It’s bad luck for a sailor to begin a passage on a Friday. Rooted in maritime history, the source of where such superstitions stem is of little concern as sailors will take any and all such ideas as an invaluable contribution to getting to the next port in the safest and quickest means possible. I recently worked a delivery trip to the Island of Futuna, considered some of the most remote islands in the South Pacific. The Futuna island group is nearly 240nm north of the Fiji Islands (1 nautical mile = 6,076 ft) (1 mile = 5,280 ft). We only spent two hours on Futuna before taking off for Fiji again. It was a short visit but nonetheless left impressions. The pace of life is slow. Take the lifestyle of Southern France and slow it down even more in a Pacific setting. There you have it. And the people, Polynesian despite being located in Melanesia, speak French that even I understand unlike those posh Parisians. The trip was a huge success and the weather couldn’t have been better – waking up at 04:30 Saturday morning to set sail was worth while rather than departing Friday and facing bad luck. The name of the yacht is Apagee, a 42’ sloop, and quite nice. Curly, the local harbor master, dive master, weather and radio guru and all around legend to cruisers coming into Savusavu, skippered the five day round trip while I crewed. We had a blast deciphering each other’s New Zealand and American English words. For example one would use the word “Moorish” to describe the addicting nature of say a cookie or potato chip. I thought he was referring to the Moors of Islam.
The sailing was close to being exceptional and the seas rather moderate if not gentle, and thus we were constantly tuning the sheets to obtain maximum performance around the clock. The film documenting the voyage will be posted in sections as there are connection speed issues on this end. In the meantime enjoy part 1.
PLAY Part I (12MB .mov)
PLAY Part II (13MB .mov) - Posted Oct 20 - 05
11 comments:
Hi, Nice site. My small site about southbeach diet is sometimes a pain to keep up with and needs work. Good job!
What are the guys behind you doing?
The audio isn't clear enough to hear.
Nice choice of a video clip for your logo.
08:55 Response -
Yeah the guys behind us were mixing concrete in giant wood carved bowls to lay a concrete floor over the gravel one. I have no idea what they said - we just smiled and continued eating ice cream. Thanks for the comment
sb james
james, I like the black and white effect you used at the beginning of this clip. keep 'em coming! --r
Thanks - more are on the way.
Loved the sailing video...where are you getting your music clips? They work perfectly with your videos! Arrr...Karyn
I can't disclose my source for music but am fortunate enough to have a modest collection to select from - mostly electronica. Slowly diversifying though.
Nice job James - again!!!!! You are awesome and doing a great job with this blog! Your pics and movies are GREAT!!! I am still jealous of you!
Keep listening to Queen, and as always - Stay Safe and Remain Cool!!!!!!!!
-Queen-ROCKS (a.k.a. Jenna)
James,
I just checked out your most recent posts. It looks like you are having the time of your life. Your videos are great. I must say I'm a little jealous... Keep us all updated as you continue your adventures. Stay safe,
Kenny
Hello, James.
It seems you have been busy lately. I look forward to Part 2 of the Passage to Futuna. Maybe a little bit about Curly? It is interesting to see how persistent is the tradition to not set sail on a voyage on Friday. It has been around for over 200 years.
I like your use of Wikipedia to give more information about such things as sloops, ketches, and other items.
All the best,
Ken
Responding to Ken's Comment:
Curly is the Savusavu Port Captain here in town. This is the person that organizes cruiser events and orients new cruisers on the best places to get fuel, spare parts, ATMs, etc. He also puts on a morning radio sched everyday of the week that includes weather, tides, and events of interest. I'll try to get some clips of the sched, it's quite funny. Curly is also back in the "game" - so if there are any 40+ females out there who are interested in living a life of delivering yachts and living on a houseboat here in Savusavu I'll be sure to pass along the information.
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