The dream was always to sail around the World – Paul has sailed all his adult life and I did do a full circumnavigation on a Merchant ship in my 20’s – but not with sails!  And that is not the same thing at all.

First things first!  Get a boat and render it seaworthy enough to do the trip.  Life’s deck of cards often get randomly dealt and for both of us the reality has been very close so many times in the past but not close enough to actually give up work – and set sail.  The vagaries of businesses, recessions, partners and children have all been the jolly jokers in our pack!

Spain has been very kind to us – we have had a tremendous five years building our business and building our house, educating our children and educating ourselves.  But the dream lingered on.  The children were still at school and we were getting older – arthritis is setting in and we thought now or never.  The question – loan sailors or join a rally?  Investigation soon confirmed that most rallies circumnavigating the world leave every two years and in particular the Blue Water Rally departs in October 2007 (fully booked) and October 2009.  The latter date looked sensible – plenty of time to overhaul our 22 year old boat – plenty of time for our teenage boys in the middle of A levels to decide on their futures – plenty of time to gently wean our way out of the business for our sabbatical – plenty of time to let our house in the mountains and say our goodbyes – sensible!

“Hello”  “This is Blue Water Rallies here”  “Thank you for your interest – we do in fact have space for one more boat to join us this October”

“Oh” – heart racing – panic they might offer the space to someone else – where was Paul? – quick decision called for – window of opportunity – “Super! – count us in then” “Shall I send the deposit by check or would you prefer debit card?”

“Oh hello darling – you’re back – I have a shock (disguised as a surprise) for you – we’re on the Blue Water Rally leaving Gibraltar in October! Yes, this October”

All the best laid plans – caution to the wind – these clichés come into their own when they are yours – oooh la! As we say in Spain.

Let the scramble commence – let the house – find a marine electrician (Mike at Sol Electrical Services 697 96 090) (Highly recommend him) rewire the boat, re plumb the boat, re varnish the boat, fit new holding tanks (least said about the old ones the better) fix the water maker (helpful) re plug the decks, buy a generator and wind vane, attend a ships medical course and ships radio course (must pass to get the required certificates). Find our crew – get all our injections and medicines, plan the anti malaria attack.  How many blood pressure pills do we need for two years sailing? Can we get bacon in the Galapagos and how many bottles of water shall we take if the water maker breaks down??!!

There’s a brilliant learning cycle:

Unconsciously Incompetent -    that’s when you don’t know what you don’t know

Consciously Incompetent - that’s when the penny drops

Consciously Competent - you know the kind of thing – wing mirror, head jerk, signal, and maneuver

Unconsciously Competent - that’s when you’re in control

I still talk about the ‘pointy end’ and the only way I remember port from starboard is to remember which direction to pass the liquor!

This should be a long journey - (hopefully not a short one) – please feel free to ‘sail with us’ metaphorically speaking – our blog is on www.mailasail.com and the yacht’s name is Anahi.