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Yacht Makes
8,000 mile voyage to H de G with the only tempest being over a
teapot |
Hopkins enjoys all types of sailing, especially racing,
and seems to have the ideal job. He is a professional delivery skipper. He
delivered the South African built Maya to the United States for a
Swedish owner, who lives in Gt. Britain. He usually recruits experienced
crewmembers through yacht clubs to help him make a delivery.
The Maya did encounter some bad weather off the
coasts of Brazil, the Bahamas and North Carolina. He has 25 years of
sailing experience, however, and says storms are just a part of any trip.
“You try to avoid them when you can,” he said.
Capt. Hopkins has no delivery assignment pending. “If
anyone needs a yacht delivered to Cornwall, please let me know,” he said.
This article was first published
in the Havre de Grace Record, May 17,1988, and is reproduced here with the
publisher’s permission. |
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By Jim Kennedy
Jeremy Hopkins anchored the 38-foot yacht Maya off Havre de Grace,
Maryland, Thursday, ending an 8,000-mile trip from South Africa.
With a crew of three, Capt. Hopkins left Cape Town,
South Africa February 2. The Maya is registered in Sweden, but
neither Hopkins, an Englishman, nor his crew, a Canadian Man, a Swiss man
and a German woman speak Swedish.
“It was embarrassing when we received (radio) calls
from Swedish vessels,” Hopkins said.
After crossing to Brazil, the crew members disembarked
at various ports of call on the trip up the coast.
The trip across the Atlantic was essentially quiet, but
not completely uneventful, Hopkins said.
“The
nearest we came to disaster was when the handle broke off the teapot,” he
said. They were too far out to turn back for a new tea pot, he said, but
as “8000 miles is too far to go without a cup of tea, I had to heave-to and repair the
handle,” he said. |
Hopkins celebrated his 40th birthday the day
after crossing the equator. Although he sent invitations to lots of
people, only two attended his party. A possible third attendee was on
watch.
One of the high points of the trip was a stop in
Ascension Island. The Maya arrived there about the same time as a
group of turtles was preparing to lay eggs. Hopkins had the opportunity to
swim with the large turtles.
“It was really a fantastic experience,” he said.
The whole trip wasn’t just swimming with turtles. A
storm blew up while the Maya was anchored in a fishing port in
Brazil. Another anchored sailboat broke free and drifted into a fishing
boat. No one was aboard either vessel so Hopkins took a dinghy out and
retrieved the freed sailboat.
Capt. Hopkins, who
has lived in South Africa for the past 11 years, will be in town visiting
friends at the Havre de Grace Sailing School for a few days before going
home to Cornwall, England. |
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