Boh and her family are always good for a nice surprise. Yesterday she surprised me by visiting me with Terry, her grandfather. Boh brought me a glass can, exactly as the one we lost in the Minerva Reef and Terry had good news concerning the big salon windows.

But how did all start?

I sailed with my Japanese sailing friend Shigeo and it was clear that he needs to fly back to Tokyo from Vava’u and I planned and prepared myself already mentally to sail single handed until NZ. I mentioned this also in a mail to Ralf & Nora of the cat Barbarella.

Then in one of Ralf’s replies he mentioned that there is a lady in Vava’u who is looking for a boat back to NZ. He also got, from wherever I don’t know, the search ad of this Kiwi lady and forwarded it to me. This is what I got.

“Hi I’m Bohemia, I’m from New Zealand and I’m currently in vava’u where I have been working mainly as a housekeeper at a whalewatch resort. I’m looking to crew on a yacht back to nz. have been sailing for 8 years doing dingy racing and 6 years costal cruising and racing. I don’t have any offshore experience but I am very keen. I also have a STCW, day skippers and have been a learn to sail coach in nz. I’m very easy going and will give anything a go, and not a half bad cook and excellent dish washer
My WhatsApp is (64) 025169232 and email is bohsanders@gmail.com
Thank you!
Boh”

Racing dinghies… learn to sail coach … – that’s good because she must have a good understanding of wind, sails, and waves.

No offshore experience – that’s not much of a problem because she can sail dinghies, which require very quick and correct actions. On a cruiser all is a bit slower because all is a bit bigger than on a dinghy.

Easy going – every one can write this; it needs to be seen.

Not a half bad cook and excellent dish washer – that sounds honest and I’m sure I’ll survive.

My first impression: I would like to talk to her.

I send a reply to Ralf to contact her on Whatsapp that I want to meet her. I also send her a mail via Iridium.

Quick replies while I was still somewhere between American Samoa and Vava’u. The way she replied, left a further positive impression. We planned to meet in Vava’u.

After hooking up at a buoy of the restaurant Mango in the main Bay of Vava’u, Shigeo and I went ashore. On our way back to MaRe we saw another dinghy approaching MaRe. We met somewhere before MaRe and started talking. It turned out they are German sailors preparing for sailing to NZ. Christian and Renate wanted to take Boh back to NZ but then a crew, they planned earlier, arrived in Vava’u and they could not take Boh as considered. From Boh they learned about MaRe and me. That’s why they came to MaRe. Long story short. They recommended to take Boh with me as a crew member to NZ. This was a heavy weight recommendation!

Then, next day or so, Boh and I prepared to meet. I was waiting a MaRe for a sign or call to pick her up at the restaurant Mango, when dinghy came to MaRe. I recognized one or two crew members of the Irish boat next to us. It turned out they had Boh already in their dinghy. I welcome her on board and we sat down to talk.

Although I got some training in Kiwi-English (thanks Debbie for all the years you trained my ears!) I had problems to understand her. I’m also not a slow speaker but Boh’s speech is super- or even hypersonic. When she gets excited, because she loves something, I had the impression that she cuts words by 50 % to be fast enough to say all in the short period until the end of her life. And her life is very young compared to mine. It turned out she’s as old as my eldest grandson. For a short moment I thought about her age. However, I would sail always with my grandson, thus I can do it with Boh. My impression was positive and there was the recommendation of Christian and Renate, thus I told her she can sail with me, if she likes to sail with me. I don’t know what she thought, but we agreed to sail together to NZ.

As she knew what can be bought where we topped up provisions especially with vegetables and fruits and left Vava’u the day after MaRe was launched back into the water.

She knew very well the way through the islands, where she lived for about half a year.

Then when we got wind to sail, and we got a lot. Solid 7 Bft with gusts of 8 Bft. We sailed deeply reefed. She was calm. “She knows the sea” was what I thought. Good!

Then routine on board started. We had our night watch duties without any problems. Her cooking turned out very well; sometimes a bit unusual for me but always delicious.

Now with the hindsight of our sail to NZ, I have to say, it was a perfect decision I and she made. Alone again, I miss our after-meals conversations, spiced up with 50 % words because she is so happily excited.

We also talked about the Vendee Globe single handed boat race, which currently runs around the world. Boh is a good sailor, she is technically very proficient, she is keen to take on new challenges, and she reminds me in respect to body size to Isabelle Joschke, a Vendee Globe race participant, thus I brought up the topic of becoming sailor, participating, may be as the first kiwi, in the Vendee Globe race around the world. I would not be surprised to see her one day racing in about 80 days single handed around the globe in another edition of the Vendee Globe race.

Boh, whatever adventure you start after sailing with me, I wish you all the best, and I’m sure you will be successful. Should you, in between, want to sail with me again, you are welcome on board of MaRe any time.