THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605210190
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT McCASKEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 98 lines
At age 25, George Brewer has sipped kava with village chiefs in Fiji, ridden donkeys along volcanic trails in the Greek Isles and hung out with the beautiful people of Monaco.
And these are just a few of the experiences Brewer had on a near-round-the-world sailing adventure.
His face peeling from sunburn, Brewer relaxed last week on the stern of the Marianne, a 42-foot Hinckley sailboat docked for several days in downtown Norfolk. He was in town to see friends and share stories of ocean cruising and port-hopping.
``It's amazing to think about going around the world in a boat that sails about 6 miles an hour,'' Brewer said. ``All of it was amazing.''
A Charlottesville resident before taking to the high seas, Brewer started the trip from New Zealand in April 1994 and arrived in Norfolk some two years later. He saw what few people see in a lifetime.
His travels included sojourns to Tonga, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Australia, the Seychelles, third-world ports on the Red Sea, Turkey, the Greek Isles, the French and Spanish coasts, Cape Verde, Antigua, the Bahamas and Palm Beach. Most stops lasted for three or four days. Nearly every destination brought a novel adventure.
``We dove over a B-17 bomber in the Solomon islands,'' he recounted. ``It was 15 feet down and in perfect condition. You could sit in the bombardier's seat and steer the bomb stick.''
In Australia, Brewer and his shipmates, Capt. Denny Emory and Kelly Niehoff, para-sailed and water-skied. On the Indian Ocean's Seychelles islands, they fed giant turtles and lounged on pristine, tropical beaches. On Christmas Island, they tried to avoid the millions of crabs that rule the atoll.
Although an experienced seaman, Brewer basically lucked into the world-class trip.
While sailing in the Caribbean during early 1994, a friend relayed Brewer's telephone number to Emory in New Zealand, who needed a crew. The boat was the Marianne and its owner, a wealthy New York financier, wanted to have his ship make an around-the-world voyage. The vessel already had sailed from Palm Beach to New Zealand.
``The captain told me it would be the chance of a lifetime,'' Brewer remembered.
Brewer was made first mate and was paid about $2,000 a month to travel the globe.
The voyage was divided into two legs, the first ending in Antalya, Turkey, in November 1994, where the crew put in for boat maintenance.
In April 1995, the captain left and turned over the helm to Brewer, who picked up several crew members for an extensive Mediterranean cruise. Brewer speaks fluent Spanish as well as some French and Italian.
``Monaco is the perfect city,'' he said. ``All the beautiful people and clean as a whistle. There were European movie stars everywhere.''
In St. Tropez, the Marianne was dwarfed by a fleet of shining white super yachts. Majorca, Spain, is Europe's premier summertime party spot and has the most beautiful beaches on the Mediterranean, Brewer said.
But the dream voyage was not without difficulties, eyesores and strange encounters.
The boat reeled in 20-foot storm seas near Fiji and again en route to Valencia, Spain. If Monaco is the perfect city, Djibouti at the southern tip of the Red Sea is not.
``People would ask us for our grocery boxes to build their houses with,'' Brewer said. ``Djibouti is the armpit of the Earth.''
Suspected pirates boarded the ship in the Red Sea.
``A big fishing boat pulled up, and these two short guys in turbans and robes jumped on board,'' Brewer recalled. ``They wanted our binoculars, but we said no. Then they gave us directions and left. They may have been pirates, maybe not, but they were smaller than us and had no weapons.''
Brewer said the biggest problem for most world-traveling sailors is boat damage, particularly a broken mast, which can mean long waits for parts at remote sites. The Marianne, a two-masted yawl of teak and mahogany, never sustained any serious structural problems.
Leaving the Mediterranean, the ship slowly made its way to Antigua and the Bahamas before docking at Palm Beach in December, where Brewer stayed until coming to Norfolk.
Brewer began sailing on Mobjack Bay as a teenager. At age 15, he and his brother went on a sailing trip to the Bahamas with their father and Jim Bulloch, a friend of the family and avid sailor from Richmond. Bulloch introduced Brewer to much of the sailing community in southeastern Virginia.
During summer breaks from Virginia Tech, Brewer crewed for Norfolk resident Richard O'Leary.
``He kind of became my son during those summers,'' O'Leary said. ``He's an excellent sailor and a great guy.''
Brewer is now on his way to Long Island to see the vessel's owner. He then plans to sail to Nova Scotia.
``I'm just taking the boat where the owner wants it,'' Brewer said. ``It's good to be back in the States. The States are convenient, but I'll be ready to go back out soon. I'll probably head back to the Pacific late this year or early in 1997.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SCOTT McCASKEY
George Brewer is visiting Norfolk after completing a
near-round-the-world trip on Marianne.
VP Graphic
George Brewer's Sailing Adventure
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