times about whether or not we would all
go, or if James would sail this next seg-
ment alone.
Our family approach to life is to stay
open and fl exible in our plans. We take ac-
tion only when we are certain it is the best
decision for the family. This method of
living often leaves our immediate future
unknown. Just days before we departed,
neither of us was completely sure how
things would unfold.
We’d already got a small taste of South-
ern Ocean sailing with the kids on the
South Atlantic side, en route from Cape
Verde to South Africa. James was well
seasoned, having completed a solo loop
around Antarctica prior to the birth of our
fi rst child. We were eager to experience
with our children the isolated beauty of
sailing across the southern Indian Ocean,
but we were also aware of the risks that
would be involved if anything went wrong
in the high latitudes. Even with excellent
onboard communications and safety gear,
we would be a very long way from any pos-
sibility of help.
In port, I’d read Derek Lundy’s God-
forsaken Sea and Ellen MacArthur’s
biography Taking On the World. These
Vendée Globe stories revealed to me the
most extreme version of what could hap-
pen in the Southern Ocean. It was in the
1996 -1997 Vendée, profi led in Godforsaken
Sea, that sailor Gerry Roufs disappeared
in the South Pacifi c. In the same race,
it was the Indian Ocean segment that
capsized racers Dinelli, Dubois and Bulli-
more. Fortunately, all three were rescued,
but not before teetering between survival
and death. I knew we would not be push-
ing the boat as hard as they did, but their
tales gave me a real sense of the diffi culty
of our upcoming task.
No matter how much preparation, care
and caution we took to get the boat and
ourselves ready, we always had to contend
with chance and the possibility of dangers
that were totally out of our control.
Who would choose to go there with their
kids?
When we discussed the voyage, James
and I would often ask ourselves if we were
completely out of our minds for wanting
to make this passage.
Who is lucky enough to sail this stretch of
wilderness with their family?
Other times, we felt that we’d been
given a rare and extraordinary gift — a
chance to experience with our family one
of the wildest, purest, most inaccessible
places on the planet.South
Africa held for
me a similar
kind of edge
between beauty and danger. In Cape Town
and Simon’s Town, we were surrounded
by the most stunning landscape you could
imagine. It is a world-class destination for
rock climbing, sailing, surfi ng, paragliding,
kitesurfi ng and cycling.
The fl ora and fauna in and around
Cape Point provided a perfect natural
classroom for the kids. Blended into the
scrubland known as the fynbos were ba-
boons, turtles, lizards and wild ostriches.
There were both cobras and guinea fowls
in people’s backyards.
The ocean was healthy. A treasure of
marine life awaited the kids’ discovery in
tidal pools. African penguins played on
the same rocks the kids scrambled over.
Sea lions swam alongside us in the marina
and basked in the sun next to us on the
docks. We spotted whales and dolphins in
Table Bay and False Bay. We even had the
sad experience of seeing and touching a
4.5- meter great white shark accidentally
killed by fi shermen in False Bay.
We experienced the ethnic diversity
of South Africa, and we saw the British,
Dutch, Portuguese and Malay infl uence
on the culture. We met African refugees
from Zimbabwe, the Congo, the Demo-
cratic Republic of the Congo and Soma-
lia. We learned words in Afrikaans, Xhosa
and Zulu. We were exposed to the dis-
tinctive styles of African art, crafts, dance
and music. We went to braais, drank South
African wine, ate biltong and tried bun-
ny chow.
Though we appreciated all of the above,
we were not naive about the reality of be-
ing in a post-apartheid country. We were
sickened by the segregation, racism and
corruption that still thrived in the mod-
ern day. We maintained a simple life on
the boat, but I knew that even our hum-
ble standard of living was lavish compared
to many others’. We saw the disparity be-
tween rich and poor, from the township
slums to the affl uent neighborhoods. Dai-
ly we read about the crime and violence
that had become a fact of life. In South55FEBRUARY2016cruisingworld.comPrior to this
journey with
family in tow,
James Burwick
did a solo cir-
cumnavigation
of Antarctica
aboard Anasazi
Girl.ABOUT
THE BOATWe were eager to experience with our children the isolated
beauty of sailing across the southern Indian Ocean, but we
were also aware of the risks if anything went wrong.
Not your typical
family cruiser,
Anasazi Girl is
a French Open
40 designed
by Finot-Conq
Naval Archi-
tects and built
in 2001. She
is set up for
singlehanding
and has a solid
13 mm carbon-
fi ber hull, nine
watertight
compartments,
twin rudders
and twin tillers.
Lacking most
typical ame-
nities — like
fresh-water
tankage, show-
ers, refrigera-
tion, an oven,
fl oors or private
cabins — life
aboard is more
similar to biv-
ouacking in an
expedition tent
than living in a
house. The ves-
sel’s safety and
performance
gave us peace of
mind and took
priority over the
need for crea-
ture comforts.