Two feet of her bow was missing; the cabin house had mostly disappeared as she ground her way upside down across the outer reefs that protect Panawina and the other islands of the archipelago; all but one of her oars were gone; and her valuable equipment had been shared among the islanders. Interestingly, when her wrecked cabin disgorged its load of water she righted herself and remained so until she was found.

Today’s big news is that a vessel heading east has agreed to take myself and Jon out to Panawina on their way to a nearby island on a cargo run. We leave tomorrow afternoon and will be sleeping on the laid decks under the stars as she steams through the night under the watchful eye of her owner, Samuel.

I was sitting on my bunk, looking out the hatch, and then, in a split second, my whole world was turned upside down. My view turned from blue sky to blue water, a huge crashing sound was heard, and Maiwar was capsized like a bath toy. There was no time for fear or even a communicable thought, it all happened so quickly.

Tom and his immediate family are not much into the modern fashion for instantaneous communication. They’d much rather mull over a suitable answer or wait for the best time to send it than have a Pavlovian reaction to incoming mail.

Rather than trying to go south of New Caledonia on his way to the Queensland coast, Tom has elected to stay further north. While the shore team was not sure about this decision, they were pleased when meteorological guru Bob McDavitt suggested to Tom that he stay north where he could expect to experience better winds and fewer adverse currents

The thought of rowing nonstop back to Australia looks very attractive at the moment, in which case, I can expect to make landfall in Australia in about 120 days, perhaps a little less. But, of course, this is all conjecture.

That night the tide rose and the swell that was breaking on the reef outside came right into the harbour, the beach disappeared and at eleven o’clock at night I was trying to kedge Maiwar away from the rock wall she was pounding against. I cried out in desperation and exhaustion.

The people of Penrhyn are not new to looking after stranded sailors, and there are often stories told about the odd Japanese fishing boat that has been wrecked on the island, the most recent of which was in the last 15 years.

The sun was my constant. It was regular, beautiful, immense. I started asking for help. “Why are you testing me?” “When will you make it better for me?” “Why are you challenging me like this?”

MAIWAR slipped quietly into the lagoon at Penrhyn Island At 5 pm on Friday 9 December 2022 local time. This marked the completion of the first leg of Tom’s Pacific crossing.

During last week’s phone call he very excitedly told us about two of his most recent reads. He’s awarded “Greatest Book Ever” to Small Is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher and “Most Favourite Book” to Henry David Thoreau’s Walden or Life in the Woods.

Day 49: Ecuadorian tuna fishing ship sighted. They lowered speedboat, two men approached, ‘no English‘, pirates? Silence. They smiled, phew. I rubbed my belly. They nodded. Bully beef? Onions? Rice? I wish. Potato chips, Powerade and cigarettes instead!

“All is well on the mighty Pacific. My first few weeks were cold and wet and rough. I’m now into my fourth week and conditions are calm and peaceful.”

At no point up until now has it seemed unusual to send a rowing boat half way around the world to an unfamiliar, developing country, only to row it back home. But now I understand; it puts a smile on my face.