Get Lost On Purpose

Author: Drew

  • Boat Jobs and Sailing Stories

    It was hot yesterday.  No wind, no clouds.  So I hung out on the boat all day working on odd jobs trying to avoid the sun with hopes of saving my recent layer of new skin.   Some water got left in the hose leading to the head and during the four months Dosia was in storage in Raiatea and some nasty stuff grew in there.  Every time I turn on the sink or the shower in the head, it smells funky, you might say “ripe,” for the first 20 seconds.  I began the job of pulling out the hose to see what can be done and made it about 4 feet before I cranked up the computer and started surfing.  This cartoon explains it all.

    So I was looking up some sailing stories and found some interesting stuff.  In Australia the other day, they found a dog who fell off a sailboat some 4 months ago and, after a 6 mile swim, survived on an island by herself eating goats.

    Then I got onto ghost ships and read about the old time Mary Celeste, which was found abandoned at sea in the 1870’s sailing herself merrily along towards Gilbraltar.  That story led me to the Kaz II.  Stories like these are freaking crazy.  A small catamaran is found drifting off the northern coast of Australia in 2007.   The engine is running, a laptop is sitting out turned on, and the table is set.  There is even a video camera with footage of the crew right up until the time of their disappearance.  No signs of distress or foul play.  Only a sailboat missing its three-man crew floating in the ocean.

    There’s 94 boats on the puddle jump list.  And I know of at least one other coming from Ecuador that’s not on the list.  I talked with Mike from Polynesia Yacht Services the other day and he said his emails dropped from 300 last year to 50 this year so it looks like it may be a slow season.   I don’t know whether that surprises me or not.  You wouldn’t think the economy would have such an effect on cruisers who, most likely, have been planning their departure for years but maybe some had to actually cancel their plans.  Who knows…  I guess we’ll find out soon enough.  Much of the fleet has just arrived in the Marquesas and will slowly make their way towards the Societies.  It sure will be nice to have some english speakers around.

  • Cruising and the Internet

    As I sat here today checking the progress of the Puddle Jumpers on their way across the pond this year, I realized how nuts it is to high speed internet access here on the boat.  When I graduated high school, wifi was barely a blip on the radar.  Now, twelve years later, I’m sitting at anchor in one of the most beautiful places in the world sending text messages to Margie in Georgia and updating my Twitter page.  Many cruisers will argue I’m not really experiencing “the life” if I’m plugged into what’s going on at home but welcome to the future people.  As we get closer to a “viable” satellite broadband solution for smaller yachts I think cruising will shift to a younger, still career-minded crowd.  I put viable in quotes because they do have systems on the market but the data transfer amounts are still small for how much money they want.  How many jobs these days require nothing more than a desk, a computer, and the internet.  Hell, I was up at 3:30 this morning to monitor the opening of the stock market.  With the right technology, those jobs can be done from any where in the world, even the middle of the ocean.  No reason we shouldn’t have graphic designers, active traders, and other web based business people out here then.  That’s why I check blogs like Panbo’s Marine Electronics continuously waiting for the next big announcement.  It shan’t be long till I check the site one day to hear Ben Ellison raving about a $100/month all-you-can-eat satellite broadband provider.  I’d be happy to shell out several thousand on equipment if someone could come up with that.

    Speaking of communications.  I looked over today and realized I haven’t once turned on my SSB radio since I’ve been in the Pacific Ocean.  I spent all that money and time installing it and I only used it a few months in the Caribbean to pick up Chris Parker’s weather net.  I only use the Iridium for email these days.  It’s so easy.  And maybe I’m a little anti-social when it comes to radio nets.  So what.  Doesn’t make me a bad cruiser.  So I made a note and tomorrow I shall be up at 5am to monitor the nets and see how the Puddle Jumpers are doing.  Let’s see if I can get some use out of the thing this year.

    ssb

  • Sailed to Moorea

    It seems I am safe over here in Moorea from the worsening Dengue Fever outbreak in French Polynesia.  It’s not like I can be concerned with it anyways since apparently I’m only one of 2.5 billion people living in “at risk” areas.  It’s epidemic in over 100 countries.  I pulled out my old WHO International Certificate of Verification to see what I’d actually been vaccinated against a few years ago when I had the shots.  Hmmm…let’s see Tetanus, Diphtheria, Polio, Typhoid, and Hepatitis B.   Well, I’ve managed not to stab myself with any metal objects while traveling so that’s good.  No need for the Tetanus.  I’ve hopefully avoided food and water laced with Typhoid infected feces (although I certainly ate some questionable things at Carnival in Salvador, Brazil) so no such need for the Typhoid shot.  As for Hepatitis B,  I’ve managed to steer clear of whores on my journey, short of one who wasn’t even foreign, so I think I could have done without that one as well.   It seems Dengue is the only disease I’ve come close to out here and there isn’t even a vaccine for it!   Next time, I’ll skip the shots.  After all, you could compare them to insurance and I’m out here without a lick of that (health, boat, or otherwise), so why be concerned with it?

    In my opinion, Moorea is the most beautiful of all the Society Islands and so far, this anchorage at the mouth of Opunohu Bay is the best.  I’m anchored in 12′ of water so clear it looks like you can reach out and touch the bottom from the bow.  The reef is to my left and a small public beach is to my right.

    Opunohu Bay Anchorage moorea-anchor-chain

    I spent the first night in Cook’s Bay.  It’s gorgeous in there and I would have loved to spend a couple more nights but alas, the real world calls and I needed the internet to get some work done.

    cooks-bay-dosia

    I planned to come to Moorea first thing on Saturday morning but at 6:30am a massive Va’a race flew past the mooring field at Maeva Beach in Tahiti.  Va’a, outrigger canoe racing, is every bit as important to the people of Polynesia as Georgia football is to Athens, Ga.  I’d estimate that between 6:30 and 8 o’clock, fifty race boats and 300+ support and cheering boats passed by on their way out the pass to Moorea.  The “follower” boats were loaded down with spectators flying the flag of the team they support and cheering them on.  I assume they start racing that early in hopes of finishing before the tradewinds kick in sometime between 10am and noon.  I left the mooring around nine to cross the Sea of Moons to Moorea, about a ten-mile trip, and by eleven all the boats were passing me on the way back to Tahiti.  Those guys are nuts.

  • Greatest logo in the world

    HinanoHinano, the beer of Tahiti must have the greatest logo design in the world.  I love it on signs, tshirts, and even right here on this can I’m drinking.    Google supposedly has the most popular logo in the world but does it inspire tropical fantasies in your head?  No.  From the Hinano logo, you are inundated with South Pacific images.  The polynesian girl with the Ei of flowers on her head, the wind-swept palms on the motu in the background, and the calm waters of a lagoon; all this on your can or bottle.  Hinano Logo hinano4 They have an entire clothing line with their own models and they sponsor sports teams, surfing competitions, and outrigger canoe races.  They seem to have a hand in 80% of advertising that goes on in these islands.  I thought the brand is unheard of where I’m from but according to their clothing line website, it’s sold at a bunch of stores on the North Carolina coast!  I’ll still load up on t-shirts while I’m here though.

    By the way, the ring of flowers on her head is, I believe, called an Ei here in Tahiti and it looks like it is made of Tiare flowers, the national flower of French Polynesia (a form of Gardenia).  For anyone coming to Tahiti, when you get off the plane someone will most likely offer you one of these flowers.  It you are taken, that is to say, if you are in love, you put the flower behind your left ear.  If you are single, your right ear.  It’s hilarious how many women I see running around here with their husbands in tow and a Tiare behind their right ear.  The locals probably ignore it by now but I figured I’d point it out anyways.