Brian Blue Bear 2012

[brian (Blue Bear)]

We Have got ourselves sorted more food and water, Diesel a Problem there is none here a delivery is due sometime but it is rationed and with the Ark boats due to arrive there will be even more rationing so 20 litres is all I could get but this should be enough, next planned stop, Papeete Tahiti with a possible stop at Apaitaki Careage hopefully 6 to 10 days travelling will post when we actually leave today or tomorrow

[Cardiff Yacht Club]

Brian, thank you for posting that here. It's an amazing story, and my admiration for you has gone up again, if that is possible.

The very best of luck to you and Sue, and here's hoping you can get everything you need at Papeete.

Martin

[sheila]

Good luck on your next leg you two. There is no way Vince and I could do what you have done, one of us would have been food for the fish by now!

[brian (Blue Bear)]

Moving on Papeete Tahiti Today, around 6 to 10 days weather good winds becoming Stronger so maybe a fast crossing this time sorry tried many times to download photos but problems with Photobucket first and second of the ARC racers have arrived here beginning to become too crowded

[allan]

Good luck and fair winds to both of you. Sounds like it should be a nice little jaunt for you both.
Stay safe,
Allan

[ishtar]

Yes, nice little 900 mile trip one warm aftenoon - simple, really. Running out of food is no big deal, either. Remember Vince ran out on the crossing to Porlock one year? He ended up eating Tigger's chicken portion. ;D

[ishtar]

Some of you may not be reading Mojomo's blog - Matt, and his boat, Mojomo, first gave us news of Brian and Sue:

blog.mailasail.com/mojomo/420

Here is the latest entry:

10:19S 138:45W
Hiva Oa just behind us now, en route to Fatu Hiva 40miles or so south east - we have to be in Papeetee by early April and we gotta check out the Tuamotus.

Hiva oa is majestic, tall to over 3000ft. Some of the cliff formations on the southern coast appear to be a series of human-like faces - long chiselled noses and chins, eyes closed, dormant yet powerful. Remarkably similar in design to -tho much bigger than- those statues on Easter Island. I spect the Easter island statues were carved to remind them of home here in Marquesas, or to keep up with the Jones's. Not bad eh? - one of the world's most enduring mysteries solved inside the first two paragraphs.

Far more importantly - we had more cockpit chats with neighbours Brian and Sue, of Blue Bear. They are relatively new to long distance sailing , though long experienced as travellers to the med, Ukraine, New Zealand and more .

With Blue Bear based in Cardiff in late summer 2010, they got itchy feet and aired the idea of heading south in their local pub. One friend warned them that they ought to be careful making such rash plans - they'd feel compelled to go - or least lose face when they had lots of plans but were still in Cardiff. But by next day they'd stocked up at Aldi and set off - next thing they're in Falmouth, find a weather window through Biscay, Portugal is still cold so on they go to Canaries. Without having said goodbyes at all, family flew to Canaries to stay with them - a total of 11 of them sleeping on the boat. But after a happy fortnight or so, their family returning to the UK was upsetting - too many memories of happy times around the marina and the beach where they'd played with the kids and grandkids - so they went to the cape verdes and Senegal. How long was it between the family leaving to go back to the UK- and brian and sue deciding to go? Two hours. They don't do "agonising" on Blue Bear. Senegal and transat follows, completely the wrong time of year, but all ok - Caribbean via Aruba, Panama and then the Epic Trip.

Oh yes, and the 3900 mile Epic Trip from Panama - Marquesas was over 92 days, not 85 as I wrote previously - it was 13 weeks and 2 days. Most sailors know the exact number of days it took them to cross an ocean. They log the number in their heads and save for re-telling in later boaty discussions as their own very precious and memorable vital statisics "Our transat was in 2005 and took 21 days" or suchlike. In a somewhat different league - Brian had initially agreed that it must have been 12 weeks at ea - when it was actually over 13 weeks! So they didn't count every day, nor even every week.

Boatfixing jobs as always, Blue Bear is already somewhat less goose-barnacled - I loaned them a scraper. Everyone in the anchorage wants to meet the heroes - inviting them round for dinner and drinks, helping them out with tools and charts. One boat gave them an old copy of Charlie's Charts - an essential pilot book for the islands, but Brian isn't much enthused - he's planning to be in New Zealand in a month or two maximum, so he gives me the pilot book and i give him a lot of drinks, a 3kg bag of rice and tellim to keep the barnacle scraper. Of any pilot book so far, I'd say Charlie's Charts is a must.

Lots of lovely Welsh-accenty stories from Brian. I liked the saga of the wine. They got through two wineboxes, but a few weeks out from Panama, Brian is absolutely convinced that he bought three. So where's the other winebox? He unpacks the boat, looking for it. He asks Sue if she's sneakily drunk it all on night watch, but she very firm that no, she hasn't. Hm. Brian calms down, puts everything away...but, by about a week later he again convinces himself that the elusive 3rd wine box just MUST be on the boat, mustn't it? And Sue hasn't drunk it, right? So he unpacks all the lockers again. Apparently this happened several times.

One of the many remarkable aspects of their voyage is their nonchalance at starting the trip itself from Cardiff. No drama, no huge angst, they just shopped and shipped out. The boat was essentially ready- as many are, really. Just a few bits and pieces to pick up along the way. No years of lists and planning and so on - all you need is a big box of Get Up And Go.

We heard from their yacht club in Cardiff that Brian and Sue won the Joshua Slocum award last year, for their ocean adventures. So the problem for the c'tee is - what do they do this year? Perhaps they should give Joshua Slocum the "Blue Bear Award".





It's fantastic news that our club is being discussed on the other side of the world!

[sheila]

I followed that link. Really interesting stuff. I've met men like that before now in a former life!

[allan]

If you scroll across to the Atlantic on the chart at the top of the blog, you will see what Matt has been doing for last couple of years.
Allan

[brian (Blue Bear)]

Arrived Tahiti a little over time I was unable to resist a Stop at the small Islands on route a Small Island TOAU which is a Coconut Plantation with oyster beds and Fish traps Gaston and Valentine were amongst the 6 inhabitants of the Island and the owners they made us so welcome it was sad to leave

[ishtar]

Great to hear that Brian. I'm sure you'll get all the time in the world to go exploring once you've sorted yourselves out with fuel and food, and the both of you have had a good rest.

Hope you get photobucket working before long - everyone is dying to see some pics from your travels.

M.

[sheila]

Fantastic news Brian. Sounds idyllic!

[brian (Blue Bear)]

Sue and I met up with a Super yacht crew who insist on cooking us a dish we have missed during our recent extra time at sea...... So we'll have a Full English Breakfast on a super yacht "specially prepared for us!!" what a strange world?

[brian (Blue Bear)]

Been trying to decide on our onward plans with real weather problems both here and New Zealand no winds here too much wind there.... maybe Tonga an interim stop even Fiji if weather is not suitable in New Zealand.... pretty hairystuff???

[brian (Blue Bear)]

Seems I've managed to upload a few Photos thought my number one spot would be our pet Turtle followed us for a few days eating the Barnacles off the hull





you Might think crossing the Equator would be a warm Place but wet and Cold drinking Bovril



but the second time across or Third really weather was a little better but still cold

lovely sunsets



Some of you may like to know what a squall looks like but the ones here to date are very tame compared to the Atlantic ones but the do look spectacular and a little intimidating



Fish followed us for our entire trip but became wise to our attempts to catch them







White tip reef sharks and a few greys hung around for a while




Great to see land again Blue Bear off Hiva Oa
along with Mojomo Pacific Bliss Patagonia Superted Patagonia


Coconut Milk straight from the Coconut




Blue bear moored at Toau Tuamotu Islands



we were Guests at Valentine and Gastons table treated to Raw fish in Coconut Milk



Anchored In Papeete Tahiti, very Picturesque idyllic place with lots to see and do good Transport system, easy to restock Carrefour 200metres from the Marina entrance, lots of other sailors from all areas of the world.....we are taking a well earned rest waiting for a weather window for our next leg of the Journey but we seem to be too late, winter gales firmly have control of the New Zealand area.....

like to say thanks to a few fellow Yachts Persons,

Danish Nick and tyna our first contact with people for Months who gave us a Couple of Oranges since this was my craving at that time,

Matt and Anna Mojomo for their welcoming attitudes which seemed to have no limit..... a few evenings with them treated to food, drink, live Music Anna, Guitar Matt, Violin...... we were really living the dream....

Scottish Matt and Jean Superted,invited over for a lovely meal and drinks,

American Liz Patagonia especially helped us out with Gas, Clothes for Sue extra small?? huge amounts of fruit and a Pilot Guide,




Colin, Liz, Zinnia and Cosmo Pacific Bliss also gave us large amounts of freshly gathered fruit and lots of info on the Tuamotus Islands which they had extensively traveled, they were well known at one Island where we did stop Toau, where when we mentioned their names were greeted with overwhelming friendliness which saw us being treated to a Banquet of fresh breads, cake, raw and BBQ fish, BBQ chicken and some other foods It seemed Valentine had made up every recipe she could think of, and she knew quite a few, on mentioning a Particular favorite raw fish in Coconut milk with herbs Valentine and Gaston gave us Large amounts of coconuts to try to replicate the recipe on our travels...

Arriving at Papeete we were treated with more Generosity from the Crew of Super Yacht Sam Dave Tom Nicky

[brian (Blue Bear)]

Almost ready to move on

[spidercrab]

Great pictures.

[Deleted]

..Brian 'Mortessier' Cox

...loving the stories - keep them comimg!

Peter & Elaine (who did the Yachtmaster course with you ..and we're still dreaming!)

[Cardiff Yacht Club]

Brian, Sue.

Many, many thanks for posting these pictures. It looks absolutely fantastic, although I'm sure the pictures do not do justice to the trials and tribulations you both went through in getting to such a beautiful and exotic place.

You are being mentioned in many places in 'Cyberspace', and regularly at Cardiff yacht club.

I'd just like to correct you on one small point. The shark in your first picture is not a white tipped reef shark, it is an Oceanic white tip. Not much difference in the name, but one grows to maybe 5 feet, I've dived with many, many times, and is generally very timid. The other, which I've dived with once, is aggressive, a known man eater and in the Top three most dangerous sharks in the world.

It's a 'Longimanus', the shark Robert Shaw talks about in his story about the Indianapolis in Jaws. Longimanus - 'Long hands'. You can see it's long hands in the picture. I waited 15 years to see one!

Enjoy every minute. Live the dream. Best to you both, whatever happens next.

Martin

[brian (Blue Bear)]

Apr 9, 2012 14:32:29 GMT Cardiff Yacht Club said:

Brian, Sue.

I'd just like to correct you on one small point. The shark in your first picture is not a white tipped reef shark, it is an Oceanic white tip. Not much difference in the name, but one grows to maybe 5 feet, I've dived with many, many times, and is generally very timid. The other, which I've dived with once, is aggressive, a known man eater and in the Top three most dangerous sharks in the world.

It's a 'Longimanus', the shark Robert Shaw talks about in his story about the Indianapolis in Jaws. Longimanus - 'Long hands'. You can see it's long hands in the picture. I waited 15 years to see one!



Martin

Looked up your Information.... seems a little weird, I'd been Cleaning off the Barnacles from the Hull when this Character appeared, lucky escape

Jacques Cousteau described the oceanic whitetip as "the most dangerous of all sharks"

as quoted in the Oceanic whitetip shark
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

although, so far from land Caution got the better of me since even a slight nick could become dangerous without treatment but Sharks in this area are plentiful with a Austrian Couple we met showing us pictures below the waves swimming with hundreds of Sharks they are keen divers and love diving amongst them....... On mentioning my decision to buy a harpoon gun started explaining about leaving the catch on the harpoon at the full line length because sharks will attack the Harpooned fish.......

[allan]

I have just spoken to Brian, it was not a great line but fantastic to hear him. They are both fine and hoping to move on soon. They will probably be out of touch for some time as they hope to visit some remote islands between where they are and New Zealand. The anchorage they are in has loads of people doing the same as them. The boats are mainly French but lots of others too. Brian said most people there are skint!
I told him they are heros here and he said don't be stupid!
I passed on our best wishes to both of them.
Allan

[allan]

See below.
Allan

[allan]

Sorry I posted this 3 times by mistake.
Allan

[Cardiff Yacht Club]

I'm sure Brian and Sue don't consider themselves to be heroes, and, in the minds of a lot of people, they are not heroes.

They are to me, though.

[ishtar]

For anyone interested in the Oceanic whitetip, Louise and I caught up with one in 2004. We've dived with Thresher, white tip, Silky, Black tip, Galapagos, Grey reef, Scalloped Hammer head, Lemon, Nurse, Basking and Whale sharks. I've only been scared twice, this was one of them:



I'd spent years learning to very quietly approach sharks to film them, holding my breath so the bubbles didn't scare them off. THis shark seemed scared of nothing.

Sadly, a year after we dived there, a lady was killed by one of these sharks on the same reef we dived with them on.

[Deleted]

hi brian and sue dont know if this will get to you but the bit about sharks there has been three taken buy great whites of adalaide this year

[brian (Blue Bear)]

arrived New Zealand will write more asap

[sheila]

Sawthe post on your Facebook Brian.
WOW, CONGRATULATIONS, FANTASTIC!!! (All in Capitals because I'm jumping up and down and shouting!!) You are both incredible. Love you to bits! Can't wait to hear more.

From all of us here at CYC.

[ishtar]

Fantastic news. I've run out of superlatives. Congratulations, both. Relax and enjoy.

[Camelot]

Superb, that means you're halfway to being circumnavigators! Very very well done. Stay safe, and enjoy.