Dear blog readers. We were asked to submit a “story” for the organisers of the Governors Cup - the race we are taking part in end of December to St Helena. They have a web site and wanted back stories on the various crew members - while writing this, it struck me I should include it on our own blog as it probably answers many questions that (especially newer) blog readers might have about our trip! Enjoy….

A crew of two and a half…

Introducing the crew of sailing vessel Taniwha: -

1.Me, that is to say, Jackie, the wife, mother and non-sailor;

2.JC, that is to say, the husband, father and experienced sailor and…

1/2. Saoirse, that is to say, the 12 month old baby, daughter and Captain of our boat!

JC has always wanted to sail around the world, so when I married him, I also married his dreams.

We bought Taniwha early 2007 from a couple in Hout Bay and have spent months refurbishing and redesigning both the insides and out. Taniwha is a Maori word which directly translated means, “All things that are good come from the sea”. It is also a type of sea god that protects the Maori tribes of New Zealand. This 42 foot, aluminium, cutter rigged sloop is a beauty and with our newly implemented changes she is a safe and comfortable home for the next few years.

“Are you not worried about taking a baby on a boat around the world?”

If I had a Rand (south african currency) for every time I have been asked this question! I try and explain that a baby has no concept of what a “home” is - if they grow up in a tree house, a caravan, a shack in a shanty town or a castle, it is all “home” to them. I know a cruising family in Hout Bay with 2 young children who excitedly told me they were “going camping” - it turns out their boat was out of the water for a week and they had to rent a house - this was camping to them! As long as a baby is loved, fed and kept warm it really does not care where it is.

“And what if she gets sea sick?”

Babies can not get sea sick till they have the ability to walk (the bones in their ears that control balance), so Saoirse will fare a lot better than Mama!

“But what about Saoirse’s safety?”

We have a special baby harness which she will wear 100% of the time while on deck and of course we have a special baby life jacket. JC has modified the bed and chair so that she will always be securely strapped in during rough weather. In terms of illness, most sickness is gotten from other humans so that problem is already taken out of the equation. We are both advanced 1st aid trained and we have all gotten the various vaccination needed to travel.

(note from JC, her husband. Since I am the one who enters these into the website I thought I might add to this on the First Aid front. I had to re-up my certification as it had expired and got a comfortable 88 on the exam. Jackie however got a 90 and is very happy to have beaten me. For those who know Jackie’s squeamish side - this means you Doctor Connor - you know how she is with needles. I have conv inced her and she has conveinced herself after taking the “First Aid at Sea” class that we need someone who has what is known as “Ships Captain Medical Training”. This is only surpassed by Paramedic training in the first aid world. This involves learning how to infect intravenously, administer IVs and oxygen, sutures, and all the knowledge necessary to do this safely. It also gives us the ability to carry all this gear, including controlled substances like IV anitbiotics and pain mediaters and givers her the ability to deal with very serious situations herself and the knowledge when out of her depth to get the sat phone and be the eyes and hands for a doctor on the other end. The best part is that as part of her training she has to spend a 12 hour shift in one of the emergency wards in Cape Town doing what….sticking needles into people. I have to say I am personally WAY impressed and proud. Stay tuned to this channel for more news on this topic as her class starts soon. Now back to the main story.)

“So what about when it is time for her to go to school?”

JC was always for home education. I have to say I struggled with the idea at the beginning, not so much the academic side of things, as we are more than able to satisfy those requirements (think about it – 1 on 1 schooling, versus 20 or more to 1? Who do you think learns more?!) , but rather the socialisation of Saoirse with other children, but now that I have been to a few marinas, I realise there are many other families out there travelling with smaller children. We are also keen for her to play with local children/join local play groups.

The amazing thing about home educating while travelling, is that she is living the geography lessons and as I speak several languages she will hopefully speak several languages as well. Plus we hope it will make her an open minded and tolerant person.

JC has had lots of experience with sailing – hailing from San Diego, a big sailing community, he has taught sailing for a total of over 15 years there and in San Francisco and has sailed around South and Central America and parts of the Caribbean both solo and as a captain. The highlight of his European sailing was taking a boat from Ireland through the Caledonian and Kiel canals into the Baltic Sea.

I, on the other hand, am not a sailor, or as you people say, I am a landlubber. People laugh when I tell them we are sailing around the world and I don’t sail!

“How brave you are”! (or foolish!).

I took 3 weekends of lessons in August in Ireland, so at least I now know my bowlines from my clove hitches! In all seriousness though, JC has set the boat up so that it is sailable as a single hander and we have put an over emphasis on safety first, given we are travelling with the little one too.

I have just completed my first aid course and will have a Ship’s Captain’s Medical Training by the end of December. By the time JC has drilled the Man-Overboard procedures into me, I will be able to do it in my sleep, so all in all I think I am feeling fairly confident.

Cape Town to St. Helena will be the first leg of our long journey and I am excited to be part of the Governor’s Cup race. It gives us peace of mind as a first major passage for me and Saoirse that we have other boats out there as well as the support team in the awful event that anything should go wrong. Having said all that, Taniwha is a fairly fast boat, so although we lack the man power and experience, we still think we will give you other sailors a run for your money!

Looking forward to meeting you all before or on 29th December.

Jackie Durbin (and JC and Saoirse)

PS – Saoirse is Irish (Gaelic) for “freedom” and is pronounced “seer sha” – I am pre-empting that question!

Jackie, over and out