There’s no other way to describe the passage from Phuket to Malé in the Maldives….9 days and 1,600nm of shitfulness! There was torrential rain, a leaking hot-water cylinder, which was pouring our fresh water into the bilge. The sealant round the base of the mast gave up, so more water was running into the main saloon, soaking the sofa cushions. It was a rough, the uncomfortable sea state, making me seasick, even with my Scop patch on. Because of the constantly wet, salty environment, I was then afflicted with the yachties curse of Spotty Botty, Gunnel-bum, or Yachtie-botty. I won’t bore you with the details, except to say it’s most uncomfortable! It felt like my backside had been slapped, and it was also covered in an ugly rash.

On day 5 at sea, I saw two Tropic Birds, the first sea birds I’d seen since Thailand. An hour later, I received the news that my mother had died. Perhaps the little swallow that joined us on our first night out of Phuket was a harbinger of things to come.

The rest of the passage passed in blur of grief, fatigue, rain, and wind and maybe a day where we could sit outside. I was willing the seemingly endless passage to end while trying to organise flights to get back to New Zealand for the funeral.

On day 9, around midday, it was still raining. We made landfall and dropped anchor in the lagoon at Malé, the capital of the Maldives. Our original plan when we departed Thailand was to sail to Uligan in the north, but it was much easier to be in Malé in order to be near the international airport.

We engaged a ship’s agent in the Maldives to assist with all the administration (in fact, it’s a requirement). He has been fantastic, getting the officials out to the boat and signing me into the country, then signing me off the boat. He even arranged to take me to the airport the following day.

I spent less than 24 hours in the Maldives before heading back to New Zealand. Angus stayed in the Maldives because there’s nowhere to safely leave the boat. Paulie stayed to help and to keep Angus company, while I made the long, sad trek back to Timaru to farewell Mum and to be with my family.

It was fantastic to have Paulie with us again for this passage. The last one he did was from New Caledonia to Mackay, when we first started this journey. It meant that we could all have at least 8 hours of downtime. We were all exhausted by the time we dropped anchor. I think Paul was feeling every one of his 83 years…In fact so was I.

Despite all this, we were very proud of the way the boat performed. We averaged a speed of 7.5kts for the 1600nm. Innocenti loved it.