MARIO and LILLIAN BORG emigrated to Canada in 1975. When they were introduced to sailing, they fell in love with it immediately and soon began dreaming of sailing around the world. They built their own boat, the S.V. Maltese Falcon and in 1994 they sold their house and moved onboard full-time. Finally, their dream came true in 1999 when they made their first transatlantic crossing. This year they are preparing to do it again, for the third time. The Malta Independent on Sunday will be bringing you regular exclusive reports, written by Mario about their voyage
Part One – The preparations
I have been planning for our third transatlantic crossing since the winter of 2007. Shorthanded sailing a small boat across the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean is not for the light-hearted, but on the other hand preparations have to be done systematically. I was not up to the task in 2007 to do all the prep work so we stayed in the Caribbean that year and the year after and enjoyed it tremendously, as we always do. This year it will be our fifth winter spent in the Caribbean islands; cruising here is just an amazing and delightful experience never to be forgotten, with winds that are very fresh out of the east from November all the way to June. The winds here blow between 15 knots and 25 knots all year round but the best time is April to June.
Now the time has come, it has definitely come. I am getting that special feeling you get inside, a feeling of wanting to accomplish something that not many people even dream of doing and some people only dream of doing but never execute. The ocean can be a very beautiful environment but it can also be a very dangerous one to be in. That is why it is very important that the boat is in tiptop shape and the same goes for the crew - the crew needs to be healthy. People go and come on the ocean in small boats, many return disillusioned and end up hating boats or just hang around in one place never again to venture offshore. For a few others it is an addiction to be out in the middle of nowhere living with nature. Lillian and I are the latter, we are totally addicted to the sea and the life of the seafarers and the freedom; it just makes part of our lives so fulfilling. Therefore we both have agreed to make our third crossing starting around the end of May 2010 that will take us to the central and eastern parts of the Mediterranean. We will cover approximately 5,000 nautical miles, which will bring our total miles under the keel of the Maltese Falcon to 30,000 nautical miles equal to the distance around the world.
I must say I am very lucky that my wife for the past 36 years is up to the task as much as I am. Lillian is very helpful with most tasks on the boat in preparing and sailing the boat. So first job at hand is the re-launch after six months in storage in St Lucia, the West Indies.
The SV Maltese Falcon was left there for six months on the hard out of its own element.
We have a list, yes there is always a list, and we had another list called “Things to do before we haul-out” and one more list called “Things to do before we leave her (the boat) alone in St Lucia”.
Now we have two more lists: one is called “Things to be done before re-launching” and the other one called “Things to do before we start cruising”. Oh yes, I almost forgot, we also have a short list called “Things to switch on when we first enter the boat after such a long time away”. Well it is not a real list but it is a procedure we have to follow for when we return to the boat but it is not actually written anywhere, it’s in the back of our minds.
Some of the major items on the main lists are: repair skeg, this is the part that the rudder is hung on to, re-mount wind generator, re-mount water-maker on engine, and bottom pain antifouling. After all these items on the list are ticked off, we re-launch the Maltese Falcon. Then we motor out of Rodney Bay Lagoon to Pigeon Island, where we drop anchor in 10 feet of water and spend the next few days putting everything we dismantled for storage back in place.
Other preparations include system functionality of all equipment that is electrical, electronic, plumbing, pumps, engine, charging systems, radios, etc. We have to check sails and running rigging (ropes that hoist the sails and ropes that adjust the sails). Lillian will have to hoist me up the mast to do a thorough inspection of the mast and the standing rigging (these are the wires that hold the mast upright). While up on the mast I will check and lubricate contacts of all the navigation lights, and check the antennas on top of the mast. Back on deck I will have to check all the bottom of the standing rigging, there are 11 ends on the deck, and they will have to be individually inspected the same way as is done with the other end of them that are attached to the mast.
Inside the Maltese Falcon is packed solid with sails, outboard motor, dodger, cockpit awnings, all kinds of canvas work, fenders or bumpers. We can hardly walk around inside, anything that is not a permanent item fixed to the boat is now inside, so that nothing will be stolen. Sails and canvas work were put inside just in case a hurricane came over St Lucia and ripped them off. All these items will need to be back in their respective spot. Lots of work but we have no rush, our date to go across is sometime around the end of May, that is another five months from now. After everything is back in place we will top up the fuel tank and head south towards The Tobago Cays and then Grenada. We only spent a day in Grenada on the way north from Trinidad, so we did not have time to tour the island. We are looking forward to visiting Spice Island, as Grenada is well known for the spice trade.
After Grenada we will start our trek north, that will eventually bring us to St Martin. St Martin will be the port from where we get our provisions and also a great place for repairs and spare parts if required. Then back down to Antigua, this is where we may find other boaters ready to go across the Atlantic. We try to gather a small group of boats (three to five) to go across together, this has its benefits for two reasons, first safety and second for someone to chat with on the SSB radio. We keep a regular radio schedule in the morning and late evening before the first evening watch.
To be continued….
