Claude Desjardins – Part 2 of sailing from Canada to Australia
Episode 6 of The Sailing Podcast is part two of a two part interview with Claude Desjardins who has a wonderful story about his small boat sailing which started in 1979 in Montreal in his homebuilt yacht Pere Peinard. Claude had ordered some plans for an 18 foot Bruce Roberts designed trailer sailor and then he adapted them and built a formidable ocean sailing yacht. It proved to be a very capable vessel which served him well in his travels as you will hear about this in the interview.
Part 2 of the interview starts with the trip from the Panama Canal off to the Galapagos Islands and then to the Marquesas and on through the pacific to Australia. Claude had a great trip from the Galapagos to the Marquesas – 26 days, which may still stand as some sort of record for this trip – at least for any vessel less than 25 feet long.
Next episode with Mike Litzow – Author of “South from Alaska
Episode 6 Show Notes
We spoke during the interview about the yacht ‘Shrimpy’ and if you haven’t read the story before it is called “Shrimpy a record round the world voyage” by Shane Acton. Here is a link to the book on Amazon
Transcript of the interview with Claude Desjardins
This is the Sailing Podcast with David and Carina Anderson, episode number 6. We would love you to come and join us on our journey. Hello everybody and welcome to the sixth episode of the Sailing Podcast. Thank you for joining Carina and I on our journey. We have the second part of our interview with Claude Desjardins, where he continues telling us about his journey on his 18-foot yacht Père Penard, which he built in his dad’s garage in Montreal from a set of Bruce Robert’s plans. In the first part of this interview, we heard how once he finished the yacht, he sailed south from Montreal to Miami and then on through the Panama Canal. If you missed last week’s episode, don’t forget you can go and listen to it on the website, or you can download it through iTunes. Just search for the Sailing Podcast. I’ve put some links onto our website at thesailingpodcast.com forward slash Claude that lead to photos of his journey, and a couple of links I found on microcruising.com, which has Claude’s trip listed on its famous Small Boats page. Part two of the interview starts with the trip from Panama Canal off to the Galapagos Islands, then through to the Marquesas and on through the Pacific to Australia. Claude had a great trip from the Galapagos to the Marquesas, I think he said 26 days. That may still stand as some sort of record for this trip, at least for a vessel that’s under 25 feet long. We also find out that Claude spent over nine years living on his 18-foot yacht, and I think that’s amazing. We hope that you enjoy listening to the podcast, and thank you for taking the time to enjoy our guest sailing stories. We’re hoping that a few of you will come and join us on Facebook. Our Facebook page is at Facebook.com forward slash The Sailing Podcast, and it would be great to have you drop by and like our page. While you’re there, leave us a message to let us know where you’re listening from. Okay, it’s time to get into the interview, and here’s Claude with the second part of his story.
David: So from Panama, what was your route from Panama? Where did you go to next?
Claude: Well, from Panama, the Galapagos was next, so that’s 21 days of flat calm, so that was really tough, in the sense that there was no wind there, and hot, and you basically move in the squall, so you just see the squall coming, and you hope they are going to hit you, so you can do a bit of distance, and then make it to the Galapagos, and so that was very long, but yeah, you make it to the Galapagos, and then in the Galapagos at the time, it was only three days stopover, only for an emergency, so if you have no choice, they’ll allow you to stay.
David: That was the rules, the Ecuador rules or something?
Claude: Yeah, it’s on the equator, so when you arrive in the Galapagos, they come over and they say, all right, what’s your problem, and so when they come to my boat, it was quite funny, because there’s this Spanish guy speaking, and he’s all dressed up in his uniform, and he said, okay, what’s the problem, what’s the thing, and I said, there’s no problem, and he kind of looked at me and said, well, surely there’s a problem, you can only stop for three days, there’s nothing wrong with my boat, I was not going to say there’s nothing wrong with my boat, and Genevieve said, well, we could use some vegetables, and we can get some more vegetables, and they kind of look, well, that doesn’t do for an emergency to stop for vegetables, and so they kind of, surely there’s something wrong with that boat, and he said, there’s nothing wrong with that boat, and he said, well, how long do you want to stay, and so I’d like to have a couple of weeks, and he said, well, you cannot have a couple of weeks, and you cannot stay anyway, and he was really amused by the whole fact that I wanted to stay a couple of weeks with a boat with nothing wrong with it, and who obviously in his view, there was a lot wrong with my boat, so he ended up giving ten days, it was quite an amazing story, so he paid to be honest, so they gave me ten days, and then it was really a sad story, because after we had been there for a while, we went to do the clearance, and then they said to us, they said, look, we have this guy, one of the officials, we need to go to another island, a bit away from where we were, and he said, if you can take them, we’ll give you a month, cruising permit, you know, and I was thinking, oh, no, it’s really, it was an amazing opportunity to be able to do that, but what’s actually happened in the meantime is I was talking to a, first it was a bad years, years that we crossed, and I was worried that we would not have wind to the Galapagos, to the Marquesas, that’s a very long trip, it’s 3,300 miles, and there was a boat who had been with a family who did it just a bit before, and they spent over a hundred days, and they have to, yeah, they run out of water and food and stuff, so that was kind of a bit of a drama, and so I was thinking, well, you know, we need to have the right weather, and I talked to this meteorologist, and he told me a few tricks what to do, and then I used to go and see him, and he said, right, it’s good to go now, so I needed to go now, and basically it was very good advice to sail south and watch the water temperature, and when you see it changing, then turn, because you’re in it, you know, in the trade route.
David: Change which way, left or right?
Claude: Turn right, hit for Australia, you know, so that’s what he basically said, and so that’s what we did, and we have an amazing crossing, so that bit in 3,300 miles, the fastest one for midget, so that’s the people less than 25 feet, they did it in 57 days, I think that was, that’s referring to Shrimpy, Shrimpy was one guy, so I think he did, I’m not sure, but I think it was 57 days, so I was thinking we’d be, you know, roughly, it was the same size, but also we’d be roughly the same if we have good condition, but it zoomed through at 26 days, so that was very, very fast.
David: That’s half the time.
Claude: Yeah, and it was, we have a very strong trade wind.
David: Comfortable sailing?
Claude: Well, it was.
David: Or were you going pretty fast?
Claude: Well, we were going fast, because if you look at it, we could not do that with our motor, it’s faster than the whole speed of the boat, so that gives you an idea. At one stage, for three days, the average was 147 miles per day, average over three days.
David: That’s great, isn’t it?
Claude: So, but during that time, during these three days, I did not do nothing, when I mean nothing, is there was a self-steering on, and I did not adjust the sail or nothing, so we just sit there, just the boat, did not just look at the compass, make sure, you know, no navigation, because there’s no need to, you know, in the middle of nowhere, so, and after that, I would better do something, so I did a fix, and after three days, and it was, yeah.
David: You make sailing sound so easy.
Claude: But it was, like that time, I touched it, it really was easy, and I touched the tailer maybe 20 minutes, you know, to get 10 minutes out of the Galapagos, and 10 minutes coming in, the rest is on the self-steering, and it was extremely easy, but the, because it was good wind, good self-steering, but the thing is, it’s all to do with the preparation, and a lot of little thing, not so much the size of the boat, and if I can add to that, there was another boat, what the time was a Wessel 32, and, yeah, that was a Wessel 32, and with a couple, an older couple, and they left the Galapagos two days before us, and then they, when we arrived in the Marquesas Island, they were not there, so I asked people not to see them, so then, you know, a day or two after they arrived, so the boat was much bigger, but they actually did the trip, you know, slowly, and I went and talked to them, and oh, yeah, one day or two was fantastic trip, wasn’t it, and he was not of that opinion at all, and what’s actually happened, they broke their self-steering along the way, and so they have to end steer, and that’s enough to, you know, so that make the whole difference to us.
David: Was your self-steering a wind vane, or did you have a sheet sort of killer set up?
Claude: No, no, no, no, it was a navic self-steering, and I have also a full complete one in spare part down below, plus other spare part. I was not going to steer, and that was a bit of the story, because this guy on the west side was an old ex-U.S. something or other, you know, and he used to call me, Sonny, let me tell you, and he used to tell me all sorts of things about how I should do things, and then when he did not turn up and did a really bad crossing, it’s become, you know, obvious then my idea was probably okay, you know, and the fact that I have a spare self-steering and spare part, really his wife really reminded him that during the trip, because he did not have the spare part to fix the self-steering, so they have to steer, and she was talking about picking on Claude and, you know, a small boat, but he’s prepared with all the self-steering, so that become a bit of a joke, but to make it more kind of funny, when we arrive in Tahiti after a while, we got married, and when we got married, this guy was invited to a wedding, and as a gift, he gave me, or he gave us, a saucepan, and so, you know, that was a gift, so what do I need that for, you know, we were joking about the saucepan, and what’s the point of that, and so, yeah, but you need a spare one, and so it’s become like a, because I have one already, you know, on a small boat, you don’t carry too many saucepan, and you say, yeah, but you need a spare one, because what’s happened, well, what’s happened to us was during the crossing, when we did the cooking, and I did the washing, so the washing was just to take the saucepan and put it over the side and rinse it, and I lost it, so we have to, you know, to do everything in a frying pan, but try to do, you know, cook noodle, and we did not have much more than noodle, in a frying pan on an 18 footer and 35 knot of wind, you know, it’s not obvious, and so that become a bit of a joke, you know, so you should have two saucepan, you know, and so on, but yeah.
David: Have you ever heard, have you sort of tracked other people doing that journey between Galapagos and the Marquesas to see if any other boats have knocked off that great run?
Claude: I don’t know, I have never heard of anyone doing it, and, you know, to go faster, I think it’s still a whole, well, there is a lot of boats who are bigger boats, because obviously if you’re bigger, you can go a lot faster, but for less than 25 foot, there’s not that many, by the way, who are less than 25 feet.
David: You know, when you were out sailing, was there always someone on watch, or would you sometimes just let the boat go on self-steering by itself?
Claude: Yes, we always have the boat go on self-steering.
David: Yes, okay, but was someone always on the watch, look out for other boats?
Claude: No.
David: So often you’d just be sailing and…
Claude: Most of the time. When you’re on the, between Galapagos and the Marquesas, there is nothing there.
David: No other boats?
Claude: No, there is no other boat there. So there is no shipping route, there is nothing.
David: So you didn’t have a radar or anything?
Claude: No, we did not barely have electricity on the boat. So, yeah, and I know people say you should be keeping watch, but, you know, the reality of it, like the chance of hitting something is so remote, because the chance is you’re going to hit another yacht, so the chance of hitting another yacht or fishing boat, you know, but it’s not really fishing ground, it’s a long way out there. So now we used to go to bed and, you know, just… Sleep well.
Claude: Later I sailed by myself, because after Tahiti, I sailed single-handed from Tahiti to Noumea, and so I did, you know, a lot with single-handed, and at one stage, I remember to wake up one morning and noticed that the sail had been changed. So I actually, during the night, I did a sail change and I could not remember in the morning, so it’s become like almost second nature, you know, it’s like in your house, if you go to the toilet and you don’t forget to flush the toilet at night, you know, I mean, it’s become like you do a sail change, so you become very, you know, like it’s such an habit. And you do know, just knowing, you know, the boat, you know, if you have too much sail from your bed, you know, and I mean, you know, also, I used to be able to be, because we did have a speedometer for a while and then it stopped working, but I used to be able to tell what the speed of the boat, you know, from my bunk and very accurately, so that was a little game, you know, guess what’s the speed and just from the, you know, the bunk, you can tell the speed, so you get, it’s become like second nature after all, so yeah, and but yeah, the watch is always a thing, you know, but then what is more dangerous in my view is like if you are to keep watch or steering, for example, if you were to steer the boat in every weather and keep watch, I think you become so tired and things get really, you know, so my, you know, my views just don’t bother and like I used to have decided and if you have a problem on the boat, the best thing to do is go make a cup of tea and think about it and usually that go away and, you know, and that’s really the kind of the reality of it all is like, you know, the boat will make without you, so you should not bother, you know, and one other friend who actually was one of the guy in the 25 footer, in the bucket club, he was Alex was his name and he was a real character and he was a Belgium guy, he was sailing from Belgium with his blind dog, he had a very big blind dog and a racing boat, he had a 24 footer who was an ex-racer, beautiful racing boat, not exactly a seagoing boat either, but he was telling us then he sailed, he was actually an interesting fellow, but he sailed for the woman, that was his goal, is find the perfect place, the perfect country, so he sailed all over the world and he become fed up with Fiji, so he decided that yeah, I have enough of Fiji, so he sailed off in the cyclone season of Fiji and he got caught in pretty bad weather and at one stage he was telling us, he was a real character, but he was telling us that the situation become really bad and he have a leak and he could not see where the water was coming and he could not work out anything and he was stuck in this really tremendous weather, so he decided, well that’s it, there is nothing I can do, so he drink a bottle of rum and he went to sleep, so that’s it, nothing I can do, so that’s the end of it. But he was fine. What actually happened is he woke up, you know, a while later after his bottle of rum that he was not too good at drinking and then you see with a splitting headache, you know, sick and the boat floating in almost a calm, you know, full of water, so there again, so that was his view and you know how many boats have actually survived when people got rescued and you know. So I guess when we are out sailing or when any of the listeners are out sailing and the wives get a little bit stressed, the husbands need to say go down and make yourself a cup of tea. Yes, he should go too. No, I’ll go down and drink a bottle of rum. But he should go as well, you see that’s the point, you just let the boat go and go and make a cup of tea and think about it or go for a nap and then things will get better when you wake up. Fresh mind. And spare yourself really, that’s what I’m talking about, especially on a small boat, if you kind of, you know, there is not much you can happen out there, so really that’s the reality of it, so that’s the point, you know, to make a nice story if a lot of things happen, but the reality is not much can happen, so if you are well prepared, you know, so it’s not a big deal.
David: And so you went single-handed, so why did you go single-handed for that?
Claude: Because Genevieve left at that stage, so yeah.
David: So then did you go single-handed all the way to Australia from there?
Claude: No, what actually I did is I was in a sailing mood then, so when I left Tahiti I did not stop anymore, so I was just sailing, so I sailed straight from Tahiti to Pago Pago and then I spent a few days in Pago Pago and then I left from Pago Pago and straight to Noumea without stopping to Fiji or whatever, so I sailed all the way. And then when I stopped in Noumea, then it was actually quite funny because I arrived, when I come to Noumea I was running out of food and water and I look in the chart, it was like a photocopy of the chart, I did not have flash chart of the, you know, of the island, and when you come to Noumea, you have been to Noumea, so you know, you come from the other side and then there is a pass there and in the pass it’s say for a small ship, you know, so I was thinking well that’s just local knowledge, you cannot go through there, so I sailed all the way down the bottom and all the way up and through the bar in the pass, you know, Faramedi and all that, so it took me five days and it was miserable weather and when I arrived in Noumea I sailed in the harbor and I have one tin of beans left and that was on a Sunday, so I eat my food and I could not go ashore, I could not do anything and because, you know, the custom, the quarantine was not open, so I was sitting there with my yellow flag and eating my one tin, the last tin, I had been sparing everything along the way, then I learned that in actual fact I could have quite easily through and it saved me like 150 miles to go around, so it took me five days or something because it was beating in the weather, so that was quite funny, but yeah.
David: How about the quarantine with the cats in Noumea?
Claude: In Noumea it was really easy, everywhere was easy except Australia.
David: It’s amazing, isn’t it?
Claude: Well, it’s not really, I can understand it, you know, why Australia would want to be very careful.
David: Oh no, I understand now, I’m saying it’s amazing that you got through all those Pacific Islands with…
Claude: Oh yes, most places didn’t even barely mention it, so it’s not an issue at all and the boat was anchored most of the time, so the cat did not go ashore very much and yeah.
David: It would have been a great company too, I think, to have them with you when you were by yourself as well.
Claude: Yes, yes, they were good friends.
David: And how long did you stay in Noumea for?
Claude: I stayed in Noumea for a year, so when I was in Noumea I was there for years.D –
David: This would have been legal work?
Claude: No. No, I’m not French, I’m Canadian. Yeah, you can only stay there with a French passport. so I was in a Canadian passport and even with French I don’t think you can, you know, you have to have special permission and stuff. But yeah, I worked there and I’ve become quite fond of the place, you know, really like it and I have some good friends there and we work with another guy there that we actually work at building boats and finishing boats and so forth, so that was a really good time there, so that’s why I stayed so long.
David: Did you sail right around Noumea?
Claude: Yeah, I sail a lot of Noumea.
David: Beautiful?
Claude: Yeah, it’s a beautiful area and it’s a really nice cruising ground and yeah, the lagoon there is just fantastic, so it’s really good sailing place. But I was more like a local when I was there and that’s what I kind of enjoy. When you come with your boat you become like a local, you know, I used to have a little moped, you know, a little small motorcycle thing and I used to get my baguette before going to work like all the other people and yeah, eventually Genevieve came back when I was in Noumea, so we sailed to Australia together, but then we sailed back to Noumea and then she left from Noumea and then I sailed back to Australia by myself, so I did, you know, that area, you know, kind of like that. After we sailed to Australia, spent a year, then sailed back to Noumea.
David: So you left home in Canada when you were 21, how old were you when you got to Australia and actually stayed in Australia?
Claude: when I stayed in Australia I was 31 when I came in.
David: Would you say you lived on that boat for 9 years?
Claude: Yeah, well I lived on Australia for a while too as well, so yeah, I lived over 9 years on the boat.
David: On 18 feet?
Claude: Yes.
David: And it’s incredible to think you’ve shown us the boat today that you lived on for those 9 years and it’s very small.
Claude: But it’s also really, really comfortable. What I mean by that is not many boats that you have good sitting, comfortable sitting, and this boat is, you can sit very comfortable and you have good light when you do your reading, so the light is right and you can reach everything from the one seat, so it’s a very lazy boat. It’s a custom made boat. But also it’s really lazy, you know, and that’s what the name of the boat means, doing something quiet and lazy type thing.
So that’s the idea is that yeah, it’s very comfortable, it’s very watertight, and yeah, you’ve got everything you need so you can reach everything from the one seat.
David: While we’re talking about the boat, I mean you obviously must have changed quite a few things to make a trailer sailor into an ocean going yacht.
Claude: Yeah, there’s a few things that I did. The main thing is, well, the boat was built a little bit more solid than it should have been, but not drastically more, you know, but a little bit more. But the main difference is that I made the cockpit very small, so I extended the cabin. So if you have a big wife coming in the cockpit, it will not. And also the boat is really watertight. So I can, for example, the companionway, I can airtight the boat. And to the point that when we got caught in a very, very bad weather just before coming to Australia in the bad season and going, it was very, very strong, 16 knots of wind. And we used to have a little hatch in the back, it’s still there, but that hatch was the cat door, so that wasn’t bad weather, that was the only hatch was still open. And during that time, we had to sort of close it because the water was coming in, and I was worried that we would be lacking air in the boat. So airtight. And so, you know, you breathe all the air of the boat, especially if you do cooking or something. But then if you open that little port, it was pouring in. So that was, it was amazing weather that one.
David: Did you ever capsize the boat?
Claude: I did, but not in, how can you put it, not in a dangerous way. So the boat was actually very, it did not matter.
David: Did you only go 90 degrees?
Claude: No, I went all the way. All the way, 180 degrees, and then back up again.
David: How many times did that happen?
Claude: Oh, how many times, just once. That was before Pago Pago, that was very, very bad weather. And that was very scary, you know, in the spot when it’s happened. But then, you know, the boat come back up.
David: By yourself?
Claude: Yeah, it was by myself. And then the cat was freaking out. But then the boat come back, and then I was really proud in the fact that nothing happened. And then when I come to Pago Pago, that was quite funny because there was another person in a boat, and they were in their second time around the world. And so they come and, you know, we come and we kind of compare note. And they said, oh, did you go? And I said, I was all right. And they said, well, have a look at our boat. And I went in their boat, and it was just amazing because the front, it was a big boat, you know, 40 foot or something. And the pressure of the wave actually crunched all the furniture in the front of the boat. So the furniture was delaminated from the hull. And the deck was a foam sandwich deck and was totally delaminated. So that was, you know, so the boat was in bad shape. And but then we talk about sea technique. You know, what do you do in bad weather? And they have to. And I did not. I ran with it. And when I did that, I have a small jib. So I was never without no sail at all, except when we come to Sydney. We were actually going to Sydney and we have this bad weather before Australia. And then we did that one stage. We were doing 100 mile a day with no sail. So just no sail at all, just the wind on the mast. So that’s pretty good. But yeah, every weather people always talk about it and worry about it. But really there is no, how can you put it? If you prepare and if your boat is, you know, well done, you know, there’s not really that much that can happen.
David: You told me at some stage you did extra work with your rigging as well, didn’t you?
Claude: Oh, yes. I did not finish that. My rigging was super solid. Yes. And the boat was designed basically to do anything without breaking. So that’s the idea. So the mast of my boat was a mast from a Tenzer 26. It was a boat that a friend had and they broke the mast. So they gave me the broken mast. So I chopped a bit of it and I used it on that. And the stay itself was really, really oversized. And yeah, and I have stay lock fitting. Everything was, you know, was the best you can get and very strong. So that’s a main thing. And also the boat was insinkable in the sense that I have flotation everywhere. So all the hull have blown insulation about two and a half inch all the way around. They do that in Canada for insulating inside the house. They come with a big truck and they blow the foam insulation. So they come and they blow inside the boat and also under the, you know, the bunk in some area. And so to get, you know, flotation. And I have tested that because later when I was in Australia, the boat was living on the river and it sit at low tide on a big steel pipe. And so pop a hole through the bottom. Well, it did not even got the bed wet. So just a bit of water come in and it float there because of the flotation. So that was an important safety aspect because you always feel that, you know, if you don’t sink, you know, and if you have a good rigging, I don’t know what can happen, really, if the water cannot come inside so that limit your risk considerably. And I have to say a lot of boat don’t do that. And I think it’s like, you see, that’s why I’m saying the size is not so important. People don’t do a good risk analysis of what it is. And they often think that, you know, if you have a big boat, you can go through anything. But, you know, waves get really big out there. So, you know, you can never expect then, you know, you will not face a wave who’s going to capsize you or doing, you know, always think that’s going to happen. And then you get prepared for it or that you fill up the boat, you know, or something. And usually it’s a silly thing. You know, when people get in trouble, it’s usually silly thing, you know, what happened. It’s not, there’s not many people getting big grief and big storm. You know, they usually get one thing led to another thing breaking down and, you know, so yeah. And often when people are tired and making bad decisions, perhaps during bad weather, they get worn out and then the decisions aren’t as good perhaps as they would have made.
Well, that’s the main thing if you’re seasick and you, you know, so that’s what I mean about going and having a cup of tea, you know, spare yourself. So that’s probably, you know, if you can, if you basically, if you trust your boat and, and if you spare yourself, you know, if you have a watertight boat, it was not uncomfortable because the comfort is more to do with little thing. Like if you have a wet boat, you know, a wet bed, there’s nothing worse. And, you know, that type of thing. So like, yeah, somewhere comfortable to sit and dry, you know, like if you can achieve that, it’s not always easy on a small boat, but, but it’s, yeah. And if you spare yourself, like you say, that’s the, that’s the thing.
David: And so your trip, you’ve ended up in Australia and you stayed. that wasn’t a plan, was it?
Claude: No, it was not the plan, but I come in Australia and as I say, we spend the years in Australia first. And then, then I sailed back to Noumea and then eventually come back to Australia. And, and I, during that time, the first years that I was in Australia, actually I started building boats in Australia and illegally too. And then, and I really enjoyed it and I enjoyed the country and, you know, and the people and so forth. And, and when I come back, that was pretty much, you know, the idea is I come back and stay here. So, and then, yeah, build boat after that for a while.
David: When you first came to Australia, where were you based? Where were you living?
Claude: I was in Brisbane.
David: You were in Brisbane then as well?
Claude: No, because eventually on that trip what actually happened is I was, we have this really bad weather and I was reading a book about Australia and they were talking about the Botanical Garden in Brisbane and the river and all that and so on. That sounds nice. So we turned around and that’s the only time ever that we did not make it to where we were actually, you know, intending in the first place to go. So we were going to go to Sydney and, but we ended up going to Brisbane because I was reading that book and the weather was bad and so let’s turn around this way. So we did. And because my thinking at the time, it’s probably, I’m not sure, but it’s part of the same reasoning of not getting into trouble is I met some Australian when I was in the mayor and so I asked them about the country and, you know, we always talk about the next place you go and they told me about the Australian bar, you know, the entry for this place and it scared me. So I make my mind, I’m either coming in Sydney or Brisbane. End of story. So that we don’t get in trouble. And it was actually quite interesting because when I eventually we come to Brisbane and in the approach to Brisbane, it was at night that we come in. And so as we always do, you just, you know, off to and just drift there and wait, you know, I’m not that tempted to go there at night. So you just go make a cup of tea and wait for the, you know, to get a good time. And it was a bit windy and not, you know, not good weather. And there was a lady on the radio and just as we were sitting there, I couldn’t believe that, you know, and then we went to grab it and then there was, because we did have a VHF, you know, on the boat and that was the only radio that we have so it’s good for short distance. But anyway, the Coast Guard were in very quickly. And so we followed the conversation of what was happening. And there was a boat to try to get out of Brisbane and they got into the reef. I forgot what’s the name there. They went out and it was too rough. So they come back in and as they’re coming back, they hit, you know, the reef there. It’s like north of Moreton Island. Yeah, just by there, but not outside of Moreton, just when you come in, you know. And Flinders, but anyway, so they end up running aground there. And so I was thinking, oh, that’s just like Miami. They call the Coast Guard if they run aground. So I was quite amused, but it was not. It was more serious and the keel broke off and all sort of thing. And then they went with the helicopter to rescue the people. So it was a big operation. And then, you know, so we closed the radio actually. Genevieve closed the radio. She didn’t want to hear about it. And we still drift there. And in the morning we surf in. And literally that was a fantastic, you know, breeze. And we were flying there by Cape Moreton and we saw the boat there.
David: Ah, sitting up on the reef?
Claude: Well, no, there was just two masts sticking out, you know. Yeah, sunk. And then, but then the helicopter, the news helicopter was still there. And they film us as we were coming in. That would have been fantastic. But I never got the footage because we were really flying, you know, with just a small sail in the front and just going through. I don’t know if you could look in the archives. Yes, yes, I don’t know if we could find it. I cannot remember which channel it was. But then when we arrived, that was quite amusing because you’re supposed to call, you know, the authority to tell them you’re coming 24 hours before you arrive. Of course, we could not do that. And so when I was coming around Moreton, I had to call them. So I called them, nobody answered, and then going in the bay. And it was still really blowing. And so we have to kind of make it through to the bay. And that was really difficult. And they could not hear me and I was tacking back and forth. So we were rounding the Cape early morning, you know, maybe 8 o’clock or something to work at Moreton. But then we keep going all day to go through the thing and no fuel, obviously, so very little, you know, so you cannot motor through there. And so even if you motor with a chop, the motor comes out of the water. So yeah, it’s not much. So I was kind of tacking back and forth. And there was a Russian ship anchored there waiting, you know. And he relayed my message to, you know, so I was calling. He was relaying the message and they say, oh yeah. And then we saw the ship and he was drifting, cutting the wave for me. So it was really fun. And we spent all our time cleaning the boat because that was the thing. When you come in, always make sure the boat is, you know, immaculate because it’s small. And, you know, so having shower out there with the leftover water and cleaning the bilge and, you know, making sure everything is spot on. And by the way, about the bilge, I never have water in the bilge. So we use spray and wipe in the bilge and tissue and clean it up nice and clean. So anyway, so we did all that. And it took till eight o’clock at night before we make it to the quarantine dock. And I will always remember all these guys sitting on the dock waiting for us. You know, the immigration, what was it? It was two for custom, two for immigration people, and two for the cap. And the quarantine, two for quarantine. And they all went on the boat. I could not believe that. They all went one by one, you know, like little group by little group. You do the custom and then immigration and the cap. And then they check the food and say, what food do you have? Pretty strict. Yeah, they’re pretty strict, but it’s kind of funny. For example, you know, the egg. I think we have one egg. So they said, you have a bowl and they break the egg and they take only the shell and you can hit the egg. And then they take everything. And of course, the cat was the big serious thing. So they go to the cat and then, yeah. So they tell me that in a lot of boat who come in, they get cranky, you know, with the authority. Because some, for example, some boat have, you know, luxury boat, they would have a lot of provision. Then they will take. And so, but you should know that, you know, when you come in. And so I need, I think we have very few things, obviously, but things like tin from the mayor, tin of meat. You know, you probably saw that when you come back, they go through all that.
David: Yeah.
Claude: So anyway, they, so they did that. And then they come and inspect us every week for the cat. They keep visiting.
David: Oh, they didn’t take the cat off here.
Claude: No, no, no. Of course not.
David: I thought they would have put it in quarantine.
Claude: Oh, no, no. Like if you bring a dog or a horse, they put it in quarantine. The thing is, this is quite interesting. When you come on the boat, the boat is actually was and still is Canadian. So because it’s so legally, it’s a parcel of Canada. So they cannot, you know, take the boat. And by the same token, the boat is like you have power over this. So basically, like even policemen cannot come on board because it’s Canadian territory, but custom can and the quarantine can inspect you. And but they cannot take your cat because they are deemed as being in Canada, but they can force you to not put them ashore.
David: Okay.
Claude: So, so the whole time and then the, you know, the cat. So I could not put the boat in a marina at the dock or anything. So the boat has to be anchored mid-water, as they say, and then they come and inspect to make sure the cat are there. And if the cat escaped, then you have to pay a large bond because they have to find them.
David: So how long was the cat quarantined to your boat for?
Claude: Well, what’s actually happened, I spent a year, you know, we spent with Genevieve, they were in Australia for one years. So during that whole years, the cat did not go ashore. And then we sailed back to Noumea and then spent quite a few months in Noumea. And then I come back to Australia. And so, and then again, we went through the same process. And eventually I was settling in Australia. So I asked for them to, you know, to be settled. And they say, look, you need to send them to Sydney for nine months. And that’s why they have been on the boat for, you know, that much. And it went through a lot of paperwork. And eventually they were there by that stage. They would get quite friendly. They come visit every week, you know, to come and have a cup of tea every week. And so anyway, they were seeing what we can do. So I have to write these letters and we have a vet, you know, proper quarantine vet to come on board to inspect them and then give them all their vaccination and through an application we did to Canberra. And because I was saying, look, they have been on the boat all these years. If they go nine months in quarantine, they will die, you know, without having me around or, you know, being on their boat. Big change. So eventually they were quite friendly. They come over and they say, oh, we got it, we got it. And so they got me a letter to say, and then the vet needed to come again, give them all their vaccination because they have blood tests and all sorts of things. And eventually they let them, you know, they let them go.
David: You know, when you were talking about the boat being a little piece of Canada, didn’t you once tell me you had a bit of a standoff at some stage with some people wanting to come on your boat?
Claude: Yes, it was quite amusing actually. So that was, I was anchored in the back of Bribie Island, in the Pumistone Passage and one of the creeks there. So I was very much a local, you know, it looked like it can be anyone there. So the Qld Marine come over, you know, to check on my safety gear. And I kind of say to them that, you know, basically I did not want them to come on board. So they said, oh, we’d like to inspect your safety gear. And I said, I don’t really want you to inspect your safety gear. So, and they were a bit shocked by me not wanting. So they said, well, we have to and you will. And then so I was kind of teasing, you know, and so I said to them, no, you don’t. And if you do, I’m going to put you on, you know, in iron in the bilge, you know. And they kind of give me this funny look. And they said, well, you know, this is a Canadian vessel. And I, you know, I’m the captain and I’m not going to give you permission to board me. And so, of course, they immediately back off. And so because they cannot, the problem was a good thing because I did not even have life jacket on board.
David: Yeah, so they had the jurisdiction to go on an Australian or Queensland vessel and do inspections, and not on an overseas one.
Claude: Yes, that’s right.
David: And you should have life jacket on board.
Claude: It’s just that I used to have a theory that if you don’t use something for six months on a boat, you should get rid of it. So all the safety gear then become useless. And, you know, to not give the bad impression there, if you were, if you’re on a small boat and you fall over the side, you know, your life jacket is not going to do much. But you should have a life jacket. But I think especially now they have some pretty good one. But life harness is actually really important. And that’s one thing that, you know, was very, very important is that I used to wear the life harness all the time, even when you’re on bed. So, you know, once you’re single-ended, you have it because, you know, you wake up at night and you rush outside and, you know, you don’t think for an emergency. So you have to sleep. Yeah. So that was the thing. So to have a good harness and just put it on and learn to live with it is probably more important than life jacket. So, yeah. Well, that’s been a really interesting and adventurous story. Thank you so much for your time. That was a pleasure. It’s always fun to talk about the boat.
David: Well, I’d like to thank Claude again for taking the time to tell us about his voyage and also sharing some great advice about heavy weather sailing. And I like what he had to say about how a well-found vessel will take care of you in a storm and how it’s important that you make sure that you just take care of yourself. I’ll have some show notes for this episode at thesailingpodcast.com forward slash smallboatsailing. That’s all one word, smallboat sailing. I also found a link to the book about Shrimpy. It’s called Shrimpy, a record round-the-world voyage. It’s by Shane Acton. And I’ll put that on the website too. You should keep an eye out for it when you’re at the local secondhand bookstore. You never know, it might turn up sometime, and I’m sure it’s a great read. I’ve been listening to a great audiobook this week that I downloaded from audible.com. It’s called Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Danner. I’d highly recommend it, especially to anyone who likes listening to historical sailing stories as it’s set in the early 1800s. Do you have any good listening suggestions? Go ahead and let us know on our Facebook page. Of course, you can always just send me an email, david at thesailingpodcast.com. Thanks for listening. I hope you have a great day, and thanks for joining us on our journey. You’ve been listening to David and Carina Anderson of The Sailing Podcast.