Notes on a circumnavigation

By Jim and Rosie Zoro

We describe ourselves as "travellers by boat", not really sailors. Avalon is a small but heavy steel cruising yacht, almost a motorsailer and we planned to go round in 3 years so we didn't try to sail all the way. The circumnavigation started and finished (7 years later) in Santa Ponsa Bay in Mallorca. We are very grateful to Yolande and Michael Knight, our back-up team in UK, who dealt with our post and house-related issues, to our three children who have supported us in our endeavour and indeed joined us many times, to all our generous hosts in the UK and the Antipodes and to all the cruisers whose friendship and help we have enjoyed along the way. There are bound to be some inaccuracies in the account which follows, but we hope the reader will get a fair picture of our adventure.

Summary
Elapsed Total Time	2640 days (02.06.2000 - 24.08.2007) 7 years 2 months 22 days
Nights Spent On Board Avalon (including some on the hard)	1820 Of which: nights underway at sea - 247 nights at anchor (263 different anchorages) - 524 on bouys (27 different bays or harbours) - 114 tied in marinas or harbours, or in boatyards (including some long periods during cyclone seasons and boat work) - 935
Nights On Land In UK	During 6 trips back (mostly spent with family and friends) - 333
Nights During Our 25 Side Trips Of 2 Days Or More	Of which: in motor caravans (Australia and New Zealand - 200 with friends in Australia and NewZealand - 72 in hotels etc - 147
Nights With Australian Friends Whilst Working On Avalon	68
Distance Travelled In Avalon (nautical miles)	37500 Of which: distance sailed - 21200 distance motor sailed or motored - 16300
Engine Hours	3624

About The Boat

Avalon is an 11 metre centre cockpit Van der Stadt "Migrant" or "Falco" cutter rigged sloop, beam 3.6m, draft 1.6m with a mid length keel and separate skeg*. The design displacement is 10.3 tons.

We have a mainsail, 2 yankees, a small inner foresail and a storm trysail which we have never used. Avalon would sail faster with a big genoa but we like to see where we are going!

The engine is a Perkins Prima M50 diesel, essentially the same engine used in Montego vans in the UK.

Steering is by wheel and cables, by hand or by Autohelm 6000 or by Sailomat windvane pendulum steering. The Sailomat did virtually all the steering while we were sailing.

In the galley we have a double sink, a two ring cooker with a small oven (rarely used), a small fridge but no freezer.

For electricity we have a 70W alternator, two 60W solar panels and one mobile panel of 40W, an AirX wind generator, two 130AH service batteries an one 105AH engine battery.

Electronics include VHF and HF radios, radar, Navtex, GPS.

We have four anchors: a large Delta, a large Viking (aluminium Fortress type), a smaller (35lb) CQR and a smaller Danforth. For the main anchor 60m 10mm chain spliced to 40m heavy multiplait rope. Mostly we used the Delta or the Viking, occasionally both in series (the combination never dragged).

We carry 450 litres of diesel, about 425 litres of water and have a holding tank of 100 litres

The inflatable dinghy is light enough to carry up a beach and has a 2HP outboard.

*(skeg for sailboats, usually refers to a structural support to which the rudder is fastened)

Aspects of the journey

Countries visited (not all by boat)

Spain, France, UK, Portugal, Cape Verde Islands, St Lucia, Barbados, Saint Vincent, Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Saint Kitts, Saint Martin, Anguilla, Grenada, Venezuela, Netherlands Antilles, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, French Polynesia, Chile (Easter Island), Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Oman, Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Italy, 47 in all.

Crew

We were very pleased to have the help and company of:

Barnaby and Tom 02.06.00 - 09.06.00 Mallorca to mainland Spain
Julian 11.06.00 - 26.06.00 Almeria to Figuera da Foz
Paul 17.06.00 - 01.07.00 Lagos to La Coruna
Andrew and John 04.07.00 - 13.07.00 La Coruna to Lorient
Barnaby and Cassandra 08.04.01 - 29.04.01 cruising the Windward Islands of the Caribbean
Alexander and Mark 15.12.01 - 30.12.02 Panama Canal and Las Perlas islands
Barnaby and Cassandra 10.09.02 - 26.09.02 Tahiti and Moorea
Barnaby 13.08.05 - 05.08.06 From Flores in Indonesia to Kas in Turkey
Cassandra 10.11.05 - 02.07.06 From Langkawi in Malaysia to Cyprus
Alexander 10.11.05 - 7.11.05 Langkawi
Alexander 23.07.06 - 05.08.06 Finike to Kas in Turkey

Ocean passages

Longest passage was from the Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas, 3100 miles, 28 days without sight of land. Average speed for long passages was between 100 and 110 miles per day - we sailed for comfort, not for speed. Much of our motoring was in the Western Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, Where winds were very light or against us.

Anchoring

Our anchor dragged 7 times in strong winds, not bad out of 261 anchorings, a 97.4% success rate! The problems were usually very soft mud, sometimes weed. Deepest anchorage was 26 metres.

Environmental issues

When we set out in 2000 we hoped our environmental footprint would be low. In the event it has certainly been lower than if we had remained in the UK living a more conventional life. Our air miles probably been about the same as if we had stayed home but taken lots of holidays (as we would have). Avalon's diesel consumption has been about the same as our petrol consumption would have been if we had run one car in UK. More positively we have used no resources on heating or air conditioning and we have bought almost none of the consumer goods which others buy in vast quantities from shopping malls around the world.

Finances

We live far more cheaply while cruising than we would living in a first world cold climate country. With the rent from the house and our modest pensions we have had more than enough income for all our needs.

Insurance

We started with comprehensive boat insurance but for the last 5 years we have only had third party cover, this has saved thousands of pounds and has made us a little bit more careful (no bad thing). We have not used medical insurance at all, fortunately we have had no large bills!

Age/health issues

We started at 57 and ended at 63/64. We have enjoyed good health throughout and have coped with all the physical rigours (just). We have always been able to find good medical services whenever we have needed them. We admire greatly those who keep on world cruising well into their 70s but we find we are now sometimes a little creaky in the mornings and we get tired more easily than we used to. We would not want to start again now and are thinking of canal boating and motor caravanning.

Side trips

These included many day trips by bus, train, boat, horse and car as well as longer trips including:

Venezuela to the Angel Falls and Merida
Ecuador around the country
Peru including Machu Pichu and Lake Titicaca
Easter Island - we stayed a week
New Zealand (3 visits)
Australia including much of the East, Tasmania, Perth and National Parks in the Northern Territory
Borneo (3 visits)
Java for monuments
Sri Lanka around the island
Egypt for the antiquities
Eritrea to the capital Asmara
Israel to Jerusalem
Jordan to Petra
Cyprus around the island
Turkey around Antalya and nearby sites

Mishaps

Part of the windvane steering fell off 2 days out from Tenerife so we diverted to the Cape Verde Islands to fix it.

The transmission fell apart in St Lucia but fortunately we were in the harbour and got a tow to the boatyard.

Avalon was dropped from the travel lift in Ecuador about half a metre onto concrete. The VHF aerial, the tricolour light, and the wind instrument, all on top of the mast, were destroyed and the steering quadrant was badly bent but she is a strongly built yacht and there was no other damage. All was repaired at the yard's expense.

One bad grounding, under full sail on an uncharted reef off the coast of northern Queenland, Avalon bounced sideways across the rock (heeled right over) for a few minutes before finding deeper water. Fortunately we were able to hang on and though the noise was awful, Avalon suffered only minor scrapes. Again we had the benefit of a steel boat.

Full gales hit us only a few times, in the Bay of Biscay and later in the Pacific, by which time we had learnt to heave to and ride it out.

We bought a light second pole to help with downwind sailing but bent it badly in squalls on two occasions. The first time was at night, the second time the skipper said "I see a squall coming, I'll just finish my cup of tea before I reef the foresails...."

Three times we were stopped in mid-ocean, once by a 4 mile fishing net on the skeg, once by a large sack too big for the rope cutter to deal with and once by a huge sheet of plastic, too much for the rope cutter again.

There were minor mechanical and electrical problems too numerous to list but we overcame them all using our own resources, sometimes with help from other yachties and a few times with help from professionals.

We learned to tolerate the hawkers in tourist spots and to watch our valuables in cities.

The worst

We did not enjoy storms in the Bay of Biscay, the anchor dragging in high winds at night, our boatyard time in Australia, the grounding in Queensland, having a rucksack stolen in Ecuador.

The best

Being close to nature with fresh air, warm sea, birds, mammals, fish, sunrises, sunsets. Being away from modern materialism and daily news of strife around the world. The ever-changing scene, new places, new people with different clothes and food and ways of living. Fresh fish and tropical fruits. Swimming from the boat, the sky at night, landfall in a new country. Sailing at 7+ knots on a smooth sea (a rare event). People the world over, almost everyone we met was kind and helpful.

Highlights

Madeira - easy and relaxed, excellent levada walking
Tenerife - Carnaval
Martinique - land crabs and mangoes
Dominica - The boiling lake
Venezuela - The Angel Falls (about 1 km straight down), Merida, Los Roques
Panama - the canal
Ecuador - Otavalo market, local costumes, carnivals with flour and water bombs
Peru - Machu Pichu, Colca Canyon, Lake Titicaca, the train ride from Arequipa to Puno Galapagos - marine iguanas, sealions, on horseback round the Sierra Negra crater rim on Isabela
Tuamotos - exploring the reefs with a local family and helping with their fish trap harvest
Society Islands - beautiful sunsets, canoes, scenery
Easter Island - the moai, the history of environmental destruction
Cook Islands - local choirs, Rosemary's tattoo
Niue - Joseph and his vegetables
Beveridge Reef and Tonga - close to Humpback whales Vanuatu - climbing to the rim of the active volcano on Tanna, local religions
New Zealand - motor caravanning, seafood, the scenery of South Island, Doubtful Sound boat trip
Australia - seeing so many friends, motor caravanning, incredible wildlife, Tasmania
Indonesia - villages, scenery, wildlife (Komodo dragons, proboscis monkeys, orang utans)
Singapore - clean and tidy, Chinese street theatre
Langkawi - we chanced upon a family of otters
Thailand - scenery, hornbills, food
Sri Lanka - Sigiriya hill fort
Indian Ocean - whales and so many dolphins
Red Sea - isolated coral islands and Marsas, wonderful fishing and beach barbeques
Egypt - Valley of the Kings and the balloon ride, the temples, felucca cruise on the Nile
Israel - old Jaffa and Jerusalem
Jordan - Petra - We wanted to see it, and were close 35 years ago, but this time we have done it!
Turkey - Carmina Burana in the Aspendos amphitheatre, Turkish baths, Olympos (flames), Termessos, Saklikent Gorge
Greece - Santorini
Italy - peering into the crater of Mount Etna, swimming in the bubbling waters off Vulcano, really good pizzas

What next?

For winter 2007 we will be enjoying the city life on Avalon in Port Vell marina right in the heart of Barcelona. In spring 2008 we will head for the south of France to enter the Rhone and(river current permitting) make our way north into the French canals and so to the UK.

September 2007