Are you crazy?
Simple answer - no
Complex answer - maybe, maybe not. Having got to this stage I think we'd be crazy not to go. We see so many people in the cruising world who have put off their dream of cruising until they retire or until it seems more manageable. What we've witnessed is that sometimes that time doesn't come. We wanted to give our children an opportunity to look a little differently at the world, explore new places, and do it in an affordable way. Taking a year off is a commitment but we wanted to give ourselves enough time to settle into the adventure, not rush things and really just hang out together. Obviously a love of sailing helped push us in this direction. I liken it to deciding when to have children. You can never be ready to have kids, more money, time, knowledge is always useful, the same goes for planning a trip of a lifetime on a 36' yacht with 3 kids...we'll never be ready.... but we'll be ready enough!
There may not be many people who have done this at our school, although we know of 3 other families who have done or are planning to do something similiar, but worldwide this is actually more common than you might imagine. The blogs out there of homeschooling sailing families are inspirational and the sailing community is very supportive or such adventures.
How can you afford it?
Planning, saving, long-service leave, budgetting have all payed a big role in the preparation.
Choosing to make the trip a priority has helped. No longer are we buying stuff because we like it. It must have a use on the boat, be small or be absolutely necessary. It has actually been quite liberating being able to say to myself "No, you don't need that!". Out home is slowly losing some of it's less useful possessions that we won't need on board or when we return. Giving
Do you have a kitchen?
We have a small 'galley', which has a gimbaled stove with with 3 gas hobs, and a gas oven, our small sink has fresh & salt water taps (hot water comes when you boil it in the kettle). We have made biscuits & toasted bread in the oven but so far have mainly cooked dinners on the stove top. We carry 2 gas bottles and we turn the gas off after every meal.
Do you have a fridge?
Yes! We have a very deep fridge which stores drinks & other not-needed-every-day food on the bottom level and fresher, more frequently used items on the top level, dairy, meat, vege etc
How much food can you carry?
Enough. So far the longest we've slept on Meander is 15 days. We tend to run out of fresh bread, fruit & veges first but make do with wraps, pre-baked rolls, canned or dried fruit or vege or longer lasting varieties. Long-life milk (& juice) have been with us since the start, but maybe we'll even slip down to powdered milk if we get desperate. Shopping, or provisioning, is done whenever we go ashore. A loaf of bread (or 3), fresh fruit & vege, & sometimes ice-creams or other frozen treats. We have budgetted for the odd meal out to satisfy our roast dinner / chicken parma / fish & chips cravings as we travel.
Can you store wine/beer?
Yes! The fridge usually carries about a dozen bottles of beer (life it too short for canned beer unless your making shandy!), a bottle of white and soft drinks. Extra bottles of red & white are stored with dry goods.
Where will you sleep?
Giles & Lauren share the forepeak (the triangle at the front of the boat).
Katherine sleeps in the port quarterberth (left hand rear)
Evelyn & Arthur share the starboard quarterberth (right hand rear)
2 spare berths are in the saloon, where grandparents (& naughty children) have been known to sleep.
Are you taking your bikes?
No, but we may take scooters. We have budgetted for the odd rental car to get us further inland if we hear of something we can't miss.
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