AMAZON DELTA

A RACE AGAINST TIME AND TIDE ACROSS THE MOUTH OF THE AMAZON FOR STEPHEN LADD IN HIS 21FT HERRESHOFF SEA PEAR KETCH

- TOM CUNLIFFE

Stephen Ladd is a city planner from the US who opted for a better life. Not being inclined to luxury, his first book goes under the title Three Years in a Twelve-foot Boat. But here we have an account from his second book The Five-year Voyage which struck a chord with me personally.

Many years ago I sailed from Rio to the Caribbean in a 32ft gaff cutter whose engine had been defunct for over a year. Running up the north coast of South America I passed the mouth of the Amazon a substantial distance offshore and was astonished to see brown river water curdling the tropical blue. I also ran into a depressing 2-knot counter-current where, according to the Admiralty Sailing Directions, I should have been whisked along by the same velocity going my way. I discovered in Stephen's book that his extraordinary voyage through the rivers and shorelines of South America had found him alone near the mouth of that great waterway facing the task of working his way through shoals, tides and barely charted waters. His wife and partner in the venture, Ginny, had recently given birth to a son and gone back to the US to let the lad have a fair chance in life. Stephen's job was to bring the boat home and join them...

" With my wife and baby gone Thurston actually seemed roomy, but this was slim compensation. My job now was to rejoin them as quickly and as safely as possible, so I finished the boat work and mapped the Amazon delta.