Thank you Craig

I’ve not been a very active writer lately. I think I got a bit mentally tired. But you will find loads of posts and pictures on our website (www.horsfield.family). Lots of photos, videos and musings from the kids. The reason for the mental fatigue was really a culmination of things. Firstly and probably mostly the never ending fixing of the boat. This is not unique to me because all cruisers experience this wonderful byproduct of choosing to make your home a moving vessel. The only difference is Arabella is a big boat and as the old adage goes. The bigger the boat the bigger the problem. Adding to this was my health issues coming into Australia a few months ago. And Delphine’s health issues. And then lastly was the fatigue brought on by the Rugby World Cup. Yes I know this is self-made but it is still fatigue. I can also hear you all laughing and probably thinking that his World Cup fun is hardly a problem. And you are right. My family and I are blessed to be doing what we are doing and I never forget it.

Anyway, going back to the boat. The yard we used in Australia to haul out our boat (Boatworks) was incredible. A little like the 5 star resorts of yards. But they were only responsible for hauling out our boat which they did a fabulous job. However the work was contracted to another company (Sigtech) to project manage and specifically do the big electrical works that needed upgrading. Unfortunately they were awful. Firstly they insourced many of the work they should have outsourced so they could pocket more money but worse than that they did very shoddy work and largely dropped the ball on the project. The owner just left the project mid-way and never actually returned to finish and commission the job properly. Frankly almost everything they did was left with some problem or another which I am still trying to fix.

Queue left stage my Brother Craig. When I knew Delphine would need to stay off the boat a while longer, I realised I really could do with someone else helping on the night passages etc. I also realised I had loads of issues that needed fixing. Kill two birds with one stone and invite your bog brother to come help. After all, he is a Man Tai these days. He gladly agreed and out he flew to meet me in Airlie Beach. For the next almost 4 weeks we sailed from the Whitsundays to Thursday Island which is the northeast point of Australia. Around 700 nautical miles up the Great Barrier Reef. We got to do some amazing things together including some fishing, scuba diving, pub crawling Cooktown, snorkelling, kite-surfing and some epic sailing with all the sails. It really was a fantastic time. But behind all the fun was a guy who seems to just love fixing things. Don’t get me wrong, I do too but I was just tired of dealing with my boat and some of it was very technical and I felt overwhelmed. But to him nothing is overwhelming. Every morning he was up early and getting onto the list. I would actually find little paper lists floating around the boat he was making. It was like I had hit the jackpot and I had my own personal Genie granting me my every wish.

For many of those that know me and my brother, you can imagine that 4 weeks alone on a boat together could well have ended in bloodshed. We are known to have vastly different views on pretty much everything and polar opposite personalities. But somehow this never broke us down. We have never spent so much time together in our lives and certainly not without coming to blows. Don’t get me wrong, we still enjoyed a beer every evening and argued about politics, race and just about anything we could disagree on but never did it get out of control. It was good honest debate with passion. I think our Mum would have been truly proud.

Craig is also an exceptional sailor himself having crossed the Atlantic twice SINGLEHANDED and raced around the world in a 40 foot yacht double handed. He is the most qualified engineer i know and obviously the most qualified sailor. I know how proud I am of my brother. Not only proud but extremely thankful to have a brother who is so competent electrically and with so much love that all he wants to do is help me get my boat right. After some very very scary problems we faced when we left the Gold Coast a few months ago, it was fair to say Arabella was not safe. Since the work we had done we have encountered more problems then the previous 3 years. Obviously very disappointing experience but without this disappointment I would not have had the chance to spend the most wonderful 4 weeks with my brother.

So thank you to the assholes for giving me this opportunity. And thank you my amazing brother for being such an incredible help and supportive brother. You are amazing.