Boat #8 - Jackster

Name(s): David and Jacqui
Boat Name: Jackster
Home Port: Greenwich ("where time begins and east meets west!")
Date of Acceptance: May 2011
Place of Acceptance: Whangarei (New Zealand)

I was lost, but now I'm found! For 18 months, I've been trapped on Jackster. Good Joanie of Pickles passed me on in Whangarei in May 2011 and my "captors" put me in a book cupboard and forgot about me.

How could they be so thoughtless? Okay, so they were distracted by the delights of Fiji, the culinary delectations of New Caledonia and azure waters of the islands, and the friends and places in Australia.

Yes, I did feel neglected, forgotten, but they were having so much fun that the annual "spring clean" where every cupboard is emptied and restowed was put off. You can forgive then this task in Indonesia too where they were forever flinging themselves in the water clad in neoprene and carrying heavy metal tubes on their backs and then coming back exclaiming "What an awesome dive!"

Personally water isn't my favourite thing; it makes my pages soggy and the ink runs so my stories are lost. I suppose I should be grateful I was kept dry and mold free. A small mercy.

How is it I am now released, free to carry on my own voyage of discovery? Two unrelated coincidences. The first coincidence was meeting Pickles and family in Danga Bay Marina (Johor Bahru) for the first time since they gave me away in New Zealand. The second coincidence was a chance comment by Virginia from Libertad saying she was looking for the Pea Green Book (me!), last known host family of Pickles.

Poor David and Jacqui must have been so embarrassed to have "lost" me on board but memories jogged, cupboards searched, until one morning the Red Cross Guide to First Aid was lifted and I saw the first light of the cabin. At last, found to be passed on once more.

I had a long rest - too long - and may not continue to record your tales of daring do, places visited, and to spread the good word of the cruising life. Cheerio Jackster, we've cruised nearly 6,000 miles together. It's time to bid adieu.

Fair winds and kind seas...and now to Libertad...

(If you wish to follow Jackster's tales, check out their blog at www.sv-jackster.blogspot.com).