Crew Blog

Surely this is the leg of legs!

09 April 2008

It was a night of excitement; powerful winds, huge seas and water crashing over the deck, speeds exceeding 10 knots and Waikiki beach surfing conditions; but for me the excitement lay elsewhere… in finest electronic format, a map of shipwrecks, coral heads and white sandy beaches had miraculously appeared!  Maybe this was the real home of Gollum, guardian of the wristband and killer of the bushes; or maybe the most remote refuelling stop in the Pacific Ocean for the Big Blue Boat.

For me, this is euphoria. This is why I sail; exploration, discovery and memories.

Pilot extract: “…partially covered with trees, and encircled by a white sand beach, with some coral rock on the Eastern end…anchorage is difficult but possible…”

Midway consists of two islands, “Sand” and “East”, encircled in a six-mile diameter atoll, the reef 1.5metres high in places. Boring names, but if there were a place to SCUBA dive, I think this would be it. The Islands are part of a chain, spreading 1,100 nautical miles from Hawaii to the north west, enticingly named with Pearl & Hermes Reef, Lisianski Island and Gardner Pinnacles to name but a few. To here I will surely return.

We’ve had cultural Qingdao, snowball fights, broken poles, tracks, and spinnaker fights, 50 knots, flat calm and now Jury rigs and Pacific Islands – surely this is the leg of legs!

Marty (climber of the mast)