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Amazing SailingStories

Dick Durham


CONTENTS

Part One Survival

Voyage of Desperation 3Three Months Adrift in a Rubber Dinghy 7The True Story of Moby Dick 10Psychopaths in the Fo’c’sle 14Once is More Than Enough 20The Greatest Sea Voyage of All Time? 23Decoy Ship 27Death Did Not Deter Her 30Bligh: A Flawed Real Life ‘Master and Commander’ 33Drifting Alone Across the Ocean in a Punctured Life-Raft 37

Part Two Calm

A Ship Swallowed by a Cave 43Orchestra from Hell 48Death at the Helm 51Sunk by a Leviathan in Thick Fog 54The Silent Creeks 58

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Part Three Storm

Fastnet 79: The Killer Storm 65A Chop-Stick Fortune in the South Seas 68Fatal Delivery Trip 71Anchoring a Tall Ship in a Puddle 74Three Times Capsized Sailing Round Antarctica 78

Part Four Human Error

UK Border Patrol of Yesteryear 83Man Overboard in the Middle of the Pacific 88Pilot Error Causes Shipwreck and Death 91Family Day-Trip Becomes Rescue at Sea 95The Curse of Ill-Gotten Gains 99Sailing to the Wrong Hemisphere 103Hanging by a Thread from a Shipwreck 108

Part Five Adventure

A Real Life Monster of the Deep 113Treasure Island 116No Way Back: By Raft Across the Pacific 119The Queen’s Pirate 122Shoal Waters Run Deep 125From Honeymoon to Shipwreck 128A Bitter-Sweet Taste of the Racing Life 132Dayboat Capsize, Gales and Dismasting 139Record of Records 142

Part Six Tragedy

The Last Tragic Voyage of Francis Chichester 149Sailing into Madness 153After the Wave 160The Mysterious Voyage of the Mary Celeste 167The Mysterious Voyage of John Franklin 171

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The Raft of the Medusa 176The Riddle of Erskine Childers 181

Part Seven Rescue

Frozen to the Rigging 187Good Samaritan of the Southern Ocean 191Mystery Fire at Sea 194Sea Dark, Sky Crying 198The Four Rescues of a Solo Atlantic Yachtsman 205

Part Eight Deliverance

The Exploding Whale 213Downhill Racer 216The First Man to Sail Round the World Alone 219Not Quite the Fastest Ship 223The First Man to Sail Round the World Non-Stop and Alone 226Deliverance Trip 229The Ship that Sailed Herself 232Round the World in 1000 Breakages 235DIY Ocean Racer 240The Dead Lay in Her Wake 246The Terror of a Lee-Shore 252The Smallest Boat to Sail Round the World 254

Bibliography 259

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PART ONE

Survival


VOYAGE OF DESPERATION

With no sailing or navigation experience JohnCaldwell set out from Panama on a 9 500-milevoyage to get back to his wife in Australia. Hisvoyage included shark attack, starvation andshipwreck

The lack of shipping, at the end of World War II, promptedlovesick John Caldwell to embark on one of the most foolhardyvoyages in the annals of sailing history because he was pining

for his newly-wed wife Mary. They had married in 1945, but shewas back in Sydney, Australia and the boatless Caldwell had comeashore at Balboa, Panama in May 1946 after working as a merchantseaman aboard a US Liberty ship distributing Australian troops toBorneo.

So the 27-year-old Texan bought Pagan, a 29 ft cutter which had1 000 pounds of cement poured into her bilge to help the 600-poundlead shoe nailed onto the keel keep her 40 ft mast upright. She would

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not have been everyone’s choice of craft in which to cross the PacificOcean.

With no experience of sailing or navigation other than that whichhe had managed to glean from a basic book: How To Sail , Caldwellset off with two cats, Flotsam and Jetsam for company and 248 tinsof food and 95 gallons of water. With the engine running and thehelm lashed he walked forward to stow the anchor and cable, but whilecarrying the anchor he tripped and plunged overboard and went downwith the hook until he let go and fought his way to the surface. Herehe found his little ship driving round and round the dragging anchor.Pagan hit a buoy, as Caldwell swam towards her, but as she took a runat him he managed to scramble up her low freeboard by way of thechain plates. Now with the engine still running and the anchor stilldragging he decided to have a go at sailing! After an uncontrolled gybe,he managed to retrieve his anchor and chain, then dropped the sails andmotored out to sea. With just 9 500 miles to go before Australia, thesolo sailor decided he better get in some practice, but out of sight of thelongshoremen of Balboa. Instead Caldwell managed to con the boat tothe Perlas Islands on the south-eastern side of the Gulf of Panama andhere spent eight days practising. During a gale he managed to hit anuprooted floating tree which sprung some planks. Pagan was beachedbefore she sank and Caldwell repaired her and set sail once more forthe Galapagos Islands.

About halfway to the Galapagos he decided to have a go at sharkfishing: hoping to show off a shark’s jaw to Mary. Amazingly and withthe use of a halyard he fished and landed a large shark weighing severalhundred pounds. He tried killing it with an axe, but this brought thebeast back to life and with a flick of its tail snapped off Pagan’s tillerand flipped it over the side. By the time Caldwell had despatchedit the shark had half-demolished the cockpit and wrecked theengine.

In the Galapagos he stopped to clean Pagan’s hull of weed and bar-nacles and set off from Floreana for his next destination, the Marquesas3 000 miles away.

Although he saw Nuku Hiva, the main island and port of clearancefor the Marquesas, Caldwell was anxious to push on and try to beat thehurricane season, and so, even after 29 days he did not stop. Instead

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he called in, briefly, at the Caroline Islands for coconuts to eke out hisdwindling supplies. Here he gave away his two cats to some admiringchildren.

Six days out of the Carolines the weather started to deteriorate.Caldwell feared the worst as squalls started building, the sky got darkerand rain drenched the little boat. A full-blown hurricane was about totake over his life. Caldwell stowed his anchor below, put his inflatabledinghy on a painter astern, and lashed everything down includinghimself to his bunk. There he lay worrying whether Pagan’s 26-year-oldtimbers would hold together.

For three days he lay like this as the storm raged about him, rippingout the mast, filling the boat with water and making a quagmire of thetools, food and clothing below.

After it was over Caldwell used the broken spars to make a jury rigand under much reduced canvas carried on, at approximately one knot,hoping to limp into Samoa.

Food ran low and then out. He fried a fish in Vaseline, ate toothpaste,face cream, a stub of lipstick he’d been saving for Mary and ‘fried’ somechamois leather in shaving cream and engine oil. Then he cut an oarinto a spear and managed to catch some fish. But Pagan’s progress waspitifully slow and he next cut up his leather army boots, ‘tenderised’them by beating them on the end of his bunk, soaked them in saltwater, then fried them in hair oil before boiling them in strips. He evenscraped the seaweed off Pagan’s stricken hull, ‘dressed’ it with hair oiland swallowed that, too.

At last a breeze came and he was able to shape a course. After 36days under jury rig, weak from starvation and lack of water and with nocompass or other navigation equipment – they’d been lost or smashedin the hurricane – he ran Pagan up on a coral reef off the island ofTuvutha in the Lau Group of the Fiji Islands.

Caldwell eventually managed to stagger ashore across the reef to abeach where he lay exhausted with bits of wreckage from Pagan forcompany.

After three days he was rescued by locals who could only get to himby sea as the cliffs to the hinterland were inaccessible.

He was taken off by a schooner which visited the islands every fourmonths to load copra: she had visited the island just a couple of weeks

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before so Caldwell went native while waiting. His hosts nursed himback to health.

Eventually, via New Caledonia he flew to Brisbane and finally arrivedin Sydney where he was reunited with his wife for the first time in 19months.

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Foreword by Andrew Bray ix

Preface xi

Part One: Going Places

The Devil You Know 3Together Across the Pond 5Scotland the Magnificent 8Any Plans for the Summer? 11Meat Soup in Iceland 14The Bane of Biscay 17It’s Not Cricket! 20

Part Two: Sailing Solo

Suhaili Retires 2530 Years On 28All Things Being Equal 31Never Too Old to Go Solo 34Netted! 37Mad Adventure 41Joy of the Solo Sailor 46


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Part Three: Safety at Sea

Steering Sense 51A Stern Lesson 54Small Steps to Disaster 57Safety Behind Closed Doors 60The Troubles of ‘Ivan the Terrible’ 63Energy to Survive 66One Hand for the Ship 69Man Overboard 72

Part Four: Life on Board

Reflections on a Record 77Night Terrors 80Prose for Posterity – a Log for Life 83Wide Open Spaces 86Rough Treatment 89A Fine Balance 92Sewing Lessons 95Preserved in Salt 98Ready or Knot? 101Anchors Aweigh 104Food for Thought 107Keeping the Peace 110

Part Five: Ocean Rescue

To Go or Not to Go? 115Price of Rescue 118Doctor on Call 121Escape from the Perfect Storm 124

Part Six: The Southern Ocean

Life in the Fast Lane 129Call of the South 131Round the Horn in a Day 134

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Part Seven: Sailing and the Wider World

Sailing and the Media 139View from the Bridge 142Just for Kicks 145Men Behaving Badly 148Battle of the Books 151Safe to Set Sail? 154Medals and the media 157Elf and Safety 160Knittles and Bomkins 163

Part Eight: Hazards of the Oceans

Enza’s UFO 169Shades of the Titanic? 172Tale of the Whales 175A Close Shave 178Thar She Blows! 181Waves that Devour Ships 184

Part Nine: The Changing Face of Sailing

Going the Distance 189Escape to the Water 192The Last Lighthouse Keeper 195Casting Clouds 198A Sea of Rubbish 201

Index 000

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PART TWO

Sailing Solo

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Only 173 people have sailed solo round theworld, a small fraction of those who haveclimbed Everest. What is it that attracts them?Robin believes there is a purity in being alonewith the elements, without outside interferenceor interruption.

The cult of single-handed sailing has come a long way in the 50years since the OSTAR was first run in 1960. Then a race acrossthe Atlantic was considered extreme and it had been difficult

to find a yacht club to support the concept. Eventually, the late ColJack Odling-Smee, commodore of the Royal Western Yacht Club ofEngland took it on and the club continues to run it every four years,much to its credit.

There had been solo voyages before 1960, of course, but this was thefirst race. It attracted only five entrants, but the media loved it and anew sport was born. By the end of the decade there had been two more

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OSTARs and confidence in the ability of yachts and sailors to makelong solo voyages had grown and led to the ultimate sailing challenge,a non-stop round the world race.

Since those early days solo sailing has expanded enormously. Anothertransatlantic race has been introduced, the Route du Rhum, the BOCChallenge round the world was first run in 1982 and now we have theVelux 5 Oceans and the Vendee Globe, which first ran in 1989. Othershort-handed events, such as the Figaro, have developed as a nursery forprofessional sailors wishing to establish a reputation. And for those whojust want to enjoy the sport, the AZAB (Azores and back), one-waysolo, one-way two-handed, has been running successfully for a numberof years.

All this has created heroes and heroines, and if the sheer number ofevents has diluted media interest, solo sailing can still be consideredthe ultimate in our sport. Only 173 people have sailed solo roundthe world, half of them non-stop, a small fraction (about 3%) of thenumber of people that have reached the summit of Mount Everest,which puts the extent of the challenge into perspective.

Where is the appeal of single-handed sailing? The main attraction,in my opinion, is the sheer pleasure of being alone at sea. There is apurity in being alone with the elements, without any outside influence,interference or interruption, working with the sea’s rules.

I enjoy sailing with a crew, but the joy of solo sailing is the satisfactionof being reliant on yourself. If something goes wrong, there is no oneelse to blame or awaken to help you. Your decisions and mistakes affectyou alone. There is also the pleasure of running your own life to yourown rhythm, something increasingly rare on our overcrowded landmass.

But, as with everything else, the right to go solo sailing carries re-sponsibilities as well. Respect for other users of the oceans is the primaryone; avoiding asking others to put their lives at risk to rescue you ifthings go wrong. It is incumbent on every sailor to keep out of theway of other shipping and in a small yacht your vulnerability to largercommercial traffic makes this plain common sense.

To be a good and safe single-hander needs a high degree of self-reliance. It also requires a rather special degree of seamanship as a solosailor has to be able to do everything on a boat themselves. For those

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sailing the oceans for pleasure there is no requirement to communicate,but the modern racer needs to keep their sponsors and the mediainformed, which conflicts with the essence of the sport, which is to bealone and untroubled by the outside world.

This was the hardest part for me when I completed the Velux 5Oceans two years ago. I was out at sea, in the middle of an ocean,enjoying the solitude, and the satellite phone would ring. The intrusioninto my reverie annoyed me, my instinctive reaction was to shout:“Leave me alone, I am happy out here just sailing and don’t want tobe bothered! Just send me an e-mail and I will look at it at a time thatsuits me, not a time that suits you, which may be when I am catchingup on sleep or doing something on deck.”

Those who need constant communication with the shore, beyondwhat is basically necessary, are not really natural single-handers, in myview, but the sport has become the thing that most professional sailorshave to do to establish their reputations, so they suffer the loss of humancontact to do it – well a bit anyway!

All this has created heroes and heroines, and if the sheer number of events hasdiluted media interest, solo sailing can still be considered the ultimate in oursport

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SUHAILI RETIRES

Once described as a tortoise among hares,Suhaili proved her worth as a survivor onher historic voyage round the world in1969. Putting her into the National MaritimeMuseum in 1998 felt to Robin like sending aclose relative into a home . . .

Exhibiting Suhaili in the new hall at the National MaritimeMuseum made me feel that I had just put a close relative intoan old people’s home. Since 1963 she has dominated my life,

got me out of situations I should never have got into and been a loyalcompanion in some wonderful adventures.

‘Workmanlike’ is how she has often been described and I have neverfound that insulting. She is a workmanlike little boat. Her timbers –teak, all seven tons of it – are as strong as when we first put her togetheryears ago in Bombay.

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Sturdy, simple, she is based upon Colin Archer’s inimitable designsfor the Norwegian sailing lifeboats, the classic shape for a seaworthyfamily ocean cruiser. To the uninitiated she looks nothing in particular,just another yacht, a bit old-fashioned with her long keel and stoutsternpost supporting the rudder, the propeller sticking out like anafterthought.

This is no Formula One racing machine, no ocean greyhound; thisis a bulldog, a stayer, a boat that can stubbornly continue towards herobjective, regardless of all going on around her.

She can never be glamorous, but, unlike most, she will always occupyher small place in maritime history. She holds a record that cannot bebroken. She is the first vessel to sail non-stop round the world.

When we found ourselves a part of The Sunday Times Golden Globerace back in 1968, Suhaili was described as the tortoise among hares.It was not an unreasonable description. She was not built to survivethe Southern Ocean; she was not built for speed; she was not a specialpurchase for the event.

Suhaili was what I had, and since I could find no sponsorship, what Ihad to accept if I wanted to participate. It was one of the best decisionsof my life.

More stoutly built than all the others, simple to maintain, easy torepair, but above all, once I had learnt how to set her for up it, amagnificent survivor in the maelstrom of the Southern Ocean.

We could not outrun the waves, as can a modern multihull orWhitbread 60; Suhaili at ten tons is the same weight as the 92ft ENZANew Zealand [in which Robin broke another world record in 1994] sowe had to heave to, warps trailing astern to provide a restraint againstthe surges down huge waves that can so often lead to a fatal broach.

Our average speed, even in those strong wind conditions, seldomexceeded 5.5 knots and we laboriously ground down the longitudefrom the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Horn in five months of cold,exposed sailing, when oilskins did not keep out the water so clothingwas seldom dry. But thrown about, knocked down, washed over byhuge waves, she bobbed up and kept plugging along.

Someone once said of Suhaili that she proved that anyone could gether round the world and they were right. Provided I kept faith in her,she showed she could do it.

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So why put her away in a concrete pit in Greenwich? The answersare complex. As a Trustee I was aware that the museum needed a yachtas part of the display area it is creating beneath a glass roof over theWest Wing courtyard. Of course, there are modern boats which mighthave done, but we need to teach the young that they don’t have to havethe latest equipment to succeed; simple gear might be the better bet.

But besides all this, I was beginning to worry about Suhaili’s fas-tenings, the only part of her showing signs of decay. She is massivelyover-fastened – two bolts per strake per frame – some of which we haverenewed. But the bulk are still holding so well, even if they displaysurface rust, that removing one might lead to a cracked frame.

Nevertheless, if I am to contemplate any more long voyages, shereally ought to be refastened, so leaving her at Greenwich for a fewyears will allow the original steel bolts to corrode a little and make theirremoval simpler.1

She is only on loan, after all.

1 Note: Suhaili was removed from the National Maritime Museum in 2002 and was refastenedby the Elephant Boatyard in Burseldon. Robin still owns her and he sailed her up the Thamesin April 2009 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his groundbreaking circumnavigation.

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30 YEARS ON

On the 30th anniversary of the completion ofhis round the world solo exploit, Robin reflectson the changes in the equipment available tothe solo sailor.

On 22 April 1999, it was exactly 30 years since Suhaili sailedback into Falmouth at the end of her 312-day non-stop cir-cumnavigation. She looked worn, her sails were stained and

by then mostly hand-sewn, and the self-steering had gone finally nearAustralia. None of the electrics worked, but this hardly mattered asthere were no instruments to fail anyway, except a Walker log.

Suhaili was still in one piece, though; her rig was intact and hadrequired only one replacement during the voyage – and none to thestanding rigging. I was physically stronger than I had ever been, beforeor since.

My only worry, a really big one at the time, was how I had man-aged mentally. Apart from a short chat with some fishermen off New

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Zealand, I had not spoken to anyone for ten and a half months. I’d hadno one to compare myself with.

Although only five years old at that time, Suhaili was not the mostmodern boat in the fleet. Her design was 40 years old and certainly hadnever been envisaged for a circumnavigation. Newer boats, designedfor the task, had failed along the way.

By modern standards Suhaili may have seemed over-spec. More tothe point, though, she did the job she set out to do, albeit at an averagespeed of just four knots, and survived all the Southern Ocean couldfling at her for five months.

So much has happened in the intervening years. Now we can sailsolo round the world in a third of the time, the boats are technicalmarvels. Electronics now available leave the sailor with much moretime to concentrate on sailing.

There is no need to be isolated as I was once my radio broke downtwo months into the voyage; the silicon chip ensures that the sailor isin permanent contact with his base for advice or weather forecasts.

Food and clothing are so much better, too, and watermakers haveobviated the need for large water tanks, all helping to create faster andfaster times. If the sailors are not so close to their environment, that isan inevitable result of progress.

The boats 30 years ago were smaller and heavier. They were built tosurvive in the almost unknown environment (to yachtsmen, anyway)of the Southern Ocean, and caution was the keyword. They carried agreater weight in food and stores because voyages were longer.

There were no EPIRBs, so if we got into trouble we were on ourown, which probably meant lost. That alone made one conscious ofthe need to preserve things and keep everything together for anotherday, even if this caution cost a few miles.

Media criticism was restricted to comments on our foolhardiness fortaking on something that was clearly impossible. However, if we wishedto risk our lives that was none of their business. It is only when you callfor help from someone else that it becomes everyone’s business.

While there has been rather too much publicity surrounding certainrescues in recent years, in the current solo round the world race, AroundAlone, the most serious so far was one performed by a fellow competitor.That the boat was probably unsuited for the ultimate conditions in

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which it was being sailed should be the cause of some serious thoughtby the designers.

Others in this year’s race have lost rigs and gone aground. They willbe left to reflect on the lack of concentration or a few kilos of savedweight that put them out of the event.

The fraction of a knot of additional speed becomes meaninglesswhen the mast breaks. The objective has not been achieved and themission has failed.

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ALL THINGS BEINGEQUAL

From Florence Arthaud to Ellen MacArthur,women give the boys a run for their money insolo long-distance racing. The reason why issimple – it’s a sport that’s far more about brainsthan brawn.

In February 2002 Ellen MacArthur claimed a magnificent secondplace in the Vendee Globe solo round the world race. Later EmmaRichards entered the Around Alone. Both events illustrate that

no barrier prevents women from competing at the top level of single-handed long-distance racing. Unlike in other sports (or even the sailingOlympics), this sort of competition needs no separate event for each sex.

Evidence of this exception to the usual run of things in sport hasbeen growing for a while. French yachtswoman Florence Arthaud wasgiving the men a run for their money more than 20 years ago and

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Isabelle Autissier proved she could beat a very good field. Now theirmantle has crossed the Channel and is draped over the shoulders of twoyoung and very competitive British girls.

Why is it that single-handing seems to be a field in which the girls canperform on equal terms and do not have to ask favours of anybody? Itseems the sea and boats equalise opportunities in single-handing. AnneDavidson crossed the Atlantic decades ago, Nicolette Milnes-Walkermade the first full crossing of the Atlantic in 1970 and Claire Francisparticipated in the single-handed transatlantic race and skippered aWhitbread Round the World Race entry.

In the teams and in shorter mixed events, the girls have yet to maketheir mark at the front, although there are signs that this may change.Tracy Edwards and her Maiden team produced a competitive result inthe 1990 Whitbread and although the 2001 Volvo Ocean Race did nothave an all-girls’ team in the leading pack, this may have been owingto a lack of opportunities and time on the water. No one who has metDawn Riley, manager of the all-female America True campaign for the2000 America’s Cup, can underestimate her determination.

Perhaps the reason for this success is that long-distance solo sailing ismore a matter of mind than muscle. True, the girls tend to be smaller sotheir workload (for their size) has to be greater; their boats are as largeas the men’s, the loads as big, so it takes them a bit longer to perform atask and they use more energy doing it.

But that is not the main criterion. While being able to set a spinnakeror gybe quickly might make all the difference in a race in the Solentor sprint across the Channel, knowing when to perform them makesa greater difference when you are racing across oceans. Keeping an eyeon tactics, watching the wind and making changes as soon as they arenecessary matters far more than saving a few seconds because you arestronger. Working out which route to take to ensure your boat has itsfavoured wind tomorrow and the day after, that doesn’t require muscle.

Instead, competitive advantage comes from a knowledge of weatherpatterns and how they develop, an attention to detail and in ensuringall the alternatives are covered. This is hard, solid, mental work. It doesnot appeal to everyone and it has never been the prerequisite of anyone sex.

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Alone in your boat, in the middle of an ocean where no one iswatching, it is all too easy to roll over in your sleeping bag and decideto leave a task for a while. Those people with determination will climbout and deal with the situation there and then. A few minutes saved ina tack disappear very quickly if the boat is not sailing at its best speedand heading in the right direction. This has nothing to do with size andstrength and everything to do with mental attitude. Getting maximumboat speed is highly desirable, but it is useless if you are not getting itin the right direction.

Our girls have been doing rather well in sailing: Shirley Robertson’sGold medal in Sydney, the first by a British woman in sailing, couldbe joined by others in Athens; Tracy and Ellen are due to attack theJules Verne Trophy for the fastest boat round the world next year; andEmma is the sole British entry in Around Alone.

Better still, the media has taken these ladies to its heart and thatattention means they find it easier to secure the sponsorship necessaryto fulfil their ambitions. In this type of sailing at least, there is nowequal opportunity.

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NEVER TOO OLDTO GO SOLO

When Japanese sailor Minoru Saito tied up inTokyo Bay having overcome a legion of set-backs, he not only set a record for the old-est solo non-stop circumnavigator, he became arole model for us all.

A71-year-old Japanese sailor called Minoru Saito arrived in TokyoBay in 2005 to become the oldest person to sail unassisted solonon-stop round the world. Minoru did not sail in the mould of

modern record-breakers like Ellen MacArthur, but in the fashion of 40years ago.

He set himself a target of 180 days, but took 234. During his passage– from Seabornia, south of Yokohama, down into the Pacific, aroundCape Horn, past the Cape of Good Hope and then around Australia,

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before turning north for home – his average speed was only about fiveknots.

His 50ft boat Shuten-Dohj II – Drunkard’s Child, irreverently chris-tened ‘Shoot your doggy’ by fellow round the world sailors – is notnew, but an old friend Minoru has owned for 13 years. He enjoys beingalone at sea with the wind and waves, but is no freak who sails on theocean to avoid human company. Instead, while he likes his solitude, heis congenial company in port.

Short in stature and cheery, he has that total lack of pretension orarrogance which is often found in long-distance single-handers. Theyall know they have faced and survived the worst the seas can throw atthem – this time, at least – so there is no need to try to talk up theirvoyages with those who have shared the same experience.

The sea is a great humbler. Somewhere out there will be conditionsthat could destroy you and the fact that you have survived is a sourceof gratitude not an opportunity to boast.

This is not Saito-san’s first circumnavigation. He completed the1990 BOC Challenge and the 1994 and 1998 Around Alone races,now rebranded as the Velux 5 Oceans, but he had never sailed non-stopround the world before. And this voyage proved a particularly toughchallenge for the former heart patient. His generator failed completely,his engine gave up early on in the voyage, half his batteries failed and hehad to rely on a couple of solar panels for all his electrical requirements.Many sailors would have given up with just one of those difficulties.

Communications inevitably became scarce through lack of batterypower. On the positive side, however, this also meant he did not havea sponsor worrying him for messages, so he could choose to talkto the outside world when he had enough power and when he feltlike it.

He experienced the almost inevitable knockdowns that the hugewaves of the Southern Ocean inflict. Worse, his food almost ran out.Attempts to grow cress did not prove very successful – I tried withas little success mainly because I decided my drinking water, gatheredfrom rain in the mainsail, was more important for me than the cress– and for the last month he lived on a diet of rice, noodles and afew vegetables. Healthy but lacking variety. But he never felt he wasthreatened and asked no one for assistance.

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Four solo circumnavigations is impressive and if you take Minoru’svoyages to and from the start of races, it adds up to a total of sevencircumnavigations so far.1 But most importantly, while most peopleretire at the age of 65, Minoru shows that the number of years you havesurvived is no measure of physical age and fitness.

Forty years ago Francis Chichester and Alex Rose completed cir-cumnavigations at the official retirement age and their achievementswere properly admired. Since then we seem to have developed a greaterlongevity and are staying fitter and more active long after we pass theofficial retirement age.

This increased age span and ability to use the time opens up a newworld of opportunities. Unlike previous generations, we can aspire to aretirement when all those goals we dreamt about become possible. Forsailors this can realistically mean setting out on that cruise round theworld or perhaps continuing to race.

Agility may have declined (as I discovered recently when I raced aLaser for a day and spent the next two suffering with stiff legs) but theyears of experience are an invaluable asset and it is a crime not to use it.

So, thanks a bunch, Minoru. You have set all of us a challenge. Andjust when I was thinking of how to plan my garden.

1 Note: He has now done eight!

36


NETTED!

When a fishing line is caught around the keel ofhis Open 60 Saga Insurance while sailing alonein the Southern Ocean during the 2006 Velux 5Oceans round the world race, Robin, then 61,was faced with a dilemma. Should he get intothe cold, cold water and try to remove it?

Idid not mean to heave to in a gale in the Southern Ocean. In fact,heaving to is a misnomer as I was anchored, very firmly, to a fishingnet. Saga Insurance had been sailing along very nicely, thank you,

averaging more than 12 knots and surfing up to 20 knots from time totime. Then suddenly the speed dropped.

I had been waiting for a front to pass with a big windshift and Ithought this must be it, so I jumped up on deck. No, the wind was thesame, but two lines were streaming out astern. I was surprised. I wouldnot have expected two of my lines to have such a breaking effect. ThenI realised they were not my lines.

37


SAILING SOLO

At first I was incredulous. We might run into this sort of thing offthe west coast of Ireland, but nets left lying around in the middle of theSouthern Ocean? However, you cannot argue with a line around yourkeel and that is what I had.

The problem with these Open 60s is that they have a bulb keel soyou cannot just persuade a rope to slip off; it gets firmly held in placeabove the bulb, which is 4.5m below the surface of the sea, so not easyto get at. There are a number of ways of dealing with this, none ofwhich is going to be easy in 25 knots and 10m seas. The most obviousis to put a knife on the end of a pole and try to cut the rope. That’s notas easy as it sounds. For a pole that long I only had batten material andnothing that length, so two shorter lengths had to be lashed together.

The boat is moving, even though anchored, and the pole gets movedabout. Then you have to try to apply pressure when your arms are afoot apart and the lever is 15ft long. In effect, it is just not possible andI doubt it could be done easily even in the calm of a swimming pool.

The next method is to try to capture the line and bring it up to thedeck or within reach of the deck so it can be cut. First you have to have ahook and it needs to be a strong one as the weights are considerable.Probably the best answer would be a grapnel. I thought about the kedgeanchor but was worried it would get smashed into or through the sideof the boat. My alternative hooks failed, just straightening out whenthe real weight came on.

I then tried pushing a float attached to a line – in this case anempty galley propane container – down on the end of the pole andthen releasing it below the fishing line so it came up on the other side,effectively giving me a line round the anchor line. This nearly workeda couple of times, but the float, having surfaced satisfactorily, bobbedaway out of reach.

I was very reluctantly coming to the conclusion that I was going tohave to go for a swim, but by this time it was getting dark. There wasnothing more I could do until I had daylight again.

As soon as the sky began to brighten the next morning, I preparedfor the job. My concern was the very low seawater temperatures andthe effect of the sudden shock on the body and its debilitating effect.With cold like that you lose strength quickly and I would have to haulmyself back on board after some heavy physical work. The last time

38


NETTED!

I had done this in the Southern Ocean was on board Condor in the1977 Whitbread Round the World Race when we got a sheet caughtaround the propeller after going back to pick up one of the crew whohad fallen overside. That time I had a wetsuit, but very quickly lost allfeeling in my feet, hands and face and had to be helped back on board.If that happened this time, without crew to assist me, I might very wellnot get back at all.

There was one change since the previous evening, one of the lineshad parted and I could see its end floating about 40m away. It had notrun through and cleared, however, because it had wrapped itself aroundthe other part.

I put on a sailing drysuit, then a harness, attached it to a nice longline and went over the transom. I swam out as far as my safety line butcould not get down to the main anchor line. I nearly reached it once, Ithink, but the boat surged and my safety line snatched me away. I laythere for a minute thinking.

Interesting watching the boat from maybe 100ft away. She was rollinghorribly. I was also not too excited about the sudden attention ofthree albatross who clearly saw my floundering as some indication of apotential dinner in an hour or two. However, I could not stay here forlong as I was becoming cold.

If I could not get hold of that main line we were stuck until somethingbroke – and it might not be the line. The swing keel was taking allthe weight and loadings and I was very aware of what had happenedto another competitor, Alex Thomson’s keel a week before [Thomson’sHugo Boss suffered severe keel failure in the Southern Ocean and hehad to abandon ship in a dramatic rescue by Mike Golding]. I had toget that line cut somehow. One possibility was to swim further awayfrom the boat to where it came closer to the surface, but before I didthat I thought I’d see what I could do with the other bit of line.

I swam back to the boat with it. My hands were blue and losingfeeling, but they worked well enough for me to haul myself back upand over the transom. Back aboard I winched in the line and, because itwas twisted round the main line, it brought that close to the surface.Using an empty cooking propane container as a float, I attached a lineto it, and then pushed it down with a batten to the uptide side of theline and then let go. It floated nicely up the other side of the line.

39


SAILING SOLO

Now it was just down to brute force, hauling in on my messengeruntil the main anchor line was at the surface, at which point I was ableto reach down and cut it with a hacksaw. We were free, but we still hada sizeable length of line caught around the keel – and if I sailed off withthat there it could get caught around the rudders.

I then spent 20 minutes slowly removing the turns between the twolines with the aid of a batten, pushing the free end uptide as it wereand letting it unfurl on the other side. Eventually the turns came outand the line could be pulled clear of the keel.

Freedom. But the price of the incident was the loss of a day’s sailingand a position in the race. I wonder how many others have been caughton these free-floating lines left casually in the ocean. If we can all takethe trouble not to throw plastic into the ocean I think fishermen couldtake the trouble not to abandon gear where it can become a hazard.

Because a hazard this certainly was. I doubt the boat could havetaken another gale stuck like that.

40

P1: OTA/XYZ P2: ABCJWBK510-01 JWBK510-Cunliffe February 15, 2011 13:5 Printer: Yet to come

HOLY COW!

Playing the blame game rarely proves a usefulexercise, especially when a greater power hasmarked your card

Some thrive on uncertainty, others would turn the tide to avoidit if they could. Like it or not though, the only thing we can bereally sure of at sea is that we never know what’ll happen next.

Last week, I dropped my biggest anchor on my foot. Was I unlucky,or was it my own stupid fault? There are arguments on both sides,but before examining what constitutes a genuine accident, it’s worthsparing a thought for a crew of Japanese fishermen as reported in theAustralian Financial Review.

These honest sons of the sea were cruising home mending their netswhen a large cow fell from the sky, plunged through the deck beforetheir astonished gaze, continued past the fish hold and out throughthe bottom. You might be thinking that the beast would have beenbetter employed supplying milk to the thirsty, but the fishermen hadother priorities because their boat was sinking rapidly. When they were

1


SAILING, YACHTS AND YARNS

finally pulled from the water, nobody believed their story. Far frombeing returned to their loved ones, they were interrogated and slung injail, presumably under suspicion of insurance fraud.

Weeks later, the truth was leaked by the Russian Air Ministry. Ap-parently the crew of a cargo plane had stolen a cow, herded her aboard,then taken off for home and a fresh beef dinner. The plan backfiredsomewhere over the Sea of Japan when the hitherto mild-manneredcudster awoke to the fact that her future looked short and far frompleasant. So violent were her berserk rampages that the aircraft’s stabil-ity was compromised, leaving the airmen little alternative but to shovethe beast out of the door. The chances of her making landfall on theboat below were so remote that not even Mr ‘Jobsworth’ the assessorcould blame the fishermen. It just hadn’t been their day.

We can contrast this misadventure with the affair of a young man inmid-ocean on a 21ft boat when his pressure-driven cooking stove ranlow on alcohol half-way through supper. These units are considered bymany as safer than propane, and lighting the rings follows a sequence.The fuel tank is pressurised with a hand pump with the supply to theburner turned off. The burner is now heated so that it will vapourisethe fuel for combustion. This is done by igniting a small amount ofraw alcohol tipped into an open pan under the base of the burner.With good timing, the pressurised fuel can be turned on just beforethe flames in the pre-heating pan die. If the burner is hot enough, thestove catches and roars into satisfying life. If it isn’t, you either get thebenefit of a jet of burning liquid fuel, or nothing at all. If you miss theright moment and the burner is hot enough, you’re still in with a goodchance of lighting it with a match.

Our gallant mariner’s stew was nearly ready but, as the gravy warmedup, the fuel ran down until it became obvious he must refill it. Ratherthan go through the whole ritual, he opted to open the tank and topit up before the burner cooled off, then pump it up again while itwould still work. He’d done it before, but this time his luck was outand an awkward wave spilled his fuel container onto the cooker. Thisflashed up all right, but not in the way he’d intended. His beard wasburning merrily by the time he leapt over the side. So was the cabin ashe struggled back on board, but his fire extinguishers were well sited tosave his skin and his boat.

2


HOLY COW!

An unfortunate accident? I don’t think so, do you? It is to thisexcellent adventurer’s credit that he was able to complete a fine circum-navigation, but if it had ended there and then, he couldn’t really claimto have been unlucky.

These contrasting catastrophes throw our more modest mishaps intoperspective. We live in a culture of blame in which someone, somewheremust be held responsible for everything. If an out-of-control marinatrolley pushed by a speed freak injures us as we sit minding our ownbusiness on a bollard, we probably have good reason to feel aggrieved.Accountability is less clear if we’re hurt tripping over an unfair plankon a pontoon. Many would sue as a matter of course. Others mighttake the view that failing to look where we’re going could just be ourown fault.

Out at sea, it’s no good complaining about who’s to blame whenthings go wrong and urgent action is needed. The starting point forany subsequent investigation must be that we are responsible for ourboats and actions, although accidents can happen from gear failuresthat the skipper couldn’t be expected to anticipate. We might look tothe manufacturer of a nearly-new winch whose pawls fail in normal useand break someone’s arm with a flailing handle, but if a block that Ididn’t bother to inspect this year bursts, then whatever the consequencesI have only two choices. Either I foolishly curse my luck or I blamemyself like a gentleman.

Happily, however, there are still misfortunes for which we remainas guiltless as the fishermen sunk by the cow. When the sea breeze wehoped would kick in and blow us home turns unaccountably into a stiffheadwind, it’s either plain hard cheese or it’s an Act of God. Submit allclaims to The Almighty, c/o St Peter, Pearly Gates Yacht Club.

3

8 0

Denmark

Orkney

Dublin

The Vikings are widely recognized as some of the greatest seafarers of all time and are credited with making long ocean voyages in open boats. The only true way to discover how these warriors (and peaceful settlers) handled the challenges of navigation, tides, rough weather and provisioning is to recreate a Viking voyage – and that’s exactly what a team of hardy historians have done.

Before attempting a Viking voyage you need a Viking boat. Fortunately the remains of a 30-metre vessel were discovered in Denmark. Skuldelev 2 is one of the largest and most sophisticated crafts ever discovered from this period and archaeologists pieced together her remains and used this information to create a replica. They also analysed the timbers and discovered that she had been built in around 1042 in Dublin, Ireland, a city that was founded by Viking settlers. If she had been sailed from Dublin to Denmark, her replica could be sailed back.

Four years of painstaking construction using traditional tools and techniques led to the construction of Sea Stallion. Over 7,000 iron nails and rivets, 2 km of rope and 300 oak trees were needed for its reconstruction. Next came the task of choosing the 65 volunteer crew, about the same number that would have sailed on the original Skuldelev 2.

With kit and food stored onboard, Sea Stallion set sail from Denmark on 1 July, 2007, bound for Dublin, 1,609 km away.

The journey that followed was a tale of hardship and headwinds with unseasonable summer gales testing the boat and crew to the limit. The ancient design proved itself incredibly capable and with the wind blowing from astern the single-sailed craft could reach speeds of up to 12 knots. The simple square of canvas did not perform so well with a headwind and it took a great deal of trial and error to fi nd the best way to beat into the breeze.

What the crew dreaded most of all were calms because this meant rowing the vast and incredibly heavy craft. Sea Stallion carried 60 oars but only half of these would be used at one time, allowing rowers to rest between their backbreaking labours at the rowlocks.

The route took the boat and crew from Denmark to Norway and then across to the Orkneys at the tip of Scotland. Constant adverse weather forced the skipper to accept a tow across the North Sea – time was running out and the scheduled arrival time in Dublin could not be missed. It was a decision that saddened all onboard and leaves the door of opportunity open to other adventurers who fancy recreating the voyage unaided.

Sea Stallion continued through the Scottish islands and via the Isle of Man to Dublin. She received a very warm welcome with the crew enjoying the odd pint of celebratory Guinness, the black gold that had yet to be invented in the 11th century.

The crew had endured many sleepless nights on board with waves repeatedly breaking over those off-watch sailors who tried to grab some rest on the open deck. The six-week journey had not been without outside assistance but had proved that such boats were capable of crossing seas and delivering crew safely to shore.

SAIL LIKE A VIKINGCross the North Sea in search of black gold

categoryvoyages and destinations

locationNorth Sea and Irish Sea

diffi cultytricky

time45 days

tempted by this? try rafting across the Pacifi c

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