WE SEEM TO ZIGZAG ...

Lin Pardey

The last time we heard from Lin and Larry -- in the Letters section of Flying Fish 1993/2 -- they had laid Taleisin up in Knysna, South Africa and were voyaging by four-wheel-drive camper-van through Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Here we pick up on their movements since then, via a succession of letters).

7 April 1994: Cape Town, South Africa

What an adventure Africa turned out to be! From beginning to end we wondered where the stories we read in the newspapers came from, for we met with friendship, helpfulness and interest from people of all races. Goodwill is evident all around us and we have our fingers crossed for this beautiful but torn land and all its peoples.

We returned from our safari to find Taleisin in fine condition. We spent two months upgrading her, stripping topside paint, refinishing the bilges etc. I also finished a re-edit of The Care and Feeding of the Offshore Crew -- a new edition is due out late this year, which be a hundred pages longer than previously. The holidays flew by as we tried to say goodbye to all the friends we had made around Knysna and beyond. Then we set sail towards Cape Town. Nice sailing, with light winds all the way to Gordons Bay, a port thirty miles short of Cape Town. There in the tiny fishing harbour we encountered some of the strongest winds we'd seen since the Cook Straits in New Zealand, but we were the only visiting yacht and got a warm welcome. We used our time there to go out in a modern fin-keeled boat to test parachute anchors for heaving-to, part of a long-term project we're involved in.

We arrived at Cape Town just in time to join the second Wooden Boat Festival. Only twenty-two boats but what a lovely party -- two weeks of light wind racing and lots of socialising. Then we got serious and began a massive (forus) foray into the electronic age. As the video producer we had worked with in Aussie could not come out here we'd decided to use the footage we'd shot in the Indian Ocean for our own video. Just the research took weeks as we learned the lingo and looked for the best people to help us with editing. Then we scripted and organised and went sailing four different days to get extra footage. We couldn't believe it when we had almost no wind at all. This had been the windiest summer in history with eighty days of storm force winds out of ninety, but when we went out -- nothing. Then came the hardest part, sitting in an editing suite for eight to ten hours a day trying to keep an eye on two monitors at a time, making two hundred decisions a day. It was mind boggling at times but we learned a lot, including how to shoot better footage next time we plan a video. The final result is a 47 minute video entitled Cruising Coral Seas -- we'll be sending a copy to Flying Fish for review.*

28 April 1994: Laangabaan, South Africa

We sailed from Cape Town in late April, loaded to the gunnels, and headed sixty miles up the coast to the lovely lagoon at Laangabaan. Here we have sat and listened to the progress of the first all-race elections in South African history. In about a week we plan to set sail for St Helena and Brazil -- we should probably have left sooner to get the fairest winds, but couldn't leave without hearing the election results. It is an amazing moment in history.

1 September: Angra dos Reis, Brazil

After leaving South Africa and having a pleasant passage to St Helena (eleven days, distance 1300 miles, strongest wind about 25 knots) and on to Rio de Janeiro (seventeen days, 2500 miles, strongest wind again 25 knots) we decided to turn left, instead of choosing the more common route and going right. It seems to have been the correct choice for us.

Rio de Janeiro was a pleasant surprise. I have cousins there -- my grandmother came from Poland, her brother settled in Rio back in 1938 -- so our reception was full of family warmth. The marina in downtown Rio was a pleasant surprise, inexpensive, uncrowded and friendly. We had few security worries in the marina and learned that, by observing a few logical rules, we could explore the wonderful beaches from downtown, past Copacobana through Ipenema to Leblon with our two folding bicycles, and even downtown into the craziest traffic we have seen, with relative safety. Though we had heard many tales of security problems in this city it was only after leaving it that I had my wallet stolen. (I returned to Rio to do some shopping, and after a long and tiring day took a crowded bus back. For once I left my handbag on the seat beside me, instead of on my lap as the ladies of Rio do, and when we emerged from a dark tunnel my wallet and purse had gone. Some good lessons learned the hard way.)

In spite of this we had a good feeling in Rio, where everyone we dealt with tried to be helpful and friendly. We also made some nice friends among the local cruising folk. Cruising is a new thing down here. We did see both sides of Rio -- the extreme wealth, the struggling middle classes and the 20 percent or so of the population who are really poor -- yet all joined hands and had a wild celebration when Brazil won the World Cup.

Then two nephews, both fourteen, flew in from the States to join us. They kept us jumping, sailing and biking. Together we sailed south-west out of Rio to the Ilha Grande area, a hundred mile long bay full of islands, with reputedly 365 islands, several rivers and literally hundreds of bays to explore. Two very old towns form the centre of life in the bay, with 400 year old buildings, cobblestone streets and outdoor cafes. Though a lot of wealthy people have homes on the little islands and along the mainland bays, most of the population are fishermen. We are told that in summer it is crazy with tourists and summer residents, but now it is pleasantly sleepy. We have met several local residents who are interested in yachts and also speak English, so are able to get into local life. The water is warm and the climate mild, sub-tropical in winter with the water almost tropical. The fishing is good, but even better are the prawns we buy from the locals at very good prices.

We have also been putting the final touches to a distribution set-up for our videos, and finishing the schedule for a slide show and seminar tour of the US in February/March next year. We'll start at the Atlantic City New Jersey Boatshow. This will be our first visit to the States since 1989, our first boatshow visit since 1982 -- it's going to be a culture shock!

Our more immediate plans are to finish the paintwork on Taleisin which didn't get finished in South Africa due to weather problems, and have new upholstery sewn (ours is dying after eleven years). Then to head south and explore the islands between here and Florianopolis. We looked up the Port Officer Representative for Rio de Janeiro, Romulo Federici, a lovely man who helped us understand the amazing changes taking place in Brazil. We look forward to seeing more of him when we leave the Ilha Grande area and head south towards Santos in a month or two. There are very few foreign yachts here -- one from Germany, half a dozen from Argentina, so our Canadian flag gets us a warm welcome. We might carry on to Uruguay or Argentina and leave Taleisin there when we fly to the US, but aren't definite on that yet.

10 September: Ilha Grande, Brazil

Our surface mail package for the first half of 1994 caught up with us this week, including Flying Fish 1993/2. As we read through it we were struck by the fact that we seem to be out of synch with the normal mode of cruising. It has now been more than twenty-five years since we started cruising, and during that time we have only stopped and lived on shore for the four years it took to build Taleisin, plus another eleven months when we stayed ashore in New Zealand to build seawalls at the eventual home base we have established there. So it could safely be said that we have spent over twenty years actually cruising, yet we have only once completed a full circumnavigation and now, eleven years after setting off in Taleisin, we are only about two-thirds of the way around again (east-about in Seraffyn left us feeling we should go west, and so we are).

During the same time, it seems, most other OCC members could and would have completed three or four circuits. We seem to zigzag a lot. We were headed toward England when we turned left from South Africa, planning a stop in Brazil. But now, with Argentina so close, it seems the thing to do to head down there for the holiday season. So England is put off for another year, and so is the date when we may again close the loop.

24 September: Ilha Grande, Brazil

We're anchored in a small marina at the far end of Ilha Grande, the only foreign cruising boat here, while our upholstery is completely renewed by a very dedicated and careful crew. Meanwhile we are doing our outside paintwork (which is why we are at anchor instead of tied alongside). It is lovely all week, with swimming pool, three small caf's, grass all around -- like our own private villa. But what a crowd on sunny weekends!

Finally a recommendation: Before sailing to Brazil we wrote to Romulo Federici, the Port Officer Representative for Rio de Janeiro. He had complained that his Flying Fish was getting sad eyes because so few members called on him. They should -- he has been a bright spot in a very agreeable landfall, with his knowledge of the coastline and his willingness to share his optomism about his country. Although he lives in Sƒo Paulo, 300 miles from Rio, he flew in for a weekend soon after we arrived to give us a personal welcome. We plan to join him in Sƒo Paulo next month to see the sights of his favourite city under his guidance.

PS: We are doing research into boats that have safely weathered extreme gales and storms while lying hove-to ... especially if there were reports of other boats using different tactics during the same storm and suffering damage. By hove-to we mean lying with the bow 40to 50from the wind, held there by a combination of sails, or sails and sea-anchor or para-anchor. We are working on a writing project to re-introduce the principles of heaving-to -- something many new sailors are unaware of. If any members can provide information please send it to us at PO Box 17372, Salt Lake City, Utah 84117, USA. Please state boat size, method of heaving-to, location, type of storm, etc. There is some hurry, as we need the information by March.

* Not received yet, but when it is I will, if you see what I mean. Ed

(1930 words)