Uncertain Times
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Tue 24 Sep 2019 22:44
I may have mentioned this before, but the majority of people we have encountered who are also on a circumnavigation are of a certain age. Not all by any means and there are some relatively young “career break” types as well as those choosing a more adventurous approach to bringing up their children. For the most part however those with the time and resources to spend years floating around the world have either retired from working life or sold businesses. Being of a certain age means that there are usually adult children and as soon as these start producing children of their own the mariner grandparents feel the urge to spend more time at home. Several of the roving grandmothers are feeling this at the moment. Annie and I feel the same but try and console ourselves with the thought that we are the adventurous grandparents setting an example for our own little darlings to follow.
Health issues also arise for this intrepid group that may require a trip home or even a reappraisal of the ongoing journey. There may also come a point where the constant demands of boat maintenance, decision making, mechanical failure, stress and fatigue are just too much to cope with. Within a rally individual boats sail at different speeds and to their own requirements in order to address the conditions at the time. Most of us need help from other cruisers occasionally and this is freely given. Prolonged support and assistance however can become a burden and even a danger. The point may arise (and has for one boat recently) where the wisdom to continue sailing must be questioned and this can be hard for those who may have spent many years enjoying the cruising way of life.
Another factor that some of us share is that Indonesia introduces a new perspective on the next sailing legs of the journey. After the joys and relative ease of the South Pacific Australia was much harder sailing with stronger winds, a rugged coastline and little opportunity to swim safely in crystal clear water. Here in Indonesia the pace of the rally, the packed schedule of rally activities and the worry about fishing nets and FADs took their toll and, apart from a few die hard participants, most have opted to skip some of the rally events and pursue a more leisurely approach. As a result we have enjoyed a wonderful week or so of lovely day sailing, beautiful quiet anchorages, snorkelling, wonderful diving and fabulous day tours to see Flores, the Komodo Islands and of course the Komodo Dragons. This has rejuvenated our enthusiasm for cruising but for several of the cruisers introduces an uncertainty about the next stages of the circumnavigation. After Malaysia and Thailand the main decision for us is whether to cross the Indian Ocean to Madagascar and Cape Town, then up the South Atlantic to the Caribbean and across the North Atlantic to home. This involves long distances of ocean sailing and given that many are thinking about life at home again there is a real dilemma about what to do next. Other options include sailing up the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, which a surprising number of boats are still doing, or shipping the boat to Europe. We know of three boats that are being or have been shipped back and others who are seriously considering this option.
Annie and I are torn between wanting to complete the whole circumnavigation and the desire to get into the next stage of our lives that we perceive as spending much more time at home with short sailing breaks to explore the coasts of the UK and Scandinavia. Another two years with one year taken up to cross the Indian Ocean whilst balancing weather patterns north and south of the equator seems like too much time hanging around for us. Recently, shipping Vega back to Genoa in March 2020 seemed a favoured option - no more ocean crossings and just one summer to bring Vega back to the UK. We couldn’t decide how much we would regret not completing the full circumnavigation on board Vega. And then Annie discovered that there is a good marina in the Seychelles that gives us the possibility of timing the Indian Ocean crossing at each end of next year with a spell at home in between. Home for this Christmas, home again for two or three months next summer and then again for Christmas in 2020. By the time we get back to the Caribbean in mid 2021 we will have technically completed our circumnavigation and can be relaxed about how we get Vega back across the Atlantic. One (or even two) extra crew would be nice or maybe we could hand her over to sailors wanting to get back to the UK after crewing the other way.
Still a few weeks to finally make up our minds and in the meantime we can look forward to a whale shark snorkelling trip, more diving, Bali and then Orang Utan in Borneo. We need to keep reminding ourselves how lucky we are to be able to be creating these self inflicted dilemmas................