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Published: August 20th 2008
Disco Fever?
No! Clive celebrates crossing the Pacific on the bow. 1 ocean down, 2 to go!NOTE: Please let me know if the two videos above worked well. If so, I will capture more.
"Mayday, Mayday! We're struck a reef! We're taking on water quickly..."
- Somewhere near the Wallis Archipelago The last 1000 miles of the Pacific, the home stretch in the little adventure that has become known as the Pacifico Project, is complete.
I am happy to announce that I arrived to Cairns, Australia. It has been a voyage of over 9,000 km that has lasted over 7 months and has brought me more than 1/3 around the planet. I have sailed across the world's largest ocean.
An Ocean of Dreams In almost every harbour across the Pacific, there are broken yachts. They are filthy, falling apart, and every day lying a little lower in the water. Untouched for months or even years, they are like grey ghosts hovering about on their anchorages. They are the last decaying evidence of someone's dream. Someone made it this far, and for whatever reason, they left and the boat didn't. I find myself captivated by the grey ghosts.
They are a powerful symbol of the Pacific. This ocean is in many ways
Before the Pacific
Red hair, white skin and a little green. a graveyard of dreams and these are the tombstones.
It took 8 boats to get me here. Of them, one never even left the Caribbean, and I doubt ever will. Another is sailing back to North America having accomplished only a small portion of the original dream but no doubt he's accomplished and learned what was out there to discover - about the world and himself. Another flew back home and will return to his boat next season - living out his life with gusto - having been diagnosed with terminal cancer several years ago. His story inspires me the most. The rest are out there, somewhere, sailing west into the sunset. For whatever their reason, and at whatever their pace.
Another friend lost his $100,000 carbon mast on the last passage. There were no injuries, but hopefully his dreams of sailing around the world are only delayed.
Another struck an uncharted reef and managed to send out a mayday before sinking, 450 km from Australia. Our friends aboard were winched onto an Australian coast guard helicopter within 4 hours.
The owner of one of the boats I was on, who had always dreamed of sailing
around the world, was diagnosed with cancer halfway through the Pacific. He flew home from Tonga and died just last week. He may have waited a little too long to completely live out his dream, but he made the big step to try and that is the far more admirable part of it.
My current boat has pulled out and sailed east to New Zealand, so I decided to stay in Australia. It was a very emotional and difficult decision for me to make, but I'm once again continuing west!
I think need another ocean.
Ahead lies the bottleneck called the Torres Strait. Basically all that wind and water I've been riding on gets pushed through a tiny gap between Australia and Papua New Guinea - and that's where I'm headed (once I find a new boat!).
We'll find out way in, and popping out the other side, a new ocean awaits! Stay tuned for the next project....
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Cynthia C. (from Bagatelle!)
non-member comment
Hey!
Love the videos and photos! Keep them coming!! Safe and happy travels, always, take care and keep smiling! :) Cynthia