Some Reminiscing

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Sat 14 May 2016 01:32
Noon Position: 20 27.5 S 174 52.7 E
Course: West Sou’ West Speed: 6 knots
Wind: East Sou’ East F4: moderate breeze
Sea: slight Swell: South East 1.5 meters
Weather: mostly sunny, warm
Day’s run: 160 nm

The last 24 hours has seen Sylph post another very satisfactory daily run.
We are now running wing on wing, the trade wind breeze off our port quarter
pushing us quietly along at a steady six plus knots. As mentioned in my
last post, while all is relatively peaceful, I thought this might be a good
time to review some of the statistics and achievements of this voyage.

I mark the start of this voyage from when we left Sydney back on the 10th of
August 2013, so, assuming that we arrive in Sydney later this month or early
June, this voyage will have taken two years and ten months to complete, not
an insignificant period of time. In that time we will have sailed about
20,000 miles, 5,000 short of a full circumnavigation. The furthest north we
went was 61 15 N when we visited the Harvard Glacier in Prince William
Sound; the furthest west was 128 26 E when we visited Tong Yeong in South
Korea; and the furthest east was 109 54 W, with our stop at Cabo San Lucas
in Mexico. The longest passage of the voyage in terms of distance was the
last leg from Hawaii to Fiji, some 2,800 nm. In terms of time, I do not
know what the longest leg has been. I will have to go through my logs more
thoroughly to find out.

In terms of low lights and highlights, the lowest low by far was our
collision with the MSC Asya. That was a real set back and a major blow to
my self esteem; but all things pass and I forgive myself, though I have not
yet forgiven the Asya for their unprofessional part in the debacle, in
particular for abandoning the scene. That has to be a clear breach of
international protocol, even if the Australian Maritime Safety Authority
didn’t want to hear about it. Overall it was a very disillusioning
experience. The second lowlight was no doubt having to give up old RC, at
least for a while; a situation that has yet to be resolved.

Highlights were the whole Japanese experience, in particularly meeting Thom-
San in Nagasaki. He was a wonderful friend and a great ambassador for
Japan, as was Mena, a self-appointed minder for all foreign yachts visiting
the Fukuoka yacht club. Similarly Alaska made for some wonderful sailing
and Alaskans are a vibrant and vigorous people, as might be expected from
what is still largely a remote wilderness. It is somewhere I would like to
visit again. But, in terms of experience, the highest high was a certain
week in San Francisco; which leads us to where we are now.

As Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

All is well.