May 17, 2016
by jackieandnoel 2 Comments

Travelling The World Traumas

Excerpt from This Is It – 2 hemispheres, 1 people, and 1 boat

Intro: As we made way for La Paz, Mexico on our sailboat Pyewacket, throughout the last night before landfall we towed a sailboat (Windsong) that required assistance…

With immense relief, dawn tinted the sky a light blue, and at a critical moment in the clutches of gusting wind and the narrowest part of the canal, the tow line parted. Engulfed with fatigue, the nervous energy galvanised me into action.

The dawn turned grey as if angry with the fracas beneath it. The unforgiving currents picked up Windsong and guided them, side on, to the quintessence of jagged rocks. Meanwhile, opposing winds lifted the flowing currents, turning a placid passageway into an angry, frothing nightmare.

$Before the fracas it was lovely and calm$

Before the fracas it was lovely and calm

With no time for a text book tow, we leaped into action.

‘I’ll tie a fender to the end of this line,’ I yelled into the whipping wind, while putting my knot training to good use. ‘We can drag the line off our stern to see if they can pick it up with their boat hook’

‘Good work,’ Noel agreed, while concentrating on the safety of our own vessel.

With winds strong enough to lift and twist our boats sideways and the solid, bumpy waves bashing against the hull, we had to manoeuvre far enough away from Windsong for safety, but drive close enough so they could pick up the line.

Fenders float; therefore, it kept the line on the surface of the water. When boats’ propellers rotate, they can easily suck lines in and around the propeller shaft, stalling the engine and potentially causing expensive damage. Many possibilities and dangers existed and had to be considered and accounted for.

We couldn’t enjoy the typical Mexican views

‘I’ll come around again,’ Noel called out while the wind viciously whipped away his words. ‘Haul in the line for a minute.’

‘Okay,’ I yelled back, and Pyewacket bumped and heaved in a circle, while I prepared the line to sweep it past their bow once again.

We watched the crew of Windsong valiantly try and fail to retrieve their life-line as we swept by their bow, time after time. Their taut faces matched those of an athlete, poised for the starter’s gun. On board Pyewacket, our concerns for our own safety deepened; the engine strained against its mounts as we asked for the almost impossible. As Windsong slid closer to the awaiting rocks, we had no choice but to keep our distance. We couldn’t risk our boat and us.

We stood by helplessly, watching a fine boat surely become dashed on unforgiving boulders.

Did we all make it safely into this spectacular anchorage area?

Noel and I were safe and enjoyed the safety of land!

For more great pictures and stories look here

Our current boat is a 1920s Dutch Barge – would you like to look around (she’s for sale!) – look here

Author blog: www.jackieparry.com

Travel blog: www.noelandjackiesjourneys.com

Horse: http://helpinghandforhorses.weebly.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jackie.parry.7543

Travels: https://www.facebook.com/NoelAndJackiesJourneys

Horses: https://www.facebook.com/pages/For-the-love-of-horses/1048526295173146

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00OT9CWV8

Amazon book links

A Standard Journey: viewBook.at/astandardjourney

Of Foreign Build: viewBook.at/OfForeignBuild

Cruisers’ AA (accumulated acumen): viewBook.at/cruisersaa

This Is It: viewBook.at/thisisit

Audio Excerpt Of Foreign Build: http://goo.gl/AnsKRr

Twitter

https://twitter.com/NandJJourneys

https://twitter.com/StandardJourney

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7157763.Jackie_Sarah_Parry?from_search=true

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Linkedin https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jackieparry

Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/113148478675680852619/posts/p/pub

Photo album of A Standard Journey: http://goo.gl/1QgMp2

Photo album of Of Foreign Build: https://jackieparry.com/of-foreign-build-photo-album/

Photo album of Cruisers’AA: https://jackieparry.com/pics/

Photo album of This Is It: https://jackieparry.com/photos-this-is-it/

A Standard Journey FB Page: https://goo.gl/uV7NGY

Cruisers’ AA FB Page: https://goo.gl/2vEnkB

Of Foreign Build FB Page: https://goo.gl/VvLT3M

Listen to me chat to Carol Graham (Never Ever Give Up) about sailing, pirates, adopting horses, and surviving life! http://app.stitcher.com/splayer/f/69073/41215218

February 5, 2015
by jackieandnoel 4 Comments

Travel the world from your armchair

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.

Here’s some of our memories of sailing around the world

And here’s the whole story…

Do you prefer to go adventuring, or read about it from the comfort of your armchair?

January 30, 2015
by jackieandnoel 9 Comments

“This is a man’s world, but….

… 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!)

January 5, 2015
by jackieandnoel 5 Comments

Nothing is Impossible!

“Nothing is impossible – the world itself says, ‘I’m possible!'”

Inspiration: The quote above is by the beautiful Audrey Hepburn, and the beauty in life was part of the inspiration for my story: Of Foreign Build – From Corporate Girl to Sea-Gypsy Woman.

Living on a ten metre boat, for nine years, I saw the world and changed from a scared, brokenhearted girl, into a sea-gypsy woman – I figured out who I am. Here’s a brief glimpse into my life…

Sailing: Traversing oceans is not like a plane or car ride. Nothing is certain except a vast puddle of water and a great stretch of sky. The days pass, measured not in hours but in distance. It’s dynamic, fantastic and petrifying all at the same time. There is rarely pattern or logic; you deal with what’s received, as it arrives . . . moment by moment.

Paradoxical beauty: Pounding waves, great geysers of water, white bubbles chuckling softly amid giant swells. Plunging into the void, pushing away thoughts of what lurks below. The wind from hell. Disgruntled clouds carrying punches.

Reality: Hopping in a warm bunk, trusting my partner with my life enables me to sleep. Malcontent wind and waves provide rude awakenings. The dawn paints the horizon in breathtaking crimson or sadistic black. The crucial burden of stores, lifted with the seas.

A Lesson in Humility: Vivid green phosphorescence streaks behind magnificent dolphins and rainbow reflections of oil. The paradoxical beauty of the ocean.

The result:
“Your book helped me through a recent bereavement.”
“It made me cry, laugh and quake with fear in equal measure.”
“Your insight-fullness and sense of adventure captured me.”
“Beautifully written with honesty, humour and love for all living creatures on this planet.”
“It’s a long while since I’ve so engaged with a book.”
“Once you start this book, you’ll not want to put it down.”
“Moving, rousing, uplifting, stimulating.”
“I loved “Of Foreign Build.” The book is listed as a memoir, a misnomer I believe, as I found it to be much more. It’s really a love story, an adventure story, and a story of personal growth and determination all rolled into a nine year odyssey.”

What inspires you?

Of Foreign Build – From Corporate Girl to Sea-Gypsy Woman

September 24, 2014
by jackieandnoel 8 Comments

Where we were robbed!

Thirteen years ago we were robbed here. Here’s where we tied up, near the town of Roquemaure.

New buildings just over the bank.

We were on our ocean going sailboat, all 10 metres of her and having a grand old time taking time away from rolling oceans to carve a path through the middle of France.

With our mast prone.

With our mast lying prone, our make-shift tarpaulin and determination, we made our way up to the UK, where Noel fulfilled a dream he’d been harbouring for many years.

With our mast where it should be!

To find out what happened when we were robbed and what Noel’s achievement was, it’ll cost you the price of a cup of coffee.*

Of Foreign Build, my book detailing these and nine years of sailing escapades, will be out this coming November, details here. (Follow my blog to be the first to learn about up-and-coming freebies!)

Here’s some pictures to whet your appetite….

The Big Chute in Canada (yes, that’s our boat up there – and us!)

More canals – this time Chicago

We were thrilled to sail into New York

On ‘reef’ watch

More canals – where? you’ll have to buy the book – note how we are dwarfed by four enormous barges – 2 tied up on each side and two coming down the middle together… we just slipped into this space in time!

*ebook version.