Dock party!

Yachting

Story and pictures by Sally Andrew

EVEN though we were in the Southwest Pacific, the fourth of July - American Indepen dence Day - called for a cele bration. Californian cruisers Jay and Bar bara (yacht Skywave) volunteered their sound system and side decks for the occa sion and instead of traditional Yankee hot dogs or local French cuisine, a Mexican potluck was proposed.

Fellowship was anchored at Baie d’Or phelinat, the low-rent district of Noumea.

As we rowed in to Port Moselle Marina to party, the sun faded and twilight turned the sky shades of violet and pink.

Bits of music flew by on the breeze as we approached until, as the arms on the twin clocks of St. Joseph’s stood at atten tion, the volume was cranked up full bore.

The dock party was officially underway. I flashed back to the Sixties as Bob Dylan chanted: Everybody must get stoned.

Fats Domino was the next musician to bombard local marina live-aboards with strains of how he found his thrill on blue berry Hill. Wisely, someone had the fore sight to invite port Moselle dockmaster Jean-Charles and his wife to the party. It was Jean-Charles who took our mooring lines when we arrived in Noumea and stag gered onto the dock.

Although we’d had a quick and easy passage from Sydney, I strapped my Tevas on for the first time in eight days and dis covered they were on the wrong feet! Jean- Charles was “tres poll”. He didn’t laugh too much.

Cruisers should call the Capitainerie de Port Moselle (Port Moselle marina office) on channel 67 when entering the lagoon, and again five minutes from the pontoon.

The Capitainerie coordinates entry for malities such as Customs, immigration, Quarantine so that when you finally tie to the dock there is minimal fuss and maxi mum fun with a free night on the dock and

a complimentary drink at Le Bout du Monde. The night we arrived, happy hour entertainment at the waterfront bistro was Pacific cruisers Stan and Cora - musicians who live and travel aboard yacht Ambler.

Sipping wine and ripping baguettes seemed the perfect accompaniment to their jazz.

(forecasts, warnings and weather faxes), tide books with fishing regulations and tourist-type information are available.

Showers (though not always warm) and toilets are clean. Virginie and Carole always have a smile and are happy to help

us bilingually-challenged people. Their

motto should be: “No request too silly”.

Several boats on the Visitors’ Dock “dressed ship” for Independence Day.

Colourful signal flags (once used for the transmission of messages between ships at seas) and country flags decorated back stays and forestays. A larger-than-life

blues, and rock and roll. Good alive music nothing like it!

In July the cruising season is in full swing and yachts start voyaging between the islands of the Pacific.

It was no surprise, then, that Noumea’s visitors’ dock was nearly full. Those who chose to anchor out can still use Port Moselle to receive mail and courier pack ages, send and receive faxes, get translation assistance or help in tracking down bits and pieces or service facilities.

Incoming calls from friends, family and technicians can be taken in the reception area. Daily meteorological information

Uncle Sam windsock smiled from the pul pit of US yacht Que Sera (Hans Christian 38).

Carole from US yacht Evie stole the show with her “stars and stripes” bikini top, though it stayed hidden beneath a shirt most of the chilly evening.

A wee bit of Jose Cuervo Gold tequila materialised, as did dozens of spicy bean and chilli dishes, enchiladas, taco salad, assorted salsas, rice and fruit salads.

The offerings lined the long side-deck of Skywave, an immaculate Mason 44 whose teak decks must have required a major scrubbing after serving as the

The Visitors Dock at Port Moselle Marina Noumea

potluck buffet table.

Sky wave had the rare experi ence of motoring all the way from Australia to Noumea this year due to a complete lack of wind. Cruisers Jay Gould and partner Barbara Westrem hail from LA and have lived onboard since 1987.

They have cruised through Mexico, French Polynesia, the Cooks, Niue, Tonga, Fiji, Vanu atu. Cyclone seasons have been spent in NZ and Australia. Sky wave altered plans to cruise in the Solomon Islands this winter.

Though the outer islands remain free from the ethnic unrest, many cruisers like Jay and Barbara opted to give Honiara and the Solomon group a miss this year.

The USA’s nearest neigh bour, Canada, was well-repre sented by several cruisers from the great White North.

Terry and Janine off yacht Cristata regaled us with tales of their voyage from Sydney - as

always, in company with seabirds and whales and dolphins.

Janet and Joe fromTegan were enroute to Vanuatu and back in the Pacific after cruising to Tasmania. Mark and AB off Anesthesia, still recovering from a nasty encounter with storm force winds off New Caledonia’s coast, were adjusting to life in

the tropics.

One lone Brit joined the celebration - Jonathan Selby, skipper of the 12-metre sloop Anahera.

Jonathan is renowned in cruising circles as designer of “Xaxero” computer software programmes for decoding weatherfax maps and onboard email via “seamail”. I was relieved that Jonathan felt there was a future for HF radio weatherfax, since governments have been threatening to eliminate their broadcasts.

These maps still prove practical. Com mercial ships who subscribe to “user pays” satellite-type weatherfax pictures are find ing they take too long to access. His latest

project, the new Xaxero Sky Eye 5.1 is designed to download satellite pic tures directly.

Elvis was singing “Love Me Tender” when the cap tain of the biggest boat showed up. On it way home from deployment in the Gulf, the USS Naval Destroyer Hewitt was docked in Noumea for “le weekend”.

Joining our July 4th party, several young officers arrived shouldering cases of Fosters.

Universal consensus of their Middle East tour of duty: “Hot! Boring!” but stopovers in Darwin and Townsville were fantastic.

With so many bodies par tying on the pontoons, the docks started twisting. We stayed long enough to hear Jimmy Buffett rec ommend a change in lati tude, then rowed off to our quiet anchorage. ■

Joy and Barbara off US yacht "Skywave" - enjoying Noumea

British skipper Jonathan Sel[?]y aboard "Anahera"