Chasing the dream
Voyagers: Boat: Westerly Sealord 39, Camomile Cruising:
TBill and Sue Redgrove Circumnavigation he WOA put me in touch with Bill and Sue Redgrove and, thanks to the miracle of modern communications, Bill quickly replied to my email, writing: ‘I woke up yesterday anchored within a circular coral reef in the middle of the Indian Ocean, with pilot whales breaching outside and turtles, multicoloured reef fish and small black-tipped sharks inside. Today I swam with a pod of 27 wild dolphins. It’s easy to get desensitised to these experiences, so I make a habit of pinching myself from time to time to remind myself that a lot of days are special.’ Sure beats hanging off an anchor in a coffee-coloured Thames estuary.
Bill and Sue are both 58. Like many long-distance voyagers they live on a tight budget, supported by savings and a small amount of rental income, adding: ‘We hope to work again at some point in the future, if only to top up our cruising war chest.’
They and their 1985 Sealord 39 Camomile left the UK in 2009. So far they have covered 47,440 miles, taking them across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, south to New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia then to Malaysia and Thailand. Camomile is now on her way home via the Indian Ocean and South Africa, aiming to cross her outward path in the Caribbean.
Bill bought Camomile in 1997 as a step up from the family Westerly Merlin 28 because ‘our two sons had outgrown the forepeak. We were looking for something just a few feet bigger, but we fell in love with Camomile the moment we went on board. It seemed a huge amount of money to spend, so I suppose we comforted ourselves by thinking she was big enough to sail further afield than the Solent. Looking back, the seed was sown then!
‘ Camomile was equipped as one might expect for basic coastal day-sailing; she lacked a GPS or autopilot, her sails were baggy and her engine was shot from charging batteries alongside. However, by 2004, the
idea of sailing away had taken root. From then to 2009 we added, changed, modified and replaced another 250 items ranging from sails to ground tackle, davits to A-frame, wind pilot to watermaker. Many of these were items you might expect for long passages; such as EPIRB, HF radio etc.’ (Bill lists these, plus details of his voyage, on the inspirational website www.yachtcamomile.co.uk/ job-list/preparing-our-coastalcruiser-for-blue-water.)
‘Some have turned out to be essential,’ Bill continued. ‘Our twin-genoa ‘twizzle’ rig makes downwind sailing safer and less demanding than was experienced by other boats with other sail plans on our route.’ How true. My transatlantic trip in 1968 would have been a nightmare if we hadn’t cobbled up a twin-headsail rig.
Bill then makes an interesting point about the orientation of his ‘master bedroom’, saying: ‘Rotating our aft cabin double bed to lie athwartships enabled us to sleep in rolly anchorages and on choppy seas while all around us clung desperately to their lee cloths to avoid falling to the floor!’
And what about transport to and from isolated beaches? Bill said: ‘Having our dinghy on davits so we can get ashore to fetch supplies with ease proved essential once we left marinaland.’ And as a parting shot on mods, he alluded to a near-disaster narrowly avoided when ‘our trusty Yacht Legs prevented a reef grounding from becoming a sinking.’
When I asked what he might have done differently, Bill’s wish list included a larger-capacity, high-efficiency watermaker, keel-cooled refrigerators, slightly higher davits and a good-quality tow generator.
Check the chainplates
One essential rig modification concerned the chainplates. Bill told me: ‘I would recommend any yacht owner (Westerly or otherwise) who has A-shaped pre-RCD-era chainplates to check them. If the A-bolt is aligned with the shroud, the chances are it will operate satisfactorily. If it is not it should be pulled, checked for cracks or other damage and modified. If your chainplate is more than 10 years old you should check it regardless of vessel type or style. If you’re undertaking longer passages with A-bolts I’d replace them with a beefed-up version. This is a small deal that can become a big one: some boats have lost a rig this way.’
And what about the voyaging so far? Bill told me: ‘We left Gibraltar with the Blue Water Rally. Our plan was to go our separate way at Fiji while the rally returned to Gibraltar through the Suez Canal. This first part of our journey was characterised by a great sense of comradeship: we made enduring friendships that we hope will last for the rest of our lives. The group also gave us the confidence to face our first ocean passage across the Atlantic, which would otherwise have been more daunting.’
He added that the whole trip has so far been huge fun and a real adventure, ‘apart from one catastrophe when the yacht Quest was taken by Somali pirates and the owners and crew murdered. Quest joined the Blue Water Rally after we had left it. But the crew were good friends. Our ideas of returning through the Red Sea died with them.’
When I asked Bill whether he met many other yachts on similar circumnavigations, he replied: ‘I strongly support the idea of cruising in company – especially on long passages and in any area where the boat’s security might be at risk if it were on its own, like an isolated anchorage. Each crew has its own unique set of skills, knowledge and resources to share. Two boats together double their chances of resolving a problem or, better still, not getting into it in the first place. And the more the merrier! So a cruising doctor might not know how to fix his faulty winch, but he’d be able to tell you what to do about a broken bone. Similarly, an ex-weatherman might not know what a diesel lift pump does, but he can advise on passage timing and where to find the best data.’ Sound advice indeed.
Bill proved the value of having other yachts at hand when he lost a shroud 800 miles from the Galapagos, saying: ‘With support from our BWR friends who escorted us as we limped on, we overcame the problem and arrived safely to enjoy one of the most remarkable locations we have ever visited.’
I asked Bill about the most common types of yacht he met. He said he no longer sees so many rally boats, having graduated from these events. He now avoids these ‘because of the “locust effect” on local resources and the hike in prices that follows in their wake. There is no “majority yacht”, but monohulls are far more prolific than catamarans on the main cruising routes. There are various self-build projects and we see more Amels, Hallberg- Rassys and perhaps Island Packets than other makes.’
When it comes to communication, Camomile carries VHF (only useful at short range), satellite phone (‘expensive and, for yacht-to-yacht calls, usually not covered by a monthly plan’s free minutes’) and an SSB radio transceiver. The latter ‘enables us to talk to other yachts over great distances and to receive weather information. We exploit this capability further by running a radio “sced” or “net” where we broadcast our position, speed, heading, weather conditions and then take similar check-ins from other boats on passage or at anchor waiting to go on passage etc. It’s also good for a social chat. And if there are issues or concerns on board a vessel we can, and often do, offer advice or help from the wider group.’
‘The group gave us the confidence to face our first ocean passage across the Atlantic’
‘She’ll look after you’
I rounded off by asking about heavy weather experiences, and Bill replied: ‘Every boat has her war stories, and Camomile is no exception. But to get things in perspective, we have probably spent six days out of more than 2,500 coping with really difficult conditions. I would say to aspiring voyagers that if you can handle a Force 6 in the English Channel then you can probably cope anywhere we have been so far. Many Westerlys smaller than ours have completed ocean voyages and even circumnavigations. The boat is the professional, so look after her well and she will look after you.’