There Are Good Ships: Journal of a Voyage Around the World

Copyright © 2013 by Lindsey Davis. 305130-DAVI

ISBN:   Softcover    978-1-4836-0922-5

             E-book       978-1-4836-0921-8

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Rev. date: 06/05/2013

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Contents

Author’s Note

Prologue

Beaufort Scale

Preparations for the Start

Caribbean Sea

Panama

Pacific Ocean

Ecuador

Galapagos Islands

The Marquesas Islands

Tuamotu Islands

Society Islands

Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga

Cruising the Fijian Islands

Tanna

Erromango

New Caledonia

Coral Sea

Australia

Cruising the Coast of Australia

Arafura Sea

Darwin

Bali

Indian Ocean

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Mauritius

Reunion

Port Elizabeth

Port St Francis

Knysna

Cape Town

South Atlantic Ocean

St Helena

Salvador

Recife

Iles du Salut

North Atlantic Ocean

Tobago and Grenada

Grenada to St Lucia

Epilogue

Glossary

There are good ships.

There are wood ships.

The ships that sail the sea.

But the best ships are the friendships

and may they always be.

This book is dedicated to our dear friend and sailor.

John Dare

1943–2012

Author’s Note

Author is such a grand title and one for which I do not feel at all worthy. Instead, I would consider myself an adventurer with a pen and notebook.

My adventurous spirit started way back when I was just seven years old and found myself plonked on the back of a rather large pony called Dawn. I had pestered my parents for horse-riding lessons, and now I sat shivering with fear and contemplating the sanity of my demands.

As a shy, reticent, little girl, I did not have the courage to say ‘actually I do not like this’. So week after week, month after month, little by little, I lost my fear, and an adventurous spirit was born with me.

Of course, horse riding has little to do with sailing, but for me, the experience of the former gave me the courage for the latter. Riding an unpredictable, frisky, jumpy mare has many parallels to sailing an unpredictable, frisky, jumpy yacht. Believe me when I tell you a yacht has a mind of its own.

Sailing first entered my life in my teens when I had the privilege to crew on the Thames sailing barge Thalatta. In my twenties, I became a deck monkey on friends’ yachts and enjoyed the thrill of racing in the Solent on the south coast of England. I gained my Competent Crew certificate whilst taking part in the Baltic leg of the Tall Ships Race. Working as a secretary for the army at the time, I was invited to join the crew on Sail Training Yacht British Soldier, a magnificent 55-foot Camper & Nicholson.

I briefly co-owned a small day-sailor Pindari and cut my teeth on the perils of crossing the busiest shipping lane in the world, the English Channel.

Sailing took a back seat in my early forties when I was gripped by the travelling bug. I had Australia in my sights, and I spent many a happy month soaking up the sights, sounds, and sheer vastness of that wonderful continent.

I realised then that the world has a lot more to offer me. Yearning for more, I was a great believer in the saying ‘a change is as good as a rest’. I had been a secretary, a personal assistant, a hairdresser, and a professional tennis coach and have recently qualified as an approved driving instructor. I was a highly proficient horse rider, a crazy snow skier, a scuba-diver, and a tennis player. What more could I possibly achieve?

         Well, I have just added to that list – a circumnavigator.

Prologue

I slipped off my shoes and stepped aboard Quasar V in November 2005. I had been invited to become part of the crew to sail across the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands to St Lucia in the Caribbean. This was my first taste of long offshore sailing. It took me only a few days to find my sea legs but many weeks to understand the workings of this magnificent yacht. We crossed the Atlantic with very few dramas, and after a couple of months of enjoying the islands, we set sail once again for the return voyage via Bermuda, the Azores, and Southern Ireland. Sailing across a strangely calm Irish Sea, having completed a full trans-Atlantic circuit, Quasar returned to her home in Pwllheli, Wales.

Quasar V is an elegant cutter-rigged sailing yacht. A Moody by design and 54 feet in length. A blue water vessel, she is fully loaded with all the necessary safety equipment, a generator, water maker, a downwind sailing rig, strangely named a ‘twistle’, and, last but by no means least, a large cubby for storing wine and gin!

When World Cruising announced its inaugural Round the World Rally, World ARC, Quasar’s three owners, Malcolm, John, and Robert, pounced on the opportunity to experience a once-in-a-lifetime voyage. So in November 2007, she set off for the Caribbean once more.

With three Atlantic crossings and many pleasant Caribbean island cruising miles under my belt, I once more stepped aboard, this time armed with pen, notebook, laptop, and camera.

This journal is the end result of my daily scribblings, quite often, due to the frantic movement of the boat, wedged in my bunk or the corner of the sofa with my feet braced against the bulkhead. Often, on calm days, of which there were many, I would be seen on the aft deck with my notebook and pen. But most enjoyably, I would climb out of my hatch and lean against the mast, drawing inspiration from the beauty of the open sea ahead of me.

This is my story of a voyage that would take nearly fifteen months and cover over 24,000 nmiles. A journey that would take us to remote islands, cross massive oceans, encounter sea life in all shapes and sizes, test inner strength and maintain a sense of humour in equal measure, develop lifelong friendships, and marvel at the beauty and wonder of this world of ours.

Beaufort Scale

Preparations for the Start

The voyage started from the beautiful Caribbean island of St Lucia. We had already sailed across the Atlantic the previous November to put the boat in position for the start of the race. I returned home briefly to celebrate Christmas with my family. I rented out my house, stuffed my furniture into the shed, packed a small bag, and flew back out to St Lucia.

The days before the start of the race were a hive of activity. The co-owners, Malcolm Craig and Robert Locke, arrived one evening and took a taxi to rendezvous with me in Spinnakers Bar on the beach. I had gone there with Steve Rodwell from yacht Kasuje and James Anderson and Chris ‘Norfy’ North from yacht Cleone for a meal and a few drinks. We met up with Janet ‘JB’ Broadley, my crew mate, and her husband, David, who had come out to the Caribbean to see us off. We were all excited about being back together again, and a nervous excitement hung in the air. Needless to say, we all proceeded to calm our nerves with a few too many beers.

The following day I assembled my folding boat bike and cycled to the local shopping mall near the Rodney Bay marine. I had badly damaged my left foot some nine months previously, and it was being very stubborn and refusing to work properly so I was still hobbling along aided by a walking stick. But now I had a shiny new bike, and I was off on a mission to purchase a pillow for my bed – a small concession to creature comforts on the voyage.

On returning to Quasar, I found myself at the mercy of Malcolm and his infamous ‘list of jobs’. I busied myself with a plethora of jobs, including bilge cleaning, galley scrubbing, and water tank filling. Having reduced the list of jobs by a fraction, I made my escape and hobbled along the jetty to the calm sanctuary of yacht Andante of Mersey and my good friends Bob, Ann, and Keith.

Later that evening, we attended a drinks party aboard Keoloha 8, the largest yacht in the fleet. The skipper, David Halliday, was keen to show off his new 72-foot Oyster, the Rolls Royce of yachts, and we were equally keen to have a good snoop around! Alas, after only ten minutes, Malcolm managed to trip on a deck fitting and shower me and the cream leather sofa with red wine. I scurried back to Quasar to scrub my white jeans and new crew polo shirt then, having had my fill, or should I say ‘spill’, of red wine, retired to my bunk, and nestled into my new pillow to watch a DVD.

World ARC boats at Rodney Bay marina.

All the next day we worked vigorously on the boat, trying to make some inroads into the ever increasing list of jobs. I once again tried my hand at splicing rope. I had been unsuccessful on the Atlantic crossing and, frustratingly, that particular skill still alluded me. I sewed and attached the yoke to the spinnaker snuffer and stowed it away. The last job of the day was to line the cupboards with foam to try to stop the clinking of the crockery at night, a noise that drove the resting crew to distraction.

As my taste buds were calling out for a beer by 6 p.m., I showered and changed and limped off to Scuttlebutts bar to meet up with friends. After a few beers and a meal of baby back ribs, I stumbled back to the boat for a nice cup of chamomile tea and bed.

The next few days were a blur of jobs on the boat, checking batteries, cleaning bilges, fixing, mending, and victualling to name but a few. Our two new crew members, Lori and Bob, arrived on board. Lori had jumped ship from a yacht called Graptolite (which I quickly renamed Crap-toilet, much to her amusement). Bob arrived with a big hearty smile and friendly manner. We were very pleased to have them on board, not only for the extra help on watches but also to share the cooking and add to the fun.

I was interviewed by a journalist from Yachting World with my hat on as medical officer. We piled all the medical equipment, everything ranging from bedpan to oxygen cylinder, into the cockpit. I chatted while she taped the interview and then took photos of me surrounded by all the red medical bags. I expect to be relegated to the cutting room floor, but who knows.

One major job that had to be tackled was to empty a diesel tank and refill it. Somewhere along the way, we had picked up some dirty diesel, so 500 litres was pumped out into barrels on the quayside. Another major job was to get the engineer to fit a new autopilot motherboard.

With these jobs out of the way, we could relax a little and enjoy the entertainment laid on by World Cruising. The evening was really fun with free rum punches, followed by a lovely meal, sharing a table with the crews from Cleone and Kasuje.

Malcolm had decided to give JB a more prominent role in the skippering of the boat so the next day he sent her to the skippers briefing along with Robert. JB, having a sponge-like brain, soaked in all the information – thank goodness someone will know what is going on. JB was taking a sabbatical from her profession as a lawyer. A very proficient and experienced sailor with a Yachtmaster certificate under her belt, she was following in the footsteps of her late father. They had planned to sail the oceans together, but tragically, he had died after a short illness a few years previously.

Caribbean Sea

St Lucia to Panama

16 January–3 February 2008

1,180 nmiles

Finally, the morning had arrived for us to start the World ARC. A flurry of last-minute activity ensued, including washing all the fruit and vegetables, checking for cockroaches and vegetables and stowing it all under the forepeak bed.

The race starts (without us).

At 10.30 a.m., Steve from Kasuje was the first to slip his mooring with Land of Hope and Glory blaring from his speakers. We slipped at 10.55 a.m. and motored out of the narrow cut to join the melee of yachts in the bay. JB and I sat on the foredeck, pondering how we would feel in fifteen months time when we returned to Rodney Bay. We imagined ourselves tanned, dreadlocked, and hairy legged! We did a little bit of sail training, putting up the reefed main and full staysail. There was quite a fresh wind, and the sun was shining. Then, disaster, the autopilot failed. The skippers decided to go through the start line on the gun and then scurry back to the marina for urgent repairs.

That evening, we ate on board, got the disco lights set up, and danced on the aft deck. Never ones to be kept down for long we made the most of a bad job and had a great evening. The following morning, Malcolm was busy with the engineer fixing the autopilot problem once and for all. As it turned out, part of the motherboard was wired up to 24 volts and another part 12 volts. With that configuration, it was never going to work!

Everything stowed back in the lazarette we slipped for the second time and quietly crept out of the marina into the bay. With autopilot working happily, we attempted to set up the twistle rig only to find one of the yankee halyards had stretched and the sail was bagging at the foot. We could not bear to turn back for a second time so pressed on under engine to Marigot Bay and hoisted Malcolm up the mast to sort out the problem. As with everything to do with sailing, you try to do a tricky job with sails and ropes, and the wind gets up and foils your plans. So we sat out the squalls that hit us and finally got everything set up correctly. At 4.30 p.m., we set a bearing of 266 degrees and sailed into the evening sun. Looking back at the island, we saw the most beautiful rainbow over the bay. The wind was tame at first until we left the shelter of the island and then freshened to 12–18 knots, and with a strong current, we were soon making a cracking 8–10 knots of boat speed.

Rainbow over St Lucia.

The first night watch was to be one of the best of the coming few months. I was on from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m., half with Malcolm and half with JB. It was a very bright night, and when the full moon peeped out from behind a cloud, it gave the sea a wonderful glow. The stars were so bright that JB and I picked out Orion and Aries very easily. A few squalls came through and we reefed the twistle for