Alan Boreham - Beer in the Bilges: Sailing Adventures in the South Pacific

BEER IN THE BILGES

Sailing Adventures in the South Pacific

ALAN BOREHAM,
PETER JINKS,
AND BOBROSSITER

iUniverse, Inc.

Bloomington

Beer in the Bilges

Sailing Adventures in the South Pacific

Copyright 2012 by Alan Boreham, Peter Jinks, and Bob Rossiter

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Chart excerpt on page xviii British Crown Copyright and/or database rights. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of Her Majestys Stationery Office and the UK Hydrographic Office (www.ukho.gov.uk)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-2879-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-2880-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-2881-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012909680

iUniverse rev. date: 07/26/2012

Contents

For Dixie Carter

If you spend any time in the remoter places in the world, you will meet some people who dont seem to fit into normal society. These are not always evil people or even peculiar people. These are just people who seem to thrive in an environment with fewer rules and much less scrutiny than most of us are accustomed to. Even in paradise youre likely to find people like this, as we did. Some of these people are still there.

The Professionals : Alan Boreham, Peter Jinks, and Hollywood Bob Rossiter

An old sailor without his beer is like corned beef without cabbage.

John Wray, South Sea Vagabonds

List of Illustrations

1.Chart of the Pacific Ocean showing origins and destinations of the authors.

2.Hollywood Bob Rossiter on his motorcycle in Hawaii

3.Maupihaa Island, French Polynesia, renamed Spook Island

4.Rising storm off Suwarrow, Cook Islands

5.Hal Holbrook drawing a cool beer from the bilges of Yankee Tar

6.Yankee Tar at anchor off the Paradise International Hotel, Neiafu, Vavau Islands, Kingdom of Tonga

7.Hal Holbrook, Dixie Carter, and Bob Rossiter at the Paradise International Hotel, Vavau Islands, Kingdom of Tonga

8.Tongan girls in formal dress

9.Bob inspecting the diesel fuel in Neiafu, Vavau Islands, Kingdom of Tonga

10.Hal Holbrook and Bob Rossiter at gunnery practice

11.Preparing for a day on Sydney Harbour aboard Ron of Argyll with owner Andrew Clubb

12.Ron of Argyll leaving Sydney Harbour

13.Ron of Argyll beating to windward

14.Drying sails after a storm

15.Peters catch

16.The main saloon of Ron of Argyll

17.Andrew Clubb receiving award from the governor general of Fiji

18.Crew of Ron of Argyll (left to right) Don Graham, Terry Carrol, Peter, Chantal, and Andrew at the awards ceremony for the 1982 Sydney-to-Suva race

19.Peter Jinks (right) and visitors aboard Ron of Argyll in Suva, Fiji

20.Ron of Argyll (center) tied stern-to at the Tradewinds Hotel in Suva, Fiji

21.Children row out to meet the yacht at Totoya Island, Lau Group, Fiji

22.Andrew Clubb going to see the chief, bearing gifts

23.Ron of Argyll at anchor in Totoya Island lagoon

24.Totoya Island women dancing at the farewell feast

25.Andrew Clubb enjoying a deck shower

26.Peter and friendly villagers of Oneata Island, Lau Group, Fiji

27.Ron of Argyll at anchor in Neiafu Harbour, Vavau Islands, Kingdom of Tonga

28.Carter Johnson at work

29.Little girl near Neiafu, Vavau Islands, Kingdom of Tonga

30.The shoreline near Neiafu with visiting yachts at anchor

31.Alan (center) and crew wishing final farewells as Second Chance prepares for departure from Vancouver

32.Second Chance leaving Vancouver

33.Alan on watch off the coast of British Columbia

34.A fishing boat off the coast of California

35.Pacific Princess leaving San Francisco Harbor

36.Second Chance approaching the Golden Gate Bridge

37.Second Chance at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco

38.Scott at the helm, with Gary on watch, as Second Chance leaves San Francisco

39.Second Chance in the North Pacific en route to Hawaii

40.Andy at the wheel as Second Chance emerges from the storm

41.Alan having a wash during a calm mid-Pacific

42.Some of the crew going for a swim during the calm

43.Second Chance under full sail in the trade winds

44.Anybody want flying fish for breakfast?

45.Jury-rigged storm jib after upper hanks tore out in the gale

46.John enjoying champagne to celebrate the discovery of Oahu

47.Second Chance on arrival in Ala Wai Harbor

48.Andy indicating the hole in the hull of Second Chance

49.Graveyard near Neiafu, Vavau Islands, Kingdom of Tonga

50.American Samoa International Airport

51.The Rainmaker Hotel at the entrance to Pago Pago Harbor, American Samoa

52.Ron of Argyll anchored near derelict fishing vessels in Pago Pago Harbor, American Samoa

53.Aerial view of yachts tied up to rock mole in Pago Pago Harbor

54.Aiga buses at the market in Pago Pago, American Samoa

55.Gary Green aboard his yacht Heartbeat in Pago Pago Harbor

56.Asian long-liner awaiting repair at the marine railway

57.Alan, Bob, and Don place fenders as the Ron is secured on the marine railway

58.Alan places a fender as some of the boatyard crew swim below

59.Boatyard worker nicknamed Slim takes a rest

60.Long-liner pulls in to the marine railway behind the Ron

61.Foreman checks that the Ron is secure

62.The Black Ship passing the Rainmaker Hotel to dump offal at sea

63.Don Coleman caulking the hull of the Ron

64.Caulking finished and ready for bottom paint

65.View of Pago Pago Harbor entrance and reefs from the cable car atop Rainmaker Mountain

66.A still and humid day in Pago Pago Harbor

67.Sunken long-liner Kwang Myong 65

68.American tuna seiner Montana in Pago Pago Harbor

69.Ron of Argyll leaving Pago Pago Harbor en route to Honolulu

T here was a point in time when there was a real possibility that this book would never be written. It was November 1982, and we were five days out of Pago Pago, en route to Honolulu, sailing a classic, fifty-five-foot gaff-rigged ketch named Ron of Argyll. She was built in Scotland in 1928 for one Colonel McKay, who was a frequent guest of King George V aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. The colonel had reputedly hired the marine architect who produced that lovely yacht to design one for him. Her traditional hull, built of one-and-a-quarter-inch-thick teak planks copper-fastened to oak frames, had over the years furrowed the waters of the Atlantic, West Indies, and Pacific, hosting, it is said, such celebrities as Marilyn Monroe, and it had been sold to an Australian owner in the 1970s.

For we three sailorsHollywood Bob Rossiter is a New Zealander who was then forty-one, Peter Jinks is from Australia and was thirty-two, and Alan Boreham is from Canada and was twenty-seventhis was a delivery job, a contract with the current Australian owner to bring the yacht to Hawaii and then on to Los Angeles for sale. We were all young at heart and living the dream of sailing a beautiful yacht through some of the most amazing cruising destinations in the world. It was an adventure, but one that was suddenly testing our resolve.