Just as all good things must come to an end, so did our adventure across the high seas, all the way from Vanuatu to the Gold Coast. The last few days of sailing have gone by like a flourish of laughs and horseplay. Let me rifle through my memories, to share some of the best ones we experienced. Salt Lines kept up its reputation as a fantastic sailing vessel, as the demanding sea conditions brought out the very best in helmsmanship and sea-worthiness from all of its crew. The green crew that had left together from Vanuatu just a week ago was no more, we had a real bunch of sea-shanty singing sailors onboard now, no challenge was tough enough to stop them or the mighty Salt Lines!

It was at this particular moment in the ocean passage, like a phoenix rising from its ashes, that Elissa truly came into top form. I noticed a distinct change in her demeanour, as she upgraded, from nursing a close relationship with multiple sick-bags, to a raring hunger for the helm, as well as a unique array of skills in the galley (tuna-fish-cakes & spanish omelettes, to name a few). My heart swelled with pride to see her take charge of the vessel and take life at sea by the horns! Adam kept up his keen eye for detail and even managed to save me from falling into the under-floorboard-refrigerator. I must learn from his calm demeanour during times of great peril. Darren broke all records of watchkeeping excellence and pre-watch-hot-drinks-prep tradition, whilst keeping a smile on his face and balancing immense responsibility, on his oh-so-broad-shoulders. Antonia was definitely the class-clown, a badge I honour her with, despite her horrible uncle-roger-cantonese impressions. Her laughter brought life to Salt Lines. Jenna taught me the importance of having a whale song and believing in its power. Travis will always hate me for having shouted ‘Land Ahoy’ literally five minutes after relieving him from the helm and I will always be jealous of his amazing ability to thrive in short-shorts for an entire ocean passage, whilst also comprehending the true horrors of eating too much gluten (it’s a Southpark reference for the uninitiated). Alistair will never know that I avoided calling him ‘AJ’, because that’s also the name of one of the Backstreet Boys (I’m more of a Spice Girls kinda-fella) and I will forever be in the hunt for another pair of his purple and gold pajamas. I will be indebted to Trevor for arriving early in Vanuatu and lending a hand with prepping the yacht for sea, something that he continued to do, throughout the voyage. Lastly our Skipper J-Son (born in Hong Kong, remember?), a joy to sail with, to whom I will remain thankful, for continuing to have faith in me and my abilities, when many others (not sailing with us at the moment) had tried to convince me otherwise.

As we successfully entered Australian waters, a humpback whale decided to breach the waters and welcome us to the Gold Coast. What joy, to behold a wonder of nature, thriving in its element, blessing us with its presence. Plus, Jenna’s whale song worked! Our entry into the quarantine marina brought with it, yet another challenge for our weary crew. Quarantine regulations meant that we could not venture out for our crew dinner. Chaos threatened to ensue, as Adam vowed to swim across the channel for some freshly baked pizza. Fortunately, we were able to calm down proceedings, with some cold beers and Mick Jagger’s glorious voice, on speakers generously gifted to Salt Lines by Darren. A game of trivia was played, which I obviously won, as I correctly guessed ‘Stone Cold Steve Austin’, as one of the answers, in a record time of -2.3 seconds (its negative as I blurted out the answer even before the question was completed). I cooked the final dinner for the crew, as a gesture of thanking them, for being such a wonderful set of warm people that I’d gotten to have known and sailed with, over the past few days. I only cook for people that I like, you see, cooking is not really a part of my job description.

- Arjun Thimmaya, Chief Mate