Jan 2013 WAS IT ALL A DREAM

January 2013

Was It All A Dream?

As our dream circumnavigation has come to an end our thoughts of returning to the realities of life ashore are sort of daunting to say the least, but deep down we are looking forward to returning to some basic home comforts, family and stable high speed Internet to name just a few. 

Living aboard Musketelle since shifting aboard 1st February 2007 has in hindsight been a bit of a surreal experience.  Whilst we carry passports we have been sort of stateless souls floating around the world removed from many of the realities of the land-lubbers lot.  The things that have consumed us have often been ship keeping issues like generating our own power,  waste management and disposal, water-making or sourcing ashore, buying fuel,  systems maintenance and operation, security, communications, navigation, weather etc etc.

Likewise normal housekeeping issues take on a new dimension because you are continually on the move through different jurisdictions.  Simple tasks like finding an anchorage, contacting a marina to rent a berth, sourcing food, cellphone coverage and the ever essential wifi internet access take on new meaning.

We feel like we have been the sole residents of ‘Planet Musketelle’ as a floating micro state entity within the world.   It’s all about self governance as there are no safety nets, no government assistance and no common reference points as in your own community, so you’re literally on your own, which is exactly the challenge we sought in the first place.

There are a plethora of issues affecting just us, largely unrelated to living ashore.  Issues can vary in importance from the extreme of piracy at sea to simply finding a safe anhorage or the hassles associated with coming alongside a town quay not to mention dealing with the multiplicity of banal bureaucracy often complicated by language difficulties.    

Accessibility is a real issue in some major ports with cruisers relegated to less salubrious areas of a waterfront when we are there to spend money but instead hosts unwittingly simply increase our chances of being mugged.  We are often made to feel like second class citizens, which in reality might not be helped by the very small number of cruisers who are out there ‘nickel & diming’ taking advantage of situations and the frequent goodwill of host ports and their citizens that leaves a bad taste and potentially taints all cruisers, but thankfully they are the exception. 

Getting on the Green Bandwagon

With wind as our primary form of propulsion we are genuinely green, leaving a very small carbon footprint yet we do not get any credit or recognition, rather we are seen as another revenue take option and often lumbered with unrelated taxes.  There are so many cruisers out on the high seas we really are deserving of recognition for our contribution to helping the planet as we are the omni-present independent eyes and ears of those high seas that cover 2/3rds of the planet. Most seafarers are at sea for commercial reasons whereas blue-water cruisers are out there by choice. Take it from us, the deep sea fish other than the dolphins seem to be reduced in number and the dolphins might be next.  The seabirds also seem to be checking out of the eco-system at a noticable rate with reduced numbers sighted.  With the majority of the temperate ocean fishery areas pillaged to near death no wonder the last frontier, Antarctica is under threat.

Random  Observations

Random one-liner observations and reflections from 66 months 2007/12 visiting and immersing in 30+ countries and meeting common folk in a way only cruising affords…….

*The world is going through a 20^th to 21^st century correction * global economy meltdowns will continue unabated  * the Arab world sunsets and new dawns was a major event  * the hubris of political leaders, global business leaders and bankers continues on queue * transparent corruptive practices reign in more countries than less * the wireless technology phenomenon is changing everything everywhere * robotics and technology is eliminating jobs in concerning numbers  * with many employees the job appears secondary to spending work time social networking    * Quality freshwater and food security will become paramount  * Every country has its chosen import workers who do its dirty work that unemployed state funded locals consider beneath them  * Those  countries with honest workable tax systems succeed whereas those without continue to suffer  * Most container ships on the high seas are coming from or going to China * A surprising number of countries rely on financial survival from ‘donor’ countries *  Planet sustainability is fragile at current rates of resource depletion * Palm oil is not helping diets or the environment (or the Orangatans)  * Everyone blames someone else for everything  * The value of economic migration is questionable to the new host country as the real costs are of relocation are never factored * How long before obsession with living on the planets coasts sees a return to inland locations  * $2 shops are the biggest retailer on the planet, not Wal-Mart  * Dictators and Presidents must all go to the same finishing school  * Foreign Aid projects by richer nations helping poorer nations seem designed to miss targets * Everyone wants to come and live in under populated NZ or Australia  * Building super cities and depleting regional areas is a global model    * Relocating people from their own traditional environments to other cultures helps neither  * The arrival of the 7 billionth world citizen got world attention.....for a nanosecond  * As the Internet evaporates borders nationalism is fading fast * Packaging influences food purchasing rather than nutritional value.   

That’s our ‘A’ political un ‘PC’ take on the world we passed through these last 66 months.  

Random Things We Did Not Miss from NZ

*Inane social commentary by so called celebrities * NZ television  * The new Super City *  The Treaty  * Politically Correct nonsense * Dumbing down and the Nanny State  * The Blame game
* Talkback Radio * Being told NZ is world leading in whatever *  Blaming the exchange rate on everything * The DPB industry * Obsession with Australia  * Ineffectual central government - just how  difficult is it to govern a population smaller than Sydney and 500 other major cities around the globe * Media asking patsy questions * Weeping heart stories posing as news  * Worrying about what the rest of the world will say or think * Bowing to foreign investment demands and seeing our land go into foreign ownership *  Foreigners being able to buy residential property over the Internet without actually being residents here *  Local Bodies getting involved in non-core business * NZ cow-towing to the rating agencies * Disbelief a flawed immigration policy is not recognized as the cause of the housing crisis we have returned to…….. but hey not withstanding the above comments we are still pleased to be home in the greatest little country on the planet, but don’t count on it remaining in that position if we don’t all start some honest dialogue and understanding of not just economic but social sustainability.

Our Favourite Places

Without doubt our stay in Turkey was the highlight of the voyage with over 2 years criss-crossing the Aegean Sea between Greece and the western Turkish Riviera area with its focus on sailing, ancient historic sites, more Roman history than Italy and countless ancient civilizations to keep the exploration juices flowing.    If it was not for the skipper injuring his back we would not have returned for the second year to base ourselves out of Sogut inland from Bodrum, where we found a real little slice of heaven.  We would have stayed in Greece for the back recuperation but the country was going through its first economic meltdown, the people were on edge and it did not feel like a nice place to be, so back to the friendly industrious Turks we sailed.

Cruising the Med is the stuff cruisers dreams are made of and we loved everywhere we sailed and stopped whereas the Caribbean was nice in parts, but for us nothing special overall.   The Caribbean and Pacific coasts of tropical Panama could take a year to explore and look stunning, although security can be an issue. 

French Polynesia comes out tops for us as a tropical destination.  But then we are forgetting our favourite Asian country Indonesia and the hot arid Red Sea area. Hey, all 30 countries get the nod for one reason or another and we would not change a thing.

How We Stopped

Musketelle stopped a total of 437 times on the entire 66 month voyage free anchoring on 391 occasions, using laid moorings 9 times and stopping at 37 different marina’s.   In round percentage terms we were at anchor or moored 75% and in marinas 25% of the time.  We hauled out to re antifoul on 6 occasions in Australia, Thailand, Turkey twice, Spain and Panama. We had to get professional divers to disengage our anchor on just three occasions when it got snagged on the bottom, each in deep water way beyond our capability; in Kupang Indonesia, the filthy wasters of the Port of Aden and around a coral head in the lagoon at Manahi Atoll, Tuamotus in French Polynesia. The Aden diver used dilapidated scuba diving gear that had us worried more than him and involved complex negotiations that involved the divers interpreter seeking an open ended price depending on the complexity of the unseen tangle below, but us smelling a rat and insisting on a fixed price of USD$100. We prevailed and guess what, he dived over and resurfaced in 90 seconds to inform job done !!! Just like we were done !!!  We had to laugh.

Anchoring is Fundamental
On B’s insistence we carried 4 anchors for the voyage, a Bruce, Delta, Guardian and a Fortress, the last 3 being brand new and we only used the 40kg Delta.  The Delta held us in a number of 40/50 knot blows but the length of chain has a lot to do with that.  Anchoring in weed, mud or rocks were the only occasions we had difficulties but that can apply to any anchor. Our primary 100 meter long 10mm anchor chain was replaced with new chain in Turkey and we carried another 50 meters of new chain and 200 meters of new heavy anchor rode as backup but thankfully neither was used.

The Cruising Market Opportunity for NZ

Auckland is renowned as the City of Sails but compared with many locations around the planet it is anything but for the cruising yacht.   There may be more boats per-capita in NZ but the ability to tie up to town docks for brief visits and essential shopping is pretty much non-existent such is the revenue gathering prowess of local councils and commercial marina companies that have all the best access points under control.  This concept of sterilizing prime waterfront for just the super yacht contingent is a major concern for NZ if it wants to access a larger share of the ever increasing number of cruisers who are sailing west across the Pacific each year.   There is a honey pot opportunity for NZ but many cruisers will continue to bypass us to the north and not come south to summer over for 6 months from November to April if we do not up the game. 
We are a first world country renowned as a maritime nation but we are not delivering first class access to entice cruisers to sail around the country and visit our attractive hinterland ports and harbours.   Each seaside town and city once owned and maintained wharves and jetties but these have largely been sold off or allowed to rot away as coastal shipping disappeared.  If not already done now is the time to rejuvenate and revitalize these assets and give them and the areas they are located in a new lease of life.  The vibrancy of redeveloped town and city waterfronts is renowned worldwide but it is sad to note the very use waterfronts were created for has been conveniently hijacked by other activity interests when redevelopment has taken place and boats and yachts get turfed out.  Promenading along boat laden docks in Europe is the ultimate summer evening activity but we know better and more often than not convert these areas primarily for cafes and restaurants and relegate the floating attractions to marinas behind security gates.

The suggestion is not that town docks should be free parking places for boats but a place bonafide visiting yachts can pull alongside and pay a fair and reasonable charge for a short stay or to park their dinks when they need to go shopping.  User pays is accepted and facilities can be created  which can only enrich our waterfront areas.

Ports that we visited that can claim credit for getting it right include most Greek ports, Martinique and St Barthelemy in the Caribbean and Papeete which is embarking on further improvements.   In NZ Whangarei comes closest to reading the marketing opportunity with its magnificent town basin redevelopment and there may be others, but the reality is worldwide many major port towns and cities miss the mark completely, so NZ has an opportunity to consolidate its nautical reputation and make changes that will draw increasing numbers of cruisers to not just its traditional entry ports but the country as a whole.

With improvements in the accuracy of weather forecasting sailing around NZ is a more viable opportunity for more sailors than it was previously so get the revitalization projects underway and the cruisers who act like reef fish will come in numbers, year in year out.   

We Had Luck On Our Side

It helped that we designed our circumnavigation to cobble together the equivalent of 12 summers in a row and yes we had luck on our side without any major catastrophies,  but there are a few events that come close…..…

The Back - 
P injuring his back lugging water jugs when he should have expanded the size of the watermaker with the kit we were already carrying for the purpose.  Needless to say when the back came right the watermaker was rebuilt with those parts and production leaped from 30L to 90L per hour thereafter…what were we thinking not doing it sooner.  The costs and time associated with the back debacle changed our 2010 year, changing our plans to cruise the US East Coast.

Two Groundings - 
We had two groundings in 28,000 miles sailing which wasn’t bad in the scale of things but all groundings are unplanned and avoidable so they really upset us as our floating home is critical to our survival with the hull the only thing between us and the murky depths.    Coming to a horrific grinding halt transiting the northern end of the Levkas Canal in Greece when we were seemingly on the correct side of the channel marker bouys was our biggest and most serious grounding.  Turns out the channel side marker buoys are all tethered by lines to big square concrete blocks underwater to hold them in place, but this particular line was too long meaning the tide had pushed the buoy too close to the shore and  we came along with our deep 2.5m draught keel thinking we were well inside the channel and clonked the concrete block. On getting out of the channel P dived on the keel to view a chunk of fiberglass sliced away from the leading lower edge of the keel.  Buggar.  Thankfully not structural damage but it required a costly unplanned haulout in Spain when we had just completed a haulout in Turkey a month prior, which was meant to last 2 years.

Our second touch on a coral head at Manihi Atoll in French Polynesia was thankfully not serious but the result of a sequence of events that saw us make the wrong decision to depart into a setting sun due to a delay caused by the anchor snagging on a coral head requiring assistance from an ex French Foreign Legion diver to free it at 16 metres. We did not want to stay another 24 hours so when the anchor was freed we gave a bottle of Blanc d Blanc to the friendly Frenchman and went for it.  Poor B was on the bow on lookout and saw the coral head appear out of nowhere and uncharacteristically froze watching it like an unavoidable train crash with the coral crumbling but making cosmetic grazes the length of the leading edge of the keel.

One Unplanned Kiss - 
We had one kiss or more accurately a hull crunch, with a super sized tug boat in Aden Harbour that came to our rescue when we were having starter motor problems with our engine and said tug came alongside promptly destroying a section of teak caprail which required costly replacement in Turkey. 

One Major Near Miss at Sea - 
Picture a beautiful clear sunny mid morning, 10 knot breeze all sails up sailing hard on the wind comfortably healed over slipping over the flat surface of the clear blue waters of the Red Sea (no its not red) in a humidity free 25c degrees….just heaven on water.  B is down below at the nav station on the computer and P up top on watch.  She calls him to come down and look at something on the screen so he quickly scans the horizon and goes below.  After 5 minutes he pops his head up to see that all is well to see a huge orange fishing trawler ship and we mean huge bow to bow about 30 meters off  obscured by Musketelle’s headsail with a handful of fishermen looking down upon us from a great height waiting for the inevitable crunch if one of us does not immediately change course.  Well it clearly was not going to be them judging by the anticipated entertainment value these guys were waiting for, so P swung the helm hard over to port so that we slid by each other starboard to starboard with just a 10m separation.  Whew what a heart stopping moment that was !!! and all our fault due to slack watch keeping. No excuses but we had not sighted another vessel for days.  The cursory horizon scan was clearly not enough.  A big wakeup call that scared the living daylights out of us. (we reminded ourselves of the importance of double checking under the headsail from now on when scanning the horizon)

Storms and Gales

What storms,  because luckily we avoided major weather throughout the voyage.  We put this down to being ultra cautious and not hesitating to use the Satellite phone at sea whatever the cost to regularly download weather reports and prediction graphics to get early warning and avoid bad weather.  This was part of our self insurance and preservation plan, and yes we were lucky, but from the start B was committed to analyse weather because she had a pre-disposition to 'mel de mer' and this was the best way to keep busy, plan avoidance and minimize affects.

Sure we hit some shiggy on occasions but overall nothing worse than Wellington or Cook Strait can muster on an average day. On a couple of occasions weather tired us out with P doing 12+ hour stints at the wheel to hold Musketelle on the most comfortable course but we knew we had the right boat to do the job and at no time did we feel great unease or concern.  We reefed down regularly but the storm sails were never required on the entire circumnavigation.

Thunder and Lightning

Of all the weather extremes we faced out there thunder storms were among the most feared.  Luckily we only experienced these a couple times each year at sea whilst sailing but more frequently adjacent to the equator, in Singapore when we were in a marina and Panama whilst we were at anchor.  They always seem to occur in the middle of the night and the flashes seem more acute. It’s the forked lightning that has us worried, rushing around switching off electrical systems and placing laptops,  handheld VHF radios and GPS’s in the oven and in metal containers in an attempt to mitigate damage if we take a strike.  We regularly learned of yachts getting hit that required major rewiring and costly electronic equipment replacement. To lose your electronic navigation system is a major but we had both done the celestial navigation course for this eventuality so the hard copy charts would have been rolled out and the sextant removed from its case and our grey matter put to the test to take sights.  We are thankful we escaped the direct wrath of this force of nature and got round unscathed.

Food

We like our food.  Why wouldn’t you like something that we all have to do a couple of times a day,  every day of our lives.  On the yacht things seem to revolve around food possibly more so than on land for a number of reasons....  Its not like being ashore where you go off to work, on the yacht the galley is always close by,  travelling at sea level certainly tunes up the taste buds second only to clean clear mountain air, when the weather is cold and rough getting food into the system energises like nothing else, when the weather is perfect there is nothing much to do so having a cuppa and cookie or cake is nice, sundowners and a nibble never goes amiss either, a mid-watch snack at midnight or 3am is essential .  So there you have it food around the clock.  

Buying food in different countries became one of the big exploration exercises up there with the local attractions and in quick order we could hunt out the local best buys and local delicacies.  The interesting thing we soon picked up on was the handful of monolith global corporations that control the global diet.  We are either all eating the best nutritious food or we are all unwittingly believing the advertising and slowly eating ourselves to extinction.   We have been forced to read labels thoroughly with a multi language dictionary for so long now we are experts programmed to picking out cruddy products….. ‘made from local and imported products’ is a universal clue.

Musketelle Did The Job

We cannot let it pass without making mention of the floating platform that served us so well.  She is not a young lady coming out of the plug in 1986 but she is extremely well built and found with strong solid fibreglass hull, deep encapsulated fin keel and skeg hung rudder.   The core things we selected as the best for a fast and comfortable ocean passagemaker hull.   Her cutter rig is tall for a cruiser but then Ron Holland did design this model as a cruiser racer.  The conservative masthead rig has 3 forestays and runners plus hydraulic backstay and boom vang so we always had confidence in the rig.  The fully battened mainsail with 3 slab reefs by Neil Pryde is a gem with the non overlapping blade headsail we had made by Fyfe Sails in Auckland before departure our special weapon for upwind work in high winds.  We both found helming Musketelle a breeze with controllable comforting weather helm in all but the gustiest conditions.  After the first 6 months aboard we had ironed out most of the niggly little things you find on any boat that require attention, like deck prisms that leak, stern gland that requires nibbing up just so, how to ventilate below decks in all conditions etc etc  The things that did let us down were systems and equipment failures that go hand in hand with all marine gear irrespective of age. 

Sailing around the world on a yacht is all about self resilience and being able to handle the next system failure so its no wonder our blog appears to be more of a what we were repairing interspersed by cruising in paradise prose.  

The most fantastic bit of kit on Musketelle was the autopilot to the point we were talking about it and marvelling at its performance particularly on the Atlantic crossing. That was until Panama when it decides to prove us wrong just as we are about to set out on the 7000 mile passage home across the Pacific !!  We did everything we could with the official service agents in Panama including buying backup components they recommended but it failed again within days of departure requiring us to hand steer most of  the way to NZ, but that’s another story that will only be resolved in Auckland when we get round to it.  

Cannot also pass the opportunity to mention "Henry" our beaut 90hp Ford Lehman Engine which after a small hiccup off Townsville and some overheating issues in the Indian Ocean never let us down.  For the availability of parts and ease working on, we would opt for a simple old fashioned marinised tractor engine every time.

We will harbour nothing but good thoughts and memories of Musketelle even if at times the best systems and equipment threw some curved balls at us to keep us on our toes, but never once did we think of throwing in the towel.  On the contrary a sit down, a cuppa and a look at the manuals or a quick email to shore supporters for another opinion always got us sorted. 

Accommodation down below is one of Musketelle’s major attributes.  No matter what the weather stepping down below was always calming, warm and quiet.  Designed with an excellent forward facing navigation station, large galley safe in any weather and big aft cabin with a big double bed comfortable and secure whatever the seas.  Most importantly at 16 metres the boat is big enough for 2 people to have their own space when required.  The watermaker once refurbished to give 90L per hour helped quality of life aboard as did a galley with gas oven, microwave, extractor fan ventilation, fridge freezer and all the normal kitchen electrical gadgets. Two toilets and two showers, air conditioning with reverse cycle cooling and heating was a luxury as was the electrical capacity to run all the toys and tools we carried for every eventuality.   

Topsides the large and dry center cockpit was where we spent most of our time as the hard dodger protects in all weathers.  The bimini sun and rain cover only came down once in 6 years…..when  a mount came away in a blow on the first leg from Opua to Tonga, otherwise it was up the entire voyage.

So that’s it, thanks Musketelle, we could not and would not have done it without you.

As an aside back in 2003 when we sold Lion we were desperate to get back into another yacht to fulfill our dream to circumnavigate.  But we could not readily find what we were looking for so P flew over to Cairns to drive down the east coast of Australia to Sydney to find the perfect yacht.   But yachts meeting our wish list options at that time were surprisingly limited but in the meantime B found her right under our nose.  On his return B marched him straight down to Westhaven to show him Musketelle and the rest is in the blog.  So it was the Navigator that found her.

The Crew Component

Today you can use a smartphone or tablet computer with the right in-built GPS to navigate a yacht around the world using Google Earth, with questionable stability and security of performance but it can be done. 

Pic  I.Touch with chartography

Pic  All our furled Charts 

In contrast back in 2003 when we started  planning this adventure we were bringing together all our hardcopy charts (350 in total) and off to nautical night school to both brush up on courses that B selected as essential covering subjects that P had blundered through as a gungho self-taught racing yachtie since 7 in a 7 footer.   We both learned a lot covering  Mechanical, Radio, Medical and Navigation with us both gaining our Ocean Yachtmaster certificates.  The NZ Coastguard run courses were thoroughly professional and confirmed our capacity as a couple to safely take on the global challenge.  For us sailing 2 handed throughout on all the ocean passages was never in question as right from the start the core objective was to sail round the world together as a couple.  We saw it as the ultimate thing we could do at this stage in our lives and we made a conscious effort to get everything in order for us to sail off to achieve that objective.    Now we are home it’s a great feeling that this has been ticked off and we can get on and do other things whilst head, health and strength are still intact. 

The Cat Factor
WiFi the Turkish wonder cat slept most of the time at sea but whenever she was up and about she kept us on our toes and alert to ensure she did not fall overboard.  For a cat she became noticeably responsive to orders recognising intonation in our voices, becoming obedient like a dog, which she is certainly not.  She became ever confident in all but the roughest conditions and had multiple cat napping spots throughout the vessel depending on conditions. Whenever it was really torrid she would make her way to either of us and snuggle in close for reassurance, otherwise a cuddly ball of fluff  this wild one is not. Her regular forays onto the side and fore decks for fresh air and on occasions the chance of some wildlife could not be denied her but when she did it in the middle of the night we often thought she was a goner.  She would slink around under cover of darkness and give us the slip all the time as is a cats way at night.  She is a very deep sleeper that goes out for the count and she has to be touched to waken.  Consequently we would often lose her aboard and call out to no avail eventually locating her hidden somewhere curled up snug be that below decks or sometimes up in the boom sailpack even when we were under way.  If anyone thinks it has been a tough road for WiFi just remember she was a wild dock cat and she would now be in cat heaven from one of the regular cat clean up operations back in Yatmarin Marmaris.  She simply loves boats as evidenced by her preference for wandering around marinas hopping on and of boats rather than high tailing it ashore whenever we tied up anywhere. WiFi has been great company aboard being playful and making us laugh and we admire her survival instincts. Talk about quick to recognise opportunities and capitalise on a situation, she is one smart little animal.  

Doing a Victory Lap..... of a Kind

Any journey is no more than a fine line on the map and a lot of country or water is passed unseen beyond the horizon either side whether it’s from a car, plane or sailing on a yacht.  It’s impossible to see it all unless of course you are in space orbiting, but even then there are still limitations.  Literally in reality there may be a better way…..

Technology is moving so fast that maybe we will not have to physically do the trip next time but simply nominate our chosen route, load the waypoints, the specific anchorages and marinas we wish to stop at and let Google Earth take us on a Virtual Circumnavigation, for a small fee……and maybe earn FlyBuy points in the process!!   It would conveniently remove the sleep deprivation, salt in the face and avoid the rock and roll, but whether you would experience real satisfaction is questionable to olde salts like us.    But then again kids today play ever real virtual reality games and seem happy so what the future holds is up for grabs.  

Thanks to our Blog Followers
Finally a big thanks to those of  you who have been along for the 6 year voyage resulting in over 10,000 hits to the site from its inception.  It started out as our personal daily diary and log and morphed into this blog in the public domain.  

Signing Off
If anyone wants to communicate please email :  
To Crew     musketelle@gmail.com     or to WiFi      wifinz@gmail.com