New Street Nautical Audio is proud to announce its publication of Jackie Parry’s superb Of Foreign Build: From Corporate Girl to Sea-Gypsy Woman, already a bestseller in digital and paper editions.
After suffering an emotionally-brutal bereavement, Jackie made a bold decision and stepped into a new life. With a new husband, and no prior experience with boats, she entered the obscure but fascinating nether-world of the cruising lifestyle.
Her world would never be the same again. A floating home with no fridge or hot water, and a dinghy instead of a car.
The first off-shore voyage took Jackie into a ferocious storm, which battered her physically and mentally. But amid those raging seas, Jackie shed the fear she’d been harbouring. Soon she was blissfully voyaging around the world, but she still carried the mixed emotions of losing one man while falling head over heels in love with another.
Not only did Jackie deal successfully with the challenges of her new existence, she also battled with the testosterone fuelled nautical world to become both a professional captain and a qualified maritime teacher.
Most importantly, Jackie found herself.
Narrated by Britain’s Michelle Michaels, the New Street NauticalAudio edition for Of Foreign Build runs 14 hours, 43 minutes, and is available from Audible, iTunes, and Amazon. (Listen to an excerpt here).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the UK, Jackie Parry is now an adopted Australian. But it’s hard to pin Jackie’s location down at any given time. She’s currently exploring French canals on a Dutch barge with her Australian husband.
Last week someone wrote derogatory comments about us on a forum.
What happened?
A few months back, two complete strangers told us we were not qualified to offer our new boat training service. They’d garnered this lofty view from our personal website and holiday snaps! Politely we explained our professional qualifications and experience on email, even though we didn’t have to.
It seems that wasn’t enough. So last week they voiced their concerns publicly. Others didn’t like our strong ‘come-back’. I wonder how many times they’d let someone do this to them before retaliating – twice was enough for us!
The blind
What these people didn’t see was the reams of private supportive messages that clogged our email. People who wouldn’t write publicly as they didn’t want to be ‘next’ on the target list (some had, disturbingly, already been there).
In droves, people said that this is exactly why they didn’t partake in this site any more.
The result?
Well, they say, there is no such thing as bad press and now having been on the end of it – I can attest to that!
People with fantastic websites are now linking our websites to theirs – providing us with tonnes of free advertising
Enquiries are up
Book sales have spiked
With over 300 hits on both our websites in just a few hours, Google algorithms love this – it’s a great boost!
Apology
We asked for an apology. A few people on the forum have apologised privately. The instigator has not, but that’s okay. Not because of the extra business, sales and wonderful new connections and friends we’ve made – it’s okay because they’ve shown their true colours.
In summary
I wouldn’t want to wish this experience on anyone. Initially we felt alone and bullied. But the enormous private (and some public) support was a soothing balm and a real eye-opener.
It makes you think
During our years of teaching commercial maritime and working internationally on all kinds of boats (yes, barges on canals too – sigh). We’ve learned a lot:
A broad experience is imperative – it’s about having the ability to adapt to every situation
Claiming that one-niche experience is a complete experience, is a dangerous mistake
We don’t know everything, only a fool would admit that!
You never stop learning, once you think you know it all you are a danger
We all have knowledge to impart
Win an Ebook
Our website was criticised too – here it is www.bargetraining.com tell us what you think – CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is always welcome. A free ebook (choice out of three) goes to the most crazy, funny amusing or helpful comment.
Website WIP – but here’s more info:
We’ll list a few more details on our website soon – it is a Work In Progress – but in the meantime here are a few more high-lights of our experience:
As well as the European Canals (on our boats, on commercial boats, on other people’s boat – recreationally and commercially) we have also traversed the following inland waterways/canals and rivers (and hundred’s of associated locks):
New York State Canal System
The Canadian Heritage Canals
Lake Okeechobee Waterway
Trent Severn Watery
Rideau Canal
Erie Canal
Potomac
St Lawrence Canal
Sanitary Canal
St Lawrence Seaway
The Mississippi River
The Ohio River
The Illinois River
TenTombigee
Cumberland River
Tennessee River
Lake Okeechobee Waterway
Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway
Hudson River
The Great Lakes
Missouri River
The Nile
Rivers in PNG, Borneo, Australia, Ecuador, Panama, Asia, Morocco… and on it goes…
Here’s some pics – these are mostly holiday and travel snaps, most of our professional pictures are stored away at home in Australia.
If you want more information about us just drop us a line, telephone us, call around for a chat – the kettle’s always on.
Living on board a compact ten metre boat is not for the faint-hearted!
Cruising is not all about calm seas, wind propulsion and dolphins at sunset. For a start moving from land to boat is confusing, frustrating and tough! You have to sell or store all of your belongings and live without ninety percent of what you usually live with!
Here’s more cruising realities you may not be aware of:
Flexibility is a must. Even with a large engine room you’ll have to learn to bend yourself into a pretzel.
Once in the engine room, you’ll learn how to perform miracles to unscrew, twist, replace…
The top of the mast sways a lot, even at anchor in dead flat water.
Bruises accumulate. The vice in the workshop bit me every time (until I told him to stop!)
Finding free WiFi on anchor is incredibly exciting.
It’s possible to live cheaply on board (read Cruisers’ AA to find out what I am talking about).
While preparing your boat for oceans, riding your bicycle sixty-seventy miles a week while balancing the equivalent of a small truck load, will become perfectly normal.
Movies, concerts and shows are replaced by slowly swinging on anchor, devouring the three-sixty-degree moving vista, and watching the sunset.
Barbados!
Just a couple more knots of wind can make the difference between a peaceful sleep and a fitful one.
Resourcefulness becomes your middle name.
It is a fantastic relief to be cut off from emails and phonecalls (which is how we cruised).
You will never have enough rags on board.
The laptop and camera become cherished items, to constantly capture those memories that fade with wine, oops, time!
Life on board is hard work, but immensely satisfying.
… it would be nothing, nothing, without a woman or a girl…”
Thank you James Brown – you hit the nail on the head in more ways than one.
WARNING – THIS BLOG IS FOR WOMEN ONLY!
As a woman sailor, maritime teacher and commercial boat skipper, I’ve come up against plenty of prejudice. I fought the testosterone-fuelled nautical world and won.
You don’t have to go to the extremes I have. But I can help you take your first steps into solving the mysteries of the maritime world. If this thought scares you silly, don’t worry, I WAS TERRIFIED!
First Four Lessons
When we purchased Mariah, I didn’t know the front-end of a boat from the back-end. But Mariah felt ‘right’ to me. Lesson number one, trust your instincts.
The ropes and winches were a complete mystery, the boat’s behaviour an enigma. Lesson number two: don’t try to learn how to sail from a book. Step on a boat, any boat, as much as possible, be instinctive, it’ll make more sense than text (that part can come later).
Taking the helm was enough to turn me into a gibbering wreck. Lesson number three: Women are often better at the helm. During my experience of practical teaching, women listened to my instructions, many men had been ‘taught’ via mates and erm, supposedly knew it all already.* (Women are often exemplary at navigation too!)
Practical exercises on police boats, while training others
I felt alone, lost and way out of my depth. Lesson number four: SO DOES EVERYONE WHEN THEY START. Persevere, chat to other women. FB groups such as Women Who Sail and Women Who Sail Australia are amazingly supportive, with zero judgement and zero tolerance for those who do judge! There are women here at every level. (If you join quickly, there’s a chance to win lots of goodies, WWS are celebrating reaching 5,000 members!)
In summary
• You can become a sailor!
• Persevere.
• Remember it takes time (but not as long as you think).
• It’s a brave move to step away from ‘normal life’.
• Ensure/remind/beg your spouse to be patient with you – I’ve seen so many men yell at their partner and then wonder why they are left alone on the boat!
• You are both working towards the same goal – when something goes wrong, you or your partner are not sabotaging it! Work together.
• Don’t panic – deal with the situation first, then panic if you must!
• Shouting and anger can be born from fear. Talk about it, work it out.
• Be buddies on the boat – that’s important, really important.
I used everything I’d learned on Mariah and studying, while skippering ships in PNG
The outcome
Okay, sailing and cruising is not for everyone but if it is for you, you will find:
A life you’ve always dreamed of
Freedom beyond your wildest dreams
Kindred spirits
Help in the most unexpected places
Resourceful skills you never knew you had
How to live on next to nothing
An enormous back yard, aka ‘the world!’
You’ll release it’s a waste of time and energy to ‘sweat the small stuff’
… you will always wonder why you didn’t do it sooner!
Do you agree? Ladies, what have you found once you stepped into the cruising life?
Gentlemen – if you’ve read this far without flicking off an angry email to me… well done and thank you! If you want to go sailing with your partner… buy her this – it’ll help – honest!
*Noel adds that it isn’t always a male/female distinction of who listens and who doesn’t. It was, for him, the person with the most experience that didn’t usually listen or wasn’t very good at taking advice/tuition. Maybe the women I taught had less experience, but this is what I encountered. (And, yes, Noel does receive special dispensation to read this!)
After a ‘sticky’ start, the renovations are starting to show promise. Here’s what caused the delays:
The new holding tank – made from one of water tanks. Sourcing the right welder was a rather frustrating project. Having to cut the big tank up INSIDE the boat, made the boat filthy. It was too big to get out, so Noel cut it into four pieces, two were the holding tank (including lid), the other two pieces were superfluous. The plumbing parts were purchased on-line and all in French. Other bits-and-pieces from the Brico-marche, eight kilometres away, hauling all purchases by bike.
Noel drilling a hole for the vent.
There’s a hole in my hull!
A neat job – we now know what’s behind all the walls – good insulation and good wiring (now!) – we replaced all the old wiring.
Another hole, this time in the deck, for the new water tanks. These will be situated under the bed.
We’ve been lucky with the weather, Noel chooses the outside-projects in time with the better days.
“What’s the very best, top-tip you have for doing boat renovations,” I said to my hard working husband, who is grappling with two loos right now, as I type.
Without hesitation or thought he dished up these wise-words of wisdom:
“Buy a house!”
We are in a mess, cabin full of welding fumes!
And, here’s more…
When taking the toilet apart, do not consume a large mug off coffee prior to the deed!
Seek good value gear – the renovations will cost you three-times what you originally calculated. You’d better try to make some savings somewhere.
Don’t become annoyed when the welding equipment sits on top of the loo all day!
His and hers!
Really try not to get irritated when the welding equipment then sits in the shower!
Don’t walk in bare feet after the grinder has been used.
Spread the dust sheet carefully, that one bit of paint you drop will do it’s best to find the tiny gap! Wear shoes when painting – you’ll find out why!
Drink vast quantities of wine or meditate (or both) – after the day’s work is done please!
New holding tank – done!
Turn up the Radio.
Have a day off – at some point (someone gave me this tip, not sure what it means though!)
… and as with all boat work, double the time you think the work will take, triple that figure, and you’ll be about halfway to a good estimate on the time it will take to do the work! (More great boat/cruising tips here, from boat maintenance to make-up!)
Make time for fun – Noel’s birthday!
More humorous (house) renovation observations, here.
And she is right….. I know I’ve written a good yarn when someone ends up knowing me so well…. read this review at your own risk…. (I’m still in tears!)
I’ve just finished Jackie Parry’s book. I was actually in tears at both the beginning and the end. At the start of the book, I felt the loss that Jackie experienced deeply and understood her need to escape to another world. By the end, I felt as if I’d been living with her on board the Mariah II with her and experienced so much. I felt her sadness at leaving this wonderful, free, wandering life behind; the disillusionment of being back in the ‘real’ world again. I shared both her delight and her torments – the joys and the fears of living so close to the elements. But more than anything what I admired about this book was what it represented: the choice of living a dream, of following a way of life that is totally against the normal grain and revelling in discovering the strengths and trust built in a relationship that is more than simply symbiotic. Jackie and her Noel develop a bond that is so strong, it brings a lump to my throat just imagining it. They also make some wonderful friends among their fellow world travellers, the very special Den and Tash, a Dutch couple so intrepid they take living under sail to new levels. I have to say the sense of a community of cruisers just opting out of the daily grind and routine and living like gyspies as they meander round the world is immensely appealing.
It’s taken me a while to read, as it’s a pretty long book to get through if you can only read at bedtime, but in fact it could have been longer. I would have loved more about their travels through America. That could have been a memoir all on its own. The French section could also have been longer, so Jackie, if you read this, maybe we could have two sub-memoirs? The last thing I want to mention is my admiration for Jackie Parry too. She glosses over her achievements, but reading between the lines, I more than take my hat off to her. For an example of someone with guts, courage and determination to live life on her own terms, I can’t think of anyone better. She has not only lived her dream, she is fully qualified to do it too, gaining top diplomas in many areas of marine skills. And let’s not forget the magnificent (and probably very patient) Noel, the rock on whom Jackie has depended and whose patience helped her find peace after the sadness of her early bereavement. Jackie’s personality shines through this book. She is feisty, intrepid, fun and friendly, but also unashamedly given to bursts temper and petulance – a wonderfully human being who has told a wonderfully compelling story.
It’s hard to buy the right gift – I know, I am hopeless at it. Unlike my husband who is superb with neat, original ideas. He always gifts me something I love (lucky me!).
In the spirit of giving gifts and trying to find the ‘right’ present…. for those who want to buy:
Jackie Parry - author 
