Lia Barrett was a Divemaster student of mine from the Caribbean days – 2007ish.  She is now a world renowned underwater photographer with her own scuba diving clothing line.  She invited me to her wedding a couple of months ago, and just as I was leaving back to the UK, we had a chat about being 33 and not knowing what you’re gonna be “when you grow up”.  She said “well, unless you want to be a doctor or a lawyer you can pretty much figure it out on the way…”

On the same trip I met Jacque Comery, who had just finished a year managing the Australian Antarctic Division.  She had also been a dive instructor for disabled kids, a heavy plant driver, and at some point around her 30s decided to become an engineer for a bit too (and yes, got the degree and everything).  I think she’s sailing round the South Pacific at the moment.

The point is, these are two women I admire so much, having so many diverse achievements.  And they are just figuring it out on the way.

As I start this journey,  I thought I’d just figure it out on the way, too.

Well, it turns out that it does need to be mixed with a healthy dose of advice from Dad, too.  The five Ps… Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance (I think Dad added one of those Ps himself):

I’m going to be in Mallorca for at least a month

To work on a boat, you need something called STCW ’10, which is a qualification bolted together from 4 safety courses, including firefighting and fire prevention.  That fire course is only taught by one company here, and as everyone in the sailing world is in Mallorca right now, the next availability is 14 November.  I could have easily googled that and done the course in the UK, for cheaper.  I haven’t found a boat yet by the way, but am going to start looking properly tomorrow.

The earliest I will get to Australia is August 2017

Aside from its vast size, here are two influential details about the Pacific:

1. It is cyclone season from November to April. So, no sailing (not past the Marquesas anyway).
2. It takes around 4 months to get across it from the Marquesas

The passage planning is going to get quite detailed and constantly change, so I am gonna set up a separate page about that at some point… I think I need to be leaving Panama for the Galapagos in February (you can see a wiki on the route here).  Either way, May was never going to happen. I should add that if you have found your way to this blog through googling, trying to find advice on pacific passages and the like, this is not the place for you. That much should be clear by now.

It’s ALWAYS about balance

It’s almost boring how often things are all about balance. It’s always there, just before the silence at the end of an argument.  It’s in the waves themselves, manifestations and compensations of those equal and opposite reactions.  So it is obvious to conclude that you need to balance the “figuring it out along the way” with a dose of the 5 (or 6) Ps.  I don’t think I would even be doing this if I wasn’t the type of person to figure it out on the way. But I won’t get there without the Ps. And if the road to success is paved with failure, maybe “the way” is that “proper preparation”?  Nah, I’m talking crap, I should have just Googled more before I left the UK.

I have put down all my vocals and guitar for the Crossing Oceans EP with Mr Paul West at Awesome Source Music, and yesterday he married my sister! It is no coincidence that I am choosing today to leave – I would have left a lot earlier having been made redundant in July, but waited for the wedding of course. And here we are. But I didn’t think today was going to make me feel this sick. When you are at a wedding between an old friend and your sister, who is carrying an early draft of what is bound to be a genius baby, it kinda hits you in the face what you are going to be missing out on. Amongst friends we danced ridiculously and chatted without nonsense pleasantries. I think it was so perfect and comfortable I hardly realised it was happening. Saying goodbye to each of the family one by one today was tearful every time, and I thought “what the hell am I doing?” a fair few times.

But something in me needs to be adventuring. I get depressed without it, quite seriously. Okay so it doesn’t have to be sailing to Australia every time but maybe this is because I have left it so long, like an argument with a loved one that builds up way beyond proportion.

And yes, that is the plan, to sail to Australia. Or, at least get there without flying. Started off as Indonesia but having hung around with Australians for the past year (one being my cousin and one being my girlfriend), it seemed I should check it out. And the no-flying started as an environmental thing but as I am not a vegan that makes me a hypocrite, so let’s say it’s about feeling the size of the earth. I will of course be back – I don’t think I can bear to be away from my niblings for too long.

To leave Rachel was hard as we are close, but there is a symmetry in it – I came back from Honduras 10 years ago for my other sister’s wedding. And Rachel has a husband to look after her now! I am sad to leave them all, although some cheesy fridge magnet once taught me that you need to avoid being a character in someone else’s story. And so on goes this story.

I don’t intend to make all these blogs quite this mushy don’t you worry – but you will get what is on my mind and this is it today!