Swallowing the Anchor

This is a difficult post to write.  

Bill and I will soon become CLODS.
We have a few months left, but that departure time will be here before we know it.

Some readers (sailors!) will know that acronym.  For the non-sailing folks, a CLOD is a Cruiser Living On Dirt.  The other oft-heard expression is that we are 'swallowing the anchor.'  Either expression tells you that we have reached the end of our cruising years and it is time to retire back to land.  I would continue cruising for another year or possibly 2, but Bill is ready to call it quits now.  And we each have always believed that when one partner is ready to stop cruising, then it is time to stop.  How awful it would be to live on a boat with someone who does not wish to be there.  We have seen that situation in some other cruisers and it never works out well for either partner.  Plus, there are so many things that I physically cannot do anymore due to my painful arthritic hip and damaged knees.  Boat life has become increasingly difficult for me physically.  It is time to quit and find an easier lifestyle.

Lori, Bill and Dan with BeBe in background

BeBe already is under sales contract to soon-to-be new owners, Dan and Lori Carlson of Chicago.  Dan and Lori flew to Trinidad last Friday and spent several days with us going over BeBe.  They presented us with a sales contract and we accepted.  

Bill sent an email to about 20 people who had contacted us over the past 18 months looking for a boat like ours.  All these people were looking to purchase an Amel, preferably a Super Maramu 2000 model such as BeBe. Five people responded that they were interested in seeing BeBe and might be serious buyers.  We did not want to show the boat to anyone until late September as there were several things we wanted to do first -- such as clean carpets and empty some of the overly stuffed lockers.  It is amazing how much junk one can accumulate living on a boat for 10+ years.

But Dan was insistent that because of employment commitments mid-July was the only time he and Lori could make the trip to check-out the boat.  We finally said 'okay' but that they would have to stay in a hotel because we did not want company on board while our 2 grandchildren were with us.  And they would have to understand that the boat has not been cleaned and prepped for sales viewing.  Dan said they wanted to see how we lived aboard anyway; they had already looked at several Amels listed for sale over the past few years but those boats had all been emptied.  They wanted to see ours while still filled with all our 'stuff' -- to see how real cruisers live.

While they were here in Trinidad they had the opportunity to join the cruiser group playing Sunday afternoon Mexican Train Dominoes.  And our friends, Simon and Jenny aboard Fenecia, joined us all for dinner one evening aboard BeBe so they had a small opportunity to see what the cruising life is all about -- the people one meets out here.

Bill and I will be flying home to Houston with the grandchildren for the month of August, then we will return to Trinidad and begin trying to figure out what should be shipped back to Texas and how.  We will sail BeBe north to the US Virgin Islands where we will meet Dan and Lori in early January and spend a few weeks familiarizing them with the unique sailing characteristics of this Amel Super Maramu 2000.

And then Bill and I will be retiring to our little bungalow in Galveston.  Bill has a number of activities planned for retirement:  1) he has been appointed Vice Commander of the Galveston Squadron of the Texas Navy; 2) volunteering at the Texas Lone Star Flight Museum doing maintenance on those old WWII airplanes; and 3) volunteering on board  the tall ship Elissa, where he crewed before we began this round-the-world 10+-year sailing adventure.  I have no idea how my time will be occupied once we are CLODs next winter.

Recuperating after successful surgery

They caught it early!

After multiple diagnostic tests, procedures and consultations both at Michael E. DeBakey VA Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, on February 8 Bill underwent nerve-sparing laparoscopic radical prostatectomy using da Vinci robotics at MD Anderson.  All doctors agreed that Bill had a high-grade aggressive form of cancer that had not yet spread to surrounding soft tissue or into bones.  This made him an excellent candidate for surgery.   He was not considered a good candidate for any of the radiation therapies because the cancer was too aggressive and Bill has Crohn's Disease which can have life-long negative affects from radiation.  So, surgery it would be. Today we learned that all 14 lymph nodes removed were clear of cancer.  This means Bill can expect a complete recovery! 

These robotics machines are amazing.  Of course, the robots are only as good as the surgeon guiding the robot. The robotics allow for greater precision cutting.  As in all things, practice makes perfect; so one wants a surgeon who has performed hundreds or thousands of surgeries using  the robotics.  And that is exactly what/who can be found at MDA in Houston.  

Bill's surgery was delayed almost 2 hours while his surgical team waited for the newest generation robotics machine to finish another surgery and be cleaned and set-up for Bill.  MDA has 3 of these machines and Bill's surgeon wanted to use the newest one for this surgery.  Surgery took about 7 hours but much of that time was the positioning and setting-up in the operating room rather than the actual cutting and suturing.  

The da Vinci Surgical System is manufactured by Intuitive Surgical, Inc., based in Sunnyvale, California.  These robotics are used in hysterectomies, heart valve and various cancer surgeries through 1 - 2 cm incisions, which means much less invasive surgeries and faster recovery for patients.  The robotics offer enhanced 3D HD visualization, enhanced dexterity and greater precision and control for the surgeon.  The original prototype for the da Vinci System was developed in the late 1980s at the former Stanford Research Institute under contract to the U.S. Army.  While initial work was funded in the interest of developing a system for remotely performing battlefield surgery, possible commercial applications were even more compelling.  As of September 2012 there were 2,462 da Vinci Systems installed in over 1,936 hospitals worldwide.  There are 3 at MD Anderson and 3 at the VA hospital in Houston.  Maybe there are more in the Houston Medical Center, but we know for certain that those 6 are in operation in Houston.  For prostate cancer patients, the da Vinci Surgery is used in 4 out of 5 radical prostatectomies in the U.S. today.

For non-squeamish readers, here is a link to a short video of a robotics surgery similar to what was performed on Bill.  One difference is that Bill was placed on the operating table and then the table was slanted -- head toward the floor and feet toward the ceiling.  Makes sense if for no other reason than to alleviate the effect of gravity on the internal organs where the operation was performed.

Graphic video of robotics surgery

For squeamish readers, here is a link to a short video of one of the robotics machines peeling a grape.

da Vinci robotics machine peeling a grape

We will remain in Houston while Bill recuperates from this surgery, which statistics state can take anywhere from 2 months to over a year.  At this time we are hoping to return to the boat mid-summer.  But that date might be adjusted depending on recuperation progress. 

Keeping our fingers crossed that Bill is one of the lucky ones who recuperates and fully returns to normal quickly.  Hoping to be back on the water this summer!!!

Major change in plans

Well, the biopsy results are in and it is bad news that puts our sailing plans on hold for 6 months or longer.  Bill has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.  Additional tests must be performed to determine if the cancer has spread to surrounding tissue or into bones.  After those tests are performed the doctors will decide which surgical procedure will be best.  Of course, we are anxious to complete the tests as quickly as possible since this is the aggressive form rather than the slow-growing form of prostate cancer.  At this point it appears that the earliest Bill can have surgery will be late February.  Then there will be several months of recovery before he will be able to travel internationally.

So, under the best scenario of the cancer being confined strictly to the prostate it looks like we will be in Houston at least until June.

We are so thankful to have met Riza a couple of months ago.  He is the Amel representative in Turkey and is located in Gocek.  We hope to engage him to handle receipt of our new sails which should be delivered within a month.  And he should be able to handle moving BeBe from Fethiye to Gocek when our berthing contract ends in mid-April.  BeBe can be hauled and stored on-the-hard until we can return to Turkey.

We are keeping positive thoughts and hoping for successful surgery and full recovery so we can return to our life on the water in a few months.

Another pirated yacht

By now everyone should know that there has been another pirated yacht in the northern Indian Ocean.  This time it is a Danish yacht, taken as they were enroute from Maldives to enter the patrolled IRTZ corridor.  And, sadly again, we also knew the folks on this yacht.

In Galle, Sri Lanka we were rafted to this yacht.  They were against the concrete wharf and we were tied along their starboard side.  Every time we went ashore we had to climb over their boat.  (See Jan 30 posting -- Trip to Columbo)  Being European and familiar to being in crowded harbors, they had no problem with this.  This Danish family was so nice, quiet, peaceful and gentle.  Those are the only words I can think of to describe them.   Good experienced sailors all.

The family of 5 also had aboard 2 young men as crew.  Actually, when we were together with them Bill and I thought that 1 of the crew was their eldest son, just had darker hair than the rest of the family.  But news reports state that this young man was crew and not a family member. The other young man as crew was obviously not a member of the immediate family.  Nice guy, but completely different body build and coloring from the very blonde Danish family.  Like most boat kids, the teenage children were mature for their years and accustomed to being around adults.

One thing Bill and I noticed was their courtesy flag for Sri Lanka.  It was a blank sheet of paper on which the children (or one of the children) had drawn the flag and lion emblem and then colored with crayons.  This hand-drawn, hand-colored "flag" was then inserted into a plastic sleeve.  The open end was taped and it was hung as a courtesy flag on the starboard spreader flag halyard.   I thought at the time that this was a good project as they learned about each country they were soon to visit.  Inexpensive and educational project for home-schooled cruising kids.

The name of this boat is ING.  We inquired how they came to name their boat after a well-known international corporate giant.  The father explained that this boat had once been sponsored by ING corporation in a race of some sort.  When he bought the boat he planned to change the name.  Then he found out how much it would cost to remove the name from the hull and all the sails -- and decided that ING would be a good name for his boat.  So he left the original name in place.  Bill and I were surprised that ING corporation had not either removed the name before selling the yacht or at least stipulated in the sales contract that the name must be removed and the yacht given a new name.  Seems like ING corporation would not want their corporate name on an item outside their control -- especially on a private yacht sailing around the world.

ING departed Sri Lanka on a Sunday afternoon, enroute to the Maldives.  The following day we departed enroute to Cochin.  Minutes before leaving the wharf they presented us with the remaining third of a very fancy ganache covered cream filled chocolate cake.  The cake required refrigeration and they did not have room for it, nor was there enough left to serve all 7 people; so they thought we might like to enjoy it.  We did.  What a treat!  This was a nice gesture on their part.  I am sure whoever was to be on night watch on that first night at sea would have enjoyed eating that cake.

One of the things we noted about this yacht was that they had such a tiny water supply for 7 people for an ocean crossing.  Their water tank was so small that they filled it by carrying 1-gallon plastic bottles from the spigot and pouring into the tank.  Barely sufficient water for drinking and cooking, and no fresh water for showers and washing dishes.  We assumed those tasks would be done with seawater.  I sincerely doubt they had a watermaker on that boat.  This was not a yacht filled with luxuries.

We were impressed with the obvious sailing skill of the entire family and 1 of the crew.  The other crew member did not seem as experienced, but maybe we just got  the impression because he was not as familiar with that particular boat as the other 6 people on board.  When they were ready to depart, a friend used his dinghy to pull our stern out.  The ING backed out of that tight space like professionals.  Our friend then used his dinghy to push our stern back up close to the wall of the concrete wharf and we tightened the dock lines fore and aft.  A piece of cake!  As we were adjusting our dock lines for our new closer position, the ING motored out of the harbor.

That was the last we heard of them until receiving news on February 24 that a distress call had been heard using their boat name.  U.S. Central Command confirmed to another friend that the distress call had been received and provided the coordinates.  None of us knew the nature of the distress call.  We were all hoping that it was a mechanical failure of some sort.  On February 25 Central Command again confirmed the "last known position" for ING.  Bill plotted the latitude and longitude of both locations and it was very obvious that ING must have been hijacked by pirates.  In 21 hours the ING had sailed 117 NM in a straight line towards a known pirate haven port on the coast of Somalia.

Bill and I remained silent about this because we felt that to make anything public might jeopardize any possible rescue attempt or at the minimum might cause difficulties in negotiations between the Somali pirates and the Danish authorities.   We had seen how crazy the media behaved in reporting the capture of QUEST.  Why feed the frenzy?  I am writing now because the Danish government has made news of this capture public.  And, as predicted, the media is clamoring the same question as when QUEST was captured:  Why were these people in this dangerous area?

Here is why.  The father/captain on ING discussed piracy concerns with us in Sri Lanka.  He pointed out that NO PRIVATE YACHT HAD EVER BEEN CAPTURED in the northern Indian Ocean when following the routes recommended in published sailing guides (specifically in Jimmy Cornell's book of sailing routes).  He was correct at that time.  No private yacht had been captured; at least none that we are aware of.  There was one French yacht hijacked several years ago; but that capture took place in the far western Gulf of Aden and close to the northern coast of Somalia, not in the northern Indian Ocean.  At the time the ING left Sri Lanka, the huge increase of piracy attacks this year was not yet publicized.  And none of us sailors in Sri Lanka yet knew anything about the rioting in Egypt (later to spread throughout almost all the Middle Eastern countries).   As I have pointed out in previous posts, last "season" there had been only 6 pirate attacks in the northern Indian Ocean (all against commercial shipping); this season there were 78 as of February 10.  And there have been many more since then!  

ING was already at sea when QUEST was captured.  I do not know if ING had been notified of the murders of the crew of QUEST.  But there would be little, if anything, they could have done differently had they known.  As I have had to repeatedly point out to non-sailors, there is this little phenomena in this part of the world known as monsoons.  A sailboat cannot travel in the opposing direction during monsoons.  It flat just won't work -- impossible due to wind angles and strength of winds and all the normal sailing technicalities that non-sailors cannot comprehend.  ING could have turned and gone due south; that would have been his only option in a sailboat at this time of year.  And that would have taken him into even more dangerous Somali pirate waters and closer to the Somali coast for a very long distance.  Not to mention he would be sailing into cyclone territory during cyclone season.  So all the arm-chair sailors and the ill-informed critics need to do a bit of research before they criticize ING's decision to be where they were when they were.  It was pure bad luck that pirates happened upon them.  It is a big ocean out there.  It is hard if not impossible to find a boat when you have the exact coordinates.   Their bad luck to be found by the bad guys.

We hope for the safe release of the crew of ING -- the entire Johansen family -- Jan, Birgit, Rune, Hjalte and Naja; and the 2 young men crew whose names we never learned.

NEVER FORGET QUEST

We cannot allow a bunch of thugs to take an entire ocean away from the world. Ignoring this will be disrespecting the deaths of the crew of Quest...we will NEVER FORGET QUEST.  We call on the Congress and the Administration to take action which will rid the world this problem.

 

We are working to create copyrighted items such as the Burgee above which will be distributed by interested organizations.  These interested organizations will receive 100% of the revenue with no licensing fee back to us.  The organizations must agree to use 100% of the gross margin from sales of the licensed items to fund lobbing efforts and other efforts which will may lead to a change in how various governments treat pirates and piracy, with the ultimate goal always being the elimination of piracy.  As soon as we have our first license agreement we will post it here and on the Facebook page for QUEST NEVER FORGET (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Quest-Never-Forget/196704463691254).

We are cruisers and do not have a real office nor do we have support.  We are looking for a land-based volunteer to head up the effort of getting various organizations on board...please email us at neverforgetquest@gmail.com if you feel you can help in any way. 

Devastated by the senseless murder of crew of S/Y Quest!!

As everyone probably already knows from news flashes, owners Scott and Jean Adam and their crew, Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, were murdered today aboard captured S/Y Quest by the Somali pirates.

Per Associated Press news article:  "Vice Adm. Mark Fox, commander of U.S. naval forces for the Central Command, said in a televised briefing that the violence on Tuesday started when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired from the yacht at the USS Sterett, a guided-missile destroyer which was 600 yards away. The RPG missed and almost immediately afterward small arms fire was heard coming from the yacht, Fox said............Negotiations had been under way to try to win the release of the two couples on the pirated vessel Quest when the gunfire was heard, the U.S. military said. "

So, the pirates fired a RPG toward the guided-missil destroyer and then immediately shot and killed the 4 hostages.


We had so hoped the US Navy would be able to rescue them, but our hopes were failing as Quest got closer and closer to Somalia.  This might sound cold-hearted, but we figured that the Navy would act even if the perfect opportunity to save all 4 hostages did not present itself.  They could not let that yacht reach Somalia and let the 4 Americans be taken ashore.  Who knows what horrors would have awaited the hostages there or for how long.

The 13 pirates captured alive deserve the death penalty!!!!  They do not deserve to live out their lives in a comfortable US prison.  Frankly, I wonder why they were taken alive in the first place.

We are torn as to whether we should notify others we know who are now sailing across the Indian Ocean about what has happened.  We feel they should know.  But, on the other hand, there is nothing they can do except continue sailing forward or turn around and return.  Either way, they will all be in danger of pirates.  Would knowing simply cause additional stress to them in an already extremely stressful situation.   The pirates are now striking within 300 miles off the coast of India, and all the boats we know our there are well past that point; so they are all well into pirate waters.  "Damned if you do and damned if you don't" situation for them now.  We pray that no more yachts are captured.  We also pray that someone or some government or some group of governments finds a way to stop this piracy.  The Somalis cannot be allowed to plunder the entire northern Indian Ocean and deny peaceful passage of commercial and private vessels.

Our deepest sympathies and condolences to the family and friends of Scott Adam, Jean Adam, Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle.  They did nothing to deserve such deaths. 

Sad to learn of another boat lost on reef

We were saddened to learn that S/V Airwego was lost on a reef in Samoa. We were just casual acquaintances of Mike and Cindy on S/V Airwego and have not had contact with them in over a year. But as cruisers and fellow sailors, our thoughts go out to them. How horrible to lose your home!

S/V Airwego was following S/V Charisma (an Amel Mango owned by our friends Alan and Kristen) through a narrow pass through reef. Charisma made it through the pass without incident, but Airwego apparently clipped the side of the pass. The ocean swell and breaking waves put their boat up onto the reef. This was during low tide. As the tide came in the boat was holed and it filled with water. Long story short: they saved as much as they could from the boat. A tug was sent out to pump out the diesel to reduce environmental damage.

Mike and Cindy were en route to Hawaii on their return to the USA. We feel their loss and wish them the best on whatever course life takes them now.

This makes 6 boats that we have known personally that have been lost since we transited the South Pacific in 2008. One went down in a hurricane; one filled with water and sank enroute between New Zealand and Fiji last May; one was lost in the tsunami in Samoa last fall (spring south of the equator); and three were lost on reefs. Plus, we know of 3 other boats that were lost on reefs; but we did not personally know the owners. Doesn't that seem like an awfully high number of cruising yachts lost in just one ocean in 18 months!

I will be so very glad when we transit the Suez Canal and leave most of the reefs behind us for awhile.

S/V Sunshine lost in tsunami

In June 2008 we met Lewis and his 12-yr-old daughter Merritt in the Tuamotu islands of French Polynesia. The mom had returned to the States for a couple of years. The dad was a high school teacher and was home-schooling Merritt. They were on a very old 32-ft Coronado sailboat named S/V Sunshine that had been purchased for only $8,000 in California. Their life was very basic on that old small boat, but they were having a ball cruising.

Last Sept they were caught in the tsunami that struck Samoa. Thought our readers might be interested in reading about their experience. Some people in Singapore visited us recently and brought us a bunch of sailing magazines. One was the Feb 2010 issue of Latitudes and Attitudes magazine. Lats and Atts had printed a story submitted by Merritt in their Sea Urchins section---articles written by children who are cruising. That magazine article got Bill to search out the following articles which were printed in their US hometown newspaper.

http://www.thefoothillsfocus.com/102109-TsunamiTeenStory.asp


http://www.thefoothillsfocus.com/102109-TsunamiStory.asp

http://www.thefoothillsfocus.com/123009-tsunamistory.asp

It is heartbreaking to read their story. The absolute worst part is the looters. We wish the family all the best in whatever direction life takes them after this terrible loss.

Fed the homeless & the sinking of friend`s boat

Yesterday morning Bill ventured out in search of an ATM to obtain local currency of francs; they don`t accept Euros here in New Caledonia. The first ATM machine would not accept our debit card and Bill could not figure out whether the message on the little screen was saying that the machine was out of order or that our card would not work on their system. Since the next ATM machine was farther away and we had been advised that it was not the safest place to walk around, this time I accompanied him on this trip. We also wanted to look at the local market.

There is a fabulous seafood market right next to the marina and I wanted some of the great looking fresh tuna, but we have too much food on the boat already so we passed on the fish. There is a separate produce market where those fabulous French pastries are also sold. This is a wonderful daily market; prices are a bit high but the quality cannot be beat.

We walked the few blocks to another ATM. A vagrant street person followed us half a block and stood a few feet from us as Bill did one ATM withdrawal and I could hear him submitting a second withdrawal. I stood with my back to Bill and faced the vagrant, making it obvious that I was watching him. He kept glancing at Bill and the ATM machine and started whistling and making hand motions to other vagrants down the block, motioning them to come to where we were standing. I told Bill that I thought we should hurry up and get away from there. Bill said he was finished and we walked away. The vagrant stayed at the ATM machine.

After we were half-block away Bill told me that only the first withdrawal had worked. The screen said something about "impossible" on the second withdrawal attempt. Remember that this is all in French, which we don`t speak or read. We walked around a few blocks and then returned to the ATM to try another withdrawal. The vagrant had moved on by this time. We put in our card and punched the button for another 8,000 francs and the little screen again said something was impossible. But for some reason I thought it was telling us that it would be impossible to print a receipt. Sure enough, we waited about 10 seconds and out came our money but no printed receipt. Uh-oh. That meant that the previous transaction probably had worked but that we hadn`t hung around long enough for the machine to dispense the money. No wonder the vagrant had hung around the machine after we walked away. Sure enough, once we got back to the boat and got internet access to check our bank account we learned that all 3 transactions had been processed.

Oh well, it could have been much worse. We had just given the vagrant about $90 to drink his day happy. We should expect mishaps to occur when we don`t understand the language. Sort of suprised that we haven`t screwed up before now. We decided to return to the boat before we got into more trouble. On the walk back we saw that the new Star Trek movie is playing just down the street from our marina. Of course it is in French. We are seriously considering going to see it anyway, just to see the special effects even if we can`t understand the dialog or plot.

Now that we had internet access it was time to update the websites and catch up on some of the news. We were very saddened to learn that a boat we know sank last Friday en route from New Zealand to Fiji.

We had met Wendy and Steve on S/V ELUSIVE in Tonga last October; didn`t get to know them well but did socialize with them several times. ELUSIVE was one of half-dozen boats sailing from Opua to Fiji, all scattered well away from one another. They were about 500 miles out of Opua when they received news of impending bad weather and diverted course, heading south again. At the same time John and Renee on S/V SCARLETT O`HARA had also diverted course and were heading west. These 2 boats were not too far from one another and heading in opposite directions, one headed south and one headed west and closing the distance between them. ELUSIVE began taking on water quickly. ELUSIVE is a fast J-44 and had extensive refitting work done in New Zealand. Steve could not find the leak, but did verify that water was not entering at the prop shaft or packing gland.

Wendy and their adult son got into their dinghy and Steve continued to try to find the source of the leak. SCARLETT arrived and John (who is a marine surveyer and very knowledgable about boats) went aboard the rapidly sinking ELUSIVE and attempted to help Steve find the source of the incoming seawater. Apparently the water was entering somewhere in the forward half of the boat. Unfortunately, the water was rapidly filling the boat and it soon became apparent that Steve and John must vacate the boat because to stay longer would endanger their lives. Wendy, Steve and their son were taken aboard S/V SCARLETT O`HARA and watched their home sink. The cause of the leak will now never be known because the boat is at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. One thing that is for certain is that this sinking was not caused by bad weather or by collision; it was some malfunction on the boat. Our thoughts are with Wendy and Steve as they recover from this traumatic event.

Wendy and Steve are so fortunate that they were sailing this passage with so many other cruisers nearby. If they had been alone on this passage the outcome could have been far more tragic. And this rescue is even more interesting because John and Renee on SCARLETT O`HARA had also once been rescued at sea. Several years ago they departed from Mexico en route to French Polynesia. They were 750 miles out of Mexico when their rudder fell off. The rudder literally fell off the boat!!! They were very fortunate that the Mexican Navy came to their rescue and towed the boat back to Mexico, where they spent 2 years replacing the rudder and making other improvements.

The crew of SCARLETT O`HARA were rescued once and now they have paid forward by rescuing the crew of ELUSIVE.