The Journal of the Ocean Cruising Club ®
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AALSMEER, HOLLAND Q THOMASTON, MAINE Q ABERDEEN, HONG KONG +1 207 354 0804 Q www.epifanes.com FOLLOW US 2 OCC FOUNDED 1954 offi cers COMMODORE Anne Hammick VICE COMMODORES Simon Currin REAR COMMODORES Daria Blackwell Jenny Crickmore-Thompson REGIONAL REAR COMMODORES GREAT BRITAIN Chris & Fiona Jones IRELAND Alex Blackwell NORTH EAST USA Dick & Moira Bentzel SOUTH EAST USA Bill & Lydia Strickland WEST COAST NORTH AMERICA Ian Grant CALIFORNIA & MEXICO (W) Rick Whiting NORTH EAST AUSTRALIA Nick Halsey SOUTH EAST AUSTRALIA Paul & Lynn Furniss ROVING REAR COMMODORES Bill & Laurie Balme, David Bridges, Suzanne & David Chappell, Andrew Curtain, Franco Ferrero & Kath McNulty, David & Juliet Fosh, Ernie Godshalk, Bob & Judy Howison, Simon & Hilda Julien, Jonathan & Anne Lloyd, Pam McBrayne & Denis Moonan, Sue & Andy Warman PAST COMMODORES 1954-1960 Humphrey Barton 1960-1968 Tim Heywood 1968-1975 Brian Stewart 1975-1982 Peter Carter-Ruck 1982-1988 John Foot 1988-1994 Mary Barton 1994-1998 Tony Vasey 1998-2002 Mike Pocock 2002-2006 Alan Taylor 2006-2009 Martin Thomas 2009-2012 Bill McLaren 2012-2016 John Franklin SECRETARY Rachelle Turk Westbourne House, 4 Vicarage Hill Dartmouth, Devon TQ6 9EW, UK Tel: (UK) +44 20 7099 2678 Tel: (USA) +1 844 696 4480 e-mail: [email protected] EDITOR, FLYING FISH Anne Hammick Falmouth Marina, North Parade Falmouth, Cornwall TR11 2TD, UK Tel: +44 1326 212857 e-mail: [email protected] OCC ADVERTISING Details page 228 OCC WEBSITE www.oceancruisingclub.org 1 CONTENTS PAGE Editorial 3 A Penchant for the Primitive 5 Ellen Massey Leonard Sending Submissions to Flying Fish 18 High and Dry in Antarctica 20 Steve Brown From the Archives 27 Frederick Thurber A Rough Atlantic Crossing 39 Alaix Gainza From the galley of ... 50 Tim Bridgen, Janice (also on pages 72, 104 & 186) Fennymore-White and Jane Eastman The Seven Year Itch 53 Stuart Letton Our Greek Odyssey, continued 59 Mike & Helen Norris Passage to Horta 75 Chris Haworth Heading South? Go North! 83 Jonno Barrett Sun, Sextants and Scrimshaw 98 Charlie Frost Bahamian Moorings 106 Phil & Norma Heaton Book Reviews 121 Cape Horn and Antarctic Waters, Knox-Johnston on Seamanship and Seafaring, Yanmara: Ship’s Cat, Astronauts of Cape Horn, Vanishing Sail (film), First Aid at Sea, The Narrow Dog Trilogy, Racundra’s Third Cruise, In Bed with the Atlantic Of Boobies and Breakages 135 Charlie Braffett & Julia Rahal South Georgia 142 Rev Bob Shepton The End of the Affair 159 Linda Crew-Gee Cérès through the Russian... Inland Waterways, Part 2 166 Thierry J-L Courvoisier Trawler Trash in the Marshall Islands 176 Janice Fennymore-White Tandem Anchoring 188 Bill Salvo & Nancy Hearne Northwest Pacific Passage 192 Annika Koch and Björn Christensson Maine to the Rock with Kite 203 Jack and Zdenka Griswold Obituaries and Appreciations 214 Advertisers in Flying Fish 227 Advertising Rates and Deadlines 228 HEALTH WARNING The information in this publication is not to be used for navigation. It is largely anecdotal, while the views expressed are those of the individual contributors and are not necessarily shared nor endorsed by the OCC or its members. The material in this journal may be inaccurate or out-of-date – you rely upon it at your own risk. 2 I always wonder if anyone ever reads the editorial, so it’s really nice when my requests bring results! This was the case with my appeal for more proof-readers in Flying Fish 2018/1, and though only one (excellent) volunteer came forward in time to assist with this issue, two more have put their heads above the parapet more recently and will be initiated on 2019/1. The turnover rate tends to be slow, fortunately, as most proof-readers assure me they really enjoy it and some have read every word of every issue for decades. Now that’s what I call dedication! From the sublime to the ridiculous – well, not quite! – and what I’m asking for this time are more recipes, ideally short ones which can be squeezed into half a page or less. When I started the feature in Flying Fish 2009/2 my intention was to use recipes to fill those irritating gaps at the ends of articles – the ones which are too small for a half-page advertisement but rather too big for a snatch of poetry, philosophy or other bon mot – so while the occasional longer recipe is fine, it’s the short, simple, boat-friendly ones that I welcome most. One day we must have a bring-a-plate party featuring only items made from recipes which have appeared in the Fish – it could be quite a feast! Back to the sublime – or at least the very impressive – and as someone struggling to learn Portuguese I take my hat off to the four members who’ve written for this issue despite English not being their first language. This underlines just what a worldwide Club we are and I would urge anyone, native English-speaker or not, who has a story to tell but is unsure of their writing skills to have a go. Spell-checkers do much to help with our sometimes crazy spelling, and as editor it’s part of my job to sort out any grammatical glitches, though hopefully without losing the author’s own, individual voice. Turn to pages 39, 166 and 192 to decide for yourself whether I’ve succeeded. You may already have noticed that this is the fattest Fish for several years, and this is reflected in the wide variety of places it features. From Alaska to Antarctica, North Cape to South Georgia, and the Aegean to the Marshall Islands via the Bahamas, our members have not just been there but have invited you to accompany them, in spirit at least. And, as always, their photos are just as evocative as their words. Finally, the usual reminder – the DEADLINE for submissions to Flying Fish 2019/1 is Friday 1st February, though I always try to be flexible if the issue isn’t full. I have three articles already on file, however, plus another promised, so don’t leave writing until the last moment ... and unless you’re a seasoned contributor, please read Sending Submissions to Flying Fish on page 18, or the more detailed Guidelines for Contributors downloadable from the homepage of the Flying Fish online archive, before you start. Many thanks indeed, and I look forward to hearing from you! Cover Photo: Celeste at anchor in the beautiful Tuamotus, August 2018 – see A Penchant for the Primitive, page 5. Drone photo by Ellen and Seth Leonard 3 4 A PENCHANT FOR THE PRIMITIVE: Refl ections on spending my twenties at sea Ellen Massey Leonard (Ellen and Seth Leonard both grew up sailing, and set off on a four-year westabout circumnavigation from Maine via Panama and the Cape of Good Hope in 2006, when they were 20 and 23. Despite moving to landlocked Switzerland on their return for Seth’s PhD in Economics, they continued voyaging each summer, covering over 13,000 miles in Alaska and the Arctic between 2013 and 2017 – see Voyaging to the Top of America in Flying Fish 2016/1. They returned to warmer climes by sailing to Mexico in the winter of 2017/18, and recently completed their second Pacific crossing, followed by a three-month cruise through the French Polynesian islands. They celebrated 50,000 sea miles on the crossing and hope to sail many more! All photographs are by Ellen and Seth Leonard, as is this issue’s evocative cover photo. Visit their impressive blog at https://gonefloatabout.com/ for many more.) As we sailed into Kodiak, Alaska in June 2017, I realised it was exactly ten years to the day since my husband Seth and I had made landfall after our first ocean crossing. I remember that moment vividly. Ever since I’d learned to sail at age six I had wanted to cross the Pacific, and here I was, only 21 years old, having done just that. Seth and I had been alone at sea together for nearly Starting out aged 20 and 23 ... ... and back in the South Pacific, twelve years later 5 a month, and in all that time had communicated only with one another. Entirely removed from the world beyond our watery horizon, we’d fallen into a quietly efficient and contented routine – of watches, meals, bucket showers, navigation, reading and simply observing our pelagic world. Neither of us wanted it to end. Sighting Hiva Oa, deep green beneath a bank of cloud, was almost bittersweet – the fulfilment of childhood dreams, the tangible evidence of a great accomplishment, but also the end of those magical days at sea. After rowing ashore it took us over an hour to walk the mile or so to the gendarmerie in Atuona, so bowled over were we by the sights, scents, and sounds of land. At one point, while we were admiring a songbird by the side of the road, a truck slowed to see what had us so enthralled. Those Marquesan men were the first people we’d talked to, besides each other, in a month.