Thoughts on Long Passages

It has always been my passion and dream to sail full time - to somehow find a way to make a living doing what I love. I've found that if you do what you love, it does not seem like work, not to mention the huge personal satisfaction.

My first long haul was a Transpac Race, with my good friend Seth Radow. The Transpac race from LA to Hawaii is 2300 miles. We did this in a 40 foot boat. The race is basically a 10 day, full on, big wind, big wave, down wind spinnaker surfing adrenaline rush. Midway into this race, during a pitch black night, on the leading edge of a nasty squall, surfing down a wave, wheel vibrating in my hands, the keel humming, my eyes glued to the wind angle indicator, doing my best to sail deep but not crash, I was caught somewhere between I can't breathe; it's so intense, crapping my pants, and holy s**t this is frigging amazing. This was the point - I was hooked on blue water sailing.

Promptly, after arriving back in LA, I quit my suit and tie gig in the wireless service provider industry, which I had been landlocked in for ten years, and took the plunge into professional sailing.

In the next four years I would rack up seven crossings back and forth from California to Hawaii on 40 foot boats, a few Caribbean/Newport, Newport/Caribbean milk run's, and pick up my first USCG Captain's License.

9 years later, I have surpassed the 100,000 mile mark as Captain, sailed half way around the world, and recently received my MCA Masters 3000 GT Unlimited License.

In my fourth year now as Captain of SY VIVID, I have been extremely fortunate to be working for an extraordinary owner with a passion for sailing "off the beaten path."

During my interview for SY Vivid, the owner turned his high tech cell phone to me, displaying a photo he took from the airplane. It was a picture of the ice pack in Greenland. He looked me in the eyes and said...""Would you like to sail here?" I said, without hesitation...absolutely. My heart started pounding with the excitement of early explorers and my mind was moving at 100 miles per hour working the checklist of what I would need to do to prepare for this expedition style passage and cruise. A month later we were sailing past icebergs on our way to Disko Bay, Greenland.

Since then, we have sailed in off-the-beaten path places like Cuba, Galapagos, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Raja Ampat, Borneo, Burma, and Andaman. In a few of these places it is true Magellan-style navigation, as many areas are unsurveyed or very poorly charted and GPS datum's are always off by about two-tenths of a mile. So yes, the paper charts, parallel rulers, dividers and hand held compass, depth sounder and eyeball navigation get used often.

The life style:
As a professional yacht captain, the toughest part of the job for me is being away from friends and family and the difficulty in maintaining a steady relationship.

Circumnavigation sailing to me is a complete commitment- a marriage to the lifestyle and the adventure and full acceptance of the rewards and the sacrifices. When I am in the middle of the ocean I want all of my energy and attention focused on the job at hand, not distracted by nagging thoughts of whether or not I should be there in the first place. Having said this, long passages are awesome for the person who is at peace with his own thoughts.

To keep in touch with friends and to attempt to share my experiences, I have created a Photo Journal at www.timforderer.com and have become addicted to Facebook.

I am very fortunate to have the support of my family and friends who know me the best. They know me; they know this is what I love and this is who I am, and I hope that even though I am not there physically - they know the value I place on my relationship with them.

I also am fortunate to have the support of the yacht owner to bring family aboard and cruise one week each year, to have a month off each year, and to bring along long-time sailing friends as delivery crew.

Psyche and Safety:

In grade school, I would stare at the clock, willing it to go faster because I was bored out of my mind and could not wait to get out and dinghy sail. On a long passage, watching the clock or the ETA calculation on the GPS will drive you crazy.

I remember the feeling of butterflies before the start of that first Transpac. In hindsight, the knots in my gut were very natural, caused by the unknown, the what lies ahead? How will I perform when the shit hits the fan? Will the boat and crew perform harmoniously? Will the water maker work? What will day seven of dehydrated food be like? ...

Today, long passages are routine. We do an owner's trip, and a week later we are sailing 1500 - 2500 miles to the next cruising destination. They are routine because of our routine.

The LD Passage routine begins with an obsession for safety, planning, and preparation. This includes:

- A Detailed Passage Plans including contingency plans.
- All required research on the destination and its pre-arrival requirements.
- The compilation of several sources for weather data, including professional weather routing. I have had a long and useful relationship with Commanders Weather.
- An extensive pre-departure checklist for all gear, rigging and systems.
- Crew briefings and debriefing.
- Solid standing orders, so that I can confidently sleep and know that I will be called if any issue in the standing orders arises.
- Absolute safety rules like; life jackets and harnesses after dark, no body goes forward unless they have a spotter and are clipped in, minimum CPA's of three miles...

I have 100% support from the owner and management company when it comes to my decisions on weather and safety of the crew and yacht. Meaning, there is no pressure for me to place schedule over safety.

The psyche today is all about getting the yacht and crew there safely, minimizing risk and enjoying the trip. I feel very strongly that the success of a long distance passage is in direct proportion to the preparation for the passage.

A huge part of my psyche that keeps me grounded and safe is an enormous respect for Mother Nature and the risks involved in Long Distance Passages. I do not confuse long passages being routine with over confidence, complacency, or easing up on the safety focus. I learn every time I do an LD passage. Only nine years into a professional sailing career, I am very humble and aware that I am just scratching the surface with all there is to learn about World Cruising and Long Distance Passages. I know that I will be challenged and I will learn every day and that is a huge part of the allure of long distance blue water sailing to me.

For me the private and personal sense of accomplishment after each of these long passages is as fresh and sincerely meaningful as the finish of the first Transpac when a beautiful Hawaiian girl, complete with Hula Skirt, placed a powerfully fragrant lei around my neck and gave me kiss on my salty cheek. Come to think of it, it would be nice to have that at the end of every Long Distance Passage!


The Crew

The chemistry among a Long Distance passage crew or race crew is absolutely critical. I can fix a generator that goes down in the middle of the Indian Ocean, but fixing a personality conflict amongst the crew is much more challenging. Nothing can undermine all of your preparation more quickly than a crew conflict or a crew member who is not "rowing in the same direction" as the rest of the crew. In normal life if you have a conflict, you can walk away from it. At sea when the closest land is 1000 miles away and the furthest you can get from the other person is 90 feet, the issue must be resolved.

Chances are you would not have this issue with a permanent crew; if it is a risk - take care of it before you go offshore...

Not everyone is cut out for long passages. I have a few horror stories of my first Hawaii to LA deliveries as Captain. Back then I did not have the budget to hire professionals, I would get willing "bodies" that would do the trip for the experience and a plane ticket.

The bottom line lesson learned for me was this, when the shit hits the fan, or on day 6 into a 15 day passage a person's true colors will be
revealed. Who they really are, will surface; do they have a solid personal character or do they have "demons" in the closet or a few screws loose.

On these trips, after several days, when a person's normal sleep pattern is turned upside down, their equilibrium is confused and trying to adjust to the constant motion of the boat, after a few challenging issues have arisen, after personalities of the crew have had a chance to gel or conflict....The true person is revealed. Good Chemistry is critical among all crew on a long passage...

Cancelling Stop in Sri Lanka

To be safe; to minimize the risk to the crew and yacht, we have decided to avoid Sri Lanka the same way we would sail around a potential hurricane.

Prior to the recent escalation and southward spread of the civil war in Sri Lanka, Galle was a safe option for us to stop on our route west, as the conflict was isolated completely in the north and the history of the conflict showed that it was localized.

Now, the recent events show that the conflict does not have borders. They are using air strikes with an air force...Kamikazie style. They could easily get to Galle, which by air would be about 15 minute away from Colombo. Columbo is a major shipping port for the country and could be a logical target if a Tamil goal is to hurt the infrastructure and close off access to the country.

"Error on the side of safety always; live to sail another day"

Here is the News Story:

02/21/2009 13:36
SRI LANKA
Tamil Tiger kamikaze aircraft shot down overnight while attacking Colombo
by Melani Manel Perera
The two Zlin-143's went down under anti-aircraft fire near the general headquarters of the Sri Lankan Air Force and the Katunayake air base. The crew on board the planes were killed, as well as two people in the spots where the planes fell. 56 people were injured. It is the ninth aerial attack by the Tamil rebels.


Colombo (AsiaNews) - Tamil Tigers attack Colombo from the sky, and anti-aircraft guns in the capital knock down the two planes. Last night, two Zlin-143's belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) flew over the city in the southern part of the island, to carry out kamikaze attacks on strategic targets.

The two planes were Czech-made light civilian aircraft modified by the rebels to carry bombs. They were shot down while they were trying to carry out their suicide mission. The first was hit at 10:20 p.m. local time near the Inland Revenue Department, a building in front of the general headquarters of the Sri Lankan Air Force in the capital. The second fell under anti-aircraft fire at 10:45 p.m., near the air base of Katunayake. As a safety precaution, various parts of Colombo were put under blackout. In addition to the crews of the two Zlin-143's, two other people died after being hospitalized. Many have been injured: 50 at Inland Revenue, 6 in Katunayake.

It is the ninth aerial attack attempted by the Tamil rebels since 2007. Before this, the small squadron of LTTE planes had tried to strike a variety of targets, with varying results: Katunayake (March 26, 2007); Palali (April 24, 2007); Colombo (April 29, 2007); Anuradhapura (October 22, 2007); Welioya (April 26, 2008); Trincomalee (August 26, 2008); Vavunya (September 9, 2008). The most recent attack by the rebels was on last October 28: two planes struck the Thallady military camp in Mannar in northern Sri Lanka, and a power station in the suburbs of the capital.

The attack prevented by anti-aircraft fire comes as the government says that it has reduced the area in the north under the control of the LTTE to 103 square kilometers, and after the announcement of the destruction of six enemy aircraft discovered during military operations in Vanni.

"ya don't see this everyday!"

Wow, the Andaman Islands of India. Only 400 miles west of Thailand you feel as you are on the other side of the world from South East Asia and Indonesia. The guests aboard have had an amazing trip. We've seen an elephant walking down an amazing beach at sunset, swam with giant Manta Rays, Sailed by an active volcano then swam and dove at the base of the Volcano.

More to come. I am looking forward to editing and posting my photos.

Safety, Safety, Safety....

This happend a few days ago at our marina in Thailand. VERY, VERY SAD...



Unconfirmed reports suggest that a crewmember knocked the throttles of the yacht while putting a cover on the controls, causing the yacht to surge forward and snapping the bow mooring line, which in turn hit dockside spectators.

It is believed the yacht in question was the 50m Hakvoort MY JeMaSa, which was launched in 2006.



Here is the News Story as reported in the Australian.



A DARWIN teenager has lost her fight for life after a freak boating accident in Thailand.

The life-support system keeping 16-year-old Ali van Os alive was turned off last night, five days after she received massive head injuries when she was struck in the head by a snapped mooring line.

Ali, the daughter of author Joanne van Os and prominent Darwin barrister Lex Silvester, was in the north of Phuket island as part of a round-the-world sailing trip when the accident happened.

Passionate about yachts and the sea, Ali was at the Yacht Haven Marina, admiring a 50m super-yacht, when it is believed someone knocked the boat's throttles.

The boat surged forward, snapping a hawser and causing a 10cm-wide kevlar-composite rope to strike her across the face and head, throwing her into the air and on to the jetty.

Van Os and Mr Silvester rushed to their daughter's aid, joined by medical staff from other yachts at the jetty. They tried to control the heavy bleeding and to keep Ali breathing, before an ambulance arrived at the remote jetty about half an hour later.

Ali was taken to an emergency clinic at Thalang before being transferred to Bangkok Phuket Hospital.

Her mother, whose 2005 memoir Outback Heart told of her marriage to Rod Ansell, the man who inspired the character Crocodile Dundee, said she took solace in the thought her daughter's final moments were spent around the sea.

"We take some comfort -- a lot of comfort -- that she was doing something she loved and did the best at that moment, talking to someone and getting an invite on board a boat, making the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends ... something we all know Ali did better than anyone," she said.

Van Os said the US company that owned the superyacht had been supportive and a full inquiry was under way.

Friends of the gregarious teenager gathered for a farewell ceremony in Darwin last night. Her life support was turned off at 7.30pm (AEDT).

Message in a Bottle

I am knocked out of my chair reading the email below. I am reading this from the warmth of my hotel room overlooking the frigid, gale tossed English Channel. This email was sent from a tropical South Pacific Tongan beach area...

Hello,We have found your bottle on a beach in the north of Eua (Tonga) the 23rd December 2008 at 10.30 AM (local time). A long way...We hope that the champagne was good !Virginie & Fabien from France










This bottle and its contents where thrown to sea on 7 June 2007, at the half way point on passage from The Galapagos Islands to Nuka Hiva Marquesas (a 3000+ mile passage).



The bottle was found on 23 Dec 2008, it traveled 4,200 miles and was discovered 17 months after it was ceremonially jettisoned. Pretty darn COOL!

Burma and the Murgui Archipelago

Dec 30 2008 0430

My alarm goes off, 0430 is a rough one. We are anchored in a glass calm very protected inlet between Hastings and Barnell Island in the Murgui Archipelago. I pick up the anchor at 0500 while the guest and crew sleep. With no wind and glass calm conditions this is easy to do single handed. As the anchor lifts off the bottom the yacht slowly drifts towards the open water with the ebbing tide.

The early morning horizon is brightly lit with the lumen of a 100 squid boats. Above them is a thick blanket of stars including the Southern Cross. This is the first time that I have seen this majestically symbolic combination of stars since leaving the Southern Hemisphere a few months ago. It brings back many memories of the past year, and with the new year two days away, sparks the self reflection and goal setting inward thought process.

I slowly idle past the long tail fishing boats anchored along the sides of the inlet respecting thier last hour of sleep. Soon they will be up and buzzing around with the days chores at sea. We are on the way to Kawthong, Myanmar Burma to clear out of the country and make our way back to Phuket Thailand for the New Years Eve celebration off of Surin Beach.

I weave my way through the maze of squid boats as the carpet of stars overhead are slowly washed out by the first signs of daylight. I really love this time of day, it is very special to watch the night transition to day in a place like this. The rising sun over Burma highlights the rolling landscape, layers fog accentuate the horizon.

This is a country that is equally as beautiful and rich in resources as it is complex with corruption and gross human rights violations and oppression. You can learn more here: http://ethnicvoices.civiblog.org/

Cruising the Murgui Archipelago is really amazing. The Mergui Archipelago, is located in southernmost part of Myanmar (Burma), comprises over 800 beautiful islands. Due to its virtual isolation, the islands and surrounding seas are alive with an amazing diversity of flora & fauna and very beautiful underwater scenes and marine life. If I ever take a lap around the world in my own boat this is a place I would like to stay for several months.

The only human inhabitants in the area are sea gypsies, namely Salon in Myanmar. They live on boats during dry season and remain on land during rainy season. They still practice the same fishing and boat building techniques used for generation. http://www.mergui.org/

Burma Human Rights Violations

Reprinted from Reuters. This is an example of the human rights violations that are happening routinley in Burma. This happened last September and the Junta where not able to "contain" the story.

10/03/2007 11:33 AM
BURMA'S BRUTAL CRACKDOWN CONTINUES
'They Come at Night and Murder the Monks'
By our correspondents in Yangon

In Yangon the killing goes on. Opponents of the regime and monks are falling victim to the junta's special forces by night. Diplomats assume that several hundred people have already been killed. Now even China is putting the military under pressure.

Riot police and military personnel crack down on the protests in Yangon last week. There are reports of a brutal crackdown at night, with hundreds of people killed.
It is 9.15 p.m. on Tuesday evening in Yangon, the time of day when the stranglehold of fear settles across the city. The first heavily armed soldiers take position outside the few restaurants that still serve foreigners. Curfew starts at 10 p.m. After that, anyone who is still out on the streets is risking their lives.

"Take a bicycle to the street to grab a taxi," the manager of L'Opera, an Italian restaurant, yells into the kitchen. The foreigners, waiting in the courtyard, can't find any more rental cars. Someone dashes out to look for some kind of transport.

It is completely quiet for a moment in the car park. Then a young man emerges from the darkness. He was obviously waiting for a chance to be alone with foreigners. He is poorly clothed, but speaks English that is somewhat understandable. "Please don’t believe what the junta says," he whispers. "The repression is continuing every night. When there are no more witnesses, they drive through the suburbs at night and kill the people."

The young man wanted to tell his story quickly. He knew that he couldn’t let himself be caught doing so -- otherwise he could soon find himself in jail or dead. He comes from South Okalapa, a huge township east of Yangon, where there is hunger and misery. Most of the monks who demonstrated against the regime last week came from there. After the junta's troops finally crushed the unrest in the city center on Saturday, they took their brutal revenge in Okalapa on Sunday.

It was around midnight when the long convoy of military vehicles drove into the district. They contained police officers from the anti-insurgency unit and the so-called "Lome-Ten," a unit of gangsters and ex-convicts, who do the regime's dirty work.

They surrounded a monastery on Weiza Yandar Street. All the roughly 200 monks living there were forced to stand in a row and the security forces beat their heads against a brick wall. When they were all covered in blood and lay moaning on the ground, they were thrown into a truck and taken away. "We are crying for our monks," said the man, and then he was gone.

Four days have passed since the last shots were fired in central Yangon but normality has yet to return to Burma's largest city. Most shops remain closed today and the human rights violations continue. Horrifying rumors and news of further repressive measures continue to leak out.

These rumors are difficult to confirm as journalists are not allowed to work in the country. The few correspondents who are left in the country on tourist visas are being observed day and night. Secret service spies waylay them at their hotels. And even if the regime doesn't dare to execute another foreign journalist following the death of the Japanese photographer last week, it's still impossible to conduct normal reporting and research.

Every Burmese whose name appears in the international media has to fear for his life. Even foreigners living in the country are opting for silence, for fear of persecution. But the rumors and stories circulating in the city paint a horrible picture. It's clear that Yangon has done away with almost all of its monks.

In the huge monastery complex under the Shwedagon pagoda, only the red and saffron coloured robes of the holy men are left to blow in the wind. There are no traces of the several thousand monks and novices that once leant this place its unique and peaceful air.

A deadly silence has also settled into Yangon suburbs like Okalapa or Takada, where young monks from other provinces can normally come to learn to read and write at small religious institutions. But these have been shuttered, their entrances barricaded with iron doors and rubbish is piling up on the premises. The monasteries, temples, schools and orphanages in the surrounding area are empty.

"We are assuming that the number of victims among the monks and protesters last week goes well into the hundreds," says one diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Clearly security forces in both suburbs have engaged in major crackdowns. As the junta's henchmen tried to remove the monks on Sunday and early this week, residents of both districts resisted, and many of the demonstrators are believed to have been shot.

"Our students have gone back to their home villages for the time being," the abbot of one Okalapa monastery says. But that's only half true. Diplomats here have fairly reliable information that the junta has built at least three internment camps in recent days in Yangon, where it has placed opponents of the regime.

One is located near the old British horse race track, between Yangon's 50th and 51st streets. Another camp is located near the Mingala international airport. The worst conditions, though, are to be found on the grounds of the Yangon Institute of Technology.

In the north-western part of the former Burmese capital, very close to the notorious and overflowing Insein Prison, about 300 cells have been erected in recent days -- each measuring 3 meters by 3 meters (9.8 by 9.8 feet). Close to 800 monks have been imprisoned there. Sanitary conditions are atrocious and the monks are engaging in a hunger strike. Just as they did during their protests, the monks are refusing to accept any food handouts from the military. Meanwhile, the armed soldiers have stopped locals from trying to bring any food to the monks. And if the authorities don't provide international organizations with access to the camps soon, it will be a matter of time before there are further deaths.

But although the situation appears hopeless, the British ambassador -- of all people -- sees a first glimmer of hope in the chaotic situation. Mark Canning sits in his high security office with a view of Yangon port. He is a large man with a youthful face, and wears a white shirt but no jacket or tie. He is surely not a typical representative of the Foreign Office. Canning appears to regard finding a solution to the conflict in the country, which was once Great Britain's wealthiest colony in Southeast Asia but finds itself today in abject poverty, as his own personal mission.

Canning exploits his room for maneuver right up to the limits of what is possible for him as a diplomat. During the uprising, the ambassador constantly gave live interviews to the BBC about the situation in the country. "If the events achieved one thing, then it is the fact that the international community is now united in its condemnation of the regime," he says.
He repeats the word "revulsion" several times. It was the word used by the otherwise very reserved ASEAN, the community of the Southeast Asian states, to condemn its member country Burma over its crackdown on the uprising.

For that reason, Canning believes that the process of dialogue which the United Nations has initiated with the Burmese military regime could soon show its first results. After his arrival in Burma on the weekend, the UN special envoy for Burma Ibrahim Gambari met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest. Then he met Tuesday morning with junta leader Than Shwe in the new capital Naypyidaw.

Canning pins particular hope on the Chinese. The generals could not survive for long without the economic assistance of Burma's northern neighbor. "The Chinese have made it clear to Burma that they want stability and peace on their southern border," says Canning. Admittedly the Chinese aren't talking about democracy, Canning says, but perhaps they can help to establish dialogue between the military and Aung San Suu Kyi. That way, the hunger and misery in Southeast Asia's poorest country could be alleviated -- which is exactly what the demonstrating monks had been demanding from the junta.

Editor's Note: For security reasons we are not naming our correspondents in Burma