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Sailing around the world - a wonderful dream held by many, but turned into reality by only a few!
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Having completed an Australian circumnavigation in our first boat, "Janis", we decided that at 28 feet overall, she was just too small for a family. From a design conceived in our last year of cruising in "Janis", we spent the next six years in blood, sweat and tears building our dream boat in a shed behind the busy shopping centre of Bondi Junction, Sydney, while working full time and raising our daughter ... our achievement is "Arriba" and there are no regrets about the effort it took - she is beautiful to look at, fast, seaworthy in the worst weather and a very comfortable home!
While we had originally planned to sail across the Pacific to Canada and the Americas (the solid fuel stove was installed with those destinations in mind), too many years of cruising in warm, tropical waters made that prospect too chilly to contemplate! In our first year of cruising on "Arriba", we sailed up the Queensland coast and through the Great Barrier Reef as far north as Lizard Island, waters we knew well from previous journeys on "Janis" but exciting in a new boat! We returned to Brisbane as Spring arrived to spend the cyclone season in a safe port. The following year, we sailed to Margaret Bay, north of the Flinders Group in the Great Barrief Reef, and had a wonderful time in such a great cruising ground. Returning (reluctantly) to Sydney, we put in a eutectic refrigeration system, an auxilliary rudder to use with the auto pilot and wind vane system, and readied the boat for extended cruising.
In 1982, we decided to cruise the South Pacific. Tony had already done so in "Janis", but I hadn't, and was keen to see the many lovely places to which he had cruised singlehanded. We had a calm start to the trip across the Tasman, but after three days, were hit by a strong southerly change, and for the rest of the trip across were sailing under staysail mostly, with 30-40 knots of wind. The boat performed beautifully, and we arrived in New Zealand at Cape Farewell in good order. Given the nasty conditions well-known in Cook Strait, we were pleased that the passage to Wellington was smooth seas and light winds. We visited the Marlborough Sounds, and Great Barrier Island - a very good place to enjoy cruising; and thence to Auckland, Whangarei, and the Bay of Islands, until it was time to get ready for the trip to Fiji. We visited Fiji (circumnavigated Viti Levu and visited the Yasawas) and then sailed to Vanuatu, and New Caledonia, and were back in Australia in November; landfall, Brisbane.
We have been cruising the Queensland coast for over 20 years, visiting the well-known cruising grounds of the Whitsunday Islands, the Keppells, Dunk Island and up to Cooktown and Lizard Island. We've had a marvellous time, meeting some very interesting people, and enjoying "Arriba's" fast and comfortable sailing qualities. In 1987 we went further afield, to revisit the Kimberley region of north Western Australia, a very interesting place, with magnificent scenery and great sailing.
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During the last few years, age and time have crept up on us and we find ourselves less and less inclined to venture far afield. Thus to our sorrow, "Arriba" is for sale. She has been a marvellous boat all during the years, being engineered impeccably, and having been tested in the worst of conditions. With her cold-moulded construction, she is light yet very strong and utterly watertight; the maintenance required for keeping her in fine condition is considerably less than a planked timber yacht, yet we can enjoy the beauty, strength and versatility of timber. We have had many years of wonderful sailing in her, and she is as sound now as the day she was launched.
We hope she will find new owners who long for the freedom and joys of sailing the open sea, challenges in this world where adventure is hard to come by, and the satisfactions of living independently and following your dreams.
Bon voyage!
P Slovacek
