How a Book Inspired This Family to Sail Some of the World’s Most Dangerous Routes
Inspired by a book and a childhood dream, a Russian family embarked on an epic voyage in 2018, sailing some of the world’s most dangerous routes, and is now set to enter Australian waters.
UPDATED
UPDATED 06/03/2020
BY SVETLANA PRINTCEV
Throughout her childhood, Marina Klochkova was convinced she had been born in the wrong era. Her dreams of becoming Chingachgook or D’Artagnan (from The Three Musketeers) would be practically impossible to fulfil in today’s world.
“Mary and Robert were so lucky to have lived in those wonderful times,” Marina would think as a child, reading her favourite book, Jules Verne’s The Children of Captain Grant, over and over again.
She grew up, built a career, got married and gave birth to two children. It seemed her childhood dreams had been left behind.
But while on holiday in Thailand, she saw a note pinned to a palm tree that read: “Four people wanted to crew a yacht and travel.”
“My husband and I looked at each other and said, ‘Can it really be that easy?’”
Five years later, the couple bought a yacht.
All through her childhood, Marina dreamed of becoming Chingachgook
“Not How We Imagined It”
Winter 2014, the Mediterranean Sea—definitely not the best time for a first expedition, as it later turned out.
Ms Klochkova’s husband, Andrei Klochkov, tried to take every last detail into account when planning their first trip with the children. But he could not have predicted how severely Ms Klochkova and their eldest daughter would suffer from seasickness.
“At the time, our daughters were 12 and two and a half years old. I was mostly worried about Lada, the little one. But she was fine, while my other daughter, Nastya, and I were terribly seasick.
“You imagine yourself heroically hauling on the lines and setting the sails, but in reality you feel as though you’re dying, lying there completely useless and barely able to breathe because your head hurts so badly from the awful sickness,” she said, recalling the initial hardships of their adventures at sea.
Ms Klochkova remembers crying a lot when it became completely unbearable. Her terrible physical condition was compounded by intense fear for their daughters in winter, when the Mediterranean Sea was cold, grey and deserted.
The first expedition was the hardest
After that experience, deciding to set sail on another expedition was far from easy for her.
“I suppose I agreed only out of sheer stubbornness. I thought, ‘So what—you’ve dreamed about this for 20 years, and now you’re giving up?’”
This time, the family sailed from Montenegro across the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the Canary Islands.
Once in the open ocean, Ms Klochkova and her elder daughter Nastya began to feel better.
“You just need to spend more than three days at sea without going ashore to get used to it.”
Once it became clear that they would continue travelling, they arranged schooling for Nastya and Lada by enrolling the girls in a Russian online school, allowing them to study right in the middle of the ocean.
“We Might Be Pioneers Among Russians”
The Klochkov family calls their epic voyage “an expedition around the three great capes and to Antarctica with children.”
According to Ms Klochkova, no Russian family with children has ever done anything like it before—and perhaps no family anywhere in the world has either.
The youngest crew member, Lada, has been travelling for almost her entire life
“The expedition began in November 2018. First, we headed west through warm latitudes. There were a few detours from the route. For example, we went to Senegal and the Gambia,” Ms Klochkova told SBS Russian.
“Then we visited Easter Island, which only about 25 yachts reach each year because it’s a very dangerous route. And once you’ve already done something like that, it’s easier to take the next step.”
Antarctica—Beyond All Expectations
Like the heroes of their favourite book, The Children of Captain Grant—which, of course, they had brought aboard—they searched for the lost island, visited Cape Horn and then headed for Antarctica.
Ms Klochkova says they had prepared for a very serious ordeal, imagining it would be so cold that “everyone would have to sleep in felt boots under a single blanket, and in the morning they’d have to knock an icicle off their nose.”
Antarctica was so beautiful—beyond all expectations!
But in fact, she says, nothing was quite so dramatic, while the beauty of Antarctica seemed “simply unreal.”
“Every time Nastya came out on deck, she would exclaim, ‘Wow! Oh my goodness! Wow!’ Antarctica was so beautiful—beyond all expectations.”
“The True Path Is Often Hidden in Childhood Dreams”
Almost everyone has childhood dreams, but only a few take that one step towards turning a big dream into reality.
“Each of us is born with some kind of higher purpose. And very often, your true path is hidden in your childhood dreams. If something inspires you deeply, then you absolutely must follow that path. I think that’s when God touches you to show you the right direction,” Ms Klochkova says, reflecting on the decision to embark on this expedition.
Always follow your dreams!
“It took me about 20 years to realise that, and I’m very glad I finally did. Any fear can be overcome, because every dream comes to you together with the strength to bring it to life.”
By SBS Russian
https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/how-a-book-inspired-this-family-to-sail-through-some-of-world-s-most-dangerous-routes?fbclid=IwAR3LzZhEIhsA60jCh2I709EKEReHEXyjYmgVQRmALKtqWKYJVjZXDam7tRQ