Gratitude & Inspiration
The two
people who have most inspired me and whom I feel completely indebted to for their love
& support are my parents. How could one not feel this way considering they have given
their blessing to all my ambitions and dreams, in spite of their own trepidations? This,
I believe, is the unconditional love only a parent can feel for a child – and I
hereby want to express my deepest gratitude for their love, friendship and
understanding.
They themselves had the same dream once, to sail around the world in their own boat, and
home-school my beloved brother Bernd and myself along the way. So back in the 70s my
father commissioned a beautiful steel ketch he called Tiama – the Polynesian word
for freedom. So much has happened since those days when we were so incredibly privileged
to sail in many different places that back then still abounded with wild life, fish,
nature and unspoiled bays where near’y a soul would spoil the solitude.
Whilst sailing their boat from Holland to the Mediterranean (after sending Bernd &
myself back to school in Tenerife) my parents with another couple aboard endured a
horrific storm in the Bay of Biscay, which sank several ships. One ship’s life raft
appeared one day on their horizon as “a small orange buoy” amidst the
enormous waves. For hours they tried to rescue the people in this raft, which due to the
giant seas proved to be a futile effort. However, this being in the days before GPS and
electronic weather forecasts, they were still able make mayday calls and give the
position of this life raft to other ships, one of which was then able to rescue the crew,
barring one unlucky person who drowned in the process. While my grandparents and
godparents read about these events in the newspaper, my brother and myself were guarded
from this information so as not to worry us. It wasn’t until much later that I
realized the effect this must have had on my parents early on in their sailing careers.
The result of this was that their dream of circumnavigating was never realized, although
we spent three months out of many years sailing aboard Tiama and having a grand
time.
In 1984 we were struck by the biggest loss a family has to endure – the loss of my
brother Bernd. He was killed by a drunk driver on his motorcycle on his way home, along
with a friend of his Paquito, and another friend Paolo being seriously wounded. It was
the day of my high school graduation – I was at the time in a boarding school in
Germany. My parents had come from Tenerife to Germany to attend my graduation, leaving my
brother, who was two years younger than myself, back at home to finish his school year.
Their first reaction to this terrible news was to blame themselves for his death, as they
had given him the motorcycle he had so ardently desired. My brother was my father’s
diving and sailing buddy, and my mother’s soulmate. I can truly say that his
passing was so devastating that it robbed them of their desire to live for a long time.
Over the years since then we have been blessed many times with his presence in Spirit, as
he takes every opportunity he can to communicate to us through people who have such
wonderful gifts to tell us that he loves us and that he is fine. I know for sure now that
there is life beyond life, and that my dear sweet brother is to us a guardian angel,
always helping and always there. It is because of this loss that I know the trepidations my
parents have to send us off on this adventure, and yet they are fully supportive,
encouraging and loving about it all. How could one ever be more blessed than this in
life?
So with this in my heart, I wish to say that this journey, that is soon to begin, is all
thanks to my parents inspiration, love and support, as well as that of my husband Dave.
It is a journey whose seed was planted long ago when I was a child feeling the unlimited
freedom and connection to nature and adventure sailing into many foreign ports and
pristine anchorages all over the world. After the sale of “Tiama” we took to
bareboat chartering all over the world for our holidays every year, and every time I have
felt the deep yearning to cast off the lines and keep going forever. This surely is
Heaven on earth – seeing the beauty of God’s creations while only the wind
takes you to the next horizon, and the next adventure.
