22 October - Simon

We got together with the Puanani crew last night at the condo Gail had rented to swap sea stories and celebrate our successful crossing. Dee got a puncture wound in her thigh fighting with a sailfish on the second day. The wound turned out to not be serious, and she has almost completely recovered. Otherwise Puanani's trip was as uneventful as ours and they had a great time.

This morning I telephoned Simon Willis, an old shipmate who lives here in The Bay of Islands. Simon came down to the boat and we spent the day reminiscing and catching up over lunch and a few beers.

Simon and I first sailed together 40 years ago in the LA - Tahiti Race. Simon was the best in the business back then. He had just become available to sail with us after he resigned from eventual Whitbread Around the World Race winner Flyer's crew due to a personality conflict.

I was still honing my sailing skills back then, and I learned a lot from Simon. Being a Kiwi, he was also an expert at enjoying life and he was a mentor to me in that fine art as well.

We sailed together again in the '77 Southern Cross Cup and Sydney - Hobart Race.

I last saw Simon in Maloolaba harbor on Australia's Queensland coast. I was there cruising with my Dad in '82, and from the cockpit of Kanaloa I instantly recognized Simon's distinct saunter and profile walking on the dock 50 yards away. I yelled out his name and received a boisterous "Neuuuudle!" in reply. It turns out he had just completed the single-handed Trans-Tasman Sea Race on his home made 26 foot sloop.

Simon was a tough guy. A couple of years ago, in his mid-60s, he sailed his 40 foot sloop to Chile via the Roaring 40s. After sailing around Cape Horn he was single handing to the Caribbean when he had a stroke. He managed to sail the remaining 3000 miles partially paralyzed to where he could get medical care in Grenada.

He looks healthy, but he said the stroke has left him weaker and that his memory isn't what it used to be. He is certainly frailer. I didn't recognize him walking on the dock when I first saw him today and he didn't recognize me either. Perhaps we're just a couple of old sailors now, living off the memories of our youth. Simon hasn't lost his spirit though. Every local we passed knows him, and in typical Kiwi fashion the greetings included an exchange of good natured insults and some laughing. I could see that he is still an icon in this yachting community.

If things work out, Simon and I will be sailing together again next year with another old shipmate, Robbie Vaughan, when we help Robbie sail his boat from LA to Tasmania.