by Delphine
In the past few weeks, we have been cruising in Fiji with SV Swift and SV Marco and got to know Morgan and Cindy, who are siblings from Victoria, Canada. Morgan is the captain of SV Swift and has been sailing with his wife Mel and two daughters for almost four years. Cindy is on SV Marco with her husband Phil and three kids. They sailed in French Polynesia for a year last year, went back home and just returned for a final trip before selling their yacht.
What is amazing is that Morgan and Cindy had sailed around the world with their parents for four years when they were teenagers thirty years ago! That experience had such a profound impact on them that they decided to do the same with their children. They wanted their kids to see the world, experience different cultures and appreciate nature. When we were in Vanua Balavu, they went back to the same tiny village Daliconi for sevusevu and said nothing had changed at all, except this time they are the parents who brought their children thirty years later. I can only imagine how surreal and emotional that moment must be for them. I found it very touching and beautiful, and reminded me of the circle of life in the Lion King.
At times I’ve had doubts about whether we did the right thing taking the girls out of school and away from home to sail around the world. Are they behind academically? Are they learning adequate social and communication skills on a boat? Are they missing out on team work and team sports? Hearing Morgan and Cindy’s story gave me goosebump and I felt somewhat reassured. It also made me wonder what Arabella, Alex and Azania might get out of this crazy voyage. How will this experience impact them? Perhaps one day they will take their own family to go cruising and be the captain of their own boat?
I think each girl has been and will be affected by this experience differently because of their unique personality and age. This journey will probably shape them in ways that we cannot foresee. However I can already see many noticeable changes and developments since we started cruising over two years ago.
For Arabella who just turned 13, she has become extremely independent, mature, brave and responsible. She is no longer the little girl who squeals and gets scared and flustered, but the chief mate who is on the helm driving the boat when we catch a fish, or the crew who prepares the sheets and ropes when we launch the parasail or gennekar, or the boat girl driving the dinghy in rough sea while her parents were diving beneath, or the captain on the smartkat in a sailing regatta, or the free diver who dived down 8m to retrieve a serving spoon that was accidentally dropped, or the athletic girl who learnt how to kite surf and launched the kite by herself without daddy’s help. In the last year, she has grown so much physically, emotionally and mentally. By her next birthday, I will not be surprised that Arabella will be taller than me.
For Alex the free spirit, this trip so far has helped her discover her passion and nourish her creativity. Without rigid structure of school, homework and various after school activities, Alex found her zeal first in reading, and then writing. She decided to write a novel to kill time while we crossed the Pacific. Honestly we couldn’t believe it when we read her book. It was gripping, engaging and well written and you can’t tell it’s written by a nine year old. She is now on her second novel. Alex also draws incessantly and learnt to play the ukulele and keyboard by watching YouTube. In addition, she comes up with endless new ideas for making random videos (tiktok style), building models and toys for Azania using cereal boxes or cardboard boxes, and creating games and activities to entertain themselves. She’s always having fun. We are in awe how she does everything with such ease and joy.
Last but not least for Azania, she might be little and young (turning 5 in July) but she certainly has a big personality and huge presence. Nicknamed Mei Mei (little sister in Chinese), Azania has spent more time on the boat than on land. She is often the youngest of the kids group and she just acts as if she’s one of the gang. She might be a tag shy when she first meets a stranger (she meets a lot of new people), but by the second or third encounter she would be climbing on their shoulders and talking their heads off. She copies everything Alex does, and Alex does a lot of things. She loves to draw and has a keen eye for colours. She enjoys cutting, folding and taping papers to make origami and little books. She spends hours building Lego houses and swimming pools. Even though she can only read a little, she loves to write notes and asks people how to spell words. She has a very advanced vocabulary for her age and uses fancy words like anchor, leatherman, focaccia, volcanoes, abandon, rafting up, architect, signature, magenta, etc. We teach her math with dices, candies, shells, play dough, fingers and pizzas, and that’s how she learnt her additions, subtractions and fractions. She is an expert in making French toast, donuts and flatbread. She has no fear swimming in the open ocean, snorkeling with sharks and manta rays, happily jumps from 2 meters off the bow of our boat and loves driving the dinghy (under supervision). For a four year old, she has seen and done quite a bit!
All three girls have fully embraced this cruising lifestyle and are just having loads of fun meeting new people and visiting new places. As we continue to sail and explore the world, aside from witnessing the development of their individual personalities, interests and skills, most importantly we get to spend quality time together strengthening our family bond and creating memories that will last a lifetime.