Fiji- Danger Lurks!

When you are exploring the many and varied governments, cultures and sometimes isolated populated islands of the South Seas invaribly one runs across individually unique experiences that sometimes need to be expressed-just so-in the light of day! This is one of those daze! Ha! After diving a sunken ww 2 Japanese submarine in Fiji on an island I won't mention by name, we had gone ashore and hiked to the top of a ridge for a view. We found a water supply and folded leafs to gather the water to our mouths in a traditional way of drinking. We did not find out until later what the price would be for swimming in the villages water supply system! Phil and I went back to " Guinevere " and two hours later had sailed into a small bay to go ashore and trade as we always do with the villages that abound throughout all the islands. I, first mate, would go ashore first to anounce that my illustrious Captain would be forthcoming to sit and exchange pleasantries with the Chief of the village! This was/is protocol 99% of the time on every island and every village we had encountered until this one! They took me captive! They said their warriors while out hunting had seen me ( and Phil ) bath in their villages collective resevoir, of drinking water! They wanted my skipper to pay a fine for such unsanitary and disrespectful behavior! They allowed Phil to return to the boat to deliver the sad message that I was a captive being held for ransom unless a monetary settlement could be arrived at which would satisfy all parties concerned. Of course, Dave sent his wife, Leslie and son Andrew to shore to negotiate or at the very least to remedy what could possibly esculate into an international incident! Let's see. Guinevere was carrying United States, Australia, New Zealand and South African flags! So what? Leslie( skipper's wife ) comes ashore knowing Phil and I did not swim or bath in their water but with all the poise of a born politician, began a wonderful negotiation that to this day is remarkable in that wisdom revealed itself to all! I said to the entire village that "what the warriors claimed to have witnessed may have appeared to them the way they saw it. Phil and I surely did not see them while we were drinking your water. I can only say to all of you that the water that we drank was as sweet as any water we have ever tasted in these travels"! I looked directly at the Chief and expressed my regret that by my offense we could not trade with him and that even though falsely accused my Captain was willing that I would stay in his village for the amount of time and be one of his people, to work off the debt I had incurred by my bathing in his village's drinking water. "I will eat with you, plant with you and stay here until my offense is reconciled"! Oh, was he pissed! He threatened to take us to Suva before a major inquiry!He realized we wern't bluffing and that no grease was coming his way! We left all together within a half hour (15 minutes )! Set sail and laughed for days. I have many stories of villages on a lot of islands in different countries that may bring a tear to your eye! My next story will be one of those! But this one stands in an area of selfishness and uniqueness that I am still dwelling upon today. The lie was unnessesary! Curious that!

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!