So long, New Caledonia. Australia, here we come. It’s March 9, 2022. At exactly six in the morning, I weigh anchor and set sail from the bay of Port Moselle in the capital of Noumea.
At the beginning the conditions were nearly perfect. A light breeze, code zero fully unfurled and the main all the way to the top. Alone on the boat. Busy doing absolutely nothing. I am still sailing but the wind is dying down, so I crank up both Yanmars to contribute to the speed of the boat.
On the third day at night a stiff southerly starts blowing and the waves are getting bigger and steeper. I don't risk reefing in the mainsail at night, so I steer the boat more downwind to avoid the waves pounding and crashing into the hull of the boat.
When daylight comes, I reef in the genoa and mainsail and steer the boat again more upwind towards my final destination - Brisbane. I soon realize that my catamaran is unable to sail upwind sufficiently to reach Brisbane. I have to find a landfall further north - Bundaberg.
After six days of sailing, I am seriously approaching the Australian coast. To the left is Fraser Island and in front of me Harvey Bay. At the bottom of the bay lies Bundaberg with its marina and anchorage in the mouth of the river.
The wind is rising. In a thirty-knot southerly wind I reef in both sails and motor-sail upwind towards the port of Bundaberg. It's getting dark. Two miles from my destination I lower both sails and motor straight into the wind to reach the channel that leads to the mouth of the river and a sheltered anchorage. I give both Yanmars full throttle but the boat doesn't move forward one inch. I call the marina on channel 16 and request a tug boat to tow me to the anchorage.
Suddenly I get a brilliant idea. I start zigzagging towards the channel and after an hour of struggling against the heavy swell and wind I reach it. Since there is no crew aboard, I say to myself: Dam good job, Marjan.
As I reach the mouth of the river, the wind drops as if someone closed the window. I call the marina and tell them that I don't need assistance anymore. "No problem. We follow your AIS signal and see where you are, ” is their reply.
I drop anchor at the marina. It's almost midnight. After two sleepless nights I can’t sleep: the adrenaline won't let me.
I reached Australia after six days of single-handed sailing. Finally. The Pacific Ocean is conquered.
Lesson learned: Single-handed sailing can be a very pleasant and rewarding experience, if the conditions are favorable, if not ideal. But when the going gets tough, a crew is much appreciated.
Seafood dinnerDistance from Noumea to BuntabergApproach track to Bundaberg Port MarinaVoyage aftermathStowaway of the winged kindTaking a rest on the high seas
Spalax 2 is a comfortable catamaran with four double cabins, each with a private bathroom/shower. It also has a spacious salon and relaxation areas on deck.
If you are interested in joining me on one or more legs of my voyage, here is the essential information you need:
no sailing experience required;
all arrangements and costs before getting on board and after leaving the boat are not included in your voyage on Spalax 2.
Once you are on board, the following rate shall apply:
1. THE TOURIST RATE
EUR 50 per day
This includes:
accommodation in double cabin with private bathroom/shower;
three meals and non-alcoholic drinks per day;
all running costs of voyage (fuel, water, marina charges, repairs, etc.).
You will be expected to enjoy the voyage without having to participate in the daily routine of cooking, cleaning, sailing, etc.
THE CREW RATE
cca EUR 20 per day
This includes:
accommodation in double cabin with private bathroom/shower;
three meals and non-alcoholic drinks per day;
all running costs of voyage (fuel, water, marina charges, repairs, etc.).
This is an equally shared contribution (including the captain) to the board cash (kitty) to cover the current costs of food, drink, fuel, water, marina fees, etc.
You will be expected to participate in the activities on board: cooking, cleaning, standing watch, sailing, anchoring, etc.
This option is not available to participants who have never sailed or have very limited sailing experience.
Prvi slovenec, ki je objadral svet je bil Jože Sket in ne Jože Mušič. Na svoji jadrnici Vesna je Jože Sket zapustil Slovenijo let 1983 in se vrnil septembra leta 1988. To je tudi leto, ko je Jože Mušič s svojo jadrnico Melody zapustil Slovenijo, da bi objadral svet.
SETTING THE SLOVENIAN NAUTICAL HISTORY STRAIGHT
The first Slovenian to sail around the world was Jože Sket, not Jože Mušič. On his sailboat Vesna, Jože Sket set sail from Slovenia in 1983 and returned in September 1988. This is also the year that Jože Mužič embarked on his circumnavigation from Slovenia on his sailboat Melody.
A cake of soap can be a versatile little thing. It costs next to nothing, but it goes a long way. I use it to wash my face in the morning; I used it to wash my body and hair; I use it for shaving and I even wash my underwear and T-shirts with it. But I never use it to wash my socks because I don’t wear any. I’m always barefoot.
The wind will provide
To be sure, when I call myself a minimalist, I don’t mean a prehistoric troglodyte. On my catamaran Spalax 2 I have running water – hot and cold; I have electric power for lighting, navigation and fridge. The electricity is provided free of charge, curtesy of my solar panels and wind generator. And fresh water is provided by my water maker which – you guessed it – runs on electricity.
The sun will provide
The wind is my friend. In addition to electric power it provides transportation. I hoist my sails, point my boat in the right direction and my Eolian friend does the rest. Once I reach my destination, I take my ten-speed touring bicycle ashore and away I go. An early morning workout on my bicycle as I explore the new destination is what my body craves.
Mother nature’s bounty
Fishing is my passion. Whenever I sail, I drag two trolling lines behind my boat. The mahi-mahis, the yellowfins and the wahoos I caught over the years are too many to count. All I know is that they didn’t come from a fish farm and were absolutely delicious. On land, I become a prehistoric gatherer always on the lookout for fruits such as mango, papaya, breadfruit, pomelo, guava and of course coconut.
Onshore transportation
Talk about a minimal carbon footprint. The only footprint I leave behind is in the sand of a newly discovered tropical beach.
Ceviche coming up
Granted, the boat, the solar panels, the wind generator and the water maker cost me a pretty penny, but the feeling of living “off the fat of land” is priceless.
Covid-19 statistics for New Caledonia have been down to zero since early spring, so the New Caledonian government decided to reopen its borders on 1st November. Then, in mid-September, new cases of the virus spiked and the closure of borders was extended to the end of the year.
Rumors of my swallowing the anchor have been greatly exaggerated. The current Corona situation in New Caledonia simply means that my world circumnavigation project was put on hold until January. The good news is that, thanks to an intensive vaccination campaign, new cases of Covid-19 have been dropping rapidly and I should be able to resume my adventure early next year.
Covid-19 incidence in New Caledonia
Spalax 2 is currently hibernating all alone in Numbo Bay near Noumea, patiently awaiting the return of her captain. Spalax 2 is a spacious Lagoon 400 catamaran, so you can join me in comfort on one of my adventures in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, the Red Sea …
Spalax 2 is like a fine wine: It improves with age. Still, a lot of TLC is needed to achieve that refined patina and mellowness of a world-travelled, never-failing sailing vessel – the eternal vagabond of the seven oceans.
Its two Yanmar Diesel engines had taken a beating during the long days of voyaging across the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, so they had to be completely overhauled, including the replacement of the two heat exchangers. It’ll cost me an arm and a leg and my left kidney, but hey, a passion for the sea is priceless.
Heat exchanger, destroyed by the corrosive atmosphere of the sea
Also, the solar panels are ten years old and their efficiency has dwindled drastically. So, out go the old panels and in come the state-of-the-art monocrystlline array of photovoltaic solar panels to power that brand-new fridge I’d installed recently. And the panels are assisted by the super-efficient and environmentally totally friendly Epever solar charger controller.
Epever solar panel controller
So, hopefully, by the time this pandemic is over and I am allowed to return to New Caledonia, Spalax 2 will be rough and ready to take on the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.
“Are you the owner of Spalax 2?” wanted to know the official-sounding voice on my iphone at three o´clock in the morning, as I was trying to get a good night´s sleep in my bed somewhere in Germany.
“Yes, I am,” I replied.
“This is Sgt. Major Yablonsky of the US Coast Guard Joint Response Coordination Center in Honolulu. Your distress beacon is transmitting a signal from New Caledonia. Are you in distress?” wanted to know the Sgt. Major.
I explained to the Sgt. Major that I was safely tucked in my bed in Germany and that my boat was on the hard in New Caledonia, so no stress and no distress.
Just to make sure, I called Raoul, who takes care of my boat in New Caledonia, and asked him to see what was wrong with the EPIRB on my boat. He reported back that he had reset the EPIRB but the damn thing kept triggering, so he had to remove the batteries to completely deactivate the device.
Then I called the Sgt. Major of the US Coast Guard to confirm that Spalax 2 was safe and sound on the hard and that it had been a false alarm. I also asked the Sgt. Major why, in his opinion, the device had triggered and his replay was unambiguous: Either someone manually activated the EPIRB or it came into contact with water.
Both possibilities were ruled out, as the device was kept in the driest spot on the boat, inside the stool at the navigation station, and Raoul assured me that the EPIRB had not been activated manually.
The only explanation was that the device malfunctioned. What is even more intriguing is that the Honolulu Coast Guard received a fix of the vessel, even though the EPIRB was completely hidden from “a clear view of the sky” when it triggered the emergency signal.
Nevertheless, it is comforting to know that he American maritime distress response service is on its toes day and night.
Here is a novel look at transiting the Panama Canal in a small boat. Small motor or sailing yachts normally raft up two or three abreast and proceed together from one lock to another. Once in the Gatun Lake, they break up and continue to the locks on the other end of the Canal independently, where they raft up again to negotiate the second set of locks before entering the Pacific Ocean or the Caribbean Sea.
