Slow and steady may not win the race – but it’s a heck of a lot more comfortable!
The types of boat on this regatta are many and varied – a lot of them being performance cruisers (racing yachts converted into cruising boats).
These are light and fast and get places a lot quicker than we can. They do, however, tend to bob around like Champaign corks in a bathtub when conditions get a bit rough. Wildflower II is neither light nor fast. We tend to arrive after everybody else but we bob around a whole lot less.
It’s not Wildflower’s fault she is a bit on the heavy side. She’s made out of steel and no amount of crash dieting can do anything about that. She also has a lot of stuff in her – a decent sized generator, a water maker, half a tonne of batteries to keep her powered up and a huge fridge-freezer that is the envy of the fleet.
The lighter boats have much less in them so they go faster, but they struggle to keep things cool and are constantly working to conserve power and water. Wildflower is also more likely to win an argument with any coral we (heaven forbid) should ever hit.
As you can probably guess, we are playing catch up with the rest of the fleet at the moment – in company with another steel boat (Sara II).
We first dropped behind when we, and another group of reprobates, decided we weren’t going to follow the rest of the fleet from Espirito Santo to Asanvari Island for a festival they were holding there. At the time they left the wind was blowing 20+ knots from exactly the direction we were planning to travel in, which would have made for a slow and uncomfortable trip.
As we discovered on the way to Tonga, Wildflower goes to windward like a walrus takes to roller-skates, so it was pretty much out of the question for us. Some of the other boats were also disinclined to bash to windward, so a group of us stayed put. Sara II bravely decided to persevere but tore their genoa (head sail) in a squall and came straight back..
Unfortunately when we all decided to move on, the wind decided it was going to play silly buggers again. The lighter, faster boats were able to push on through but we were just burning diesel and getting nowhere. Every time we crashed into a wave the boat would pretty much stop – and Sara II was in the same boat (s’cuse awful pun). So we both turned around and headed for Pelikula Bay where we could get a ride into Luganville to pick up a few more supplies and wait for the weather to change.
Sara II’s owners, John and Chris, are a lovely British couple in their 70s. They are great fun to be around and have a wonderful, adventurous outlook on the world. They are halfway through their circumnavigation and are exactly the way I want to be when I am their age. Unfortunately for them their fridge broke down and it turned out to be one of the few things Paddy has been unable to fix on this cruise (mostly because of lack of appropriate parts). However, since our fridge is big enough to fit a corpse, we have been able to take their food on board to keep it cool. Since we both go at pretty much the same pace, we plan to stick together until they can get replacement parts in Vila.
Being a little behind the rest of the pack has in no way detracted from what has been a fascinating trip so far, with the four of us having the opportunity to explore all sorts of villages and bays.
A stand out for me would be Wali Bay on Pentecost Island, where we got to have a look at a land diving tower. This suicidal sport is kind of a forerunner of bungy jumping which involves locals tying a springy vine around one ankle and jumping headfirst from a rickety looking platform. The tower we saw was about 75 meters tall and looked like the mutant offspring of a drunken game of Jenga and pick-up-sticks – you could not pay me enough to jump off that thing!
Land diving is a seasonal sport because the vines are only suitable at a certain time of year. Apparently someone tried it out of season when Queen Elizabeth visited the island a few years ago and it didn’t end well. We arrived out of season but checking out the tower was fascinating enough. Women are not allowed to take part in this lunacy (a fact I put down to them being far too sensible) and cannot touch the tower until the season is over when they can chop it up for firewood. I certainly know what I would rather be doing! The locals gleefully told us how dangerous the sport was, totting up the injuries during the last season. We get the feeling there is a fair bit of peer pressure to jump among the young men on the island.
Wali gave us another example of lovely locals too. Being stopped by people who genuinely just want to say hello and have a chat is taking a bit of getting used to – but we like it!
Another great spot was Ranon on Ambrym Island. There are two active volcanoes on Ambrym which shroud the top of the island with puffy white smoke and give off an eerie red glow at night. Ranon sits under the volcanic Mt Benbow, which you can climb up with the aid of a guide if you are feeling particularly adventurous. An Australian couple who tracked us down after hearing Paddy on the radio (they couldn’t get theirs to transmit and thought he sounded like he knew radio stuff – he fixed it for them of course) told us the walk was great but took 12 hours. Since we were still playing catch up we decided to give that one a miss (it had nothing to do with us being unfit and lazy)
We did go ashore to check out the village though, which is famed for its carvings. They produce these huge creations called Tam Tams (kind of a cross between a totem pole and a drum) which I really like because they have big googly eyes that make me think of Muppets. There are large ones lying all around the island made out of coconut trees or hardwood and local carvers produce beautiful polished pieces that would look wonderful in a garden. The larger pieces were too big for the boat but we met a couple of local kids who took us to their village where they had smaller pieces – and two kittens which gave me my catlady fix (the kids thought this was hilarious) – so I managed to score a beautifully carved mini Tam Tam (about 30cm high) and a little Tam Tam necklace for the equivalent of $NZ 15. I love that I’ll be able to look at them and know exactly where they came from and who made them.
We did eventually get to Asanvari too and, while we missed out on the festival, we were treated to some very cool custom dancing, took a walk/climb up to a beautiful waterfall and were able to stock up on fresh fruit and veges from amazing gardens that put any of mine to shame.
John, Chris and I did the waterfall walk while Paddy stayed on the boat to do some sail surgery. Our guides were two little girls – Lisha and Angeline – who I suspect were part mountain goat. They bounced effortlessly from rock to rock (one barefoot and one in jandals) in places where Chris and I had to resort to going down on our bums, and I am guessing that it was hard work for them to refrain from bursting out laughing. They did a great job and the view from the top was well worth it. We could even spot Paddy working on the sail from there.
We were also given a tour of the island’s school, which only really had the bare essentials. They were in the process of building a school library because they lost most of their books in a cyclone. They were using materials supplied by some people who came out for a diving holiday and transported for free by the dive operator, which I think is really awesome. We still had some of the books we had picked up in Opua and we were happy to be able to help out in some small way by donating them. It was the school holidays but the head teacher took time out to show us and some people from a cruise ship. His tour included very proudly showing us the class that his wife taught. When one of the Australian tourists asked what she taught he said “Classics.” Needless to say the rather educated sounding, middle aged woman was quite surprised. Her response was something like “Well I studied Classics at school but I am surprised that you teach it here.” In the ensuing awkward silence I happened to notice the large number 6 on the door of the classroom and realised she actually taught “class 6”!
My final stand out spot is the bay we are at right now, Lamen Bay on Epi Island. This is a beautiful bay with a lovely village where you can buy fresh bread and some vegetables – but its best feature, as far as I am concerned, are its critters. The bay is full of big beautiful turtles. All you need to do is pop your snorkeling gear on and jump off the boat and within a few meters you can see them swimming about or munching on the grasses at the bottom of the bay. You can also spot them coming up for air from the boat itself. The turtles are pretty used to people and don’t even interrupt their lunch when you swim up to them. They are even quite happy to let you snorkel down and give them a pat. I think they are just beautiful. Lamen Bay also has a resident dugong which is apparently quite people friendly too. I haven’t managed to spot him yet but even if I don’t the turtles more than make up for it!
We are thinking of you all back then and hope things are going great. There will be annoying amounts of photos to come once we get some decent internet connection in Vila.
Lots of love,
Anna and Paddy
PS – those of you who get Paddy’s e-mail updates as well will notice I have pinched some of his words for this – hey, the man has hidden talents, and it’s not plagiarism if I admit it, right? 😉