The brotherhood of the coast

Often during my voyage, people have told me "why are you in such a
hurry, why don't you take the time to visit the Galapagos, the
Tuamotu. the Fidji, why go to Noumea from Tonga when the regular route
for everybody else is to go direct to New Zealand,etc....".
I have a hard time explaining that I am not just cruising around the
world. For me, this is a voyage to visit the brothers of the coast along
the way while I am sailing to the Worldwide meeting of the brothers in
Sydney, and then sail back home, again visiting the groups of brothers
on my way back, even if it sometimes mean taking a few hundred miles detour.
Again, since some of the people who read this blog are not sailors or
even less brothers of the coast, maybe I should explain a little.
Since there are more than 3000 brothers of the coast worldwide in some
30 countries, there are probably 3000 definitions, each of them as good
as any.
Mine is that The brotherhood of the coast is a community of seafarers
who share the same love of the sea and practice among themselves the
same solidarity as if there were blood brother in a closely knit family.
To belong to this community is an honour that has to be earned. It
cannot be purchased or granted on a simple request. One has to
demonstrate over the course of several years that love of the sea and
strong sense of solidarity are among your key values and that you can
fit well within the group whith whom you are acquainted. Then the group
might invite you to join the community.
I have been a brother of the coast for 24 years and I hope that I will
always remain worthy of belonging to the brotherhood.
And this is why now that I have left Australia and the meeting in
Sydney, my next big stop will be Capetown and Saldanha bay where there
are brothers of the coast of the South Africa brotherhood.
I am very very much looking forward to meeting brothers that I have
never met before in any of the international meetings that I have
attended. This is for me where the value and the purpose of this trip
lies and it is very much worth taking the path around south africa and
the cape of Good Hope.