December 6, 2003
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Mayday
Excerpt from An Ocean To Cross
Daring the Atlantic
Claiming a New Life
by Liz Fordred
(McGraw Hill)
Mom was horrified when we explained our reasoning. “Of course there are old paraplegics,” she said.“Then show us some,” we countered. . . .
. . . In spite of our youthful naivete and rashness, everything worked out. Was that due to our sheer bullheadedness or were we being guided in some way? It sounds odd even as I write it, but from the time we met Tony Turner I felt that a force beyond us was lending a hand and deciding the timing of every step. I’m not saying things happened like magic; we had to work for them. But everything fell into place with such simplicity when the time was right that it seemed we weren’t being allowed to rush, that we were held back until Usikusiku was modified for us and we were competent to sail on our own. If we’d gotten that longed-for sponsorship, if a sugar-daddy company had stepped in to pay off our debts and shower us with gear, we might have left South Africa before we were knowledgeable enough and mature enough to succeed. We needed that time to grow and strengthen, both physically and mentally. . . .
. . . The guiding hand was always there. At first I thought I was imagining all this, but when I checked with Pete, he, too feels we were being guided in some way.
“Coincidence, if traced far enough back, becomes inevitable.”
(Inscription on a Hindu temple near New Delhi and quoted by Carl Gustav Jung)
