October 26, 2024 • 8 mins
In early 2022, renowned solo sailor, writer and singer Andrew Fagan set sail in his tiny 5.1m sloop-rigged plywood yacht Swirly World in Perpetuity.
Swirly World had faithfully carried Fagan on numerous voyages on the high seas; this time the mission was to be the smallest boat to sail solo around the world via the Great Capes.
Things didn't quite go to plan.
Fagan has solo-sailed in Swirly World in Perpetuity around Aotearoa to the sub-Antarctic Auckland islands, to the Kermadecs and across the Tasman and back as well.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
From the cricket field to the cow shed. It's the
Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on gold Spot.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well the show. Now we're going to do something just
a little different and we're catching up with a name
that you'll recognize here Andrew Fagan, singer, songwriter, poet, more importantly,
long distance solo sailor, former lead singer of the pop
group The Mockers. He joins me today to talk about well,
the last of his three books on his yacht, Swirly
(00:27):
World in Perpetuity. Andrew, good morning, Good morning. Right. I
hate a book with a sad ending about that.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
She just go away around it in this one.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So you've achieved some incredible things. You sailed more than
fifteen thousand solo miles offshore in Swirly World. You've crossed
the Tasman, You've been round New Zealand, and then you
decided to sail round the world in such a tiny boat.
And even the captain of the boat that rescued you
asked you, why why did you decide to do that?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well, for me, it was just a lot of logical
extension really of what I've done before. You know, I'd
always wanted to have a go at going around the
world and all those auspicious places like Cape horn Et cetera.
And I knew the stakes were a lot higher, but
you know, because I'd done sort of so many miles
in the boat, it was just something that I aspired
to really, you know. And there's also a good precedent
(01:22):
here there. There's been a couple of people came out
of Europe in the last ten years who did it
in twenty four votes. So my boat seventeen s feet done.
So what's that five point one meter? So their boats
were like about six point five meters and they went
round NonStop in about two hundred and seventy odd days.
So I thought I'd give it a go.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So in previous sailings, were you across the Tasman went
around New Zealand, were there times where you know, you
felt as though, you know, you were taking your life
in your hands there and this is pretty bloody stupid
thing to do.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, I didn't really think it was a stupid but
I definitely thought I was, you know, pushing the envelope,
so to speak, in a boat that's small. When I
was down at the Auckland Islands, I had like a
where it was a storm storm warning and what they
call high scene, which is which is about as big
as the gets in terms of weather forecast. And I
(02:16):
was at the north end of Auckland, Parland, which is
you know, it's south Antarctic, at fifty degrees south and
one hundred and eighty miles south of Stuart Island, and
I had like sixty five not northeasterly, and I was
in a tide race with these really really big breaking
you know, surf waves basically, and that was that was
(02:38):
pretty hairy. And also actually when I sailed the boat
down to Wellington in nineteen eighty seven, I was off
Stephens Island, you know, and just at the entrance to
cook straight there up off Derbal Island and in a
gale force northwesterly and that was that was pretty bad.
(02:58):
You know. That was again it was wind against tide,
so you get really steep breaking waves. So yeah, you know,
the presidents were there, but I felt confident in the
boat because I've been through that kind of before. And
you know, this this strip was going to be all
about just having a look at that stolen motion and
seeing how the boat and myself could fare.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
You didn't really get to I mean basically, you got
what about halfway across the South Pacific Ocean, towards the
first of the capes, you were going to go around
Cape Horn, and then things started to go bad.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, well yeah, so I got forty days out, so
I got about two and a half thousand miles across,
almost at what they called Point Nemo, which is the
most remote point on Earth from land. But yeah, on
the way across, we had a lot of real bad
We had a lot of big deep depressions ninety seventy
(03:54):
middle bars nineteen sixty five, you know, very deep depressions
with big big seas, you know, big steep you know,
sometimes I think that we had about ten meters at times,
you know, breaking crests on top. And the boat took
a real severe beating and unfortunately was found wanting you
know what we call it skigg, which supports the rudder
(04:15):
at some stay a few weeks, you know, before before
I had to stop the skig, the glue line cracked
and then it's kept on working and eventually that it
sheared off the three bolts that were holding it on.
And then without the self, without the skig, the wind veins.
Self steering wouldn't work, so I was sort of stuck
(04:38):
a little bit. I had to change my plan, and
I was and head towards the nearest land, which at
that stage happened to be a thousand miles north of me,
which was a good old Fifteirn island, musing on the bounty.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
But fortunately there was a cargo ship in the in
the vicinity about well full of wee way away, but
managed to riscue you.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah, yeah, so I was, you know, once a skib
came off. The boat was taking in about ten to
twenty leaders of water a day, but I was failing
that out. But you know, I couldn't use the wind veins,
so I thought I'd got a fitgain to build a
new skid. But on the way there, the rudder snapped off.
(05:20):
So when the runner snaped off, that was pretty much
that I was completely incapacitated. I tried to make another rudder,
bil wasn't very successful, and in the end I had
to you know, alot the authorities and put out a
may day call and very commas get rescued.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Swirly World lost at see, it's a great read. I
don't want to give too much away. But now you
don't have swirly world anymore. It's maybe floating around in
the Southern Ocean. Have you got another boat? Yeah? I have.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Actually, I've got what they call a micro yacht, so
ef and doubt go smaller. It's al aluminiums of alloys.
It's very robust and it's only eleven feet seven inches long,
and so.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
You're going to have a crack at going around the
world on that.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Well, it was it was designed to but not not
the way I was going. So I was going the
more dangerous roots of the Southern Ocean capes. But back
in ninety eighty seven an Australian guy sailed around the
world the more safe way, which is via the trade
wind route like up above Darwin and Panama and now
(06:33):
that way, and he did it in a twelve foot bloat.
And this boat I've got at the moment was basically
custom built to break that record by about seven inches.
But at this stage it's you know, I'm just really
finding my feet with the boat and getting to know it.
It siales really well. I've been out in the golf
and you know, I've just been doing a bit of
(06:55):
work to it. To get the wind vane working and
a self steering. You've got to have that when you're
out there solo. So I wouldn't I wouldn't commit to
anything maje at this stage, but I'm tipping away at it.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Good work. I love the reader. It's a wonderful book,
and well done on the trilogy. Swirly World, Lost at Sea,
the end of Swirly World. Andrew, thanks for joining us, mate.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Andrew Fagan. Yes, lead singer of the Mockers, but solo
sayer loves his yachting. And when you read this book
and you look at the photographs and that you realize
just how tiny that boat was, and is it still
floating out there in the Southern Ocean somewhere or as
it's sunk. There we go. Swirly World Lost at Sea
actually gets published today. It's available in shops. Andrew Fagan,
(07:42):
I've got a copy to give away. If you would
like to win a copy of Andrew's book, Swirly World,
Lost at Sea, just text Swirly to nine six one.
Text Swirly to nine six one one with your name
and where you're listening to our show from, and if
you love yachting and a good adventure story. This book
could be all yours now nine six one once Willie scoop.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
It, Come on without you, Mile, I've got of it,
Tuesday Money without you, my scart of it. Jus go
directly inside the game with the Rugby Direct Podcast. Listen
(08:28):
each week to get the latest from the rugby world,
every angle, every moment, every opinion with Rugby Direct. Home
for all things Rugby with your Voice of Rugby, Elliott
Smith and Liam Napier. New episodes each week on iHeartRadio
all the review. Get your podcasts. Tap Rugby to mind
six double one and we'll send you the latest episode
(08:49):
Rugby Direct Podcast. Coward
From the cricket field to the cow shed. It's the
Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on gold Spot.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well the show. Now we're going to do something just
a little different and we're catching up with a name
that you'll recognize here Andrew Fagan, singer, songwriter, poet, more importantly,
long distance solo sailor, former lead singer of the pop
group The Mockers. He joins me today to talk about well,
the last of his three books on his yacht, Swirly
(00:27):
World in Perpetuity. Andrew, good morning, Good morning. Right. I
hate a book with a sad ending about that.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
She just go away around it in this one.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So you've achieved some incredible things. You sailed more than
fifteen thousand solo miles offshore in Swirly World. You've crossed
the Tasman, You've been round New Zealand, and then you
decided to sail round the world in such a tiny boat.
And even the captain of the boat that rescued you
asked you, why why did you decide to do that?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well, for me, it was just a lot of logical
extension really of what I've done before. You know, I'd
always wanted to have a go at going around the
world and all those auspicious places like Cape horn Et cetera.
And I knew the stakes were a lot higher, but
you know, because I'd done sort of so many miles
in the boat, it was just something that I aspired
to really, you know. And there's also a good precedent
(01:22):
here there. There's been a couple of people came out
of Europe in the last ten years who did it
in twenty four votes. So my boat seventeen s feet done.
So what's that five point one meter? So their boats
were like about six point five meters and they went
round NonStop in about two hundred and seventy odd days.
So I thought I'd give it a go.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So in previous sailings, were you across the Tasman went
around New Zealand, were there times where you know, you
felt as though, you know, you were taking your life
in your hands there and this is pretty bloody stupid
thing to do.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, I didn't really think it was a stupid but
I definitely thought I was, you know, pushing the envelope,
so to speak, in a boat that's small. When I
was down at the Auckland Islands, I had like a
where it was a storm storm warning and what they
call high scene, which is which is about as big
as the gets in terms of weather forecast. And I
(02:16):
was at the north end of Auckland, Parland, which is
you know, it's south Antarctic, at fifty degrees south and
one hundred and eighty miles south of Stuart Island, and
I had like sixty five not northeasterly, and I was
in a tide race with these really really big breaking
you know, surf waves basically, and that was that was
(02:38):
pretty hairy. And also actually when I sailed the boat
down to Wellington in nineteen eighty seven, I was off
Stephens Island, you know, and just at the entrance to
cook straight there up off Derbal Island and in a
gale force northwesterly and that was that was pretty bad.
(02:58):
You know. That was again it was wind against tide,
so you get really steep breaking waves. So yeah, you know,
the presidents were there, but I felt confident in the
boat because I've been through that kind of before. And
you know, this this strip was going to be all
about just having a look at that stolen motion and
seeing how the boat and myself could fare.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
You didn't really get to I mean basically, you got
what about halfway across the South Pacific Ocean, towards the
first of the capes, you were going to go around
Cape Horn, and then things started to go bad.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, well yeah, so I got forty days out, so
I got about two and a half thousand miles across,
almost at what they called Point Nemo, which is the
most remote point on Earth from land. But yeah, on
the way across, we had a lot of real bad
We had a lot of big deep depressions ninety seventy
(03:54):
middle bars nineteen sixty five, you know, very deep depressions
with big big seas, you know, big steep you know,
sometimes I think that we had about ten meters at times,
you know, breaking crests on top. And the boat took
a real severe beating and unfortunately was found wanting you
know what we call it skigg, which supports the rudder
(04:15):
at some stay a few weeks, you know, before before
I had to stop the skig, the glue line cracked
and then it's kept on working and eventually that it
sheared off the three bolts that were holding it on.
And then without the self, without the skig, the wind veins.
Self steering wouldn't work, so I was sort of stuck
(04:38):
a little bit. I had to change my plan, and
I was and head towards the nearest land, which at
that stage happened to be a thousand miles north of me,
which was a good old Fifteirn island, musing on the bounty.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
But fortunately there was a cargo ship in the in
the vicinity about well full of wee way away, but
managed to riscue you.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah, yeah, so I was, you know, once a skib
came off. The boat was taking in about ten to
twenty leaders of water a day, but I was failing
that out. But you know, I couldn't use the wind veins,
so I thought I'd got a fitgain to build a
new skid. But on the way there, the rudder snapped off.
(05:20):
So when the runner snaped off, that was pretty much
that I was completely incapacitated. I tried to make another rudder,
bil wasn't very successful, and in the end I had
to you know, alot the authorities and put out a
may day call and very commas get rescued.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Swirly World lost at see, it's a great read. I
don't want to give too much away. But now you
don't have swirly world anymore. It's maybe floating around in
the Southern Ocean. Have you got another boat? Yeah? I have.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Actually, I've got what they call a micro yacht, so
ef and doubt go smaller. It's al aluminiums of alloys.
It's very robust and it's only eleven feet seven inches long,
and so.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
You're going to have a crack at going around the
world on that.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Well, it was it was designed to but not not
the way I was going. So I was going the
more dangerous roots of the Southern Ocean capes. But back
in ninety eighty seven an Australian guy sailed around the
world the more safe way, which is via the trade
wind route like up above Darwin and Panama and now
(06:33):
that way, and he did it in a twelve foot bloat.
And this boat I've got at the moment was basically
custom built to break that record by about seven inches.
But at this stage it's you know, I'm just really
finding my feet with the boat and getting to know it.
It siales really well. I've been out in the golf
and you know, I've just been doing a bit of
(06:55):
work to it. To get the wind vane working and
a self steering. You've got to have that when you're
out there solo. So I wouldn't I wouldn't commit to
anything maje at this stage, but I'm tipping away at it.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Good work. I love the reader. It's a wonderful book,
and well done on the trilogy. Swirly World, Lost at Sea,
the end of Swirly World. Andrew, thanks for joining us, mate.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Andrew Fagan. Yes, lead singer of the Mockers, but solo
sayer loves his yachting. And when you read this book
and you look at the photographs and that you realize
just how tiny that boat was, and is it still
floating out there in the Southern Ocean somewhere or as
it's sunk. There we go. Swirly World Lost at Sea
actually gets published today. It's available in shops. Andrew Fagan,
(07:42):
I've got a copy to give away. If you would
like to win a copy of Andrew's book, Swirly World,
Lost at Sea, just text Swirly to nine six one.
Text Swirly to nine six one one with your name
and where you're listening to our show from, and if
you love yachting and a good adventure story. This book
could be all yours now nine six one once Willie scoop.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
It, Come on without you, Mile, I've got of it,
Tuesday Money without you, my scart of it. Jus go
directly inside the game with the Rugby Direct Podcast. Listen
(08:28):
each week to get the latest from the rugby world,
every angle, every moment, every opinion with Rugby Direct. Home
for all things Rugby with your Voice of Rugby, Elliott
Smith and Liam Napier. New episodes each week on iHeartRadio
all the review. Get your podcasts. Tap Rugby to mind
six double one and we'll send you the latest episode
(08:49):
Rugby Direct Podcast. Coward
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