Simon... Tahiti!

Everyone had plenty of worries during the peak of the Covid pandemic. Mine centred around the blood cancer I was diagnosed with just before the lock downs began, trying to manage the effects of chemotherapy, and the quite lethal possibility of catching Covid while highly immune-suppressed due to the treatment. 

By about mid 2021 I had mentally put cancer and chemo behind me. Despite that my 2 shots of AZ had almost certainly had a limited effect, and that (or perhaps because) the cancer was not the type one could feel confident of having seen the last of, I was feeling optimistic and resilient enough to re-kindle my old sailing plans.  

The lockdowns provided plenty of time to scour the internet for suitable sailing vessels, and in the absence of the inability to travel, Cathe and I did a couple of video walk-throughs of different cruising boats. In the end the brand reputation of Hallberg Rassy won out and we struck a deal, sight unseen, on Evenstar, a beautiful looking HR 53 located in New Zealand. HR's are famous cruising yachts, renown for the quality of their build, including the impeccable timber joinery. It couldn't be a bad decision.  

We were lucky to be introduced to Simon Miller, a local New Zealand boat builder, sailor, and maritime project manager, who helped us by undertaking the final review of the boat and conducting the sea trial, all by video link. In the course of those discussions, it turned out that Simon was a top bloke, he had some time in his calendar to manage a complete maintenance cycle including a mini-refit, and then he could deliver the boat to where we wanted it.  

I'd been wondering exactly where we should commence the cruise. But now it seemed fate had confirmed a tentative plan and made the decision for us. 

By Easter everything was ready to go. After 6 months of maintenance, repairs and planning, Simon set off for Tahiti on Thursday 14th April with his crew mate, yacht designer Andre. However, after 36 hours of bashing into the weather a number of electrical systems failed. We were all gutted when the sensible decision was made to turn back. 

This then involved a last minute scramble to replace the inverters, replace the chartplotter, and re-spec the ships computer. All complicated by the fact that, due to a legal anomaly, the boys and the boat were compelled to enter 7 days quarantine in the port they had just left. The final (but welcome) twist in the whole Kafkaesque thing was that they were somehow allowed to start the time from when they cleared outbound immigration... Go figure. 

Meanwhile, Cathe and I scrambled to adjust our plans. I made more bookings to accommodate an extra week. The whole thing had an air of unreality. I confess that there was a moment or two where this latest development felt like the last straw, that like a cat toying with a doomed mouse, a capricious universe had been toying with me. And that after having its sport, it was ultimately going to expose this vainglorious plan for the unworthy endeavour it most certainly was; and kill it rightly dead. 

But, in the end, it all worked out rather well.