Maybe they have the
answer and we should
learn from them
Trading quality goods with
the locals proved a great
source of fresh produceBringing the anchor up
was helped by having
a swimmer in the water
to guide the helmLESSONS
LEARNED
LESS
REAL LIFE(^1) MANAGE EXPECTATIONS
Managing the generosity of donors was
an unexpected challenge and took tactful
handling. It’s important to find out what’s
really needed where you are going.
(^2) GET CREATIVE WITH STORAGE
We increased storage by removing wine
racks and other locker partitions. It’s
possible to fit six crew, provisions for eight
weeks and a mountain of donations into
an Oceanis 37. Hanging nets for fresh fruit
and vegetables work well at keeping food
for longer without refrigeration.
(^3) ANCHOR CORRECTLY
Much of the wisdom about anchoring
in coral is wrong. The anchor buoy was
another tangling hazard; the best way
to retrieve the anchor was to have crew
in the water with facemasks guiding the
boat. In temperatures of 30°C, this isn’t
a problem.
(^4) TAKE A WATERMAKER
The watermaker was essential. It ran
on solar and wind power and was not
as daunting to maintain as we feared it to
be. It generated 30 litres of water per hour.
(^5) MAKE TRADES
Trading for food worked well and was
enjoyable on both sides. Bear in mind
that money spent on trading goods
is your ‘grocery’ money for the time
you are away. You are not giving gifts.
Goods should be of high quality as
they will be used until they are worn out.
(^6) STAY TIDY
We had almost no rubbish to carry back
to Australia as there was no packaging
on anything.
(^7) LEARN THE LINGO
We never discovered why white people are
called dim dims but picked up a few words!
(^8) IT’S THE SIMPLE THINGS
There was a lot to learn from the islanders’
simple way of life. Having hardly any
technology seemed a big part of this.
THE LEARNING CURVE
The passage from Australia,
much of it to windward, was
harder than expected