FURTHER ROUND THE WORLD WITH SHERPA BILL

Hazel Perkes

(Hazel wrote in August from Darwin, continuing her account of Sherpa Bill and the Round the World Sailing Trip begun in the last issue.)

We had six glorious months in New Zealand, during which we made full use of the car and camping equipment and toured both North and South Islands extensively. We went white water rafting, flew over Mount Cook in a helicopter, walked up to the Franz Joseph Glacier, had a jet boat ride and an old fashioned cruise on the lake at Queenstown on board the steamship TSS Earnshaw, and to crown it all a perfect day's cruise at Milford Sound with sunshine, blue skies and no sand flies, which it appears is very rare. We are so very grateful to family and friends, new and old, who showed us such kindness and made our stay so memorable. We visited farms, learnt about sheep, deer and goats, went fishing (successfully) at dawn on Lake Taupo, and Bill had a marvellous flight in a glider and a day's sailing on Chris Fewtrell's Straycat. (He found multihull sailing very exhilarating).

In our busy social life Sherpa Bill was not forgotten and she received lots of attention. We took her out of the water at Australs yard shortly after we reached New Zealand and lived aboard her there. We fitted a new mast step, had new, longer, lighter spinnaker poles made and their track extended up the mast where they now live -- such an improvement. All the sails were overhauled and a new top panel put in the original spinnaker, now over 25 years old! The hull was repainted and the bottom antifouled. The Harbour Board really look after the visiting yachties and everything was made incredibly easy to ensure a happy stay -- they even threw a Going Away Party for us all at the end of April. We then had a month's cruising, visiting the lovely Great Barrier Island and, of course, the Bay of Islands. A quiet, enjoyable time and we were extremely sorry when it was time to say farewell to so many friends and take our leave.

We were joined for the crossing to Australia by Hayley Smith, whom we had met in South Island. In spite of never having sailed before she did really well and caught a large tuna on her first try -- a most welcome addition to our diet. Our departure was delayed by bad weather, but then the going was slow until we ran into the top of a trough and hove-to for six hours as the wind was on the nose and it was very wet. In the darkness of early morning the front passed over and the wind went light, though there was still thunder and lightning all about. In an attempt to clear the area we set the full mainsail and No 2 genoa and were congratulating ourselves that we had escaped when a sudden, unpredicted squall came up from our lee side and threw us aback. Amid violent thunder and torrential rain Sherpa Bill lay over, pinned down by her sails, as we rushed to let off the mainsheet and then lower the sail. However the genoa would not come down as it was pinned against the spreaders. We gybed around to free it, and got it down in a big heap, but not before it had ripped right across from leach to luff.

At this stage we noticed a light astern. We thought for a moment that it was a ship, but then realised it was one of our lifebuoys which had been washed overboard. As we'd spent a good deal of time repairing the light before we left we did not wish to lose it and started the engine to go back and pick it up. We did check that no lines were over the side, but missed one from the boom preventer up forward. This went around the prop shaft but did not stop the propeller. With lightning striking all around us we managed to retrieve the buoy. At this stage we stopped the escalating mishaps and lay under bare poles until dawn. A couple of days later, with the crew keeping a sharp lookout for sharks and with a line securely around him, Bill dived and cleared the propeller.

The storm a thing of the past we sailed for the next week with gentle breezes and blue seas towards Australia. We entered at Bundaberg and were delighted to meet up with Colin and Marilyn Ford aboard Allure, also from Cowes. The genoa was quickly repaired by an efficient man in Gladstone.

Next came 1400 miles up the Queensland coast inside the Great Barrier Reef. We met kangaroos at Brampton Island, where the charming resort hostess sent the train to the pierhead to collect our bundles of rubbish from the dinghy. An emu strolled out of the bush to greet us on Percy Island, and we cuddled the koalas at the sanctuary on Magnetic Island. The only shark we saw was the one Bill caught on his fishing line one evening and landed in the cockpit. On identifying it he quickly put the rod back over the side and the shark kindly left!

We planned to `day sail' up the coast, but found the current so strong and the South East Trade Winds so steady that we were covering the ground too quickly. So it became `morning sails', with the afternoons spent ashore exploring the coral cays, sandy islands and headlands which provided the necessary protection for a night's stop. Due to `El Nino' the water was not as clear as it usually is, and what with sea snakes, salt water crocodiles and sharks we did not go swimming. Shoes must always be worn in and around the water because of the stonefish -- one bite is fatal.

We enjoyed a few days in the Whitsunday group of islands, famous for their miles and miles of white sand, but the winds often blew at 25-30 knots. We had one wet day, during our few days at Lizard Island where we were very interested to visit the Research Station, but it was the dry season and if we had been relying on rain to fill our tanks we would have been in trouble.

Towns are few and far apart and after Cooktown, where in the 1770s James Cook spent three months repairing Endeavour after hitting a reef, there are 400 miles of uninhabited coast with only a few homes at Portland Roads. We sailed up the coast with just a few other yachts. The only company was the prawners and fishing boats, working all night and sleeping all day, out for months at a time and `serviced' by barges from Cairns.

We eventually reached Cape York, `The Top of Australia', and to our surprise found, tucked into the trees, a kiosk selling cold drinks -- bliss. We much enjoyed a few days of civilisation at Thursday and Horn Islands, where a small shop/cafe provided us with all our needs and the water was a glorious clear turquoise. Then came a five day sail across the Gulf of Carpentaria which proved to be one of the most glorious sails of our lives -- perfect sailing conditions and at night a full moon. Very romantic!

Darwin, rebuilt after the cyclone in the 1970s, is lush and green, much to our surprise, and we are really enjoying our time here. We took the opportunity to explore inland with a `Three Day Adventure' to the Katherine Gorge and Kakadu National Park. Just seven people plus our guide, we went horseriding in the bush with buffalo, cattle and hundreds of wallabies, swam and drank tea from the billy before riding to the camp at sunset, cooked dinner over open wood fires, and slept in the open under the stars. Early in the morning we went canoeing in the Gorge, then on to Kakadu to see the Aboriginal paintings on the rocks, a flight over Arnhemland and the amazing sight of the escarpment, and to round it all off a glorious evening cruise on the Mary River -- an ornithologist's delight -- where the salt water crocodiles were lazing on the sandbars ... awaiting their dinner? It was quite marvellous and gave us some idea of the size and variety of this enormous country.

Now it's August and we're preparing for the passage across the Indian Ocean. We've only used two gallons of diesel since leaving New Zealand so fuel is not a problem! We hope to stop at Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling and Mauritius before continuing to South Africa and celebrating Christmas in Cape Town. Then it's up the South Atlantic to the Caribbean, before returning home in July 1994.