Bananas

Over the Winter of 2008/2009 we berthed in Portimao marina in the Algarve, where I had the pleasure of making friends with Ron and Grace Newton from London on their Catamaran “Flo”. Ron and Grace with three other crew crossed the Atlantic with the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) in 2001 on their previous catamaran, “Kim”. One of their crew was inspired to summarize their journey in verse, and his lines capture our trip in a way that I cannot express better.

One little caveat, this is written by a sailor, for sailors, and therefore contains a little “sailors' language”!


“Provisions”

Too many fucking bananas
That was the problem we had
We thought of the fresh fruit and vitamins
We'd be ever so glad.

But too many fucking bananas
That's what we went and bought
Despite all the careful planning
The discussions and the forethought.

So many fucking bananas
We hoisted them up the backstay
And got a huge cheer in Las Palmas
When we finally got under way.

Too many fucking bananas
It was obvious from day one
As they quickly started to ripen
Under the tropical sun.

We had fucking bananas for breakfast
And fucking bananas for lunch
If you needed a snack in between meals
Bananas you had to munch

We tried fucking bananas in Brandy
Bananas in fucking gin
For a treat we had bananas in custard
But we knew we just couldn't win.

One morning at fucking day break
We beheld a terrible sight
Our pristine yellow bananas
Had gone fucking black overnight.

Skipper gathered the crew in the cockpit
And said with a heartfelt sigh
As he chucked the bananas over the side
Fuck off, cheerio, and good bye.

The moral of this story is simple
Let the voice of experience speak
when buying fucking bananas
Just buy enough for one week.

So whenever the going is heavy
With the wind and the waves looking grim
Smile as you read our story
And remember your friends on yacht “Kim”

Luke Priest
ARC 2001