"circumnavigation"

 

 

 

                   Yacht

 

 

 

    "White Pointer"

 

 

 

 

 

              Family at sea

 

 

 

                    Dutch-Australians, Ed and Maria Van Zelderen, with their two children,

                    Ronald and Edith, cherished the thought of one day visiting their home­

                   land, establishing a healthy way of life at the same time. Cruising seemed

                   the logical answer so it was with determination and enthusiasm that

                   they started building their ship in 1972 in a Brisbane boat yard.

              Choosing a simple, robust steel design from the portfolio of West

             Australian designer, Boro, they had her finished in less than three years,

             launching into the Brisbane River in August 1975. Moving aboard, trial

             runs were held on Moreton Bay and the following year an ambitious

             overseas cruise commenced.

 

          

            With the children on Queensland's excellent Primary Correspondence

            School system and the parents obliged to home tutoring, their 12.5 metre

            ketch, White Pointer was headed north for the Great Barrier Reef to

           Cairns where a working wet season was spent, biding time and filling

           the coffers for lands beyond.

 

 

 

  Careening in Bayona Spain

 

 

 

             Clearing Australia from Darwin in 1977, they sailed to Europe via

            Cocos Keeling, the Seychelles, then north through the Red Sea where

            they visited North Yemen in the days when visiting boats were made

            welcome in a country of topsy turvy foreign policies. The Van Zelderens

            enjoyed their stay in its major port of Al Hudaydah and. would have

            found it impossible to believe that yachts would be confiscated here

            one day in the not too distant future. Being ahead of the Iran hostage

            incident probably helped, for North Yemen sided with Iran and cooled

                  its attitude to anything and anyone from the west thereafter.

 

 

  

 

         "White Pointer" in the locks 

 

             ( "Panama Canal")

 

 

           Entering the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, Israel, Cyprus,

           Greece and Italy were visited before White Pointers masts were dropped

          and cradled on deck for passage through the European canals. Entering

         at Sete, France, the Rhone River was ascended, then the Saone River

          into the Canal de L'Est, to the Rhine and on to Rotterdam, Holland.

         Eighteen months were spent here enjoying the company of relatives and

        old friends as well as gaining employment to keep the show on the

         road - or rather, on the water.

 

      

 

 Yacht "White Pointer"

 

 

 

      in "Rotterdam"

 

 

 

 

        Leaving northern Europe in 1980, course was laid down the English  

.;

             Channel and across the infamous Bay of Biscay where their worst weather -

             awaited them. Of a seven day crossing, six were spent under stormsails

            - and this during summer!

        On the other side of the Bay, northern Spain was touched on after

        which Portugal was coasted before sailing out to its beautiful islands

        of Madeira. From there, Spain's Atlantic islands of the Canary Group

        were visited, then one more touchdown at the Cape Verde Islands before

        crossing the Atlantic to the West Indies. Holding south in the West

        Indies, White Pointer stopped at Trinidad, Venezuela and the Netherlands

        Antilles off its shore before passing through Panama and on into the

        Pacific.

 

 

 

 

 

 

        Following the standard route, but missing the Galapagos Islands, the

       French Polynesians were explored as well as Tonga and New Caledonia

        before arriving back into Brisbane in 1982. From there they headed

        north and found employment again in Cairns, North Queensland.

       At this point, Ronald, their son, was ready for secondary school, a

       situation that has thrown many a cruising family into a quandary. Should

      the children continue correspondence school at a level that is very often

       above the tutoring abilities of 'the oldies' or should they be put ashore,

       which invariably demands a lengthy discontinuation of cruising?

 

    

                      " Fatu-Hiva" 

 

 

 

        Iles "Marquises"

 

 

 

 

 As both children were doing well with their schooling, there was no

       reason to stop, allowing the family unit to remain intact aboard their

       floating home. Further cruising remained a reality.

       Typical of most circumnavigators, the last leg across the Pacific was

       rushed. It has something to do with a need to finish something grand,

       the urgency to regenerate an income and the smell of gumtrees. Whatever,

      the Van Zelderens felt the need to retrace their last steps and see more

      of the Pacific islands. Thus, like so many before them, they sailed back

      down the Queensland coast to clear out of Australia from Maryborough,

     departing that fair city in December 1983 for passage to New Zealand.

      At that time of year there is a fair chance of riding a north-easterly

       much of the way to arrive in New Zealand in the middle of her very

       acceptable summer.

 

    

                                      "Bora-Bora"

 

 

     Iles de "La Societe"

 

 

 

                   From New Zealand, White Pointer ran the westerlies down to Rapa,

                   Isles Austral, then north to the Society Islands, Cook Islands, American

                   and Western Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia. They landed at Bundaberg

                   nearly two years later in October 1985.

                   When contacted for this book, White Pointer and her seasoned crew

                   were hibernating in Gove, Northern Territory, attracted by its opportunity

                   for employment, good anchorage and isolation. There, son Ronald built

                   his own boat while daughter Edith did her last year of sch'ooling ashore.

                   As to Ed and Maria, there seems little doubt they will continue cruising,

                   world exploration without the school books being a distinct possibility.