cuhilton.com is the home of Ocean Air (previously called Amigo). Ocean Air is a Beneteau 473 Oceanis Commodore that was launched in 2006. Since then she has been lightly used and still smells new.
She has had lots of upgrades e.g. all electric winches, 3 electric toilets and holding tanks, 100 HP engine with 300 hours, built in generator with 10 hours and a.c. units in every cabin.
For more information about Ocean Air please contact me at: alan...@gmail.com (click on the ... in the email address and type in the words to reveal the address).
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| OLD NEWS |
29 June 11: To round a cape has a different fear from the dull, boring fear of the doldrums. This fear is exciting. But this fear is the fear of the unknown. What is it that lies ahead? The swell is already huge, what will happen at the point, do they get even higher, will there be a cross wave, overfalls, etc? What of the wind, will it accelerate like at most protrusions of geography, or suddenly alter its direction, determined to put you on the reef. On the chart there is a light to mark the horn, but most of the lights in this part of the world do not work. If the light is there it is a pivotal point, something to hold on to, alone on board, it would be a ally. With the increase of wind there is no turning back, one is committed. Your mouth is dry, but drink dose not interest you, the wind is fierce, it seams to generate heat, you feel no cold, the blood has drained from your body. The hours go past, you claw at every metre to windward. You see the position on the chart. With the time left will you make the point and relative safety? The looming of ever larger waves, more wind, and your fate grows more real in your mind. Too soon you begin to stare out for a light but see only ominous, threatening, heavy, feverish blackness. One's objective, the time of night, the chart position, never will they seem to meet. I ask "is it me that causes the rigging to shake?". There comes a moment when, in answer to the highest of one's values, in an admiration not to be expressed by any other form of tribute, your spirit makes your body accept the absoluteness of reality. To accept your fate, you must know that you live, you must know that you have found the meaning of life for one's self and what it means to live. So long as there is life, to fight to remain here. If with this attempt nature allowed no escape, no loophole, one must accept one's end graciously. Then you can be excited, in your adjustment of nature to suit your own end. To come out the other side the victor. When you have escaped the teeth of the tiger, and you are confident you are past the horn, that you will not be part of the food chain that feeds the reef. When light comes back to earth at dawn. You look at the boat, the frailty of the spars, the rigging, and the sails and ask your self "is it possible?" Then you ask "if so what made it possible?" Written the following morning after weathering a storm while rounding a cape on my approach to Papua New Guinea 26 May 11: I feel the trans Pacific voyage was finally completed here in Port Moresby - Papua New Guinea. A voyage totalling 80 days at sea. Stopping only in Fanning Island ( the Line Islands) for 36 hours and a stop in Tarawa some 1600 miles west of Fanning for diesel and food. From Tarawa I cut south through the Solomon Islands with a hope of finding better wind in this part of the world. The voyage was without incident, but slow to begin with, until I found the north west trade winds. Then my average distance was one hundred and fifty a day. A lesson I learned with long distance sailing is to stay with the plan - between ten and fifteen degrees north the wind was constant and strong and I could have made Guam or even the Philippines without stopping (to cross the South China Sea before the typhoon season). It was because I thought I had to stop that I came south. But still no matter which way, it has been and it is still an interesting experience. 05 Feb 11: After taking $2500 from my account to pay for all the expenses to traverse Panama, I will be going through the canal with my four line handlers and pilot on board today Saturday 5th February 2011. 11 Jan 11: The twins chose to board another vessel so they could crew through the islands in their own time before returning to Europe. I left Grenada behind me and was in St Martens three nights and two days. An average of 6 to 7 knots to windward. I left Thursday night before Christmas and arrived at day break Sunday. I had the rail in the water and green water in the port hole most of the time. There was rain and water over the bow. The price I paid was a wet locker where all my good cloths, camera and computer were. Next time I will investigate how exactly the water got in. St Martens has been transformed into a jet set -- mega-yacht destination. The French side is still as it was---obnoxious race. A quick overnighter and I was in the B.V.I's --- traditional and civil. First stop was Spanish Town and the Baths. Then over to Road Town -- Tortola.
17 Dec 10: I am in Grenada and heading north to the Grenadians and Bequia, There are a few other islands on the way to St. Martens that may be worth taking a look at.But I am already getting inpatient to get to Panama even though it is still too early to be there. This geographical area of Panama will be a new experience for me. 2 Oct 2010: I left Gibraltar on Friday lunch time (for good or bad). I headed across the bay and around the point to find the wind and the tide was against me when I got into the straights. I stopped on the side for a while. Finally I got going in the dark. The wind was on the nose but had dropped a little and was workable. I tacked in and out of the shipping lane to make my way out. It seemed as though every ship in Gib was waiting for the tide to change. From where I was it looked like an armada of boats coming my way. I played cat and mouse with waves of ships as they came steaming down in bunches. Then at about three in the morning I sneaked over to the middle reservation and sailed along there between the two lanes till dawn. By this time the frantic bid to escape the Med by the ships seemed to be over. I must have had forty ships go by me either way. The full moon made it more enjoyable. I have now reached Los Cristianos in Tenerife after a short stop in Madeira.
19 Sept 2010: Today I will leave Almerimar and the Mediterranean, stopping only in Gibraltar for provisions. From Gib I will head for Madeira as soon as the weather looks good.
Hope we all meet again some time some place. ¨"Hasta Luego" |
| This site was first published on 18 September 2010. |
LATEST NEWS: An Order of Merit This is to congratulate you on your epic, high adventure, trans-Pacific voyage as crew and as a friend. Your contribution was outstanding. The quality of your character that made it possible for you to adapt your consciousness to the new environment that you found yourself in was admirable. Your attention to details that mattered, your awareness, grasping the situation as it was and the readiness to deal with it, was a virtue of infinite value to me and us. When you suffered you suffered in silence, but it was the continuity of your happiness that was the source of our joy. Your integrity made the difference between the ordinary and that which made it into the exceptional. Failure was all ways a possibility, you made it a success. The intelligent, scrupulous, brave way you conducted yourself made for the best partner and fellow adventurer that I could have had. Congratulations to you I have not put your name to protect you from those who would be jealous of your achievement.
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