40s and 50s Memories
Water Rally (BWR). I had always wanted to
circumnavigate the world, and so, eager to
join the BWR, I had a Dixon 57 built in Hayling
Island, which was ready by 2000. The BWR
reached Panama in 2002, and there we joined
the Rally, having spent the summer of 2001 in
the Caribbean. In fact, it was at the San Blas
Islands that we actually met up with the Rally, a
part of the world almost untouched by western
civilization. In the outer islands I used the water
maker to fill up the water cans of the indigenous
Cuna Indians to save them 20 miles of paddling.
Crossing the Panama Canal in the yacht was a
memorable experience. Gatun Locks lift boats
85 feet, after which you motor 43 miles to
Miralores Locks where you are lowered 52 feet
into the Pacific Ocean.
In the Pacific, we made our longest ocean
crossing, some 3,200 NM from Galapagos
to the Marquesas, during which we were
becalmed in the Doldrums for two days. Now I
understand why people went mad and jumped
overboard in the olden days, but we were
able to motor gently and get a little breeze on
deck. Eventually we crossed the Equator and
reached French Polynesia. This scattered set
of islands comprises the Marquesas, Tuomotos
and the Society Islands. In this region, there
are now virtually no commercial ships visiting,
except at Tahiti. In the Tuomotos no boat had
come for two years, indeed since the last BWR.
They gave us a marvellous welcome! Then at
Nuie, in the Cook Islands, the smallest country
in the world, there are only old people left, all
the young having left for New Zealand, Tonga,
Fiji, Vanuatu and Cairns.
My best sailing ever then occurred. This was
inside the Great Barrier Reef, at nine knots
in a flat calm sea. Here though, no swimming
takes place because of the "salties", the huge
crocodiles protected there.
Then we reached Kupang in Indonesia, arriving
up the very same steps as Captain Bligh of the
Bounty. In Komodo, we saw the dragons, and
in Bali, the aftermath of "the bomb." Then we
followed the Rally as far as Singapore, Malaysia
and Phuket, where we left the BWR. It was
on Boxing Day in 2004 when we sailed from
Malaysia to Phuket and the tsunami passed under the boat without us feeling a thing. It was
a horrible shock when we arrived at Phi Phi, a
tourist island 25 miles off Phuket, to see all the
debris and bodies lying around.
On reaching Phuket, we decided to help as
best we could. Many of our friends around
the world sent us a considerable amount of
money, initially intended for the rebuilding of 12
beach restaurants. In the event, I had a sum
much bigger than was needed for that task
alone, and so I was thrust in the mainstream
of the charity business. For those interested in
following this up further our website is: www.
cocodemertsunamiappeal.
Phuket relies on tourism, so after the disaster
many people had no work. So we started granting
scholarships to students where the breadwinner
was out of work or was dead. Initially we had
nine 15 year old students beginning High
School, seven of whom are graduating from
university this year. Since then sponsors have
generously awarded scholarships and we have
been able to help 60 students so far.
In 2007 we joined BWR 2005 and sailed back
to Europe. In Sri Lanka, Galle was still badly
damaged, but the Maldives were most attractive.
The crossing over the Indian Ocean was made
in convoys of five to six yachts. In 2011, a BWR
yacht named Quest was boarded by pirates
and the four man American crew murdered.
The BWR has regretfully ceased operating after
eight Rallies with over 200 participating yachts.
We reached Fetiye in Turkey on the 9th April and
this completed my personal circumnavigation
of the globe, as I had been here in 1990 on my
previous boat.
On August 13th my yacht Coco de Mer caught
fire in Kithera, Greece and was completely
destroyed, leaving the four crew with just the
clothes they were wearing. Fortunately, I was
insured and even more fortunately, it had not
happened in mid-Pacific.
My ocean sailing days are over, and I am now
land-based in Phuket, with just a 37 ft motor
boat. I live with a Thai partner who happens
to be a professional sailor and cook. We are
taking 28 students to Phi Phi next weekend for
their annual outing, so it is very useful having a
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