The Finish line

nomadlife@live.co.uk

The people we met...		The Finish line & Life After
Sverre "Erik, the Viking", S/V Vagabond Virgin. Erik is in Norway and the boat in Turkey. http://www.vagabondvirgin.com Claudia S/V Tahaa, after 1 1/2 year in NZ now continuing the trip to Thailand with her father.	Aaron, the mad Hungarian sailor, S/V Carina. Finishing line is Croatia, where Carina's staying. http://www.meder.hu/	18th June Anchored in La Linea, the Spanish aren't that friendly here. There is a big rivalry between the English and the Spanish all because of "the rock". The town is a big council state and the people are not so nice. The Spanish refuse to speak any English at all, Graham is not so happy about it but for me is good to practice my rusty Spanish. 19th June Crossed the border to Gibraltar, it takes around 1 1/2 hours to do it by car due to heavy traffic, but quicker on foot . Marina Bay looks empty but the staff told us that there are no spaces, long term berths only available in October. Blast from the past, David from yacht Pinta is here. Last we met him in Australia, from there he sailed direct to Yemen taking 60 days at sea. We had a great party with him remembering the old days. If La Linea is not nice, can't say that Gibraltar is much different. More council houses and strange people. The Gibraltarians think they are the new Monte Carlo of the Med, how crazy!! 20th June More blast from the past, Yacht Yara turned up with Geische, Herbert and little Yannic. Last saw them in Egypt. They are slightly depressed, same as us, and no idea of what is coming next, undecided between Germany or start a new life in Tenerife. 25th June Yara sent us an email, they completed their circumnavigation whilst sailing past Lisbon, gather they are going back to Germany. David from Pinta is going back to UK, he is writing a book about 5 years of sailing and planning to go out in the big ocean again as soon as he can. Our friends from Lasse are in Greece working and delaying their return to Germany as much as they can. Most of the other cruisers left the boat for sale in Western Mediterranean and headed back home. 29th June Graham started his Yacht Master course, the idea is to get commercially endorsed and get work in the Yachting Industry, which is booming here. As for me, will start job hunting but not sure what I want to work with. Time will tell. We still anchored out in La Linea, can't afford marinas yet but life tied to shore is so much easier. 30th June Getting used to Gibraltar, if nothing else, the sun shines a lot here and the summers are really hot. Our next weekend breaks, once a bit more financially stable, will be to Morocco by boat or exploring inland Spain by bus. Something to look forward! 04th July Graham passed the Yacht Master. According to him, it was very difficult 9hours of exam, finishing at 3am. Well done! "Can't you see, life is easy if you conceder it from another point of view"
The Hadamovskis: Carola, Ben, Nils and Lisa, S/V Lasse. In Greece now, still living onboard.	The Canadians: Steve and Nancy, S/V Toboggan. Half way across their round the world trip. http://www.tobogganride.com
The pissheads of the fleet: Pete and Fliss, S/V Nadezdha. Heading back to UK, they are keeping the boat. http://www.yachtnadezhda.blogspot.com	Tony S/V Checkmate. Tony sold Checkmate in NZ last year, after completing his circumnavigation. Hoping for another big adventure. http://www.freewebs.com/sycheckmate
Michael and Veronica, the Aussie landlubbers. They never owned a boat and wisely don't intend to. But enjoyed the ride.	Noel and Nat, sold S/V Kyrie in NZ after a 7 year circumnavigation.
David, S/V Pinta. http://www.sail360.info	Nick, S/V Lala Salama. Sadly, after 10 years living onboard Nick put the boat up for sale in Australia due to health problems. Then headed off to Philippines by plane.
Terry and Karen, S/V Sora. Taking it slowly, currently in Asia where life is cheap and cheerful. http://www.sailblogs.com/member/sora/	Terry and Lynn. Sold S/V Resolve last year and never again set foot on a boat after that. Now living in NZ. http://www.yachtresolve1.blogspot.com

It has been the best 3 years of our lives so far. We still didn't have the time to sit back and realize what we have done: to imagine that we crossed every single time zone, visited islands that very few people will ever set foot on... All the life changing things we learned that it is only possible to learn by casting off the ties from land life: to respect mother nature and work together with her, not against. To live an uncomplicated life without too much possessions and appreciating the simple things. While sailing the Pacific we always stumbled across Captain Cook's name, couldn't help to admire his achievements. He has put the Pacific on the world map, discovering islands, new cultures and charted accurately the area. It has been taxing for us sailing around the Pacific, we can only appreciate how difficult was in his days, dodging the cannibals and sailing blind, without charts or any information at all.

People ask us if there will be another around the world or if we are going out again on another long trip in the near future. It will be nice to think that one day it will happen again, but still early days. Now the challenge is to settle into some sort of normal life and find where we want to live, even if it is for a while. That is going to be difficult after such a great experience.