BY SEA AND BY LAND
BY SEA AND BY LAND
When they met, Lydia had no idea about yachting , but Sasha managed to captivate her with sea voyages. Of course, at first, her friends and previous experience convinced her that she was not so young to start a new path from scratch. Fortunately, love and desire to learn something new and keep up with her beloved got the better of her.
By sea and by land
This time we will tell you about other travelers who managed to overcome their physical disabilities and fears, and live a full interesting life. Our story is about Lydia and Alex.
Lydia was born with cerebral palsy, and therefore has speech and mobility impairments . And Alexander has a disease of the skeletal system, and therefore has fractures, so he can hardly move.
Lydia was brought up in a specialized boarding school , graduated from the Polytechnic College, and now she is an archivist. She has an adult daughter from her first marriage.
Lydia and Alexander met on the Internet in 2006, took an interest in each other, met, made friends and after some time began living together. Then they got married and since then they have been solving problems together, enjoying their lifves .
Alexander (Lydia calls him Sasha) was a professional athlete - Paralympic yachtsman. He took part in international regattas.
When they met, Lydia had no idea about yachting , but Sasha managed to captivate her with sea voyages. Of course, at first, her friends and previous experience convinced her that she was not so young to start a new path from scratch. Fortunately, love and desire to learn something new and keep up with her beloved got the better of her.
In winter, they spend time in their modest apartment in the outskirts of Moscow , and in a warm season they fly to Montenegro. They land at the airport of Podgorica or Tivat and immediately head to their favorite yacht with the romantic name “Exciting Moments”. They raise the sails and go to meet a new dream.
They bought the vessel for a nominal price on the island of Mallorca in Spain . They sailed there on old Alexander’s yacht, and bought a new one from an English musician who became their good friend. He invited them to his concerts and visited them in Moscow with his wife.
The yacht is 9 meters long and 3 meters wide. There is a small cabin and a galley. The cabin is used as a bedroom.
The yacht is propelled by sails and a diesel engine . Usually, Lydia steers, and Alexander is her foremast hand, if necessary, he repairs the yacht. For example , he periodically cleans the bottom of the yacht from the shells.
Maintaining a yacht is expensive. It costs around 3000 Euros per year to park, descent, ascent, and paint it. Before the crisis, the couple could maintain their yacht at their own expense , i.e. , from their disability pensions and earnings. However, now their incomes have fallen sharply and in order to keep on traveling on their yacht instead of selling it, Lydia cast a cry on the Internet for financial assistance. People responded to her call and helped.
Unfortunately, financial problems remained. So, the spouses decided to raise money by riding tourists on the yacht. People were happy to inhale sea air, admire the water surface, dive directly from the yacht and swim for a symbolic price.
On their yacht, Lydia and Alexander visited many Mediterranean countries, such as Spain , France, Italy , the Greek islands, also they visited the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
From the republics of the former Yugoslavia, the couple sailed to Montenegro and Croatia,
and from there they traveled by bus to Serbia , and by car to Albania.
The couple is planning to visit Malta and Sicily.
Lydia and Alexander buy products in the stores closest to the marina (yacht parking) and cook food in the galley. They eat simple food.
Most voyages went smoothly with only some difficulties.
For example, during their Adriatic Sea voyage from the Italian port of Bari to the Montenegrin port of Bar, they were caught by a heavy storm. So, it would be better to return to the exit point and keep on their voyage in good weather .
But Alexander had to get to Montenegro to take part in a regatta to Ireland. So, they decided to continue sailing in stormy weather. Fortunately, they coped with the obstacles and safely got to the port of destination!
Apart from sailing the yacht, Alexander drives a car. So, together with his wife, he made a car trip from Moscow to the Crimea to have some rest by the sea.
They have a tennis table in their apartment, they often play with each other. Alexander plays tennis quite well, so he takes part in various amateur competitions , in one of which he won a prize.
Currently, Alexander is no longer involved in the Paralympic regattas , but he remembers fondly his shipmates and the coach of the Russian national team.
Lydia and Alexander's life , full of bright events and amazing impressions, proves that even with some physical limitations, it is possible to organize it in such a way as to enjoy it to the fullest.