11 December 2009

A Boat Called Wanda ...

Greetings,

We've spent some happy moments over the years messing about in boats, haven't we?

From the eco-wonderful Earthrace (that looks like something out of Thunderbirds ... see photos here) to the eco-ridiculous super power-boats that roar around the Bay, disrupting the piscine peace.

We've hopped in a row boat to go shopping and shared the water with Dragons.  

We've set off in a kayak to cross the Ditch on a Boys' Own Adventure and watched the boats sail across the Bay, but today, we're going to spend some time with people who embrace the briny with a passion that escapes the rest of us mere mortals.

We'll begin with a child (for child she still is) from the Sunshine Coast, just north of here ...

Jessica Watson is a 16-year-old girl who, e'en as we speak, is sailing somewhere in the Pacific, having sailed up from Down Under and crossed the Equator. She's now on her way south to round Cape Horn, then will be sailing across the ocean to round the Cape of Good Hope before heading home. It doesn't sound much when you say it like that, but she'll be sailing an incredible 21,000 nautical miles through some of the most dangerous waters on the planet!

And she's doing all this on her own ... unassisted and without stopping.

I have to confess to being a bit of a critic of the whole idea in the early days -- especially when she fell asleep on her first night at sea (before the official start of her trip) and ran into a 63,000-tonne bulk carrier just off Moreton Island! It didn't augur well for the rest of her trip ... A 10.23 metre sailing boat is no match for a behemoth like that!

But as the time has passed and I've read her blog, I've been won over to such an extent that I've started worrying about her ... out there in that tiny matchbox on those huge oceans. I find myself lying awake at nights and imagining how I'd feel if that was my child out there ... all alone. Then I imagine what her parents must be feeling -- no doubt that odd mix of pride and despair that our kids are so good at eliciting from us.

What amazing experiences she's having out there. As I mentioned, she's keeping a blog (no surprises there) and is very diligent about updating it regularly, which must be a comfort and a curse for her mum and dad. It's wonderful that modern technology allows us all to keep in touch so easily these days. (Can you imagine what a difference it would have made to Christopher Columbus or Captain Cook or Charles Darwin if they'd had access to digital cameras, satellite navigation and email?)

However, the downside is that her family must worry if she's a bit late in contacting them or if she sends back photos of huge waves (which she hasn't encountered as yet) or if she sounds a bit down when they talk to her. It's not as if they can hop in the car and be there in half an hour.

You can read Jessica's blog here and read about the voyage here.

Our second intrepid adventurers are a little family who've given up their home on land in favour of life aboard a boat called Wanda. The man-of-the-boat is the son of one of our early morning swimming friends, and the family is a mini-UN -- a mix of Swiss, Kiwi, Aussie and French! Parents, Martin and Caro, and their sons, Jacques (10) and Max-Martin (8) are planning to spend the next two years sailing around the Mediterranean, venturing through the Suez Canal to wider horizons if the piracy problem around Somalia improves. They got tantalisingly close at one point, but then common sense prevailed and they changed their plans.

Caro is a teacher, and the boys are being home-schooled as they embark on this wonderful lifestyle. Read their blog here. When you read about some of their experiences in Caro's latest blog entry, you can see they have material for a blockbuster movie!

And finally, there's the couple we met a couple of years ago while visiting our daughter for Christmas. They're sailing friends of hers, and when we met they were telling us about their plans to head overseas, buy a boat and sail it back to Australia.

We nodded and made all the appropriate comments and thought it would probably be like all those "one-day" plans we seem to come up with in our lives.

Wrong ...

This young couple searched until they found a suitable vessel, packed up their lives here and headed off to buy their dream boat ... in Mexico!

Their 12,000-mile odyssey has taken them just over a year so far and has provided them with a lifetime of after-dinner stories that will be hard to beat. Such as the time Jeff had to dive down among a pack of sharks to retrieve their damaged prop that had sunk to the bottom of the sea where they were anchored ... Or the time Kirsty was left alone on the boat in a crowded mooring and the anchor broke loose ... Or the time they had 20 minutes' warning of an approaching tsunami ...

The fun never stops!

Their first meeting with their boat called Nemesis here.

Browse their adventures here Just choose an entry at random or find a location that interests you ... but make sure you have plenty of time to spare ... What to the rest of us mere mortals seems like a Herculean task, is to them, just a bit of an adventure. Oh, to be young and foolish, eh?

Have you noticed how many of the terms we use to describe these sailing adventures are classical in origin? Odyssey, tantalisingly, Herculean?

Here are some we've been using to discuss our adventurous friends:

An odyssey is a long journey, and it comes to us from Homer's epic poem about Odysseus's adventures in his ten-year attempt to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War.

When we tantalise someone, we tease or torment him by making him want something he cannot have and by keeping it just beyond his reach. This word comes to us from Greek mythology and reminds us of King Tantalus,  who "so offended the gods that he was condemned in the afterlife to an eternity of hunger and thirst. He was made to stand in a pool in Tartarus, the Underworld zone of punishment. Each time he reached down for the water that beckoned to his parched lips, it drained away. Overhanging the pool were boughs laden with luscious fruit. But each time Tantalus stretched to pluck this juicy sustenance, the boughs receded from his grasp."

Herculean is used to describe a task that requires tremendous effort, strength etc and reminds us of the 12 labours of poor Hercules:

1. Slay the Nemean Lion.
2. Slay the 9-headed Lernaean Hydra.
3. Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis.
4. Capture the Erymanthian Boar.
5. Clean the Augean stables in a single day.
6. Slay the Stymphalian Birds.
7. Capture the Cretan Bull.
8. Steal the Mares of Diomedes.
9. Obtain the Girdle of the Amazon Queen.
10. Obtain the Cattle of the Monster Geryon.
11. Steal the Apples of the Hesperides.
12. Capture Cerberus.

This week's Little Something Extra reveals just why he had to perform these feats and why Tantalus was subjected to his cruel fate ... They were a pretty blood-thirsty lot, these ancient Greeks!

This week's quiz:

Let's see what you know about all things watery ... Do that thing you do:

abaft, benthic, ebb, ichthyology, lek, detrivore, gyre, pelagic, crepuscular, anadromous

1. an animal (such as a salmon) that spends much of its life at sea and then returns to a freshwater stream or lake to spawn 

2. a communal area used by adult males during the breeding season as a stage for the competitive attraction of females 

3. an organism that feeds on large bits of dead and decaying organic matter 

4. of or relating to or happening on the bottom under a body of water 

5. the outward flow of the tide 

6. relating to or occurring or living in or frequenting the open ocean; the plants and animals that live in the water column or in the open waters of the ocean rather than the ocean floor

7. at or near or toward the stern of a ship or tail of an aeroplane 

8. a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles; the large loop of interconnected surface currents within a single ocean basin, usually spanning 20 to 30° in latitude 

9. the branch of zoology that deals with fishes - their classification, structure, habits and life history 

10. appearing or active at twilight 

Here's a story about a storm at sea ...

A dive boat runs into a terrible storm. The boat gets pounded by rain and wind and huge waves. The divers are quiet but really scared. They are sure the boat is going to sink and they are all going to die. At the height of the storm, a young woman diver jumps up and exclaims: "I can't take this anymore! I can't just sit here and drown like an animal. If I'm going to die, let me die feeling like a woman. Is there anyone here man enough to make me feel like a woman?" 

The Diving Officer stands up -- a tall, handsome, muscular man (well it is a joke!) he smiles and walks up to her. As he approaches her, he takes off his shirt. She lets her eyes rove appreciatively over his huge muscles and prominent six pack as he stands in front of her, muscles bulging, shirt in hand and says to her, "Here! Iron this!" 

OK, Girls, all together now ... Grrr!

Last week's quiz:

We've adopted many words from our games for everyday use (even though we may not use them all every day). Match these up:

renege, lay-down misere, above board, play your cards right, checkmate, wild card, not playing with a full deck, hold all the aces, chip in, knuckle down

1. to perform or play skillfully to achieve a desired outcome - PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT

2. someone who is eccentric, mad or wildly unconventional, bordering on crazy - NOT PLAYING WITH A FULL DECK

3. utter defeat - CHECKMATE (To attack a chess opponent's king in such a manner that no escape or defence is possible, thus ending the game.)

4. to work hard - KNUCKLE DOWN (From the game of marbles: a player had to "knuckle down" by another player if he moved his marble before shooting it.)

5. unpredictable person or event - WILD CARD (This expression comes from card games, especially poker, where it refers to a card that can stand for any rank chosen by the player who holds it.)

6. to be honest, forthright, tell the truth - ABOVE BOARD (to hold all your cards above the table; to not control a gambling game with anything hidden. Gambling devices were sometimes controlled under the table giving the game owner an advantage.)

7. to go back on one's word - RENEGE (To play a card that is not of the suit led when one can follow suit; break a rule of play)

8. to contribute some money to a cause or a business - CHIP IN (From poker, when players had to add chips to the pot to continue with the game.)

9. to have an advantage - TO HOLD ALL THE ACES

10. a dead certainty - LAY-DOWN MISERE (Misere or Misère is taken from the French word meaning "poverty," and is a bid in various card games, particularly the game 500. A player who bids Misere undertakes to win no tricks at all in the round to be played. A Misere bid usually indicates an extremely poor hand, hence the name. An Open or Lay Down Misere is a 500 bid where the player is so sure of losing every trick that they undertake to do so with their cards placed face-up on the table. Consequently, 'Lay Down Misere' is Australian slang for a "dead cert"; a predicted easy victory.)

And a touching tale about a sailor and his wife ...

Gordon died, so Susan went to the local paper to put a notice in the obituaries. The gentleman at the counter, after offering his condolences, asked Susan what she would like to say about Gordon.

Susan replied, "Just put, 'Gordon died.'"

The gentleman, somewhat perplexed, said, "That's it? Just 'Gordon died?' Surely there must be something more you'd like to say about Gordon. If it's money you're concerned about, the first five words are free. We really should say something more."

So Susan pondered for a few minutes and finally said, "OK, then. You can put 'Gordon died. Sailboat for sale.'"

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A Little Something Extra

The story of Tantalus ... a charming chap who offered up his son as a sacrifice to the gods. He cut up his son, boiled him and served him up as food for the gods. Read more here

Why Hercules had to perform his 12 labours here

Oxymoron of the week: cheap boat

Word of the week: Barratry (n) wilful and illegal sinking, casting away or damaging a ship at sea or its cargo;  a fraudulent breach of duty or wilful act of known illegality on the part of a master of a ship, in his character of master, or of the mariners, to the injury of the owner of the ship or cargo, and without his consent. It includes every breach of trust committed with dishonest purpose, as by running away with the ship, sinking or deserting her, etc., or by embezzling the cargo.

This great word comes from the Old French barater (to cheat) and proves once again that we really do have a word for every occasion.

And a Latin phrase we could all probably use at some time in the coming Silly Season ...

Alieno is, navegemus

[ay-LEE-ah-noh EES, nah-wee-GAY-moos]

(Forget it, let's go sailing)

Did you know that you can have your very own Latin reminders? How about undies proclaiming, Bene est rex esse? (It's good to be king) Or a shopping bag that warns, Emptrix nata sum (Born to shop)? Click here for these and more: http://www.cafepress.com/write101 

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Kind regards,

Jennifer

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