"After the Canal du Midi, we had to adapt our movements depending upon the weather. One night when we were moored in Frioul, a heavy swell caught us and the anchor dragged. We were two meters from hitting the rocks, before deciding to head for port. Terrifying! A year on the water also means a year's schooling onboard. There are three of them to keep us occupied: the two three year old girls (cousins) and our eldest son who is 6. We chose not to use the French home-school program as it was a bit too bookish for our liking. We preferred to do the teaching ourselves with various support materials, one source being from a Belgian teaching body which is very entertaining. We only do around 15 to 30 minutes of lessons per day and no more. The real learning happens when we're out and about visiting every day, and when cooking and just chatting. And there's more than just school: the docks are full of other children. The friends are never the same, and one of the great things is that they are always discovering new games.
We headed for Gibraltar, hoping to catch up with some other friendly boats that we had met on our travels, and who were heading south. Barring something unexpected, we are planning to cross the Atlantic at the end of 2015. This will give us the time to visit Spain and Morocco. Over a year we have spent €5000 on port stopovers as the weather hadn't allowed us to use that many impromptu anchorages, and less than €3000 on food. That's less than €8.50 per day for all of us! Over these last 365 days we have cycled 700km, walked 900km and sailed 870km! To close this year's sailing year, we will stop at Rosas where we will make the most of the sun and the warmth. It's quite amazing how warm it is here, despite being so close to the border..."
Yohan, Déborah, Christophe, Franck, Alysse and Noémie onboard Unikaflo
www.auxtoursdunmonde.com
