Freedom....

I had planned to head in to town this morning but the weather, raining, and the emails, interesting, have changed my plans.

Instead I have been searching through the books on sailing in Chilean waters that we carry on board. Yes, you may ask why! Well we carry the books 'cos I really want to sail there and I like to be prepared, after all we were going to go to the Med three years ago and instead crossed the Atlantic . We couldn't have done that if we weren't already carrying the charts and pilot guides for this part of the world could we! So anyway I had an email from friends currently sailing from Easter Island to Valdivia in Chile asking for some weather information..........

They have been forecast storms by Sunday but can't find any corroboration and wanted me to search the net and other sources to see what I could come up with- they know that I am living my dreams through them at the moment, me being Marina bound and all that.

It was fascinating trying to understand the very different weather system down there in the Southern Hemisphere. For a start its all upside down and back to front, if you know what I mean.

Its some big amount of wind down there. There is a MASSIVE low off Cape Horn and just the isobar packing(thats the lines that measure the pressure and therefore help to predict the wind speed) made me feel dizzy.

I found some information that I was able to transmit straight back to them. Like us they have an SSB radio on board that means we are able to keep in touch by email wherever we are in the world, even mid-ocean. Its very basic, no attachments and very slow but it makes such a difference out there.

When we first moved on board we relied on a mobile phone to keep in touch, we have three children back in the UK, but as we moved away from Europe that became hideously expensive. We then set up our radio to work with the laptop and via a wonderful service called Sailmail we were able to start emailing from on board. Of course there are now wifi spots all over the world, and many marinas including the one we are currently in enable you to access the worldwide web from the comfort of your boat! Along with the introduction of Skype which is an internet service that enables us to make worldwide phone calls for very little or even nothing our world has changed considerably.

It has made me, as a Mum, much happier to sail further afield knowing that we can all keep in touch with relative ease and economy.

The other considerable change means that TBH can organize and develop a new business from almost wherever we are in the world. What this all adds up to is FREEDOM!

As a slight digression I remember back in 'the old world' sitting at dinner with half a dozen CEO's of big international companies. All extremely successful men in their mid 50's. Ever curious I asked them what they wanted from the rest of their lives, lets face it they were at 'the top of the tree' still reasonably young, where did they see themselves going from here.

Mostly they were flummoxed! More of the same, charitable works. They turned the question on me, what did I want? I thought hard, FREEDOM. They scoffed! No such thing! You can never be free! What do you mean by that!

Well I was surprised but soon realized I had vocalized the one thing that we all seek but very few find. I think it frightened them! I am not sure that I have completely achieved my goal yet but I am getting there, working towards that carefree, laid back view of life where i can go with the flow and enjoy the moment. Sometimes I can feel it, a tangible sense of everything being in balance. Like when the sails are perfectly set and our boat makes a cheery chuckling noise as she dips through the waves. Like riding a horse that is right on the bit, a glorious floating sensation on top of a magnificent beast. Maybe I can't have that all the time but WHY NOT!

Sailing, cruising give me a lot of that freedom. No timetables, well except tides! No red tape. Well except customs and immigration! No limits. Well except my own fear!

Might take a while! But until then I revel in others adventures as well as my own and dream of whats yet to come as well as reveling in whats happening right now.