Zephyr of Lymington

0800 position 22-12S 166-21E. At anchor in Maa Bay, New Caledonia

Yesterday there was a bit of excitement in Noumea's mooring field. When he woke up in the morning Zappa noticed the crew from "Zephyr of Lymington", a fifty foot English sloop, messing with a smaller sailboat that had dragged their anchor and drifted into the larger boat during the night. Zephyr's crew moved the smaller boat astern and appeared to secure it, then went ashore in their dinghy. Zephyr started dragging anchor shortly after her crew departed, and she ended up banging against a third boat there in the mooring field.

The crew of Van Diemen, good citizens always ready to help the less fortunate, lept into action. Zappa, Michael, and Geoff raced over to Zephyr in the dinghy, got her engine started, and reanchored the boat in a better location. Shortly after getting the boat secured Zephyr's crew returned in their dingy. All's well that ends well, but Zephyr's topsides got a bit scarred when she was lying against the boat in the mooring field.

Coincidentally, my wife Lori was involved with hosting Zephyr in this summer's Transpac Race to Hawaii. She helped pals Clay and Gail Hutchinson welcome Zephyr when she arrived in Honolulu and got to meet her all English crew. Zephyr is on a round the world tour and will be participating in the Sydney-Hobart Race in December.

After the chaos in the mooring field was sorted out, Rob, Zappa, Michael, and Geoff dinghied ashore to clear Customs and Immigration. They returned shortly after noon having legally entered us into the country and we pulled the anchor to go exploring. During the morning the trades had increased to well over twenty five knots, so we knew we didn't want to head east into it. We headed down wind to the west instead. There were a couple of anchorages within a reasonable distance, and we chose a spot with good protection from the wind and waves seven miles from Noumea in Maa Bay.

We had a relaxing afternoon in Maa drinking beer, eating pupus, and reminiscing. While chatting with Geoff Wells, we realized that he, Rob, and I had attended the same New Years Eve party in 1977 in Hobart. Rob, a native Tasmanian, had arranged a bus to take a bunch of his American sailing friends who had just finished the Sydney-Hobart Race out to a party in the country. I don't recall meeting Geoff there, but it was a memorable party. I remember morning twilight beginning remarkably early (I think it was 230 AM) while I was still dancing the night away, something I was not used to living in the tropics.

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