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..and another story.

In March 1976, during the course of a yacht delivery, I was in Las Palmas in
Gran Canaria.  Standing one afternoon on the quayside I observed a Fisher 31
enter the harbour flying a Canadian ensign.   I hailed the lone occupant
welcoming him to Las Palmas.   The yacht came alongside the quay, with no
fenders or lines, and the lone occupant jumped ashore, came up to me, put
his arms around me and burst into tears....

Reggie Evans was a lumberman in British Columbia.   Having accumulated some
cash he set off for the London Boat Show and bought the Fisher 31.   The
first time he had ever been to sea in a yacht was the test sail in
Southampton Water.   The second time was to set sail for Vancouver via the
Panama Canal.   His intended initial landfall was Cape Hatteras.   After
some three weeks against headwinds he did not know where he was and appeared
to be making little progress so he turned southwards for Morocco.   About
this time a sudden gust of wind blew most of his charts overboard.   A
further three weeks passed before he saw land ahead.   Closing the land he
saw a fishing boat and followed it into harbour.......Las Palmas.

For a week Reggie followed me everywhere insisting that I taught him the
rudiments of celestial navigation.   I concentrated on noon sights and
latitude by Polaris.

I set sail for Barbados and Reggie followed for the same destination a short
while later.   Two days after our arrival in Carlisle Bay Reggie arrived,
this time leaping into the sea and swimming across to us with his yacht
unattended in the middle of the bay.

.... Some six months later I received a card from Reggie.   He transited the
Panama Canal successfully but about 1000 miles west of Clipperton Island he
ran into a hurricane.   His yacht was swamped and sank; but at the vital
moment a Japanese fishing boat appeared and rescued him.   He was saving
money to go to Hong Kong to buy a junk in order to sail to Vancouver from
there!

Happy navigating!

Philip Ouvry

   

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