Have Autism…..Will Travel…...

You may be surprised to hear this, but there are actually MANY people out there doing what we are preparing to do. It is not unusual at all......yes....even right here in Calgary: not a city known for its abundance of sailors, we have met or heard of many families who have either done this or are preparing to do this.....

The people who know our family have so often asked me about what it has been like for us and how we came to this decision to sail with our kids, despite ‘everything’….
So today I have decided to tell you all about it.  You see, the way that we might be a little bit different from the average sailing family is that we happen to have a son who has autism. 

Now, I would not be doing anyone any favors if I just stop the description there. Because, as you may know, autism is a spectrum and it comes in all forms. So I would like to be clear, especially for any parent of children with autism out there who may be reading this and who, trust me, would need to know:  Matthew does not have a “Sprinkling of Autism” nor is he what some describe as “High Functioning”, nor does Matthew have Aspergers. No, our amazing Matthew who happens to be one of the most courageous young men I have ever met,  also happens to be “highly affected” with autism or if you prefer: he lives with a very “large dose of Autism” or  some others  would say he has “classical autism” , you know: “text book autism”. 

This means that everyday Matthew faces enormous challenges because of his sensory needs, his “unusual” self regulating behaviors, his social and communication differences.He has difficulty “decoding” language and social rules.  Matthew was diagnosed at a very young age (17 month) and today at the age of 14, Matthew still faces many of these original challenges. But that is not all that defines him;  Matthew  is a shining star in our family !  Not only has he been an excellent traveller from the time he was a baby, but he is also very affectionate and loving. He is hyper sensitive to other people’s moods and emotions. He loves music,  loves to laugh and to play pranks (like throwing all his pillows and toys out of his bedroom window) and like so many others, he loves water, in all of its forms : rain,ice,fog, shower, snow,baths,rivers and ....of course, the ocean!

So, what’s it like traveling with a child with autism? Well.....first of all: it’s intense! You need to be vigilant, you need to be quick (Matthew is a runner) and I would say that you need to have the courage to let go of certain things that don’t matter....Things like “Decorum”, “Proper Etiquette” in public places or “Anonymity in a crowd”. For us it also means that we have needed to actually let go of material things too....things that can be dropped, broken, bitten, thrown out of a window or over board ....haha....hehe…hm...

It may be hard for someone to hear or to believe (especially if you are a parent of a child just receiving the news about your child having autism).......but, most of the time, we feel grateful that autism has come into our lives.......it has changed our perspective of what is important, what is worth celebrating (everything !).... And we have learned to laugh ! You don't have a choice, if you want to survive. Sometimes we cringe, we scream and we cry , but then....invariably, at some point... we laugh......and everything looks a little bit brighter after that .

Before we had children, Mark and I used to talk about one day living on a boat and traveling. When Matthew was diagnosed with autism, Mark told me he felt that our dream, that dream at least, was over for us, that autism would be our new path in life. It wasn’t until many years later, after we had “adapted” to living with autism, that I asked Mark one day: "Why does that dream need to be over, exactly?" He could not come up with any good reason, (there were reasons, but none that we could not work around)….So we just looked at each other, realizing for the first time that we might be able to pursue our dream after all....

The reason why I felt compelled to write about this was that I thought:  If our story helped even one family living with autism, if it gave just one mom or one dad hope that life with autism is not a death sentence and that things would be okay.... If we could inspire just one family or one individual living with autism today to continue to work towards their own dreams….then…. I would be ecstatic!

Things that parents of children with special needs often ask me about:

How is he on long plane rides ?  We are lucky in that Matthew has been traveling with us since he was a baby. He likes to look out the window and likes take off and landing the most. When he was younger, there were times when he would get cranky and loud....during those times, I would go into “Fully Present” mode...where I would take it one second or one moment at a time and not worry about how long things were going to go on for. I would block everyone out and stop worrying about “what other people might think” and just focus on Matthew and his needs....The plane ride is also a place where I would pull out any and all new tricks out of my “hat”. (A bag of exciting new toys and treats that I keep just for the airplane ride.... just in case)

Does he like the boat ? Yes…. He does not mind (in fact he seems to seek out) small places, so he has always seemed to be right at home in a cabin. He LOVES the motion of the boat and, where as on land he needs to move all the time, when the boat is underway, he stays still, pondering, looking out into the waves.

What will you do about school ? Before we moved back to Canada (where Matthew goes to a specialized school for kids with autism and has a home program too), we used to run his home program and have learned some tricks of the trade. We have become the “experts” on how Matthew learns: what motivates him and what works. Just like for his sister who will be doing school while traveling, we will be pursuing Matthew’s goals onboard. His will mostly be self-help or daily living skills,  but also speech and communication skills . We will also work on play skills, sports, some fine and gross motor skills too.....and we also hope that being exposed to so many new things, new environments will as be beneficial to him as they will be to his sister.
Looking on the bright side: I can say that I for one,am NOT disappointed that Matthew is not following a typical curriculum...that means that I do not have to worry about teaching him Grade 10 Math or Language Arts !!!  

Are you not worried about traveling with someone with such high needs ?  Well you know, I have given this a lot of thought and the way I see it: life is hard for us no matter where we live. There are dangers for Matthew and obstacles no matter where we are. So why not take this life and its challenges "on the road" with us ?
To be honest, we would not want to do this trip without him.... he brings so much richness to this already rich experience.....he always keeps things interesting and fresh... never boring....and sometimes, when people we meet are confronted with his differences it opens a door and they come and speak to us, share their stories......it can be very heart warming !

What about his sensory needs ? When we are at anchor, Matthew gets plenty of time to run (on deck or on land), the swimming helps alot too. He gets his squishes with his blanket in his bunk everyday and we try to have plenty of chewable things for him on hand.

What about safety issues on the boat ? Matthew (and all of us on board for that matter) have self inflating PFDs with harnesses. When ever we are on our way, we wear them and are clipped in to the cockpit.Also; Matthew will never be alone on deck while underway, there will always be a person on watch. I should also point out that Matthew is an excellent swimmer and that we have a Man Over Board drill that we have adapted to our special circumstances, but out goal of course is always prevention. 

Are there any behavioral outbursts, any running episodes ? 
Any public embarrassments?  OH YES....This is where the “sense of humour” I was taking about really comes in handy...Where do I start ? Matthew goes through “phases”, some of which are easier than others. Last year, he was in a “Grabbing” phase, where out of no where he would seem to get scared and tightly grab hold (a tight bear hug) of any person beside him. We were waiting in line at a small grocery store in Martinique when he had one of these sudden “episodes”....he grabbed hold of the lady who was standing in front of us. She was a little bit scared at first but then she looked at me and by that time I had taken Matthew off of her, and I hardly had to explain anything, she was already telling me not to worry, and that she understood....Another thing Matthew is known for is sudden bursts of energy, where he runs away... yelling or singing loudly......I can tell you that this is one of those things that keep me fit and on my toes, ready for action, any place, anywhere.....I am getting pretty fast myself,(It’s part of my fitness program!) but as he gets older, and thanks to years of work with his therapists, Matthew is becoming more aware of street safety and listens well to our instructions to be careful and to stay close to us. 

So far, It has been my experience that no matter where we have been in the world, people tend to be very understanding and accepting of Matthew and his many quirks. 

Of course this means that we: his family,  have developed a thick skin and not much will embarrass us anymore....we tend to just try to anticipate his next move, but he never ceases to amaze us with new and interesting ways to explore his surroundings and to express himself. Always an adventure, like I said : never boring !

We find that a little bit of humour and some gentle explanations can go a long way. There was this one time in St Lucia, when we were walking with Matthew in a kids playground....a little girl and her father walked by us, and a few seconds later I see that Matthew is holding a huge clump of pink cotton candy…."where did he get that ?” I thought as I look back , I see the little girl holding what’s left of her cotton candy, looking quite sad.....we ran back and offered to buy her a new one, we asked Matthew to say “Sorry”, and she felt better, her father just laughed and said that he was happy to have her share !  These kinds of things happen almost on a daily basis, and we have learned to smile and laugh....also, I feel that this is always a good opportunity to increase awareness about autism with the people we meet. So far there has not been a situation that we haven’t been able to fix with a sincere apology, some explanation of the situation,a little bit of pocket money and a smile. 

Looking ahead : I have no idea how our family will do on this adventure. I have a feeling that we will experience many ups and downs; some hardships,some feelings of pure bliss, new adventures and memories for a lifetime...but one thing I can be certain of is that our blog will be filled with  “funny Matthew stories” just as much as it will be filled with all the rest. We will keep you posted…..

How did we get here ?

Mark and MC in Regetta on Chestermere, Calgary 1995

As the days slip by, NO not ‘slip’, that sounds much too serene, it’s more like; as the days tumble one on top of the other and as our D- day approaches, I sometimes find myself at 3:00am pondering: how did we get here ? I am amazed really that this is actually happening ! WOW! After all this talk and planning, I think some of our friends never actually believed this was more than just a pipe dream.

I know now,more than ever, that it really is about the journey, not the destination. Our journey started when we made the committed to this decision, that we were going to TRY to do this crazy thing, this sailing adventure. 

This was about the time, no, this was exactly the time when “The lists” started to materialize. If you are thinking about doing a trip like this, I think it's safe to say that you should be prepared to have endless lists that will follow you, everyday, until you leave. 

 Another thing that helped me get organized was to have my calendar always at hand where I could jot down each task for each month as they came up and I gave myself deadlines for each of the things that needed to get done.

Oh, and I would also recommend to invest in a good paper shredding machine! After 20 years of accumulating personal files and tax documents, ours has been getting quite the workout, AND the shredded paper makes great filler for the boxes that I am now packing for storage !

So, it's time to come clean: you might of guessed already that I am a wee bit  “Type A”, and personally, I LOVE lists and I NEED them to get things done: “To do”,”To learn”, “To sell”, “To store”, “To buy”, “To prepare” ,”To ship” ,“To pack” it goes one and on... As you can imagine,a big part of the prep time was spent trying to organize our material “things” !  If only we’d had less things to begin with, it would have been a whole lot easier, but isn’t it always that way ?  I hope that we have learned THIS time and that from now on,  we will learn to live with less, now that we have (almost) gotten rid of everything!

Not sure who's house this is….not mine thankfully

I love that the more stuff you get rid off , the lighter and freer you feel. There is a resistance at first (at least there was for me), but the more you get rid of stuff, the easier it gets. I think I’ve said this before, but it's so true !

With only one month to go it feels like we still have a huge amount of stuff and by the 11th hour we will just have to let everything go, very fast and I am sure that it will feel good, no, it will feel GREAT actually ! 

I think the universe heard our plea under all the weight of all this stuff & things just started happening recently, as they do,they just started falling into place somehow.

Like yesterday: getting a phone call soliciting for clothe donations for cerebral palsy "Great timing !  I happen to have three GIANT bags full of very good clothing ! Yes I will leave them on my doorstep on Tuesday, for sure !”

I also learned through a friend about an organization here in Calgary that is helping young men and women to have a fresh new start at a new life, so happy that we can help in some small way by putting boxes together (sheets, dishes, towels etc...) for them. And hearing that a young lady we know, who has been working with Matthew for years, has been  looking for a place to live ! House rental solved !

Still, during the last month it really seems that for each item that I cross off my list, AT LEAST 3 new items appear. My New Mantra: “One step at a time, we WILL get there, everything that needs to get done WILL get done”, breathe, repeat.

Even I have to admit that sometimes my 'to do' list looks a little bit odd, and random.

Case in point; this week’s list:

• -Find out what’s the best cut of chicken to learn how to do stitches on! 
• -Phone 'Clem' from Caribbean Cargo to find out if it’s too cold for him to pick up our 200 lbs “barrel" for shipment ASAP.
• -Get a Psych Assessment. This is for Matthew !  (for funding for when we get back)
• -Meet a guy about a 16 foot  trailer....
• -Go over Matthew’s Speech goals and Individual Program Plan
• -Call Australia !! Tell them we’re moving ! (FYI : This has to do some registered savings still sitting in Australia)
• -Buy grade 6 Math text book !
• -Re-Learn how to speak Spanish  ! (Thank Goodnes for “Duolingo” !)

There is another indication of what we’ve been up to: I went through our  “GOOGLE search history" from this last month and here are just a few examples of what  I found:

-Do people with disabilities need to sign their passport ?  

-How much does it cost to call from Canada to St Lucia?

-What is the depth of the entrance into the Rio Dulce in Guatemala ?

-What is the “Canadian Iroquois Confederacy” ? (Grade 6 social studies)

 

-What are the top 5 drinks you can make with rum ?

-The attributes of a new debit-credit card vs a traditional credit card...

-How to make bread with a pressure cooker ?

-What are the actual lyrics to "the Love Boat” theme ?

-Where can I buy “Sticky Back” (sail repair material) in Calgary ?

-“5 products that will make you look younger over night”  (Ooops... how did THAT get in there?)

-How to rewire cabin lights to energy saving LED lights ?

Of course not all of these are serious searches, ahem, and I am quite certain that one could go sailing without doing everything that We, okay, “I”,  felt we had to do!  We have had quite a bit of time to plan and execute these things, (some would argue maybe a little bit too much time!) Had we had less time, we still would have gotten here, we did get to do a lot more than is necessary. I know that, of course I know that…

Seriously, you can't go wrong with these guys : 

Mahina’s OFFSHORE CRUISING COMPANION :
http://www.mahina.com/books.html 

This has been an excellent help to getting ourselves organised. 
They have included a very detailed and practical list  (yay another list !) of what to do if you want to prepare an offshore sailing trip. This was a great starting point for us; all we did was to add and build upon this list, adapting to it for our family’s individual needs. 

Still after all this, and with little over one month left before we go: I am left at 3:00 am thinking back at the journey we have been on getting ready for this adventure. In some ways,we have been preparing ourselves for the last twenty years.

Soon enough we hope that our blog will be filled with pictures and stories about the places we visit, but for now, I have to rely on the archives. I will leave you with a "collage" from the last twenties years, of the boats we have sailed &people we have learned from (so you can blame them!)

 

Mark crewing for Bill at a Regatta in 1993 

Mark and Jackson on Mark's Hobie, 16 Gull Lake in 1994

Mark and MC at Rottnest Island, WA on Board teaching vessel Charade in 1996

Ian Calvert- Southern Cross Sailing School- Our fabulous instructor 1996

Our 24' Endevour Gremlin II, Perth Australia 1996

MC at the helm of the Beneteau, Whitsundays 1998

Lady Jacqueline in Whitsundays, Australia 1998

Our wedding day, on board Cowrie Dancer, WA, 1998
(Notice MC is keeping a lookout at the boats' heading)

MC on deck, Cowrie Dancer Jan 1998

FlyBye, Lagoon 440 BVIs 2011

Bavaria 39, in BVIs 2010

Aquila, Bavaria 42, BVIs 2011

MC (and crew mates) on board Teaching Vessel Mahina Tiare III,
South Pacific, Fall  2011

Mark (with John Neal on Left) on Board Teaching Vessel Mahina Tiare III, New Zealand 2011

Jeanneau 42, in Nanaimo BC May 2012

Bill (with Meg)  trying to corrupt the next generation!
Chestermere Lake Fall 2012

Orion Sky (DS16), MC's best teacher, on the Gatineau River 2013

Mule Run

Happy New Year ! We just got back from a ten day trip down to St Lucia.This trip, in essence  was just a “mule run” that is: to bring more things to the boat in preparation for departure, again we brought our maximum quota; 8 bags, and the waterline of the boat keeps going down, down, down...

The water line on Amelie IV keeps getting lower and lower as we continue bring more things aboard.  

Like many other travelers this holiday season, our trip was not without trials and tribulations ! To make a long story short: we had very tight connections because of delays and subsequently, not all of our luggage made it !  Only 5 out of the 8 bags were waiting for us on the carousel when we landed!  One of the bags which was MIA held all of my bathing suits and clothe (of course!)  We  were also a wee bit concerned about the other stuff that was missing: sailing gear and school material  which was worth a lot of money and would be a real pain to replace. So all we could do was to cross our fingers that they would be found and sent to us with the next flight 

(which was two days later). We were a bit distracted  and disturbed by all this when we hailed our taxi at Hewanorra Airport.

But on the 1 1/2 hour drive down to Marigot Bay, Albert, our driver, informed us that there had been enormous rain storms in St Lucia over the last few weeks and that on Christmas Eve six people had lost their lives because of land slides. We saw with our own eyes that the main road had sections which had been washed away and Albert told us that many of the islanders were still struggling to recover. This made our worries about our luggage seem so very trivial !!! Over the next few days we were happy to see many of the ‘yachties’ had arranged for donation drop off areas for clothe, money and water donations to help. 

Once back on board and after seeing the arrival of 2014,we sailed up to Rodney Bay where Amelie will stay until our return in March. 

We made a short video of our sail up to give you a taste of it all. It can be found on our youtube channel. It was blowing 25 knots with waves of about 7-8 feet. Some people who saw the video on FB commented that it looked like we were just flying. I will tell you it sure felt like we were, (Meg says its better than any Walt Disney Ride she went on!) but in actuality the boat was only going about 8 knots which is only about 15km/h!  

We hung out in the Bay for a week,  setting up the boat, putting stuff away and making lists of what is still needed (the list is getting shorter!) and the rest of the time was just spent “liming” as they say. Mark set up the Spinnaker Pole with a swing and hammock out over the water which was a fun place to watch the sunset from.  

Matthew spent most of his time swimming (he is becoming a bit of a legend in the Bay because he is in the water as soon as he gets up in the morning and we have to pull him out when the sun goes down). Meghan kept busy by writing stories, watching season four of “Downton Abbey” and making friendship bracelets which she gave to everyone, including Malakai: a wise and lovely Rastaman who sells jewelry on shore, he loved it of course! 

We got a chance to meet up with some boating friends which we had met last December. It is great to see what a tight community there exists amongst yachties. We are definitely not alone !  There is a “Net” (radio information sharing/forum) which is accessible through the SSB  (Single Side Band) radio all over the Caribbean. We met Dennis, a weatherman and  the facilitator of this Net (and some of the other “FOD” gang (Friends Of Dennis) one night as we enjoyed a great curry at Jambe de Bois Restaurant on Pigeon Island. What a great bunch of people !

Mark enjoyed putting together a short video while we were down there. a rather typical day of our ten day trip. This video can also be found on our private Youtube channel.

The day before we had to leave, MC was thrilled to participate in the weekly women’s therapy group- aka MANGO TANGO-(lunch and DRINKS with fellow boating women) and, as always, she loved the companionship and the great story swapping of some very funny, interesting and wise bunch of ladies, well, as Marsha, one of the original Mango Tango-ers likes to say: “There are no ladies here, only women !” 

Since sailing is still a “mostly male dominated” activity,  it is absolutely refreshing  to hear the perspective and advice of the women who have “been there" and who "have done that”!  They have lived with their husbands on board their boat, some for 20 years, some having circumnavigated the globe, and they have made it !  They are still married !!!  They are strong and proud and have found a way to be happy !  They inspire and encourage MC to no limit !

Of of the Mango Tango lunches where M-C got to meet a bunch of inspiring sailing women, Rodney Bay, St Lucia

Matthew's often abandoned shoes

Oh, and here is a totally unrelated but funny 'Matthew story'; On our last night, MC was with Matthew and Meghan trying to cross a very busy road. There are no cross walks, no traffic lights, and after waiting patiently for what seemed like an ETERNITY there was finally a break in traffic and she grabbed both kids by the hands and trotted across. When they got to the other side of the road MC looked down and saw that Matthew was barefoot !  She looked to the other side of the busy road and there she saw, sitting perfectly side by side, his two crocs ! She had to wait a little bit longer before she was able to retrieve them again !

Matthew loves to sit here

Meg having the time of her life !

In closing I would like to take the time to praise our children who have been such great travellers. They have learned to accept that not everything goes the way we planned and that's Ok. They have shown tremendous flexibility and maturity in accepting the challenges we have faced so far. We are very lucky and grateful to them for being so easy going, for helping us to reach our goal and for making every day SO DARN MUCH FUN !!!

UPDATE: By the way, our 3 lost pieces of luggage DID arrive safely to us about 4 days after we got there !

Ditch Bag

So over the last few months, I have been putting together what is often called a “Ditch Bag” this is not to be confused with “Douche Bag”, which is entirely a different thing. The “Douche Bag” is the person who will get you in the circumstances where you might need a “Ditch Bag” Ha! 

The content of our ditch bag

Seriously though; If you don't already know ; a "Ditch Bag" is one (or 2 or 3) bags that are part of the abandon ship drill which are always "at the ready" stored in a specific easy-to-access place on board. In other words: If you have to ditch the boat in an emergency situation, then hopefully you have assigned a specific person to grab this specific bag(s) during your safety briefing before heading out !  And hopefully the person you assigned, remembers to do this while you are getting the life raft ready !

So what goes in this “Ditch Bag"?  Well, that's an interesting question.This has been on my mind quite a bit, and one can get oneself in quite the philosophical state of mind if one thinks about it for too long. But I digress, there are definitely some basics that you should have:

First of all: Hopefully you remembers that you are in a marine environment and that most things aren’t designed to float, so you need to make sure that the Ditch Bag ITSELF can float and that it has a tether so that is can be tied to the life raft.

Then you need to fill it with things you and the rest of the crew would need to survive: 

In our two ditch bags, which are being assembled as I write this, we have put : 

A Small First Aide Kit & Sunscreen 

A whistle

Flares (IMPORTANT: Make sure you don’t drop your lit flare in your raft or YOU will be the "DDB" (Designated Douche Bag) for the rest of the time you are floating in a half sunk raft waiting for rescue)

A mirror (yes they DO work very well to signal distant ships or airplanes, not just in the movies...)

A waterproof flashlight, extra batteries

Some floating rope

Any prescribed medication

Sea sickness meds

A Handheld VHF radio (extra Batteries)

and OF COURSE : an EPIRB !!!!  

Ours EPIRB looks something like this 
(I affectionally call him “Eddy the EPIRB”)

What’s that ?  You want to know what a EPIRB is ?  Oh ! It’s just the most AMAZING invention. One which has so far helped rescue over 20 000 people in the last 32 years !  

Have a look here: http://www.epirb.com

To the above list we have ALSO added :

-Hats (or head scarves), Sunglasses, Dry socks and Undies 

-One toothbrush and one comb

 (Who says families can’t share?!)

-A leatherman tool

-Some patch/repair kits and a pump for the raft (for when you drop the leatherman tool and make a hole in the raft!)

So, is that it ?    

Dudes, come on ! Have you not seen the movie "Life of Pi"  ? 

Obviously, you’re gonna need some water and food !!!  And, unlike Pi, you probably wont be able to rely on killing a Mahi Mahi with your bare hands or for flying fish to land in your liferaft !  But on the other hand you probably won’t have to worry about feeding a full grown tiger either.

So, for the all important food and water :

We have some containers of water but check this out :  

A hand operated water maker

We also have a hand operated  WATER MAKER...which will turn sea water into fresh (drinkable) water !! 
(Pi would of loved that one)

-Food survival rations 

-A Fish line and Hooks

-One of those collapsible camping water jugs. 

Our sea survival instructor said that if this type of jug is filled to 80% capacity it becomes neutrally buoyant (so that you can have it tethered to the raft and  trailing behind, almost as a sea anchor.)

-Hard Candies (for when things get really ugly- no one will know about the existence of these except me and anyone who reads this blog.... hehe)

But is that all that one needs to survive ? Maybe not. This is where one can start getting philosophical.

As I was assembling things for the Ditch Bag I found myself day dreaming as I was walking down the aisles of the Shoppers Drug Mart. I was imagining Mark, the kids and I floating for days in a life raft, and I wondered: What would we need ? What would make this more bearable, what would the kids need to help them deal with it all??  Let me tell you; it puts you in a very strange state of mind giving yourself permission to think these thoughts “out loud” in your mind.

In such dire conditions as being stuck in a life raft with your family: It is so important to keep your mind active and in a positive state.That is why in training we were told that everyone in the raft must be assigned a task from day one: there is the Minister of Communications (Radio, EPIRB), the Minister of Internal Affairs (makes sure all is well with the Life Raft), a Minister of Food and Water etc...

In an emergency, the last thing you want is to be the one that looses his or her cool and end up looking like one of these guys:

But how else to keep our sanity ? Well again in Pi’s example I’ve decide to include: a small notebook/pencil and to this I added some waterproof playing cards, a “hacky sack” (ball) and some dice. Oh, and a harmonica! You never know, we might end up composing a masterpiece while we are out there !  

I thought about bringing a book too but I got stuck on the question of which book?  I would want something inspiring, encouraging, something that would  be nourishing to the soul and I just can’t come up with THE book. Which book would YOU bring ? Have you got any suggestions for me ?   If you have any  suggestions, I would be happy to hear from you.

So, that is all for now, if you are wondering what to get us for Christmas; think of a water proof flashlight that does not sink, or an energy bar with a really long shelf life, and be assured that we will most probably NEVER get to use it !   

Thanks for reading, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!!

Survival at Sea !

The question we most frequently get from people sounds something like this:  "But aren’t you afraid ?"

My answer to this is: Hell Yeah ! Most absolutely !  I think if I was not afraid of setting out into the ocean people should be worried !!!  I have read a few books written by women who talk about this subject and the common theme that keeps coming up is that they were afraid mostly because they did not feel that they were prepared for an emergency. That, if the worst happened, they would not know what to do !  I am glad to say that I feel the same way. It's the same with anything, if you head out into the mountains, if you decide to learn how to fly, or if you decide that you want to become a bullfighter !  One needs to face the facts and ask themselves: what is out there and what do I need to learn to protect myself ?

(This was sent to me recenlty, and although I still AM affraid of storms the sentiment is a good one I think)

You can’t imagine my ELATION when I found out that there was going to be a course offered on safety at sea and in my very own home town too !  

During two days of the course I sat in complete and absolute fascination as our excellent instructor taught us everything about life rafts, flares, the design of lifejackets, survival techniques, the medical aspects of survival at sea, weather, search and rescue techniques, storm tactics and so much more! 

I have to say that we were in very capable hands. Our instructor; Captain Eric Hill  from Maritime Helicopter Tactics, and Canadian Forces Maritime Warfare Centre, has a great deal of experience in marine rescue. Not only a rescuer,but also as the offshore training skipper for the Royal Canadian Navy, he holds a commercial endorsement for sailing vessels to 200 t and is a qualified RYA/CYA radar, diesel, and commercial Yachtmaster instructor. As Canada’s only Yachtmaster Instructor, he is an endorsed ISAF Sea Survival instructor for offshore racing and is a qualified Advanced Medical First Responder. So there, how’s that for credentials ?!? What was really great about this course was that Eric had many personal stories and experiences to share which made everything so much easier to relate to.  

But my favorite and best part of ALL was that we had plenty of hands on practice!   We got to jump in the pool, fully dressed in our foul weather gear to swim a few length  and experience putting on lifejackets (PFDs) and inflating them while in the water. We then got to practice getting into the life raft from the water, still fully dressed in what was now some very heavy clothe. I swear I gained 20 pounds in water alone!  

It may sound easy, but I assure you that it was NOT! Nevertheless, I am happy to say that I made it into the raft, before getting too exhausted !  Then the life raft was flipped over (did you know that as many as 50% of life rafts are deployed upside down?) and we each took turns to “right” it (flip it over). 

The next day, we all got a chance to set off a flare in the parking lot of the college where the course was given. It was quite a sight to see, 6-8 of us at a time, holding our flares up high, this even garnered the attention of a couple of the security guards from the college who come to investigate !  Flares can be quite dangerous as you can imagine and Eric gave us all some great safety tips such as; "It can take a couple of seconds after pulling the tab before your flare sets off, what ever you do, DO NOT TURN THE FLARE AND LOOK AT IT !”

This is the visual that comes to mind when I heard captain Eric say: What ever you do, DO NOT TURN THE FLARE AND LOOK AT IT !”

Funny enough, it DID take my flare a few seconds before it went “Bang”, and it was all I could do to keep my self control to NOT look at it ! We heard more than a few stories of panicked sailors who had never set off flares before, and in an emergency, with shaky fingers, dropped them on deck or worse, in the life raft !  

MC holding up a flare in Survival at Sea training, Calgary

The class all holding our flares

I came out of the course absolutely electric with energy and eager to share all that I had learned with my captain and crew. I can tell you that on Amelie there will ALWAYS be a safety briefing before any departure and EVERYONE, including the kids, will know how to : start the engine drive the boat, set off a flare safely, use the radio, put on and inflate their own life jackets ! (Did you know that self inflating life jackets do not always self inflate? You didn’t ?  Then.. You are welcome my friend).

Now this from the RYA (Royal Yachting Association):

“Cruising is one of the safest leisure sporting activities, and 99.9% of those afloat will never use their life raft. However, if you are part of the unlucky 0.1% your chances of survival will be greatly increased if you understand how to use the equipment and how to help yourself. It is a well-proven fact that, in the event of an emergency at sea, people with training are more likely to survive.”

Mark and I have a firm belief that in this, and all ventures in life, one must be self sufficient and self reliant and this course just helps me feel even better about how we are getting prepared. I hope that we will never be in that 0.1 % but if we ever are another thing I learned in this course is to “NEVER TO ATTACH ANYTHING FROM THE HELICOPTER TO THE BOAT” as our instructor liked to repeat. Haha ! I got another funny cartoon visual from that one! People can really loose their minds in an emergency I guess ! 

Anyways, for the sailors out there if you are looking for where to book this excellent course here is the website:

                                          www.seasurvival.ca