Have you been asking yourself lately, whatever the hell is Jim Shortreed up to? Maybe not, have you been asking yourself lately, whatever the hell happened to whats'is-name? Well a lot has happened and a lot is happening and so I have taken the liberty of sending you all this message. Remember the wise procedure of my valued friend, Dan Lemire, who prints these letters of mine at work and reads them in the bathroom, on company time, at his leisure.
I have been sailing in New Zealand waters with, lately, a young girl from France as crew. Fanny (although that is a slang term for the female private parts in New Zealand so in New Zealand she insists on the name Fay) was a great crew, very capable with lots of good ideas. In addition she is only 18 so she has a very immature outlook on life, quite the match to mine, but as a young woman from France she has a certain, I don't know, shall we say a bit of je ne sais quoi?
She and I formed quite the pair, drinking Canadian Club Christmas Day at Smokehouse Bay on Great Barrier Island and running into Kiwi yachts with the zodiac, waking the gentle Kiwi's. We had great sails in the strong winds, Prism healed over to the rail, waves smashing, t-shirts wet, drinking red wine (a great daytime tradition of the French from France) and eating huge chocolate bars whilst hove-to in near gales of warm wind in bright sun.
We partay-ed in Tutukaka for New Years Eve, until the late hours and then we partay-ed with my Kiwi friend Sammy who I met sailing in Fiji at Leigh Harbour. We had potluck and some strange kind of Kiwi tobacco with Gaspar in a very lovely cove north of Tutukaka. I had sailed beside Gaspar in Tahiti and we laughed as he recounted the tale of Jim surfing the coral of Tahiti, standing on the coral, blood leaking from below each ankle, holding a pink boogie board in his grandpa underpants after the wave had stripped his cool green shorts away. Then we laughed as I recounted Gaspar's near arrest by the Surete as he motored right beside me past the airport, I saved his stoned ass by pleading with the Gendarmerie, in my broken Quebecois, that his radio was indeed broken and I had told him to follow me closely, so please Monsieur Gendarmerie, let us go with a stern parlez en francais. It's kind of neat to get involved in all these remote adventures and then, by chance, meet up again and laugh again.
Gaspar, Fanny and I spent a couple of hours entering into a strange tryst. Gaspar spent 3 months one winter and 3 months one summer at Easter Island (Rapa Nui) and he had some phenomenal photos of Rapa Nui. There is a tiny harbour, just big enough for two sailboats and the local fishboats. His photos of the huge carved heads of world famous report were spectacular as were his photos of his sailboat in the harbour in a huge winter storm. By the end of his slideshow, Fanny and I were convinced to leave for Rapa Nui. It would be a great sailing trip. Leave New Zealand in late November, the beginning of the Austral summer, sail down to 50 degrees south to catch the westerlies all the way to Rapa Nui. Spend a couple of months in Rapa Nui and then sail NW with the trades behind to Gambier and then up the Tuamotos to Tahiti and then downwind to Fiji. A great circle of the South Pacific with winds statistically behind me. Fanny is planning to work hard for two years in case I am ready to go on that adventure in Nov 2010. As she taught me, sait on jamais ou les vents nous mene, and as I added, mais tu sais et je sais les vents nous mene.
who knows where the wind will blow us
but you know and I know the wind will blow us.
Fanny and I sailed to Auckland from Leigh Harbour on a day of stiff SE breeze and hot sunshine. Prism went to weather so well, the small genoa and full main had the rail in the water most the day and we tacked around headlands and behind islands. At dusk Auckland city skyline came in view, and we had a glorious long tack to the harbour lights, right along the same route the America's Cup races had taken. We tied up to Westhaven Marina at 0100, the largest marina in the Southern Hemisphere. Fanny left the next morning for the South Island and a job on a farm.
Later that morning Andrea came and took me on a tour of her adopted city, what a great city. Very much like Victoria, but with constant winds. The harbour is great for sailing, the Sky Tower is great for lunch, walking in volcano parks, the museum with South Pacific treasures, this is a great city. Next day we went for a longer drive to the West Coast and I dipped my toes into the Tasman Sea. We tried to body surf but the undertow was very strong and the lifeguards ordered everyone out of the water. Andrea and I were drifting down the beach quite fast, but Andrea was put on a lifeguards surfboard and caught a wave into the shore. I swam in with some of the others who weren't really strong swimmers, we all made it safe. After that adventure we had to walk across the hot black sand, and me without my flipflops, I got the soles of my feet really burned. Almost as painful as frostbite.
Andrea might have a solution to my storing Prism whilst going to work plan. She wants to move out of her present apartment and save a lot of money so that she can afford to take a couple of years off and go sailing. I want to have Prism looked after whilst I'm away. Surprising but true, it's cheaper to store Prism as a live-aboard in Auckland than on dry land in Whangarei. So quite possibly Andrea will be living on Prism in Auckland whilst I work.
Work has to be done, I got no money left and so I gotta go to work for a time. My company, Canadian Helicopters Ltd, has won a contract in Afghanistan to supply the American Army with 3 helicopters. I applied for it and got it, not too sure if the term would be that "I won the position" or not. The pay is pretty good, and it is a 28 day on 28 day off contract. The company pays the airfare back and forth to Canada, or equivalent, so I think that I will come to New Zealand for my time off and maybe back to Canada for some time off as well. The contract is supposed to last one year at least, but if it lasts a couple of years, then perhaps I will be a lot of money ahead.
I will get some really good anchors and chains for Prism, and a new genakker and other boat bling blings and have a big cruising kitty. Maybe Andrea and Fanny will be ready to go sailing and so I'll have good crew on board to complete my cruising adventure.
Tim Davidson, my brother-in-law got here a couple of days ago, he and I are going fishing and sailing at Great Barrier Island, leaving tomorrow. Another 10 days of sailing around this Harukai Gulf, trying for big tuna in the Pacific, tramping GBI, Smokehouse Bay for more port and hottubs. Tim and I should be back in Auckland around Jan 23 to get Prism ready for long term live-aboard in Auckland. He leaves Jan 24th for Vancouver, I leave Jan 28th for Vancouver.
Jim Shortreed.
