Swirly World : The Solo Voyages

Musician and poet, late night radio talk show host, sailor, New Zealand ‘personality'. I have always been fond of Andrew Fagan - a practical but often unconventional thinker with opinions on lots of things.

I picked this book up with only moderate expectations - I think it was a dollar in a Salvation Army store or something, but I ended up reading it fairly soon after I got it, and I quite enjoyed it.

Mostly, the book focuses on Fagan's five solo voyages of Swirly World in Perpetuity (Fagan didn't name it) interspersed with a light touch biography and some odd philosophical carryings on.

Swirly World was purchased from a bizarre character called Michael Brien - who refers to himself as the First World President of the United Planet, and led the Church of Physical Immortality... spoiler alert he passed away a few years later! It is described as a flush-decked miniature of an ocean-going keeler; it is 18 feet long, has a one-man cockpit. More than a few people have described Swirly World as being ‘cut off from the rest of the yacht'. Is is quite stumpy.

But to the five solo voyages - the initial testing voyage was to Raoul Island (Sunday Island), the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, 1,100 km north north-east of New Zealand, completed shortly after the purchase, in 1986. Voyage 2 took Fagan from Auckland around North Cape and down the east coast to Wellington, 1987.

There was a hiatus between voyage 2 and 3 where Fagan was in London, living on a house boat, working as a roadie to the stars, but his eventual return to New Zealand led to Voyage 3 which was planned to take him from Wellington to Stewart Island, but unfavourable weather enroute resulted in a change of plan and this journey ended in New Plymouth (1991). This destination set in place plans to undertake the big one - to take part in the Solo Tasman Race, from New Plymouth to Mooloolaba.

There was a lot to arrange for the Solo Tasman Race - many more hoops to jump through to sail internationally, much more gear that was mandatory, and much financial input necessary. Finding a corporate sponsor proved impossible, but a nautical supplier became the lifeline, providing all the necessary rescue equipment, gps and communications equipment. There also needed to be a dispensation to allow Swirly World to enter the race, as it was significantly smaller than the rules permitted - in fact it was to hold the record for the smallest yacht to make the crossing of the Tasman Sea solo (both ways).

Twenty days is a long trip, and while inevitably Swirly World came in last (Fagan points out that for him this wasn't a race to compete with others, but the challenge of completing the crossing) it was a feat of endurance and perseverance that he succeeded. He jumped a ride back to New Zealand with one of the other competitors, to go back on tour and raise money to fund the return journey, leaving Swirly World moored at a yacht club for six months. Voyage 5 was, of course, the return crossing of the Tasman.

One of the aspects I enjoyed in this book is the mention of other New Zealand nautical authors, a couple of whom I have read. Johnny Wray was a inspiration to Fagan from early on (my review), Gerry Clark (my review), there were others...

Overall an enjoyable read, although it could have done with a tighter edit around the peripheral tangents that to me didn't really fit in well - like the trip to Israel. It contains plenty of technical nautical jargon for those with interest in the specifics of sailing, but it is easy enough to read through for those (like me) with only the basics to grasp. There is a glossary at the back if you need to make the jargon understood...

4 stars