1000 Miles Out from the Galapagos

2000 miles to go to Marquesas...

There is really only one Cruising Sailor's "Guru", the well known and highly respected Jimmy Cornell. (See his website, http://www.noonsite.com/) I am not sure of his history, but every single cruising sailor I meet out here (except the French) have at least one of his books. Most will have "World Cruising Routes" in one edition or another. Some are proud to have the worn and tattered First Edition, I have the latest 5th edition personally signed by Jimmy himself. He was at the Annapolis Boat Show a year and a half ago. 'Cruising World Magazine' (For which he regularly writes articles) had an offer to sign up to spend an hour talking with him about your own cruising plans. I signed up for 2 hours. It was well worth it.

I had purchased my new Hunter 46 at the 2002 Miami Boat Show with plans to sail her to Europe to make some television documentaries for a German TV station using 'WanderLust' as a base of operations while I cruised from one well known European resort city in the Med to another. That worked out fine and was very successful, but I had no real plans after that. "I guess I'll sail her back to California" was my next thought. Our President Bush put an end to those plans. At the entrance to the Suez Canal, which I intended to transit on my way back to California, I was told that because the USA was dropping bombs on Iraq, all US flagged private boats 'Are Strongly Advised NOT to be anywhere near the Red Sea or, for that matter, anywhere in the Middle East.

I had to change my plans. I had to return back to the Atlantic Ocean, cross from Africa to South America, visit the Caribbean, transit the Panama Canal, voyage to the South Pacific and finally, by way of Hawaii, return to California.

It took 2 more years but I finally did just that, and enjoyed every minute of it.
Now that I was back in California with my boat, what to do now! I didn't buy this boat to sit on it in some marina and tell sailing stories over weekend cocktails, I bought it to go somewhere with it and experience those places and meet those people you can only reach by boat. I will now 'Sail-Around-the-World'.

Hunter liked what I was doing with my pictures and stories I was telling at the boat shows, so when they heard of my plan to Sail-Around-the-Globe, they asked if I wouldn't rather trade my 'old' Hunter 46 in on their brand new model 49 that would replace the 46. It would take more that a year to develop the mock-up and draw the plans for the new boat, but I was invited back to the factory in Florida and asked my opinion on various thoughts and ideas the engineers were working on. Hunter has a very experienced group of engineers lead by Glen Henderson. I was honored that they valued my opinion. I was able to view the plywood and cardboard mock-up at 3 different stages of development and finally wrote a 3 page summary of my thoughts with 34 suggestions. After reviewing those suggestions last month, I noted 28 had actually been implemented. Of course others at the factory had similar or the same ideas, but it showed to me that Hunter really does listen to their customers.

I had one year to develop my own new plans. What to do with my new boat now that I have sold the old 46. I had 2 choices, sail around the world in a Westward direction by way of the South Pacific, Australia, Indian Ocean, cross the South Atlantic into the Caribbean and finally back to Miami or Sail around the world in an Easterly direction, as was my original intent, by way of Europe, Middle East, South East Asia, Philippines, Japan, Alaska and home.

It was at this planning stage, more that 6 months before my new boat would be ready, that I went to visit Jimmy Cornell. I was sure that I would be so much wiser after talking with him. Jimmy was a joy to be with. He has so much knowledge gained through experience that he nonchalantly talks of crossing oceans as if crossing town. He has such a wealth of sailing and cruising knowledge that it is easy to see how he fills the pages of his numerous books and countless magazine articles.

His suggestions to me made it sound like both directions would be doable, however, it would take 2 years going around Easterly, but by going West around it could be feasible to do it in one year. I took Jimmy's advise and planned for both routes using his book as my guide. West around via Australia in one year, or East around re-visiting the Mediterranean but then new territory for me with Thailand and Japan on a 2 year circumnavigation.

Later that year, I was offered the chance to film for the German TV network ZDF. Germany was going to send a team to the qualifications and the preparations for the America's Cup in Valencia Spain. I wrote to Jimmy Cornell and asked his thoughts on sailing to Spain and staying in Valencia during the America's Cup trials and events and while I worked for the TV station. Jimmy offered his support and would use his connections to find me a spot in Valencia during the events. I was still working on planning for both routes 'Around-the-World', but it looked like I might be able to combine shooting TV and making some money on my voyage if I choose East-Around with a stop in Spain.

Jimmy was very helpful in asking the right people and he somehow was able to garner a space for me and my boat at the Valencia Yacht Club during the trials and the America's Cup events. I would need to get to Spain early enough in April or May and stay until the end of June. I was willing to do that, leave Florida 2 months earlier that expected and stay longer than normal just to be able to be a part of sailing history.

Then came the bad news. No private boats would be allowed access to the venues other that fixed anchor spots. No filming allowed, not even by accredited TV stations, only the official Spanish TV would supply all the TV pool feeds. I would not be allowed to use my boat as a platform for filming TV nor would I even be allowed on the course except in designated spectator areas. Only official 'Press Boats' would be allowed to shoot on the course. I was out of a job.

That made the decision easier for my eventual choice, to sail WEST around the world. I know that I disappointed Jimmy Cornell. He had used a lot of his influence and connections to help me get a good spot, and he also planned to stay with me on my boat during some of the official events. I'm really sorry for that. I owe him a debt of gratitude, but the situation was deteriorating fast for me in Spain, so I made the only choice left open, head to Australia.
I am less than half way there now. I left Miami early March for the Bahamas then, via the Windward Passage, to Jamaica. I then soloed to Panama but had to wait nearly 2 weeks for a transit slot to cross the Canal. I spent 2 wonderful weeks in the Las Perlas Islands with 2 great girls from Denmark. Mia and Louise stayed with me 7 weeks, all the way to the Galapagos. They were pure joy to have as company.

Then a faulty fuel pump kept my generator from running to supply charge power for my batteries. THEN the alternator went out on my main engine. There was no way to charge any of my ample batteries. I had to sit and wait, using as little power as possible. I wasted 3 weeks waiting for the replacement parts to clear Ecuadorian Customs. That puts me a total of 4 weeks behind schedule.

The Schedule -- Using Jimmy Cornell's book, World Cruising Routes, I was able to plan a 1 year circumnavigation of our globe. I could average 1000 miles a week sailing the long passages. It is about 26,000 nautical miles around, so, to average 1000 nm a week leaves enough time to enjoy a week or two during the non-sailing weeks - 50/50 or half & half - sailing or at anchor, 26 weeks of each. It's my plan and I will try to stick to it.