Jazz returns from ocean voyage
Jazz Lee having the time of his life. Photo: Dari Grant.
Parapara teenager Jazz Lee traded four weeks of school last month for the opportunity to undertake an ocean voyage from Nelson to Vanuatu, where he spent time exploring several islands before flying home from Port Vila.
The 14-year-old Golden Bay High School student was invited to become one of the six-strong crew of the Lilly Bolero after spending time with its skipper Kieran Latham at Port Tarakohe as part of the school’s mentoring programme. Jazz said it was too good an opportunity to turn down.
“Living almost next door to the Aorere Futures Trust at Parapara meant I have always mucked around in boats, so sailing was my preferred option. When Kieran invited me afterwards to do some deepwater sailing I jumped at the opportunity. It was a terrific experience and I just loved it.”
Constructed of ferrocement around 20 years ago in Gweek, Cornwall, the 16.5m (54’) Lilly Bolero is a gaff–rigged schooner with traditional block-and-tackle rigging, and capable of sailing under six sails at once. The design of the lookalike pirate ship is based on a 100-year-old Bristol Channel pilot cutter. The boat became a familiar sight at Tarakohe over the last three years as it was readied for its latest voyage.
Also aboard was Dari Harris of Ward Holmes Road, who says Jazz adapted perfectly to life afloat. “He loved climbing the rigging, right to the top of the mast at times, and loved sitting astride the big bowsprit, watching the boat cut through the water. He did his share of work, even cooking up a batch of cheese scones en route. Rough seas did not seem to faze him one bit; in fact, he seemed to enjoy those times best and was totally fearless. He didn’t even get seasick once.”
The Lilly Bolero left Nelson on 1 May and encountered perfect sailing conditions right up to Cape Reinga, but from there the wind picked up steadily until it was blowing 50 knots on the fourth day out from the New Zealand coast.
Jazz said the weather got really rough. “There were waves washing right over the boat, so we had to hove to for eight hours. Then the next morning it was all different and we were just becalmed in this big swell. We used the motor until the wind picked up again. Every day it just got warmer and warmer—you could just feel we were going into the tropics.”
Riding the spill-off from a big depression meant it only took them an impressive 13 days from Nelson to hit the southernmost Vanuatu Island of Aneityum, where the crew anchored and enjoyed some glorious snorkelling. They were unable to land because there is no customs facility on that island.
The highlight for Jazz came on the next island, Tanna, when he climbed to the rim of the Yasur volcano. It put on an impressive display and spurted lava and hot rocks 100 metres into the air. It was on this island, at Port Resolution village, that Jazz rowed ashore by himself and was greeted by the chief in full ceremonial dress.
“I helped him pull up his canoe on the beach and we talked for ages. He told me all about how they live. The people there didn’t seem to work, rather more hung out all day. They seemed so happy. We needed vegetables, but they weren’t interested in our money, so we ended up trading some of our spare clothes with them.”
While the Lilly Bolero continued its island hopping (which according to its website will take it to the Cresselly Arms in Wales via Vanuatu, the Solomons, Louisade Archipelago, Torres Straits, Darwin, Madagascar and around the Cape), Jazz flew back with Dari from Port Vila and arrived back in Nelson at the end of May. The whole trip cost him around $1800, much of which he raised himself. His costs included the airfare back, his share of food and passage costs, and his spending money.
His year ten class is looking forward to his presentation and slide show, all part of the deal with Jazz’s teachers before he left.
Another Port Tarakohe yacht that left for Vanuatu at the same time—the Maariri, skippered by Darryl Dickerson—was forced to turn back after getting a hammering and a shredded roll-furling genoa in the same storm that hit the Lilly Bolero. The Maariri had a new sail made at Opua in the Bay of Islands and again departed, with a mostly new crew, for Vanuatu on May 26.
“I’m so glad we got there,” says Jazz. “I loved every bit of it, even the really rough weather. But it was extra special to see how other people live and what makes them happy. They just don’t have the same problems that seem to fill the lives of people back here.”
Gerard Hindmarsh
