Lonely sea and the sky

COLIN SMITH/The Nelson Mail

HOME AGAIN: The Holmes family, from left, Pat, Clare, Anita and Kathryn, have recently returned to Nelson from a year away on their yacht, Manaroa III.

Wild storms at sea and a world recession largely bypassed a Nelson family on a 15,000 nautical mile journey they have recently arrived home from.

The Holmes family, who arrived back at the Nelson marina a year after leaving for Chile, reckon it was probably the best year to be thousands of miles from civilisation.

"We were very insulated from what was going on. The only thing we were interested in was the weather," Pat Holmes said.

He and wife Clare, plus children Michael, 21, Kathryn, 19, and Anita, 15, set sail on their 15-metre steel yacht Manaroa III on November 30 last year. They left Nelson, sailed through French Pass and headed for South America, arriving in Puerto Montt in southern Chile 37 days later.

Sailing in the Southern Ocean brought its expected challenges, but the weather was "mostly good", Mr Holmes said.

The most unusual conditions occurred on the family's trip home, when the earthquake off Samoa that generated the devastating tsunami shook their 22 tonne yacht.

They had just left Samoa and were sailing in waters 2000 metres deep near northern Tonga when the quake struck. Mrs Holmes said they suddenly felt the yacht shaking. They checked the sails and rigging, and wondered if they had brushed against a whale. Mr Holmes said the shaking went on for five minutes, stopped and then started again, which was when he realised it was an earthquake.

Anita reckons they must have been somewhere near the quake's epicentre for it to have had that impact, but they were not aware a tsunami had hit until they heard the crew of another yacht talking to an Orion aircraft.

The trip to Chile was a year in the planning, but the inspiration came from the family's five-year global cruise, which they returned from in early 2003.

"We always thought we would do this trip. When we went cruising last time, we didn't see French Polynesia or Chile, so thought we'd combine them this time," Mr Holmes said.

The family reckoned they had a window of opportunity during 2009 in which they could cruise around studies.

Michael sailed with the family to Chile and then flew home for the start of the university year, while Kathryn took a gap year before starting university next year. Anita did some home-schooling throughout what would have been year 9 studies at college.

Mrs Holmes said arriving in southern Chile after such a long journey was a bit surreal, and after 37 days at sea she was "ready to hit land".

From Puerto Montt, they sailed Manaroa III south inside the waterways to the San Rafael Glacier in the Northern Patagonian Ice Field.

The family described the wildlife they saw as "absolutely outstanding" and they even braved swimming in the water, which ranged between 10 and 12 degrees Celsius. The family spent three months in the waterways, and had Nelson friends visit in that time, before they ventured north again to Valparaiso and Santiago. They then sailed westward across the Pacific Ocean to Easter Island, the Pitcairn Islands, the Society Islands, the Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga, before heading home to Nelson.

The family say that while it's taken some adjustment, it's great being back in a familiar community.

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