Supertramp, Van Halen and Susan Boyle

by John Curnow on 14 Apr 2016 Now there’s one hell of an eclectic bunch. Like wow. 70’s experimental, hard rock and then hard luck... Need to be out the back of Pluto to find the link there. Perhaps that’s exactly where I was when it came to me. Well, at least in my mind at any rate. Once a traveller and all that jazz - just could not help myself, for I simply had to have another musical genre in the first paragraph.

It was definitely Supertramp that started it all. I found myself singing ‘Dreamer’, and yes, the office was vacant at the time. Then came Van Halen with ‘Dreams’, and ultimately I remembered the line, ‘I had a dream’, which I then worked out was because we had been peppered with that portion of Susan Boyle’s tune when she had been ‘found’.

They are simply three of a plethora of tunes on the matter. We, as humans, are blessed to have the opportunity to engage in this sort of escape. Of course, some can end up going the other way entirely, but a good plan, heaps of common sense and the ability to ask a question will get you through admirably.

How it all came about in the first place was merely reading your reports. The latest is Ian Thomson’s material from the South Pacific, but Sail-World Cruising has so much material from all manner of sailors. Newbies, old salts, couples, singles, Grey Navy, families, potential family makers and so on.

All of you have dreams and you detail them for us, so thank you. You tell us what to look for in a boat and probably even more importantly, what to avoid. Which places offer the best from sightseeing to diving, food to wildlife; you show us the way.

I did have my own dreams. They possibly started around 11 or 12 years of age. The genesis was probably my sixth grade teacher who got us to do a massive project on how we’d get around the world. No doubt all the sailing magazines and books in my Father’s study had a bit to do with it, too.

To leave Australia I would need a sail boat and I would be able to see tropics, ancient beasts and myriad cultures, all on the first leg. Planes, trains and yes, automobiles would take over thereafter as I first went through the Americas and then over to Europe before coming back down through Africa and home via Asia major.

The big dream was even still alive in my twenties, although all but the sailing part had been curtailed. Make a bit of money, score a good 45-foot boat and get set for the adventure of a lifetime. My plan was to grab the wife and young kids and do the South Pacific and possibly Asia before the kids needed to go to real school.

Study was the first thing to get in the way, once that was disposed of there was a massive preoccupation with travel. Racing came after them and then there was growing the business. Tick. Tick. Tick. The wife did not arrive until a fair bit later and at the very end she was called Enola Gay. No it was definitely more like the biggest named storm ever. Maybe it was Santorini and I was the Minoans – both burned and drowned. Uh. Uh. Ultimately she went off exactly like a French atmospheric nuclear test on a tiny Polynesian atoll!

So it would be deliveries of both racing and cruising craft that took the big jaunt’s place. BTW, using the latter is way better for the job than the former, I can tell you!

Maybe later on I will be able to get a small cat and go do some of things they young boy dreamed of. I don’t think I will need to cross the Pacific and go to the Galapagos, but never say never… It is important to have an end to journey towards, but in the end it is the journey that matters. So to all of you doing everything you ever wanted, I simply say well done and congratulations! Please keep the dream alive for all that may follow in your wake.

So yes, for some it is vital that they live out their dreams and for others, it is just important to have a dream in the first place. There is nothing wrong with a little harmless and vicarious daydreaming. Guilty as charged…

No matter which you are, the large number of people taking to the seas shows no sign of abating, but rather growing. So all those little coves all around the globe are bound to be found. Best get there before someone else does, huh?!

Anyway, elsewhere in the universe, please avail yourself of more from Ian Thomson and their plastics crusade. 26,000nm on the ARC is done, BoatUS tell us all about their own learnings and then in Bundaberg (Queensland AUS) we see the ‘Go West’ Rally is all set.

As a complete aside, ‘The Bro’ is going to be on the ABC with his three part GBR series later this month. Of course anywhere in the world you’ll be able to see it off iview on the interweb, as well.

“Since my first visit, we have learned so much more about the reef; scientific breakthroughs have revealed astounding stories and with new technologies we are able to explore the reef in ways previously thought impossible. I knew that there was such a trove of natural history here, and that I had to come back to continue telling the story that I started in 1957.” – Sir Richard Attenborough

So are you out there plying the seas and got something to say? We’d love to hear from you via editor@sail-world.com – In the meantime, do you love being on the ocean? Well remember to love them back too. They need our help. Now more than ever! Until next time…