The Atlantic

The Atlantic has featured heavily in our lives this week.

The dark cloud of the missing yacht 'Cheeki Rafiki' hung over us all week as we waited anxiously for updates, helped with the petition to get the Coastguard out again and sifted through satellite pictures looking for the life raft. The news on Friday was heart breaking.

Mid-week we heard that James has been accepted into Michaelhouse, a boarding school in the foothills of the Drakensburg - just about as far away as one can get from a tropical island in the West Indies. Much of the week was also spent soberly pondering our new Trans-Atlantic lives.

On top of all of this, the boys also acquired their first boat, a Lazer Vargo and are planning on sailing it around the islands during the Summer holidays. Georgie has been busy drawing up charter maps of their planned routes a la Swallows & Amazons. I was a bit alarmed when I heard them talking about camping on Fallen Jerusalem.

Many of the yachts and catamarans here in the Caribbean are built in Cape Town and are 'delivered' across the Atlantic by young crews. Given that the boys are about to live in South Africa for half the year, are avid sailors and live in the Caribbean,  it is probably not too far-fetched to expect them to be sailing across the Atlantic in the future.

The skipper of Cheeki Rafiki was only 22 years old, nine years older than James. I could so easily imagine  his mother anxiously pouring over blurry satellite pictures and saying stoical things like "he was doing what he loved best". How brave mothers have to be.

Being the parents of three boys, we've already encountered our fair share of concussions, knocked out teeth  and black eyes. We encourage adventure and independence. Nothing prepares one for a broken keel in the middle of the Atlantic however.

This week has haunted me.  I have keenly felt the mortality of my own children. In the very week that we know we have to start letting them go, it has also been the week that I've wanted to hold them tight and never let go.

Rest in Peace