LETTERS

Rona House, cruising in the Pacific aboard her Vancouver 27 Cacique, decided to write something a little different for Flying Fish:

Since I last wrote to Flying Fish, Cacique and I have cruised the northern Cooks, Samoas, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand (where Gene left). I managed a fair bit of gunk-holing in New Zealand, which I can't pass by without saying how wonderful the country and it people are and mentioning in particular our Representative for the Bay of Islands, George Bateman, and his wife Dorothy, whom I cannot praise too strongly. From there I moved on to Australia and am presently sailing up the Barrier Reef. If all goes well I will be back in England in less than twelve months via the Red Sea.

I've met so many OCC members recently who have told me they are writing for Flying Fish that I decided not to write myself*, but composing my annual catch-up-with-the-news letter for family and friends prompted a few thoughts so:

LETTERS HOME

Tell a tale of pirates and every ear pricks up,

Slash and cut and buckles swashed are what it's all about.

But tell a tale of balmy nights when stars reach to the ground,

then eyes will close and legs stretch out and stifled yawns soon sound.

Tell a tale of cyclones and jaws will drop in awe.

The lightning flash, the breaker's crash will raise heroic roars.

But tell a tale of market stalls, of scowls and smiles and banter,

then cakes are passed and sugar spooned and teacups soon with clatter.

Tell a tale of jungles and eyes are all agog.

With just knife the hero leaps to slay that hungry croc.

But tell a tale of waterfalls, sundappled serene pools?

The moments there without delay to bring out chip-filled bowls.

Tell a tale of romance and noses twitch with glee

as the desert sheik with eyes like coals exacts his lustful fee.

But tell a tale of friends well met, of mellow sundown chats,

then chairs soon creak and hands are drawn, to playing with the cat.

So what should I write home about from this far distant sea?

Intrepid, brave, heroic heart? That surely isn't me.

Not to jungles, romance, hurricanes am I drawn like a salmon,

I never seek out adventures - but still somehow they happen.

Lin and Larry Pardey aboard Taleisin of Victoria wrote from Rodriquez in August:

Hello and best wishes. We have just finished the major part of our Indian Ocean passage, en route to South Africa, and would like to pass on two bits of information. First, Fremantle, Western Australia, is one of the best places we have ever provisioned a boat. By sailing south around Tasmania and across the Australian Bight, we not only cut almost 4,000 miles off our voyage but went to some lovely places where two or three foreign yachts in one year are considered a big fleet. At Fremantle we found excellent mooring at the Fremantle Sailing Club, first week at no cost, after that about US$180 per month, but this included membership of the club, very low cost meals, cut-rate liquour through the club and so many helpful new friends that it was a bargain in the end.

Our sail from there to Cocos Keeling was relatively fast (twelve days) and uneventful in spite of being winter - we found the trades four days north of Fremantle and in fact had a current setting with us most of the way. The passage from Cocos to Rodriques was very windy, often F8 and above, but all fair winds. We had three 160 mile days, one 190 mile day and averaged 150 miles a day all the way - but also had rain squalls and very wet decks every inch of the way too (August passage). But a very pleasant discovery here at Rodriquez, another place rarely visited by cruising yachts. There is a new harbour, blasted only a year ago. We are tied alongside a quay, right next to town, no charges, very friendly helpful people, next to a fleet of lateen-rigged fishing boats that sail out each day to fish along the reef. The channel into the harbour is well marked, right where the old Admiralty chart shows a small boat channel in Port Metherin. 40 feet of water everywhere. Well worth a stop.

In Cocos Keeling we met another OCC member, Mike Johnson of Aissa, finishing his trip to round all five southern capes the wrong way (see Capsize in the Southern Ocean, Flying Fish 1991/2). He told us of the survey done to find the perfect cruising boat. We never received the questionnaire and have not yet seen the OCC review, but did see the results in the American magazine Sail. We wonder if this survey really reflects the truth about the boats that actually work for cruising - or if it represents a bit of dreaming. Even though everyone who received the survey had to go on at least a 1,000 mile voyage, how many have actually had to pay for and maintain boats close to the supposed perfect size of 43ft? It would be interesting to do the same sort of survey, but limit it to people who have actually owned and cruised in their boats for two years or more during the past five years, and then ask them what boat they would choose to the same value of the boat they currently own - to be maintained on the budget they presently have for cruising. That would, I think, give a more accurate picture of real cruising needs ... because budgets do exist, for all of us.

Incidentally - thirteen boats arrived at Cocos Keeling during our three week stay. Their average length of cruise was 3 1/2 years to date, and four were on second circumnavigations. The largest boat was 41ft LOA and the smallest 26ft, with an average of 31.7ft LOA. Only two had roller furling headsails, and three had no inboard engines. That was in August 1992.

Chris Jones wrote to the Cruising Information Service regarding a prospective northern latitude cruise but, as they say, the cupboard was bare. Can any member assist? Contact him direct at: Bryn Bella, Fachwen, Deiniolen, Gwynedd LL55 3HD. Tel: (0286) 870982:

I am writing as a relatively new member, in the hope that you might find time to provide some valuable information which will help us in planning a 1993 North Atlantic cruise which will include the east coast of Greenland south of Ammassalik.

Let me give you some background detail. The yacht, Lord Fred, is a 36ft Herreshoff-designed steel ketch, registered in Melbourne and at present on an extended world cruise. Our projected plan is to join the vessel in South Shields on 26th June and sail north to the Shetlands and then west to visit the Faeroes and Iceland. We will have a crew change in Iceland and leave by 23rd July for the east coast of Greenland. We hope to cross to Ammassalik and then journey south, landing where we can for some short trips ashore. The voyage will continue towards Newfoundland, arriving finally in Boston around the first week in September. The yacht is, I believe, well prepared for such a journey, carrying all the usual high-tech equipment such as 406 EPIRB, GPS, radar, SSB radio, a seabrake etc, and the crew are mainly outdoor education instructors experienced in mountaineering and canoeing as well as sailing. Although three of the party have Arctic experience as canoeists on the 1991 Anglo-Soviet Northlands Sea Kayak Expedition, none of us have sailed in Arctic waters, hence the need to do some research.

I would be grateful therefore for any recent information available, particularly concerning the area south of Ammassalik, but also for any more general cruising information (eg books, articles, reports etc) which would be relevant to the south coast of Iceland or the coast of Newfoundland. I would naturally be prepared to meet the cost of any photocopying and postage.

* Who? Where? What happened to them? Tell me more! Ed