When she set off to cross the Atlantic as part of a delivery crew, Jill Dickin Schinas had no idea that she was embarking on a whole new life, but within a week of setting out she and the skipper were making plans for a journey to Cape Horn. One year later the couple were on their way but had detoured up the Amazon to get married. Two years after that they were crossing the Atlantic again, this time from the Caribbean and this time with the ship's company enlarged by the addition of a two year old son and a babe in arms. Together the little family then headed directly for the Falkland Islands and the southern tip of South America - travelling via the Bahamas, the Azores, Portugal, the Canaries, Cape Verde, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Sao Tome and Principe, Uruguay, Argentina, and various tenanted and untenanted islets and lumps of rock cast adrift in the Atlantic Ocean. Seven years after setting out, they almost reached their destination... On the face of it, this book is a travelogue, but it is also a portrait of the cruising lifestyle- the hand-to-mouth, alternative lifestyle, not the early-retirement luxury cruise. “Yes, we were bound for Cape Horn... in as much as we had a destination, this indeed was it. But we were in no great hurry, and even this goal was viewed as little more than a staging post on our journey, for we meant to journey indefinitely. Truly, it was not a place but a lifestyle which we were setting forth to find.” The family's adventures range from fighting gales and battling with immigration officials, to exploring uncharted African waters and abandoning ship to board a chopper via the winch cable. There is much in here that will be of value to other yachtsmen and other travellers, and heaps which will appeal to armchair voyagers and to families seeking to turn away from the nine-to-five motorway and tread a road of their own. Contains 31 pen-and-ink drawings and cartoons. Includes a brief glossary for people not conversant with sailing terminology. By the author of Kids in the Cockpit (a guide to sailing and cruising with children). “The Schinas family are talented people. There’s nothing on the planet that Nick can’t fix, while Jill is an artist of character. The children are developing in the same mould, but the overriding feature of all their lives and the guiding spirit of this book, is their self-sufficiency and courage to make their own choices, come fair weather or foul. Casting fate to the ocean winds without visible means of support in the third millennium demands a lot more guts than ever it did thirty years ago. Keeping going, despite producing three fine children and surviving a capsize off the Falklands that ended on the winch cable of an RAF helicopter, shows the true spirit of seafaring.” TOM CUNLIFFE
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The Schinas family are talented people. There's nothing on the planet that Nick can't fix, while Jill is an artist of character. The children are developing in the same mould, but the overriding feature of all their lives and the guiding spirit of this book, is their self-sufficiency and courage to make their own choices, come fair weather or foul.
Casting fate to the ocean winds without visible means of support in the third millennium demands a lot more guts than ever it did thirty years ago. Keeping going, despite producing three fine children and surviving a capsize off the Falklands that ended on the winch cable of an RAF helicopter, shows the true spirit of seafaring. -- Tom Cunliffe, October 2008
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Windsong
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book should provide inspiration to anyone that seeks out a cruising lifestyle founded upon acceptance that life is about the journey and not the destination. It also demonstrates unequivocally that in the end, it is the absolute will to go, rather than any other aspect that drives cruising adventurers out into the vast expanse of our seas and oceans, seeking attainment of adventure, lifestyle and finding out who exactly they are.
It is not having the boat perfectly ready, it is not waiting to have sufficient funds, it is not about having everything in absolute order - it is purely the will to join in on the adventure of life and embrace the randomness of it all that this book illustrates. The author writes in an easy to read style that conveys a real sense of the reader accompanying Maamari as part of her `virtual' crew as she sails in, around and across the Atlantic Ocean and beyond, meeting the people, places and cultures in a varied kaleidoscope that makes up planet earth and epitomises the cruising lifestyle.
You are taken on the journey and grow to understand and participate in the highs and lows, fears and uncertainties, frustrations and celebrations of both cruising and everyday life, which are articulated with clarity, description and feeling. `Human-ness' permeates this wonderful story and travel log from beginning to end.
Several paragraphs stand out like shining beacons that show a little glimpse of the real depth of lifestyle that this family pursue, away from today's pervasive pollutant of western culture consumerism, acquisition and greed that is founded upon the insatiable appetite for materialism. This book describes where enjoyment of life's natural and rich wonders are appreciated from sunsets to storms, from people and cultures, and where real wealth is created and harvested - in one's soul - and in having the greatest gift of having time, the very essence and lifeblood of gracious living and exploration, woven into and at, the speed and natural cycle of life. Time to be with one another for them both as a couple, and as skipper and mate, and time to foster their family in a real and tangible education of life. They have successfully removed themselves from the `gravy train' which can never be caught, and I marvel at their endeavours and their success as a family which radiates from this manuscript. Rarely can we find a family that remain self sufficient and simultaneously fostering all that remains best in life. When things do go wrong, they are met squarely with determination and perseverance, two omnipotent factors that feature throughout their story from beginning to end.
To cruise and then create and grow a family `en route' is a fabulous testament to what these particular parents have achieved whilst all the time never giving up on pursuit of their dream. They say that if you do not have a dream that changes you - then it's not big enough! Here, through this story, we observe how igniting the original cruising dream now permits it to continues through each member of the Dickin Schinas family.........what a beautiful legacy.
A great read for both sailors, non sailors and for real or `armchair' sailors alike.
Value is measured in experiences far more than price and the reading of this book provides an experience to the reader far above any fiscal measure.
It is not having the boat perfectly ready, it is not waiting to have sufficient funds, it is not about having everything in absolute order - it is purely the will to join in on the adventure of life and embrace the randomness of it all that this book illustrates. The author writes in an easy to read style that conveys a real sense of the reader accompanying Maamari as part of her `virtual' crew as she sails in, around and across the Atlantic Ocean and beyond, meeting the people, places and cultures in a varied kaleidoscope that makes up planet earth and epitomises the cruising lifestyle.
You are taken on the journey and grow to understand and participate in the highs and lows, fears and uncertainties, frustrations and celebrations of both cruising and everyday life, which are articulated with clarity, description and feeling. `Human-ness' permeates this wonderful story and travel log from beginning to end.
Several paragraphs stand out like shining beacons that show a little glimpse of the real depth of lifestyle that this family pursue, away from today's pervasive pollutant of western culture consumerism, acquisition and greed that is founded upon the insatiable appetite for materialism. This book describes where enjoyment of life's natural and rich wonders are appreciated from sunsets to storms, from people and cultures, and where real wealth is created and harvested - in one's soul - and in having the greatest gift of having time, the very essence and lifeblood of gracious living and exploration, woven into and at, the speed and natural cycle of life. Time to be with one another for them both as a couple, and as skipper and mate, and time to foster their family in a real and tangible education of life. They have successfully removed themselves from the `gravy train' which can never be caught, and I marvel at their endeavours and their success as a family which radiates from this manuscript. Rarely can we find a family that remain self sufficient and simultaneously fostering all that remains best in life. When things do go wrong, they are met squarely with determination and perseverance, two omnipotent factors that feature throughout their story from beginning to end.
To cruise and then create and grow a family `en route' is a fabulous testament to what these particular parents have achieved whilst all the time never giving up on pursuit of their dream. They say that if you do not have a dream that changes you - then it's not big enough! Here, through this story, we observe how igniting the original cruising dream now permits it to continues through each member of the Dickin Schinas family.........what a beautiful legacy.
A great read for both sailors, non sailors and for real or `armchair' sailors alike.
Value is measured in experiences far more than price and the reading of this book provides an experience to the reader far above any fiscal measure.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Patrick Orre
Format:Paperback
Just a quick note on a great read. Following Maamari's crew on their voyages from the snug comfort of my sitting room and bravely resisting the temptation to peek into the last chapter, I had the permanent feeling of wishing that I could have been there with them.
A pleasant break from reading fictional sea adventure stories, as the author (authoress?) narrates the daily events in a natural style and a breath of fresh - sea - air from the complex heavy literature that we're all suppposed to be reading if we have the time.
All in all, a pleasant read, and a harmless exercise in self-discipline to see if you can resist the temptation to peep into that last chapter. But a word of warning: once you're there, you won't be able to put the book down till you reach the end. Looking forward to the sequel.
A pleasant break from reading fictional sea adventure stories, as the author (authoress?) narrates the daily events in a natural style and a breath of fresh - sea - air from the complex heavy literature that we're all suppposed to be reading if we have the time.
All in all, a pleasant read, and a harmless exercise in self-discipline to see if you can resist the temptation to peep into that last chapter. But a word of warning: once you're there, you won't be able to put the book down till you reach the end. Looking forward to the sequel.
By searanger50
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
More than just a travel blog as some of these are prone to be. Well written in an easy reading prose yet conveys what it is really like to cruise long distance and visit far away places.
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