The Titanic Trip #5

To anyone that still uses Facebook, even a little bit like me, we will all agree that it’s no longer what it was. Be it unwanted solar panel adverts or any other crap that they think people might be interested in, it’s just become a bore despite the various features they add from time to time. Of particular annoyance to me is the ‘marketplace’ feature. I once looked there for a set of 1980’s Skoda wheels and now I seem to get constant notifications for anything that contains the words Skoda or Wheels. Plus a great deal of random other junk which is now rendering my phone a virtual car boot sale. Serves me right for being so sad in the first place I guess. And you just can’t ignore that bloody red notification can you? The digital equivalent of not chewing a fruit pastille.

Where am I going with this? OK. Amongst all this fb dross was a series of posts that finally grabbed my attention. The postings came from South America, Chile in particular, and appeared to show a major life change was in progress for my old mate Mick “On the edge” Hoy. Or Høy to use the correct native spelling which turns it into a sort of Chinese sounding Hoy. Time for a call then to see what’s up... Following a lengthy call I’m left with a range of emotions. Mostly excitement for him and maybe us. So what’s the story? Well, it’s time to come back home to Denmark basically. There are problems of course that prevent him from just flying home. It turns out three items of his can’t be sold off prior to his departure. Number 1 is his daughter. Living with her mother it’s very tough but she stays behind and Mick will do what he can from distance. Number 2 is his motorcycle (now a Harley Davidson Road King) which he doesn’t want to part with. Neither does he want to do so with item number 3. His dog Tjorde. An English Bulldog breed that isn’t accepted by airlines due to their breathing difficulties. So in a typical adventurous/reckless act he’s bought a 31’ yacht and is making plans to sail from Denmark to the Caribbean/South America to retrieve said motorcycle and dog and bring them home. ‘Operation HogDog’ I’d be calling it. With both Mick and I being total novices this = certain death or adventure of a lifetime in my book. Having planted the seed sure enough shoots began to show and I have a month off work and a RV planned for The Canary Islands to join him for the 3/4 week Atlantic crossing. To help tip the scales away from certain death I booked onto a five day Competent Crew and one day Sea Survival course. With supplies on board and boat prepped, soon enough departure day arrived for Mick from Denmark. As I tracked him through the inland canals through Holland and Germany I began my (£800) training. However, whilst returning to dock for the last time (about £760 into this training) an email arrives from about 70 miles south of my location...

 Hi Ian Boat is gone, I lost steering in hard sea and landed it on the rocks, got picked up by rescue helicopter, mast broke and I was being crushed by the rocks. I am good, in Cherbourg now on a big ship. I will try to get to Chile from here in another way. I believe I owe you some money which I promise I will pay you back. I hope you are good, life goes on. I will not give up. I will get my dog home to Denmark somehow. That is my mission. All the best my friend. Mick

Wow. It’s difficult to accurately describe how I felt. Deflated, relived, worried & shocked all put into a mixer and mixed up would cover it. In truth, it was probably 28% relieved and 24% for each of the others. For my loved ones the relieved count was 100%. I can’t say I really enjoyed the experience of sailing and living on a boat for the five days. Maybe I’d have got used to it, who knows? But overall I failed to grasp any of the love for it that my fellow courses candidates and instructor clearly had. So, “worse things happen at sea” they say, yeah, they probably do. Still he’s alive and his journey continues. And soon enough he’ll be practically my neighbour across the North Sea. Right then, where did I put my maps..?