A Man With A Disease (cont)

Uly, ( my friend ) found me in a fetal position, unconscious, by my dingy below the old Cairns Yacht Club in Cairns Australia. He carried me to his dingy and rowed me to Guinevere, the boat I had sailed through the South Seas on for quite awhile. I stayed in the forpeak, where my berth was located, not moving for four days. I was to sick to move, hallucinating people who seemed so real but were not there. Continually throwing up anything put before me.Dave ( the skipper ) was working and staying in Port Douglas and Leslie, Dave's wife, couldn't lift me or drop me over the side into a dingy to get me to a hospital so we waited for coherency. When I finally got to the hospital my temperature had dropped from 106 to a low 102! Almost died. The sisters at the hospital were so excellent ( nurses in the U.S.) and the doctors so familiar with malaria, they healed me with a regimen of 12 pills a day for thirty days. I still get occasional periods of weakness but not like my friend Phil from Adelaide, Aus! He contracted cerebral malaria (bad)! Mine was the minor malaria and completely curable. Phil still gets knocked down once or twice a year, sweats, weakness and fatigue. So people, please start taking Malaprin early on before you enter malarial territories! When possible anchor your vessel 200 yards from shore. Mosquitoes have a limited flying range. Use mosquito nets and repellent when possible. I didn't realize I had contracted malaria until I stopped taking Malaprin and was in a first world country!! So be very careful to watch for early malarial symptoms once you have ceased from taking your malaprin. I thought I was home free!! God!!! Was I sadly disappointed!!? The only part of the malaria encounter I don't find unpleasant is while I was hallucinating with deadly high temperature I visited with friends I have known throughout my life. Many of them had passed away! It was great getting to speak with them again. Never could figure out how it seemed so real that 30 people could fit in the forpeak of Guinevere all at the same time!! Seemed quite natural while it was happening! Admittedly Guinevere is 60 ft but but.....Ah! Who knows what is possible/impossible with Sailors, Sailboats and an Infinitely vast Reality called " Mother Ocean"?

A Man With A Disease.....

Where am I? I'm so hot! I'm freezing! So Thirsty, bring me water!!! Who am I and why does it stink of vomit so strongly here? Don't hand me water! Can't you understand it won't stay put? Who are all these old friends visiting me -all at once? How did I get here? How long has it been? I don't know!!!!

Malaria Makes Me Sick!!!

I thought a lot of things. Yes. I had heard of a disease I thought was extinct. I also had a youthful, very strong opinion that I was immortal. Put these thoughts in your mind and then do exactly what you feel like after you hear this story! My friend Phil, fell into my arms in the cockpit of " Guinevere " in the Solomon Islands! I caught him as he passed out of a waking existence! He said to me " Robbie I don't feel very--y-y go-- " and I literally caught him in my arms and yelled "Dave "! Dave Laurie is master of the vessel! He comes topside and we go ashore to a doctor's office to assess the degree of Phil's illness. We are in the Solomon Islands. Dirt floor doctor's office with a bunson burner diagnosed malaria. Wow I was impressed! The " Church of England " has missionaries " like the " Mormons " everywhere! Is this the best they can do? Well, Dave and myself had been doing nothing as far as taking preventitive medicine until Phil fell. Dave Laurie was sailing on Guinivere with his beautiful wife Leslie ( Legslie ) and his two children Amanda and Andrew. All were taking the pill of the day, malaprin, except the manly men! We don't need no stinking pills! Yea, right!! Phil, my friend, from Adelaide, Aus. had contracted cerebral malaria!! We put him on a plane from Gizo, Solomon Island. Dave and I, from the moment Phil fell started on a strict regimen of malaprin because we realized we are vulnerable. I visited Phil several years later with my wife and he still suffers from the disease. My next segment will explain how I contracted malaria! Remember! I started taking " The Pill"! So how could I come down with that infernal disease? Tune in next week for the continuing saga of " A Man With A Disease " !!!!

Answer before question!

So here is what we did! After everything was given to Davey! Joe and I went "what the f#%k over, and placed two round, elongated fenders down the slot ( of the main mast ) to the foot ( you know? Where the mast is stepped? )Hey I found a real silver dollar! Then placed our spinnaker pole in the sleeve ( that the missing mast had provided for us) which gave us a new mast which was ten feet above deck! So we rigged two sails. Both were storm diappers which was way cool! I've sailed on boats which were short of engines and sails ! We returned to the Ala Wai heroically! We were all quickly dismissed. So much for glory! But I had the honor of introducing said boat to my connections in Hawaii. They shipped Montgomery Street back on a Matson Container ship! Hello Oakland! The sound I heard, like a shotgun blast was a starboard shroud letting go! The force of the wind on a normal " trade wind " day sounded like a " 12" guage shotgun blast and then in slow motion, everything fell to water! Thank God, this has only happened once to me! Phew!

Dismasted

Signed on for a boat delivery. Corrected time winner of transpact, " Montgomery Street"! She is a Cal "40", sloop,four spreader mast, stripped racing vessel. You know what I mean? Some sailors are racers and some sailors are cruisers. I never cared that much about the difference between racers and cruisers until I started reading forums. One of the most recent questions was, " Why don't cruising sailers race?" I ( when askesd ) think I might have a quick answer to that. Why is there any need for boat delivery of racing boats after a race? 1) To return the boat to it's port of call is uphill? " I'm a knowledgeable racing sailor why should I have to go against the wind"? 2) I race and then have places I need to be! Let the owner of the vessel pay to get grunts to get his boat back home! I got him 2nd place, didn't I? 3) So what if we damaged the boat! " The owner is rich"! "Let him pay for it!" It really goes on and on. Here's a story not many have gone through! Five days North of Hawaii delivering " Montgomery Street " to Oakland, California after winning transpact, with two people aboard that knew what a passage could mean and four bodies capable of finding out! I was at the helm in broad daylight when a shotgun blast exploded! Joe was skipper and had been part of the racing crew that had won this particular transpact race. He was hired by the owner to return " Montgomery Street" to the mainland. The " shotgun blast " was so loud I, who was driving the boat, ( by tiller, can you believe that? ) watched, as in slow motion a four spreader main mast fell to port into the ocean in broad daylight! I yelled to my watch partner, " Duck!" ( we were running partner watches ) otherwise, he is dead. The boom which crashed next to his head as the ocean started pulling us under water due to the amount of rigging falling into her, missed him by no more than two inches! Joe and I with a hack saw and bolt cutters, cut all the garbage away. When I say garbage I mean our boom, main sail, our jib and all our rigging! Remember racers we are only six hundred miles away from the nearest 7-11! Now here is the question. What would you do? I know what we did. We sailed back to Oahu. How we did it is quite interesting! Hint. We sailed ( get it ) and we returned one day faster than it took us to get where we lost the main mast. I am looking forward to anyone's suggestions on how getting to a safe anchorage might have been or be achieved? RB

Forgive my " Big Island " error.

Sorry sailors. I haven't figured out how to edit a story once it is published! If anyone out there could teach me, it sure would expedite my learning curve. The error I made is in the article about the Big Island, Hawaii and me going to Virginia Beach. The mountain I was refering to is Mauna Loa. In the article I mistakenly mentioned Mauna Kea which is taller than Mauna Loa and hasn't been an active volcano for a long time. Mauna Kea has the worlds finest observatory at it's top. From Hilo it looks like a giant golf ball on a tee just waiting to be driven. Mauna Loa contains Kiluea which has been spewing lava for longer than I thought possible. It is beautiful and yet majestically destructively creative. It wipes out roads, houses, towns and beaches and yet creates a bigger, newer island! They both are sacred mountains. Not just to the Hawaiins but to anyone who has truly seen and experienced, touched with their heart even a portion of the Divine Majesty of these to Titans. Here one feels deeply one with Creation!

Bound for Who Knows!!?

I'm looking forward to this. Every sail, no matter how short or long, measured either by time or distance has been an adventure internally and externally! I want to share some of mine with you and especially desire to hear yours. I've already heard mine! I hope that my wanderings will bring to your mind the adventures of you. Yours are the tales I want to read! My hope is that we crew together sailing on these pages bound for who knows?