It’s been so long since I’ve written anything here. I can see the statistics on my site dropping further every week… Maybe it looks like I’ve simply disappeared, however I am actually working on a new bigoceans.com slowly between projects – I would like to use this space to write regularly about all sorts of interesting nautical things. Perhaps I could write about Jessica Watson ? Actually no… I think she’s great, and her achievement is absolutely extraordinary – But the media! They’ve written enough for thirty years of sailing. I quite clearly remember Jesse Martin’s record breaking sail, however I don’t remember it being anything like this extravaganza the media outlets have created for Jessica. I trust she’ll be able to use it to her best advantage, and that the people around her think for her future, and not their own. Jesse Martin, David Dicks, Jon Saunders, Kay Cottee & now Jessica Watson… All the great contemporary solo circumnavigators are Australian! 
A few weeks ago, my great friends Captain Ted and Rob over in the Bay Area of San Francisco graciously moved my sweet little boat ‘SV Harmony’ to her new home: Out of water. She now lays in a yard full of other boats that are gasping at their gills to sail. It’s a sad turn of events in one sense – I had sort of hoped that maybe I could wrangle a small visit to see her, and make sure she was safely stored and could weather the next year or so of neglect, but alas that won’t be happening…
If anyone is curious as to what I actually do now, I’ve started a company with a close friend here in Melbourne, and we’re both working hard to pull it off the ground. I had two opportunities on arrival here in Australia: A great job offer with a company I had worked with previously, and the opportunity I’ve taken: To pursue our own ideas & ambitions, and take a risk. Just like sailing Constellation, this could sink, but on the other hand, just like sailing Constellation, it could float and be an extraordinary experience. I’m pitching for the latter. But like sailing, and taking any kind of risk, there is self-doubt, and worry… So, I live out in the country in a small miners cottage, and work away on something we hope will be self-sustainable, far away from the sea.
In between all this, I’ve had ups and downs, missing my sweet old boat. I don’t regret my decision to sell her, but I do miss the memories and feelings I had whenever I was aboard. The odd smell of mould and diesel inside her cabin, was enough to put me right in the thick of it. Right in the middle of the Atlantic. Rolling and churning through the water, seemingly at a standstill against the backdrop of vast water and sky… What extraordinary times.
So while I thought about all this, I made a tshirt of the Contessa 26, and decided to have a few of them printed. Screenprinting isn’t cheap, and the little amount I do make on each tshirt is going towards my monthly hard standing bill for Harmony.
I’ll try to update more regularly!
Nick.
