MOKSHA BLOG
After preparing in Lanzarote to set sail across the Atlantic and into the Caribbean last winter, following the problems other Shipman yachts have had with their lifting keel cylinders and with the crack in our salon window, it was decided in March Moksha would set sail back into the Mediterranean to Palma Mallorca where she would be lifted out of the water and the keel removed to service the cylinder. With the experts who made the keel suggesting it would take 2 weeks to check and return (it took 10 weeks).
In this time Moksha had a lot of work done, one of the crew called it the yacht colonic as we removed each seawater pipe, valve and manifold cleaned it and replaced it.
A lot of lingering issues were also dealt with at this time including a small leak from the rudders and of course replacing the salon window. Following all of this work there were a lot of things to test, so we remained in Palma for a month testing systems and getting Moksha up to speed again.
We were also fortunate to acquire the skills of Georgi and Vallentina early in the re-fit, then as we re-launched Moksha, Scott joined the boat as the Captain in waiting. Scott has just completed his Chief Mate 3000 ticket and comes onboard Moksha with a lot of skills and experience. He is due to relive Tim who recently married hopes to settle down on land to make babies and grow vegetables. Scott will take over following the trip to New Zealand, a trip Tim has dreamed of since he learnt it was there.
From Palma we set sail to Ibiza and Formentera, where we took the time to teach Georgi and Valentina all about Moksha how she sails and how to handle her, doing a number of man overboard drills and sail changes. After a couple of nights at anchor we sailed on towards Gibraltar on route we had a couple of battery melt downs in our main service bank. As we had had a series of problems with our Mastervolt Li-ion batteries previously, It was decided we should update the whole battery bank to a new series of batteries.
It took a while for the batteries to be delivered, but they were promptly fitted and Moksha was ready to go again. The next legs of her journey are across the Atlantic Ocean, so we have taken on extra crew Alyra and Alex (the latter being Scotts girlfriend), the former who will now take over writing the blog and describe her experience joining the boat and her first trip onboard Moksha.
Alyra continues:
When Scott originally contacted me regarding the prospect of me joining Moksha to help out with her Sept 2013 Transatlantic voyage, I was enthusiastic, yet well-contained. We discussed travel arrangements, expectations as temporary crew, and visas, but he was increasingly cryptic (I felt) when it came to any specs about the boat herself. Having crewed for Scott a couple of times prior to this trip, I expected that Moksha would be his most recent breed of sailing yacht; either superyacht, or bordering on superyacht - maybe even high-end cruiser that had seen a few charter seasons. I knew that she was 80ft LOA, but expected quite a bit of a more voluptuous vessel - about 15-20 tonne more voluptuous, actually! I was imagining a Kate Winslet or Marilyn Monroe type of yacht. And Moksha is 1980s Michelle Pfeiffer personified.
My enthusiasm became slightly less contained.
I had originally wanted to do the passage to get a Transatlantic on my CV, and get in another decent passage with Scott (a delight to crew for). I had never in my most optimistic of thoughts, imagined that I would be flying across the Atlantic on a flat-hulled, carbon performance stealth fighter jet! Because in the world of sailing yachts (that I've experienced so far), that's exactly what Moksha represents: an impossibly efficient, stripped-down, full-throttle WEAPON of a boat, which I'm clearly a bit enamoured with at present. She's absolutely in a class all her own, and it refreshes my faith in the yachting world that there is still an existing market (however niche it may be) for this particular breed of awesome.
Just as impressive as the design and engineering of the hull and rig, is the immaculate counter-culture lifestyle on board. Moksha is an ecological utopia, with proper values, minimalistic and logical, yet luxurious comfort. It's nice to see a newer luxury performance yacht put together properly, rather than bogged down with unsustainable and consumer-based pleasure trinkets for the trophy wife. I could elaborate for ages probably, but let's just say that the food is amazing, both of the owners, as well as the present crew clearly have the right idea, and I'm absolutely blown away by it all.
Moving along, I like to think that I have fairly high standards when it comes to reviewing skippers (particularly when they're English), and Tim is so far looking like one among the best. He is, first and foremost incredibly competent, and extremely capable of handling the handful that is Moksha under sail. With all of the varying levels of sailing experience and ability on board, he refuses to compromise for sub-standard crew and maintains a predictable schedule of quizzes, questions, trick questions, and general intellectual stimulation. He also doesn't 'baby' anybody as part of his teaching method which is a pleasant change from other similar situations I've witnessed - no doubt due to his naturally ornery demeanour haha.... He is beautifully uncomplex: he has very simple expectations and standards, and sees that they get met accordingly in the most educational way possible. I have only met a handful of skippers like him so far.
And now, safely tucked into Puerto Calero Marina, Lanzarote amidst in the smoldering volcanoes of the Canary Islands, I can't help but reflect on the short passage that brought us here... The 3.5 days of easy downwind cruising in absolutely glamour weather conditions was nothing short of textbook perfection. With winds averaging 12-20kts, and sailing angles from just aft of the beam, to some seriously deep running, and even a short stint with the A3, I feel privileged to be getting to know Moksha's spirit a little bit better.
On my first night watch, illuminated by the light of the Milky Way I was first mainly surprised at how responsive she was on the helm. I was thinking that a boat of this length, with synthetic fiber steering cables might be a bit more of a beast to keep under control, but she insisted upon held a perfect 110 degree AWA, well-balanced, unbelievably light on the helm and with need of very little need of influence or correction on my part.... Until the tiniest puff breeze would come along, when at which point her mischievous, unruly tendencies would come into play. Predictably, with every tiny gust, she'd start to sneak in what was undoubtedly the smoothest of round-ups, almost unnoticeably, but definitely - she wanted to take off. I'm talking about a tiny wind puff of 3-5kt's for 5 seconds, and every time, she's going for the round-up and take-off. It was unbelievable, and definitely makes one wonder (nervously) what she'd like to do with a solid wind and a close
angle.
There is absolutely no fault to found with either her or her wild thing ways however; it's what she was designed. And while those tendencies definitely did not go unnoticed, they were all too endearing...in an intimidating sort of way. Those 662 nautical miles flew by, an experience that not too many other monohulls with this level of comfort onboard could have produced. Upon arrival, a friend asked me how long the journey took, and without thinking, my first response was 'about five minutes, relatively speaking'.
This boat is smooth, well-balanced, self-confident, and knows what she wants in a breeze. I can almost empathize with her desperation to have the sheets strapped on, a solid 25kts blowing, and for us to just let her open up - but I'd certainly hope to not be alone on deck if those conditions were on hand. With all of these unprecedented feeling of awe, exhilaration, primal intimidation and sheer respect for what is, essentially, just another maxi racer, I have to say that I'm greatly looking forward to the next few legs of my part in this trip.