RISKING THE REEFS

DODGING BREAKING SURF AND REEFS OF THE PACIFIC MOTUS AND MEXICO, UNTIL ONE SKIPPER’S LUCK FINALLY RUNS OUT

Robert B Lipkin (better known as Bob Bitchin) has certainly done his time in deep water and shoal, much of it in his 42-ton ketch Lost Soul with his partner, Jody, and a variety of crew.

Bob is also the guy who set up the well-known Latitudes and Attitudes magazine in the US. He's a resourceful and enthusiastic sailor, but what sets him apart from the crowd is his ironic view of his own considerable achievements and his unique turn of phrase. Reading his book Letters from the Lost Soul: A Five Year Voyage of Discovery and Adventure is a rare treat.

We join him and his crew as they tackle a spectacular reef passage in the far Pacific. Then, after catching our breath, a second extract sees him once again running an impossible current through mind-numbing surf into a reef-strewn Mexican haven that then turns downright nasty on him. Somehow, the Lost Soul survives.

Here we sat. The boat was rocking, the pass had waves breaking across the opening, and there was a storm on the way that would have us going straight into it for 750 miles to our next stop. This was the final exam of sailing.

Young Luke and I jumped into the dinghy and fought our way through the waves to the pass to check it out again. It was gushing through the pass at about 7-8 knots, with large breakers across the front and a lot of very shallow coral heads on the inside. The winds would be blowing at 45-50 knots on our beam if we tried to go through. We took the dinghy to the other side of the island to see if we could anchor, but the waves from the south-east storm were still breaking at about 15ft there.

So these were our choices on this final exam we were facing. We could: