Sunday, August 28, 2011

Where were you 25 years ago??

Well, we were sailing somewhere between Bora Bora and Fiji. 
That was on sy JAN HARING.
When we left Bora Bora our goal was the Cook Islands, but 1 day out...we ran into horrible weather.
Oh yes, those were the days with poor weather info....
Big seas, strongstrong winds and worse of all, 100% overcast for 3~4 days.
No Way we could take any sun sights, needed for our position.
Oh yes those were the days with out GPS or Satnav.
So for safety reasons ( there are zillions of dangerous reefs at the Cook Islands) we headed for Pango Pango, US Samoa. The trips lasted 6 days (orso) and we were perfectly white-washed after those days....



The first few days at Pango Pango were still lousy, see pix, but at the end the sun came out.
And who did we meet there?

sy FLYER with Connie v Rietschoten. well-know yachtsman at that time. 
Wow, our Jan Haring fitted twice INSIDE that boat....


While at Pango Pango, of course there were more cruising buddies....With HAM radios on board (we had none). 
And so, we were able to make radio contact with sister Marleen and
b-i-l Loek who were cruising on their sy Blankenheim somewhere in Fiji.
Remember, this was all pre-internet and pre-mobile phones.
So we made a time schedule to meet-up with them a few weeks later in Suva, Fiji.


But in between there was Tonga...a place not to miss.

 Tonga was super for great sailing, snorkeling, the weather, meeting the locals for dance and food parties and even played a game of rugby!
BTW, why is that ball so funny shaped?


Finally in Suva, Fiji we met up with Marleen and Loek. They had sailed on sy Blankenheim from NZ to Fiji.
Tell you we had heaps and heaps to talk as it was basically 12 years that we hadn't seen each other.
This pix above is at the RSYC, nice sunset, good reason for an other Fiji Bitter.




Together we cruised Mbenga and Kandavu and as you can see
 It was also pre-digi camera's. 
And pre-overcrowded anchorages;-)

Would luff to hear what you were doing those days...

About Jan Haring, see also:


Salute.






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