Athena log 3
– Monday December 2nd 2013 – 0830 hrs., 16 13 N 27 19
W
I’m writing this as the Cape Verde
Islands are now far behind us with a notional waypoint entered for our halfway
mark to look forward to. Just a 12 hour stop to take on diesel at Mindelo
Marina, alongside the fuel berth at 20.30 and gone again in the early morning
with full tanks. We had a great meal ashore on Saturday night but that another
story for later.
It wasn’t so long ago that I was
packing my old Musto bag for this trip and trying to leave out as much as I
could to hit the magic 20 kg for the EasyJet scales at Gatwick! Aer Lingus, at
Dublin, I knew would be tolerant of a couple of kilos more if I told them where
I was going and why, I was not so sure about EasyJet. Two days after I left
Dublin this proved to be the case and I had to stuff several books into my
carry-on bag at Gatwick to get through.
So today we got to talking about
books as we sat in the sun; sailing away again at last.
The books we take for a voyage like
this might be an interesting subject for our log today. Whether it’s on a Kindle
or in person books have a special place on board our boats. From Pilot books to
fiction they are an invaluable addition. What books inspire us, comfort us,
challenge and entertain us and what have our crew brought in their kit bags on
ARC 2013? Our crew of 6 have the following library.
Liz’s seafaring collection starts
with Sailing to Jessica, by Kelly
Watts. It’s a story of a couples trials and joys while sailing around the world,
inspirational adventure, aboard a 42’ sloop! Her second book is one for the grab
bag called Survive the Savage Sea by
Douglas Robertson. It’s a survival tale, a triumph of human resource and
determination against terrible odds when their 43’ schooner sank in 1972. Lastly
her third book is Voyages of a Simple
Sailor, shipwreck, capsize and calms (I think I see a pattern here!). It was
written by Rodger D. Taylor, who started his life of adventure aged 23, aboard
square rigger Endeavour II. I think perhaps I recall seeing his boat Mingming, a
junk rigged Corribee at the boat show in London – I think that was his boat last
year by the ARC stand (a very interesting book which I plan to borrow when she
has read it).
Philip, our “head engineer” and
Liz’s husband, brought three books. He is currently deeply engrossed in Staring at Lakes, by Michael Harding.
Michael has, for many years, written a column in the Irish Times. The book
started out about the author’s depression, and then became a story about growing
old, the essence of love and marriage and of course sitting in cars and staring
at lakes! Philip also has Sweet Tooth
by Ian McEwan, his favourite author, a cold war thriller set in 1972. Lastly he
has Colum McCann’s Trans-Atlantic, a
historical novel and not about sailing or the ARC at all!
Brian brought three books too. The
first, The Post Office Girl by Stefan
Zweig is set in Austria after World War One. It tells the story of Christine a
girl in her late twenties whose youth has been stolen from her by the war. Out
of the blue she is invited by her wealthy American aunt (we all need one of
these) to join her for a holiday in an exclusive Swiss resort. She quickly
adapts to this lavish lifestyle but when the holiday abruptly ends can life at
home ever be the same? (Perhaps a bit like going on the ARC then?). Next, the Ipcress File by Len Deighton, his first
novel, and another Cold War classic. Deighton is one of Brian’s favourite
authors. Lastly, An Baile Seo ‘Gainne
(in English Our Town) a collection of
short stories in Irish by An Seabhac.
Myles has four books in our library. The first, and
which he is still reading between watches is The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by
Rachel Joyce. The first few pages have many reviews but I like the one by Alfred
Hickling of The Guardian newspaper. “Joyce has an unerring ability to convey
profound emotions in simple unaffected language ... An original, quietly
courageous testament to the inhuman effort of being normal”!
Following that, for something completely different, he
has Bear Grylls Facing the Frozen
Ocean about crossing the treacherous North Atlantic. Next, The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes,
a precise and poignant portrait of the costs and benefits of time passing, of
friendship and of love; according to the Times!
Lastly our Skipper Taff is well into
a recent John Grisham paperback – Sycamore Row at this point in the
passage. It’s the sequel to A Time to
Kill. As you might expect it’s a legal story with wills to contest, secret
fortunes and a suicide note! Riveting stuff... His next book choice, do The Birds Still Sing in Hell, by Horace
(Jim) Greasley is something entirely different. Horace was just 20 years old in
the spring of 1939. His war didn’t last long, taken prisoner on 25th
May 1940 when he was taken prisoner. The book recounts his trek though Poland,
his multiple escapes and return with all sorts of supplies for his comrades and
of his love affair with a German girl. It’s a tale of triumph over
adversity.
The watch system on Athena works
very well, the old tried and tested 4 on 8 off – plenty of sleep, write logs and
time to read, always fresh crew when on watch!
I have two books to recommend which
are classic sailing choices. People often mention The Riddle of the Sands as a good
sailing book. It’s one of my favourites especially as I learned to sail aboard
the authors Colin Archer Ketch (Asgard) way back in the 1970s’. He’d received the yacht as a wedding
present from his father-in-law around 1907, I think. What a great gift! Erskine
Childers’ knowledge of sailing and especially of the North Sea comes across
really well in this book set before the First World War. This is portrait of a
different age of sailing and while it’s a spy adventure it’s also a great
sailing classic.
My other favourite for a voyage like
this is Sailing for Home, by Theo
Dorgan. This Irish Author (of course) paints in crafted words the images and
emotions of a voyage back across the Atlantic from Antigua to Ireland. On our
last long distance sail from Porto Mogan (Gran Canaria) to Ireland we had a copy
on board and the last crew member only finished it as the Fastnet light appeared
on the horizon nearing home!
For those of us on the 2013 ARC Sailing for Home will be a book to
remind us of our time on passage; for family and friends it will beautifully
explain our experiences. I currently have his recent novel, also sailing based,
Making Way, but you might also like
Time on the Ocean, A Voyage from Cape
Horn to Cape Town, I think all are available from www.newisland.ie.
That completes our on-board library.
That’s it for today as we approach
The Cape Verde Islands, next time I’ll definitely bring a Kindle and save those
last few kilos, but then there is nothing like the feel of a book!
John
To continue our series, here is the
next verse of the Christy Moore song Brendan’s Voyage!
Brendan’s Voyage – Verse 3:
The entire population came; the place was
choc-a-bloc,
Love nor money wouldn’t get your nose inside the
shop,
The fishermen hauled up their nets, the farmers left
their hay,
The Kerry people know that Saints’ don’t turn up every
day,
Everything was going grand ‘till Brendan did
announce,
His reason for returning was to try to set up
house,
The girls were flabbergasted, at St Brendan’s
neck
To seek a wife so late in life and him a total
wreck.
Until next
time!