As most readers will know, Tucanon had to be put up for sale due to my health problems.  The sale completed in May and the boat was renamed and taken back to the buyer’s home area in New York state.

I am grateful to all the people who have sailed with me for their time, effort and care of both the boat and me.  They leave behind many happy memories. 

Gill was the first crew member on board after I purchased the boat in Antigua.  No skipper could fail to be impressed by a lady who spent her first hour scrubbing a month’s worth of tropical marine growth from the anchor chain! She became a frequent crew member and worked ceaselessly to ensure that everything went smoothly.

Rossi is another special lady who could always be relied on to do whatever was necessary with good humour and never let me down. For someone who doesn’t eat (or even touch) fish, it was a surprise when she declared one day that she wanted to have a go at fishing.  This was after seeing South African  Charl catching big Wahoo and Mahi Mahi between Barbuda and Bermuda. The sound of the reel screeching when a fish struck the line also struck a nerve with her.  Her first fish was a tuna which broke the rod! But she went on to land the fish and became our top fish catcher. She claimed that she caught them on their way from school! 

Both the ladies were reliable watch keepers, excellent cooks and took great care of the boat.  When the two of them were on board together, it was a formidable team!

A chance introduction by Rossi put me in contact with Dave, a former diving club colleague from Imperial College whom I had not seen since.  Dave and Andy, a doctor, enthusiastically sorted out a range of boat problems in the Azores after a stormy passage from Bermuda.  Their efforts ensured that we enjoyed our fast passage from the Azores to Plymouth in favourable winds. 

Along the way, Stephen provided weather advice from London by satellite phone when we hit bad weather, and later joined us in the more benign waters of the Leeward Islands.

John is a long time merchant seaman and sailor from the Shetland Islands whose quiet reliability and skilled seamanship were matched by his fishing and culinary skills. Always excellent company, John was also a frequent crew member. 

Kevin, another ex-Imperial College engineer (and retired pilot), and John were key in  getting me to the Canary Islands in 2012, each in turn double handing with me after I had been let down by other crew at the last minute.  Unfortunately this coincided with the onset of my health problems and I am particularly grateful to Kevin and John for their efforts during several passages of bad weather, ensuring that we arrived safely at Tenerife.  Kevin showed his engineering prowess to good effect on more than one occasion.

Gill and Rossi crewed across the Atlantic from Tenerife to Barbados and Grenada, in what was some of our easiest and most enjoyable sailing. Gill stayed on through a maintenance period in Trinidad and helped me sail the boat to St Martin, via Tobago and the Windward Islands, where it would spend the hurricane season, the hope of continuing to Central America being cancelled due to my poor health.  I am pleased that Gill subsequently found another boat travelling via Cuba to Central America, where she is still sailing.

Members of my family contributed at different stages.  Jane and Ralph joined me for what turned out to be Tucanon’s roughest passage between Bermuda and the Azores, when severe gales twice blew us off course by up to 100 miles. They also came on the ‘farewell’ cruise at the start of 2014 when I was busy ensuring that the boat would be well presented with minimal defects.  I thank them both for their understanding and help. They were joined by Kate on an earlier cruise to the Scilly Isles, where Kate’s long standing boyfriend, James, displayed great stamina in the unpleasant task of unblocking a badly blocked toilet, as befits a future (now qualified) doctor.

I wish everyone who has sailed with me all the best in finding future sailing opportunities with skippers who will appreciate the special values of these very special people.

Finally, I thank Mike Disch of The Yacht Shop in St Maarten for his professionalism in selling Tucanon.  After 3 months ownership, the new owners are still enthusing about the boat and I am sure it will bring them many enjoyable experiences and memories.

Philip