that didn’t shut us off from our rather large family, but that allowed space for them to come with us, features we had only dreamed of having one distant day. A price was agreed and the deal done. We immediately placed Argos on the market, paid for a number of advertisements and set about preparing her to go to someone else’s care. It was a little bit of a hard decision, Argos had become much more than just a boat to us, but watching the delight on the children’s faces as they began to plan the life we would live on such a boat allowed the sadness we felt at letting go of Argos, fade into the background. With Peter gone and only a few months of building separating us from beginning this new part of our lives, the children and I worked almost exclusively on planning our transition to the new boat – when we would leave, how we would travel, when he would join us. We had packed all we were not needing immediately and prepared for our departure. With aonly a few nibbles and no significant interest in Argos here in the Bay we made enquiries in Sydney and Newcastle, talking to brokers, and marinas, looking for a way to find the person who would love her as we had. A decision was made to sail her to Sydney and leave her there once Peter returned. We would then return to the Bay temporarily while Peter got the house building started, and prepare to leave ourselves ahead of him to go collect the new boat. Our excitement was palpable. And then yesterday news of an alarming nature reached us, shattering all our dreams and bringing us to the lowest down on a roller coaster ride I have even experienced, almost toppling us right off – the person we were buying our new boat from had changed her mind. The sale was off. Just like that. As out of the blue as the original offer had been. I think we are all still in shock. The children have cried, as have I – failing to understand how this could even happen. We were just days away from signing Argos over to a broker. We might have been able to cancel the deal but at a cost to ourselves. We might have been in the situation where we had sold her and then had no boat at all. Thank God we hadn’t yet taken that step. We have such a deep sense of disappointment. We were content with what we had until we were offered something so much more. We have spent the last few months talking all the time about how much easier our life will be on the new boat, how we won’t have that little issue, or that problem, how with more space we will be able to spread out, how fun it will be to have all our family be able to come at the same time instead of one or two at a time and miss the opportunity to have them all together. We felt so deeply blessed. We would have had a degree of privacy on the new boat that we have sorely missed since leaving the house – this I suppose was one of the things I most looked forward to. The struggles I have with getting on and off Argos with dodgy hips would be a thing of the past, life would be so much more…….everything I suppose. We felt this was a gift with profound significance for us. And we were so deeply appreciative and thankful. And now all that sits like crumbled ruins around us, and we have to find a way back to the contentment we once knew before the offer was made. We will get there. We will. It’s in our nature to rise, to get on with it. We have survived lives in ruin – this is only a boat and the loss isn’t because of a mistake we made but a choice someone else has made. Tomorrow thank God is a new day. With new hopes and joys and through the sadness there will come joys. Our plans to circumnavigate Australia in Argos are now back on. As soon as the house is built and enough money in the bank we will set off for Queensland and the north. The For Sale sign has come down, the broker informed, the berth we had enquired about in Sydney will no longer be needed and some of the things we planned to do on Argos but put on hold, will now be done – plans are already underway to look at things we can do to try and create more space, more storage, more capacity to function on board. These are the things we must do to work towards smiling again. It feels like a hard and painful loss right now. But I suppose the truth is, the new boat was never really ours to lose. We made a mistake, not in saying yes to an amazing and generous offer, but in allowing ourselves to invest in the dream, allowing ourselves to believe it would happen before it actually did. Yes, just like house buying, I can now see that buying and selling boats too can be a roller coaster ride. We are on a low right now, not entirely sure what lies ahead. The house building will start on Tuesday. On Monday Peter will begin back at TAFE studying for his Master Mariner Five and Coxswain course, we will be busy – not busy preparing to leave Argos now but busy trying to rebuild that part of our life! One thing I know for sure about roller coasters though is that the highs connect to the lows. There is no dead end, no crashing halt – one leads out of the other and all I know to do is keep going.
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4/23/2013 0 Comments Home Again! After 50 days at sea, Peter is home! His epic journey from here to Albany by car, plane and then car again, then from Albany to Auckland via the ‘scenic route’, and then back to Canberra by plane and home by car is over. It is finished.
He is full of stories, and I dare say will tell us of even more as little things come back to him over the next little while. There were, he says, times that were hard and a little scary when they were caught in a suddenly approaching storm – the same one that went on to wipe out entire towns in Victoria. There were times, he says, where the breathtaking beauty of the ocean and of what he saw of the North Island of New Zealand captivated him and left him enthral. Overall he tells us that the time was full of opportunities to learn and he learned so much. Travelling with Mark McRae of Southern Ocean Sailing, from whom we learned so much before we left Albany, he had the opportunity to learn so much more. Dealing with sudden changes in weather, fixing things at sea, making a sea-anchor from a sail and then setting it correctly to hold the yacht in the midst of a storm. He missed a lot of his Master Mariner course being away, but there is knowledge of the head and then real knowledge and this experience has to be better than many months in a classroom simply discussing sailing. Our thanks of course go to Southern Ocean sailing for the opportunity to gain this kind of priceless experience, an organisation we would recommend so highly. Not only was Kwela delivered, but our own sailing experience enhanced as a result. I cannot say how excited I am to know that Peter is equipped to handle things that of course leave me feeling a little worried! He is excited to take us all to New Zealand and of course we all are excited too – especially our Tolkien fan, Liam! Our thanks also go to SatCom Global once again for their generosity in providing us with enough free air time on the Sat phone to actually talk and discuss things not just quickly check in each day! Many many thanks to you! And now today we begin the next chapter in our lives. This one is titled ‘Building’ and today the earth works start on the property and Peter gears up to begin the hard yards of getting this long-anticipated project started. Life is like that isn’t it, a series of different parts, linked together. We are excited about this project, and about the one that follows it, even more so, because that one includes getting going again doing some more sailing ourselves! Over the coming months we hope to go out on Argos too, now the dredging works are in full swing. One journey is complete and now, well now its time for all the things we planned to do afterwards, beginning today! 4/21/2013 0 Comments Auckland!Very happy to report that Kwela is tucked up snug inside Auckland Harbour.
A quick phone call at 3.45 am (EST) coincided with my awaking, and wondering how for off they might be! What happy news! What an awesome journey and how amazing that through all the low pressure systems, cold fronts, squalls and unpleasant days they just kept going - what a blessing to Sasha, to now have Kwela home and to begin to live out the life she has been longing for! I have no pics of Kwela in Auckland yet - will post as soon as I can get my hands on some! This afternoon Peter and Mark pulled into Marsden Point marina where they were able to go through all the official processes and complete all the paperwork to clear customs. They had intended to head directly to Auckland to do this but the customs office there only opens during daylight hours, and they would have arrived around midnight. They would then have had to sit outside the harbour and wait until morning - meanwhile Sasha would not have been able to see them, see Kwela or deliver the meal she had made so lovingly for them! By detouring to Marsden Point they were able to get everything done already, and Sasha was there to meet them, with a meal and unmeasurable amounts of delight and excitement!
They expect now to arrive in Auckland early in the morning, but can head directly to Sasha's mooring and a day with Sasha's very delighted family. Peter and Mark's journey is coming to an end, and the daily routines of sailing will soon be exchanged with others that have become less familiar, that thing they used to consider their lives before setting off in early March to deliver Kwela! Journeys are interesting things, and not all journeys are the same. I think some journeys are a bit like a ring - closing something that we started at a previous time. Like returning home after a holiday or returning to a place we grew up. This kind of journey can be quite nostalgic, sentimental, full of rememberings. Some journeys are more like a launch - setting off and beginning some new venture. Like leaving home for the first time and setting off to college or to travel the world. Many sailing journeys are like this, filled with the excitement of adventure, thrilling episodes to be documented and recorded to remember when we are old and grey! Some journeys are not about the journey itself but about preparing for something else - its what the journey results in that matters. They resemble giving birth, where pregnancy is a time of preparation and labour the process to be endured to allow anothers journey to begin. I think that for Peter and Mark, this journey from Albany across the Bight, Bass Straight and the Tasman has been like that. Getting Kwela to Auckland has been quite like pregnancy and labour in so many ways - lots of fun times but some bloody hard work! And it hasn't been about Mark and Peter having a great time, though of course there have been plenty of highlights - it has been all about reconnecting Kwela with Sasha and the moment of 'birth' - well I guess it really happened already when Kwela slipped into Marsden Point marina this afternoon and Sasha was there to see her! A new life will begin in the morning - a life Sasha has been dreaming of and longing for for a very long. The trials, the tribulations, the stresses of the last months, the long waiting time - its all over, and will be forgotten so quickly - just like the pains of labour for a woman - replaced with the delight and thrill of watching a new life emerge and unfold. For Sasha tomorrow is more than just the day when her boat arrives, and for Peter and Mark tomorrow marks not just the day they arrived in Auckland, but the day they were able to make that happen. 4/20/2013 0 Comments The Bay of IslandsIts Saturday evening, and the news from Mark and Peter is that they are close to the Bay of Islands, Auckland is only just a little over 100 NM away and they hope to be arriving sometime after midnight on Sunday, hopefully by Monday morning, making tonight their last actual night at sea!
It has been an epic journey, from Albany across the Bight and southern Australia and then across the Tasman. There have been plenty of challenges thrown at them from the weather, difficult conditions, the sheer length of the trip, and for Peter the daily battle he has faced with sea-sickness. Their journey has taken them over 6 weeks. They have traveled over 3000 NM - it has been an education and a wonderful opportunity for Peter to learn so much from Mark. On Monday there will be the happiest of reunions between Sasha and Kwela, the end of a journey for Peter and Mark, the beginning of a whole new part of life for Sasha and Nico and the children. On Tuesday or Wednesday Peter and Mark will fly home. Home to the ones who have missed them in their absence but valued the journey the guys have been on and the lessons learned. Life is so filled with adventure....if you are willing to look it! 4/19/2013 0 Comments At Cape Reinga!Just a very brief update - the boys can see the lighthouse at Cape Reinga! Hurrah! They did well and were able to call me at quite a reasonable time! Good work boys!
As we all settle to sleep tonight they will round the cape and head down the east coast of the north island, and at this stage they think they will be in Auckland late Sunday! 4/19/2013 0 Comments Cape Reinga Ahead!It is getting so exciting - the boys are so close to the northernmost tip of New Zealand and expect to round Cape Reinga sometime during this night. I have been promised a call when they do so lets all hope it isn't too late Australian time!
At the rate they are currently going, which is just a little over 5 knots, they may make it to Auckland by late ish on Monday. Of course the wind might have other ideas and after they round the Cape, it might all change so don't hold your breath! 4/18/2013 0 Comments NZ almost on the horizon!Such good progress from the boys today despite the wind being somewhat on the nose! They report that they are about 150 NM from Cape Reinga and North Cape. Once they round the capes they will have about 150 NM to sail down into Auckland.
Their practice of Kiwi continues and they happily report that it will be too cold to need to wear their 'jandles' and that since they won't be doing much driving they won't have to worry too much about 'judder bars' affecting them. Their fridge works fine too so no need to organise a chully bin' - thanks to readers Clare and Graham Earley for these kind reminders! Sasha is hoping to be reuinted with Kwela early in the week - and of course is struggling to sleep as a result! 4/17/2013 0 Comments Learning Kiwi!If I could be a fly on the wall of Kwela right now I am pretty sure I would be able to hear the boys practising their Kiwi!
I recon the conversation would go something like this: 'I'm glad we got to see Sue, Erina and Liam when we were in Milburn, huh bro?' 'Oh yes, and it was great that they pecked some extra warm clothes for you, right bro?' 'Oh yep, bro, but it was sad when we lift and they lift too.' 'Hey bro, when we get to Auckland will we have to get sprayed with pissed-aside like when you land in an ear plane?' 'Nuh bro, I don't think so, they don't use guess on yachts, they check if we have any pits on board, chucks and beers and things like that. But we will need to find a mcKennock as soon as we arrive, to look at the injin.' 'Oh well bro, hope we can get a good feed of fush and chups or maybe some fitter cheney - its been a long time at sea!' 'Its going to be so lovely to get there, what are you most looking forward to bro?' 'Oh the fresh ear, maybe a sux peck of beer.' 'So when we get to Auckland harbour, are there any brudges to go under?' 'Oh bro, I think there might be sex - or siven - not quite sure.' Yes they sure are getting close..... If you don't understand any of the Kiwi lingo, message me and I'll translate for you! |
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September 2017
Our life aboard Argos has been seriously challenged this year with the surprise departure of our skipper. As a writer, diesel mechanics and the complexities of many aspects of Argos’ on-going maintenance are way beyond me! We would like to see Argos continue to sail and eventually hope to use her to offer support, encouragement and a break to people who are struggling in their lives. Any on-going help towards maintaining Argos would be greatly appreciated and enable us to achieve this goal.
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