12:49N
56:19W
Daily run
159m miles to go to Barbardos 187m yipee.....nearly there!!!
Just when we
thought we had nailed it – sailed into the perfect trade wind conditions with
blue skies, puffy white clouds and constant 15-20knot winds – the weather Gods
decided to wipe the smirks off our faces. Last night they threw some
pretty mean squalls at us.....enough for us both to decide it was the worst
sailing conditions we’ve had – ever. With
winds between 30-40knots, torrential rain and confused swells of up to 4m.....it
wasn’t much fun. Between squalls the wind died completely leaving Bandit at the
mercy of those ghastly confused swells.....bouncing around like crazy and making
no headway. Sleeping was hopeless as waves constantly crashed against the
hull throwing us around like rag dolls. It was the first night ever we had
to do night watch down below relying totally on instruments and using the
remote for the autohelm led down through the hatch to make course adjustments –
being in the cockpit was just not possible. So once again we say just as
well sailors have short memories. And the good thing is – less than 200
miles to go!!
But forget the sailing, let’s turn to the serious
stuff......why Bandit? It’s what most people ask at some stage so today’s blog
is appropriately about naming Bandit. I need help with Smokey and the Bandit
though – a western with Burt Reynolds?? Anyway – it’s quite apt right now as
this Bandit really is smoking along towards Barbados at 7.6knots and, for the
moment, not a squall in sight. We
bought Bandit in November 2006 with the aim of going cruising. We had a
fair idea of what we wanted – a serious blue water cruiser between 40-50ft with
a centre cockpit which gives two separate self contained cabins. We looked
online and, while working in the superyacht industry, took every opportunity to
walk the docks and roam anchorages looking at boats. Whenever possible we
talked to cruisers, went on board and soon had a list of preferred boats –
Oyster, Halberg Rassey, Naiad, Moody, Westerly and Tayana all of which fulfilled
our criteria but so many were well outside our price range. After lots of internet searching we finally found our
perfect boat, a Moody 46, in Gibraltar.
We fell in love with her immediately and the deal was
signed and sealed. At that stage she was called Rinsewind......sounds like
a brand of washing detergent doesn’t it? In fact Rinsewind is a character
in a Terry Pratchett novel but as we don’t read him it seemed irrelevant.
During our boat hunt we’d seen few boats
with interesting, out of the ordinary or unusual names. I mean how many Marco Polos, Carpe Diem,
C’est La Vie or Imagines can there be?
We’d discussed names frequently and had a shortlist that included some NZ
flavoured names, eventually dismissed as while they sound nice in the Med, it’s
not quite so interesting to have a Cloudy Bay back in NZ. The same with a foreign name – it might
be nice in Italy but back in NZ no one can pronounce it. We wanted something short, sharp and
easy to say as there are some pretty gruesome names out there. One of the worst we ever saw was
Meanwhile Back at The Ranch - try saying that phonetically! Then there are
the boats that the kids obviously get to name – Cookielicious for example or
Ranchero Relaxo of the Seas. Hmmm.
As we drove back from Gibraltar through the vast
backcountry of the Sierra Nevadas, David commented it was wild and rugged
- “definitely Bandit
country,” he said. We both looked at each other – what a great name for a
boat. Seemed so appropriate. Not
only was it short and sharp and easy to pronounce, the whole idea of us being
Bandits (nice ones of course) and living a bit of a renegade lifestyle seemed
appropriate. We’d left good jobs
for an unpredictable life at sea, roaming from place to place without a home – a
bit like Bandits. So Bandit it
was. Bandit creates smiles wherever
she goes. Throughout the
Mediterranean officials and passersby have said “Bandeet” with a
grin. And they never get it
wrong. When we call on VHF or SSB there’s never any doubt who we
are. When we explained our reasons for naming Bandit to our German
sailing friends they said “oh, we thought it was because she steals all your
money”. How true – so we add that
to the list now too. In another nice turn, when we were sailing with Pippa
Blake in Turkey a few years ago, she told us Peter ‘s first boat was
Bandit. Amongst our sailing
friends and a few back home we’re known fondly (we hope!) as the Bandits or
Bandidos. It’s nice to have a name
that creates a bit of a laugh and we’re s ticking with it.
