ADVENTURE SOLO AROUND THE WORLD
Step off your boat immediately and hand over your mobile phone’. The six border force officers, guns at their sides, stared at me sternly and beckoned me onto the pontoon. I had only just made landfall in Brisbane, Australia, after being caught in bad weather on passage from New Caledonia. A ‘southerly buster’ had arrived earlier than forecast, producing 30-40 knot southerly winds barrelling into the strong south setting East Australian Current and creating dangerous breaking waves. Rather than risk landfall in these conditions I had to heave to outside the strong current for three days, 90 miles offshore, and wait for an improvement in the weather.
This delay in making landfall and resultant ground track had made the authorities suspicious of my motives. In reality I was doing my best to avoid the steep breaking waves which had at times been throwing my small Vancouver 28, , onto her side. Now safely tied up in the marina I should have been savouring the relief and satisfaction of a safe arrival in Australia. Instead, tired and hungry, I was being investigated for possible drug smuggling. Was this just a bad joke? The carefree days of swinging at anchor in a calm South Pacific lagoon felt like a lifetime ago.
