Unleash the clown within

Debbie showing us the right way to helm a yacht, while Mo shows us the incorrect way to don a PFD

The wind, as fickle as the love of a lady, continued to evade Te Kaihōpara and her crew as they made their merry way towards North Minerva Reef. The watches carried on with creative means of keeping each other awake by trying their best at rapping and beatboxing, as well a few brilliant moments of laughing-yoga. I must say, I am a bit interested in making the latter, my side hustle. Debbie shared her struggles at being accepted within the drama-rich, narcissistic ways of the Christchurch-circus folk.

It is true that one needs an exemplary amount of self-confidence to be able to perform for the sake of others entertainment, but one needs an even higher amount of self-belief to be able to perform for the self, day after day. It is here, that the intangible line drawn between confidence and egotism begins to blur. Hence, I prefer the sailing life to my erstwhile circus days. I don’t need to develop a persona to sail a boat, I can just be myself and Te Kaihōpara appreciates honesty from her crew.

Andrew displaying his Sommelier skills on a particularly feisty bottle of water  

The crew chowed down on some brilliant toasties, as Debbie and Becks made lunch into a fiesta. Peter and Matt struggled with the banality of existence without internet, as I shamelessly shrugged away their troubles whilst enjoying ol’ Musky’s second greatest invention; Starlink. (his flamethrower is no. 1 in my books). The crew put together a poem summing up their last few days onboard Te Kaihōpara which goes as follows:-

Sailing across the pacific,

Becks sitting at the wheel,

Looking stunning, with a look of blue steel,

Going deep with the keel,

I turn the big brown wheel,

My brickies thumbs caress the timber,

If I press too hard I’ll suffer a splinter,

But I must carry on,

Dreaming of better times,

Chasing rainbows, 

Flying towards the winds of change,

Bubbles in the ocean are blue,

Bubbles in champagne are pink,

What is my favourite colour and taste?

I ponder and decide that it must be blue,

I once knew a boy named Sue,

He did a massive poo, 

Completely blocked the loo,

Dreaming of happy times,

Flowers and bees,

The culprit threw his chocolates into the deep blue sea,

Daughters of deep gobbled those,

Times and seasons, 

Ways and days,

There’s methods and madness,

Waymakers and egg-slicers,

Freeing up the plays,

Playtime is my best chime time,

Shall it be or not to be,

Fuckin Shakespeare,

Chocolates sitting in a coral bomoie lee,

Olala sega na lega,

Fiji time awaits 

Kat lounging like a real cat, while Matt demonstrates the correct upper body posture, when sitting down at an informal event

The evening had a bit more excitement to offer as Andy almost caught another fish but ended up half-decapitating a poor pike. As the winds finally turned in our favour, gusting to the mid-20s range, Jason and I decided to train the crew in the art of reefing an in-boom furling system. Barry, Peter, Rob and Andy conjured up a delicious spag-bowl and huddled together in the saloon as Debbie recited the aforementioned poem for everyone. For the record, everyone chipped in with two to three lines in the poem, the only catch being, that you were not allowed to read what the previous person had written down. Te Kaihōpara truly is the center of the performing arts today!

- Arjun Thimmaya, Chief Mate, Te Kaihōpara