On November 10 we flew back to Stockholm to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. We stayed at home for a total of three months.
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Home Again and then Back to Auckland
(Arne)
We arrived at Arlanda Airport on November 10 after having been away for one and a half years. It was exciting to get back to our house. The library had been refurbished, the swimming pool had been retiled, everything had received a new coat of paint and new television screens had been fitted in the library and in our bedroom.
The house was looking very nice, and we were suddenly pleased to be home again. We were grateful for the fact that we did not have to rent it out during our absence. It was great to step right into one's own home knowing that Yaghan was in good hands at Orams in New Zealand.
Participating in a TV Show about Our Future Plans
As soon as we got back TV4 called and wanted us to participate in their extremely popular breakfast show the following Saturday. I was willing to do it, but Heléne needed to go and see her parents in Ronneby, so I had to appear on my own. The interview was about our voyage and our future plans after spending three years at sea. When I was a managing director I always used to try and answer all questions as honestly as I could, and this is what I did now. I said that it was far from certain that I would go back to working in business when I got back. I had spent over thirty years doing that, and our voyage had been an experience that vastly exceeded my very high expectations. We were already planning new projects. One was spending a few years in the Mediterranean; another was going back to Antarctica and visiting South Georgia, which we had missed during our first circuit around the world. It would be impossible if I accepted new commitments.
Considering the very large audiences these breakfast shows attract, you could say that my ambivalent feelings about returning to my old job were no longer a secret. If I had still been as ambitious as I was before I left, I may have done so, but the circumnavigation had altered my outlook on life. I no longer felt I had anything to prove either to myself or to others. I had a long and successful career behind me, and I would be financially independent for the rest of my life. Why not take this opportunity and do what I really loved to do – sailing with Heléne. I believe that our voyage has helped me mature as a human being.
Spending Christmas and the New Year with Our Family
We spent a traditional Christmas and New Year at our home in Stockholm together with our old parents and our children. It was wonderful to see them again after our long absence.
There was plenty to do during our four months at home in Djursholm. Heléne went down to Ronneby several times to help her parents. I wrote my part of this book. Most of all I wanted to have completed my chapters before we flew back. I knew that I would not have time to write a lot at sea.
We were also invited to a DiTV show. DiTV had followed us throughout our circumnavigation. They had broadcast a total of eight fifteen minute episodes on their TV channel and on www.ditv.se. We were also often asked to speak at various functions, but we decided not to do it for money. We only want to appear in contexts that are meaningful to us in one way or another, so we agreed to appear at the Ocean Sailing Club where we attracted a record audience. It was great meeting a group of people with a genuine interest in cruising. I also spoke at a lunch for executives who were all interested in doing the same as us – circumnavigating the world. We had many interesting discussions, especially about equipment.
In February we started to look forward to returning to Auckland and Yaghan.
Three Shake Down Cruises in Auckland
On February 25 we left Sweden for Auckland via Bangkok, where we relaxed for a couple of days at The Oriental. On March 1 we were back “home” in Auckland. Yaghan looked as good as new after her extensive overhaul at Orams. We knew from experience that you have to test everything carefully afterwards, so we planned two shake down cruises around the Hauraki Gulf. The first, week-long, trip we did was to Great Barrier Island at the entrance to the gulf. This is a wonderful group of islands. We tested everything on board, and then we sailed back to Orams so they could correct the problems we had observed.
In the end we made three shake down cruises – we identified quite a few faults. During the third cruise, on March 20, we celebrated our twelfth wedding anniversary on Waiheke Island off Auckland. I had bought two large lobsters, which we cooked on board. They were so big that we could not even finish one tail each! And that was all we had. It was our most wonderful wedding anniversary dinner ever.
It later turned out that we had not spotted all the problems after all. On our way to Australia the new regulator for the new alternator packed up because it had been fitted too close to a powerful electric motor that interfered with the electronics. Orams corrected all the mistakes admirably – including the ones we found en route to Australia. They sent people out there to fix them.
Orams is a small company with only a managing director, a secretary and a project manager. The latter manages all repairs for all the boats that are being serviced. We were there at the same time as five or six boats from our size up to 180 foot. The actual work is carried out by a cluster of suppliers that have opened up around Orams boatyard. Some of them are of an international standard. The biggest is probably Southern Spars – a world leading manufacturer of large masts, which means that Orams can undertake mast and rigging work for super yachts. But there are many other suppliers that maintain very high standards.
The problem is that it does not apply to everyone. Even at Orams we ended up with long lists of extra work that took a month of hard work to tick off. This is symptomatic for the boat industry in general, and perhaps it would not need to be mentioned if it was not for the high prices Orams charge. They are high compared to price levels in Europe and, naturally, extremely high in New Zealand considering the lower wages there.
With prices like that, their services must be absolutely top of the range. With hindsight, we have come to realise that we should have hired our own project manager that could have supervised the work so that everything was done the way we wanted while we were back in Sweden.
Orams took their responsibility, however, and they corrected all the mistakes we found. Even though everything was not absolutely perfect, we can offer no real alternatives for those who want to service a large and complex boat during a circumnavigation. And that is something that needs to be done if you are taking the long way round, including real challenges like Cape Horn, and want to experience as little trouble as possible. James Cook too had to do it during his first circumnavigation. If you take the shorter route via the Panama and Suez canals, the distance is considerably shorter, and you may get by without a major service stop.
In the end, everything was to our satisfaction – although at a price – and Yaghan was as good as new when we with great excitement and new found sea legs embarked on the second half of our circumnavigation on April 1, 2008.
Back at the helm - sailing the Yaghan to Antarctica, Patagonia and the South Pacific Page 30