On
our first evening in Kupang, at the yacht club, I met a nice woman from Maine, Mary,
travelling on a small (36 foot) monohull. There are four of them on this small
boat…Mum, Dad, Georgia (10,) Zephyr (8).
They have less than half the space we have, on 2XS, and they have
crossed the Pacific Ocean!
I
asked Mary if she gets seasick – a common theme, in conversations between women
in yacht clubs all around the world…Oh yes, she said, and proceeded to tell me
which drugs were the most efficacious, with the least side effects. (I listened avidly…none of these drugs are
available in Australia, sad to say.) But
Mary is the LEAST sick of the four of them!
Poor Georgia spends a lot of time being very ill, and both Zephyr and
his father suffer quite badly too.
But…they
have been sailing for nearly three years and don’t plan to stop any time soon.
They hardly ever use their engines, and sail
everywhere. If it takes longer, it
doesn’t matter – they don’t have an agenda.
I think they are looking for Their Place. Somewhere in the world is a place they would
like to live…somewhere they can afford, somewhere with a climate which meets
their requirements, somewhere they feel at home.
Mary was off to provision the boat. They have been in Kupang for three weeks,
repairing the steering system – there is ALWAYS something wrong, or broken, on
a boat… They aren’t part of the rally,
and in fact hope to leave before the rally boats so as to get into good
anchorages ahead of 75-odd boats about to descend. She said it is possible to buy cheese and
butter here, in tins, which is good because…they don’t have a fridge on board… Not
quite true. They do have one, but it is
huge and uses far too much power so basically they mange without.
This woman is a Hero of the Seas!!
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