The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/119485
O U R PEO P L E PIRATE PEARL Pearl BY CAROL FORSYTH ���T ake your gear, and get off the boat!��� It was out: No longer would Pearl be second in-charge. Unbeknownst to her, she had just blurted out eight words that were destined to change her life forever. Her life as a pirate was just beginning! She t had after all, just demanded that her former husband get off their custom built 40ft catamaran Aorere. r! When Pearl was a child she wanted to be a helicopter! She never dreamed about who she wanted to be. Pearl���s ���s first home was across the road from the coast. She he d. looked out over the ocean for most of her childhood. arl Her brothers would go sailing on Lake Brunner, but Pearl never did. It was the water that drew her to Nelson as a young ung adult. At the time, her mother was horrified at her lack of k the essentials of life and gave Pearl one thousand dollars. ars. ���I brought the basics ��� an old bed, table, couch and some ome ith chairs. ��� The rest was spent on a little sailing dinghy with a red sail. Her journey into the world of the sea had begun. With a friend she travelled to Golden Bay to bring the boat home. Neither Pearl nor her friend could sail but as she was living at Cable Bay, it was tied up at the bottom of the property. With her young daughter as crew, Pearl would sail around the bay and revelled in the feeling of freedom and being in control of her own life. This is what she had dreamed of. ���It���s pointing the bow to the wind and open sea, not knowing what the adventure would be, that has so much appeal.��� She says. Married and pregnant with her second child, Pearl was always out sailing the family���s 30ft Puffin yacht around the Sounds. ���It was the fact that it had San Francisco written on the stern that gave it the romance of the times.��� She says. ���If you���re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair!��� sang Scott McKenzie from the little transistor radio perched on the cabin top. As the months drew into years, Pearl has fallen more and more in love with being on the water. ���We would camp around the sounds, lighting fires on the beach and living off the sea.��� She remembers. ���When I asked my daughter, now 32, what she remembers about her childhood, she says ���it���s lying in a sandy sleeping bag, curled up beside a log fire and smelling the smoke!��� This started Pearl thinking about what she wanted her grandchildren to remember their grandmother as. ���I decided that I want them to remember me as being a bit out there and being a pirate ��� a good pirate!��� she laughs. Piracy in this day and age is not the in thing to be, but Pearl holds dear to the Pirate Rulez and is proud of the fact that to be pirate you must first go to preschool Pirate School and then come up through the ranks. ���I���ve said they can come on my boat once they can wipe their own bottoms and clean up their own mess. When they are on board, they can eat what they like and when they like!��� Pearl went undercover to NMIT maritime school and attained her commercial ticket. Aorere has her Safe Ship Management certificate and finally both were set for their first foray into the charter business. The Pirate, Queen of Tasman Bay (aka Aorere Adventures) is now a reality. ���I believe in starting small, with what you can cope with, getting that sorted and taking on more and more as your capability and 38 Professional Skipper March/April 2013 confidence grows.��� Her first ���customers��� were a family group comprising of her daughter, the daughter���s partner and the mother-in-law. ���Kim���s partner or his mother didn���t know much about sailing,��� Pearl had just bent on the mainsail but hadn���t set up the reefing points because of lack of wind. They happily sailed out across the Motueka Bar and into the open sea. ���The reefing points weren���t ready, and the first thing that was needed was the reefing points. That taught me to always be properly prepared before I went to sea.��� Four years ago, she gathered up an experienced crew and sailed up to Tonga via the Kermadecs. For three months they cruised around the tranquil, tropical seas. Then Pearl found herself in Nufalofa, alone and with a vast ocean to cross to get back to New Zealand. Once again she had to pull together a crew and come home. ���A trait I admired about my grandparents was their incredible bond to their children and that is what drew me back to my home country. The thread was still there. It was simply time to come home.��� On her return to New Zealand, she went back to the business that she knew and loved, chartering her 40ft catamaran to paying guests. ���I���ve sailed up and around Tasman Bay a hundred times. I know it so well now.��� For the past eight years Pearl has lived on her boat full time. The challenge is getting good trained pirate crew ��� ready for adventure! She is often seen at the Nelson markets in costume, recruiting crew and selling piratical paraphernalia. If Pearl let the shackles that constantly try to keep her in bondage take control, she would be lost. ���Fear of the unknown and fear of adventure is something that we all must face. If I could walk away from one thing today and be completely free it would be the fear of the future.��� In reality we must all put on our ���big girl (or boy) panties and face the future with no security that it is going to be all right. ���Just look at Christchurch, they had no idea what was to happen the next day. They all felt secure. Our boats can smash against the rocks and they���re gone before our very eyes!��� When Pearl puts on her Pirate Queen of the Tasman Bay persona, she appears fearless. ���I put a red feather in my pirate hat, slip on a pair of golden pointed shoes and with my sword in my belt, I am off. I���m a pirate and adventure comes first!���