Episode Eleven: Message in a bottle
A stint on the ocean brings home the importance of staying in touch.
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Back in September 2008, I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time living on a yacht moored in one of the many beautiful harbours along the South African coastline.
As so often happens when you're on the road, the opportunity arose totally by chance at the good grace of the then stranger who took me in. His name was Werner and he was preparing for the daunting task of crossing the Southern Ocean in a 33ft boat. There would be only two crew and they expected rough seas. Werner took me in for a week or so, showed me around the area's best surf spots, talked me through the intricacies of his trip and the workings of the boat, then sold all his things and set sail. We shook hands and went our separate ways. With no contact details to exchange (he had no phone, no email and no address) I was unsure if I'd hear from him again. In an age where everyone is contactable it's a rare thing to ever really say goodbye. It felt strange.
Some months later and another set of bizarre events lead me to the Cape Town Yacht Club to meet with the crew of the 'Spirit of Mystery', a hand-crafted replica of a 37ft Cornish Lugger that once took 7 Cornishmen south to join the Australian gold rush 154 years ago. The crew - Pete Goss and youngest son Elliot (14), Andy Goss and Mark Maidment - built the boat themselves before rowing out of Newlyn harbour in October en route to Sydney. Arriving in Cape Town on Christmas day, they are waiting for a gap in the weather to allow them to depart on the second leg across the Southern Ocean.
Sat out in the sun on the sparse wooden deck, backs propped against coils of thick white rope, we chatted through the journey that lay ahead and the daunting prospect of crossing the world's roughest stretch of ocean. There is little in the way of shelter between the continents of Africa and Australia and, once clear of land, the open seas can be an extremely lonely and precarious environment. So it's not uncommon to find that crews tend to stay in touch with other boats operating in similar areas. As it turned out, another boat had recently put out in the same direction, a 33ft'er with only two crew. Tall Paul, a friend of Pete's and fellow native Cornishman, had been in touch with the captain; a man that went by the name of Werner. There had been no further contact but the crew of the Spirit of Mystery expected to link up with Werner's boat at some point during their crossing.
Struck by the coincidence, I embraced the opportunity to try and reconnect with my former companion. Andy ushered me below. The living quarters were cramped but comfortable. Two small cabins straddled a main living area decked out in beautiful wooden beams with a small cast iron wood burner towards the stern. In the corner was a chart table bearing the name 'HMS Victory'. Andy beckoned me over and handed me a piece of paper and a pen. From the original chart table of the HMS Victory I wrote a short note to a friend somewhere at sea. Sealing it and marking the name and date I handed it back to Andy who promised to deliver it should they make contact at any point. Andy smiled. This all felt very surreal.
Modern day travel and communication has left the world a pretty small place, which in many ways is no bad thing. But a huge part of travel is the time you take, the people you meet and the relationships you forge. As the world grows ever smaller, we have lost the romance of a life on the road and the challenge of long distance travel. Both Werner and the crew of the Spirit of Mystery seem to recognise this. Their journeys are not about dropping off the radar, nor trying to contrive a journey for journey's sake, but about searching for something a little more real. I hope they reach their destinations safely and that the note finds it's way to Werner somewhere in the Southern Ocean.
We said our farewells to the crew of the 'Spirit of Mystery' and made our way down the warped and weathered walkways of the Royal Cape Town Yacht Club. As we approached the end we passed a small group clad in Cornish Pirate rugby shirts, wearing big grins and headed in the direction of the small hand-crafted wooden lugger sitting in the shadow of Table Mountain; another group of well wishers holidaying far from home, drawn in by the crew's incredible journey.
For more info on the 'Spirit of Mystery' check out www.petegoss.com.
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Episode Eleven: Message in a bottle (text) by Tim Conibear is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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