Mireille Day

And as I got to know him, I realised he had trauma in his life too, that I think we both related to deaths.

He had deaths in his life too.

Where were you signing up to sail to?

To go to Sri Lanka, from Darwin to Sri Lanka.

That was the plan.

Yeah.

Well, they were somewhat healthy and despite the fact that we got storms most days, we had been given advice or Jean had been given advice by the yachties in Darwin.

Oh, not a good time of year to be sailing that direction, mate.

Uh,

you know, winds and tides are against you.

And in fact, this was the same time of year that Cyclone Tracy had obliterated Darwin five years before we were there.

But Jean was a risk taker and he said, it's a lucky boat.

OPAT is a lucky boat.

These are lucky boats.

Literally and metaphorically.

That zone near the equator, I think it's on both sides of the equator...

There's hardly any wind because in the southern hemisphere, the prevailing winds are going in one direction, in the northern hemisphere, the other.

And in that zone of switchover, there's very little wind.

And sailors of old who didn't have motor power would often talk about the doldrums.

And I suppose it then became a metaphorical meaning to sailors