Entries Tagged 'Cruising Stories' ↓

For some reason I find the terms flotsam and jetsam fascinating, conjuring up images of old sailing ships sinking and lots of wooden wreckage. But what do they mean exactly?

As the name suggests, jetsam is goods or cargo which has been deliberately jettisoned by the crew, perhaps to lighten the ship in an emergency. Flotsam on the other hand is goods that are left floating after a shipwreck or that have been washed overboard accidentally. These days flotsam also tends to cover naturally occuring floating debris like driftwood.

Ships containers are lost overboard fairly regularly making dangerous flotsam for small boats. Also a lot of modern flotsam is plastic and not environmentally friendly.

Continue reading →

Many people will be familiar with the story of Donald Crowhurst and Teignmouth Electron. Crowhurst entered the Golden Globe Challenge, a single handed non stop round the world race, in 1968. He built Teignmouth Electron, a 40′ Piver designed trimaran and equiped her with electronics and safety equipment developed by his failing electronics business.

Crowhurst left on the last day permitted to start the race. He had not finished fitting equipment in the boat and, in the rush, left behind supplies and spares. Experiencing problems almost immediately Crowhurst began falsifying his position reports whilst remaining in the south Atlantic and was widely believed to be winning the race.

He realised his deception would be uncovered particularly if he won the race. Radio transmissions from Crowhurst ended in June 1969 and his abandoned boat was found adrift in July.

Salvers sold the boat to a Jamaican hotelier and it was operated by several different owners in the tourist industry there. In 1979 it was again sold and used as a dive boat on Cayman Brac in the Cayman Islands.

In 1982 I spent a few weeks working on the small island of Cayman Brac for the telephone company. I remember driving past Teignmouth Electron which was just sat on the ground across the road from the beach. I recall stopping and having a look around. The boat appeared in quite reasonable condition and at that time could only have been out of the water for a year or so. Unfortunately I didn’t have much interest in sailing at the time and had never heard of Donald Crowhurst but the name Teignmouth Electron stuck in my mind. Some years later when I came across the story of the Golden Globe Challenge it reminded of the day I came across the Teignmouth Electron.

It seems the boat stayed there high and dry and deteriorating until 2006 when artist Michael Jones Mckean bought the boat. It is unclear what if anything he intends to do with her and she is still sitting on the beach in Cayman Brac.

Many thanks to Mike Barcroft and The Marl Road for the photos.

Click here to buy “A Voyage For Madmen”. The full story of the Golden Globe Challenge.

In 1977 legendary British explorer, mountaineer and yachtsman Bill Tilman was invited to join a group of adventurers aboard the converted tug En Avant. The expedition was organised and led by 24 year old Simon Richardson with the intention of climbing Mt Foster on Smith Island close to Antarctica. Richardson had accompanied the now 79 year old Tilman on some previous expeditions and Tilman had led an unsuccessful attempt on Mt Foster in the 1960’s. The En Avant disappeared without trace en-route from Rio De Janeiro to the Falkland Islands.

Continue reading →

The BYM News reports that the conviction of visiting yachtsman James Manzari has been upheld. He has been fined $4000 and has to pay costs of $16000 plus legal costs for not announcing his arrival in his yacht within the prerequisite time frame.

Mr Manzari did in fact break the recently changed law by not informing Australian Customs of his arrival 96 hours in advance making him guilty, a fact which he has not denied. Believing there were extenuating circumstances, Mr Manzari decided to fight the charges against him.

What is not revealed in this report is that prior to his departure, Mr Manzari checked with the Australian Authorities in New Caledonia about the entry conditions for Australia. The information, which he sought in good faith, was out of date and incorrect. This apparently is Mr Manzari’s fault. He should have known better than to rely on an Australian Government agency for reliable information. In an apparent attempt to prove that we are not totally incompetent here, Australian Customs has doggedly and successfully persued Mr Manzari through the courts for this serious breach of Australia’s borders.

Mr Manzari did not try and sneak in to the Country but reported to the Authorities within the guidlines he had been given and acted in good faith. However Customs National Director Enforcement and Investigation, Brian Hurrell thinks this conviction is important in helping protect Australia’s borders from illegal activity. Onya Brian.

For a full report on this sorry saga visit The Coastal Passage

I came across the website of a young Australian, 26 year old Nick from Melbourne, who is sailing single handed from Europe to Australia. Nick has bought a Contessa 26, a small but very seaworthy boat that is popular in the UK. He is operating on very limited funds and is financing his adventure by commercial sponsorships and donations from family, friends and well wishers.

He has been documenting his trials and tribulations, which make interesting reading. So far he has sailed from England to the Canary Islands, crossing the notorious Bay of Biscay unscathed. Nick is intending to set off across the Atlantic to the Caribbean on the 10th February, a voyage which will take about 30 days. Depending on his later plans this will be one of the longest unbroken legs of his trip. The weather for this voyage is usually good with consistent trade-winds for most of the time and his wind steering should be able to steer most of the time. I hope he has plenty of books.

I wish Nick a quick and uneventful trip and look forward to hearing all about his trans Atlantic crossing in due course.

I have been fascinated by the Panama Canal since I was fortunate enough to help deliver a boat from Antigua to San Francisco. Transiting the canal was one of the highlights of the trip.

The canal was opened in 1914 and removed the need for merchant ships to sail around Cape Horn in order to travel between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Currently 14,000 vessels pass through every year including many private yachts. Ship sizes have increased since the canal was first built and today the largest merchant ships are unable to transit the canal. Work is about to commence on new locks which will accommodate bigger ships, with completion scheduled for 2015.

For those who might never get there by boat or who are planning a trip the Panama Canal Authority has a very comprehensive website with web-cams, photographs and history. Also I found this great video clip of a ship transiting the canal.