News Around the World
The 50-year-old plywood 18ft yacht in which musician, writer and adventurer Andrew Fagan plans to sail around the world solo (obviously) via the Southern Capes… and he’s not even French. Fagan has completed big voyages before in his trusty ship but even a return trip across the perilous Tasman does not compare to traversing the Southern Ocean at minimal speed all the while at risk of being repeatedly pitchpoled in a breaking sea. The cork theory relied upon by those who go to sea in tiny boats only extends so far
about his Swirly Worldexploits – along with other popular non-sailing books. He also designed a free-sailing kit-set model pond yacht, Davilon the Morocat, and then wrote a series of children’s stories around its high seas adventures fighting off predators in the mythical Land of the Saggimau. So add author. There are more: sailing instructor – in the 1990s he clocked up
his commercial sea hours teaching sailing in Solings based at the Auckland Maritime Museum. Radio chat show host and TV presenter. The list goes on. In a recent radio interview the host referred to him as a Renaissance Man. It is an apt description of his multiple talents, although one suspects he might prefer the more down-to-earth tag of jack of all trades. The young Andrew Fagan’s sailing passion was first aroused in
Wellington, where he grew up. He did the customary Kiwi progression through the classes: P-Class, Starlings, Cherubs, Paper Tigers and OK dinghies. ‘I started when I was 12. I used to bicycle over to Evans Bay Yacht Club. I raced against Russell Coutts and all those brilliant sailors, including at national events. ‘I actually beat Russell twice. It was in light winds. I have to brag
about that, but it was only because he had more hair on his legs at that stage so he was heavier than me which gave me more boat speed…’ His offshore sailing exploits call to mind the early vagabond
pioneers like Joshua Slocum, or New Zealand’s Johnny Wray, men who set off on big adventures in small, modest boats, with only their wits and inner resources to sustain them. And now the call of adventure is strong once again and Andrew
is planning an even bolder, more ambitious assignment: to take Swirly World around the world via the Southern Capes. If anybody else articulated that intention they’d more than likely
be dismissed with gales of laughter. Fagan’s pedigree, however, demands respect. He has set off on laughable journeys before and, despite the dramas and privations involved, completed them with very little fuss. He apparently revels in the solitude and truly loves being at sea. He is no idle dreamer and approaches these adventures with
20 SEAHORSE
eyes wide open to the dangers and risk. Even he, though, would have paused long and hard over the thought of voyaging around the world in a 5.4m boat, built nearly 50 years ago, much tinkered with since and with more offshore miles under its keel than it could reasonably be expected to accumulate. But, he says: ‘I don’t find Swirly World’s size debilitating. I feel
very secure in there. I find it exhilarating, compelling. It is an elemental existence. You have to be aware of the potential for instantaneous disaster, all of the time.’ In an insightful interview three years ago with NZ Musician
magazine he talked about his musical career – which included seven years of living on a canal boat on the Thames in England – and about his sailing. Some of his songs reflect a fascination with explorers and heroes, including one about Ernest Shackleton (Seven Years not Wasted) and another about shipwrecked survivors in the s ub-Antarctic Auckland Islands (Get Light). ‘Life can become a fairly mundane thing,’ he commented. ‘Adventurers, by the definition of the word, bring something exciting to the table. It’s naturally something to aspire to.’ In a more recent radio interview about the reunion of The Mockers
he again touched on sailing – and his own version of it. ‘I like sailing by myself and being responsible for my own welfare. You never know what you are going to get offshore. You have to take whatever the weather throws at you. It is exciting.’ He takes precautions, of course, with a liferaft and what he calls
‘the come and get me gear – not that you would really want them to come and get me, that would be embarrassing’. He talks knowledgeably about the America’s Cup – ‘I love the
way that contest pushes speed and design’ – and is looking forward to the new era of foiling monohulls. While he admires the ‘phenom- enal’ speed of the America’s Cup yachts he cheerfully acknowledges that the only records he is likely to crack around the world are for the slowest circumnavigation – and the smallest boat via his intended route. But he is keen to have a go and he is hoping he might even find one or two partners passionate about adventure to chip in towards w
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