Another good motor sail run as waves continue to die down and by mid-after-noon we have a mirror like sea for a few hours – a treat after the shock of the gigantum waves still stuck in our systems. There’s lots of painting and the boys have discovered a fishing game – fishing each other through the aft-hatch with one on the sunbed pulling the other one up. Keeping themselves entertained for hours while Pablo and I get the rare opportunity to chew through one book after the other. Victor Dumas. Billy Bryson. Natural vegetarian kitchen. Reiki basics. Mao Tse Tung…

The heat is getting to me and sometimes I can’t but just lie there, fanning some air to me with the book of the day, sipping cold water and wondering whether we are surviving here or living. It’s a sentence from our kids favourite movie, Walle (very cute and recommendable, btw, for all ages!), that’s often mentioned aboard Happy Dancer:

I don’t want to survive, I want to live!

Setting off into the sunset on a sailing boat with your dear ones indeed brings many of the most alive, memorable and beautiful moments one could ever dream off. At the same time, it also brings along many challenges, worries and constant preoccupations which a normal mum doesn’t have to worry about. Only one tiny o-ring, hose-clip or, slightly bigger, but hose or seacock failing can mean disasters – and that, I always carry in the back of my mind. The truth about paradise? It’s all in the mind in the end – and mine is going a bit bonkers these days so I’ve extended my meditations and will see when the latest super moon clarity will shine through. The winds of change are blowing past my nose at an agreeable 8 knots from the beam.