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78
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER 201 3
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ago, he participated in a crew that
rowed’Äîyes, rowed a boat’Äîacross
the Atlantic Ocean in an attempt to
set the record, so I’Äôm not worried
about him adjusting to life at sea
on our comfy boat,’Äù says Trey.
Long Passage
After leaving the Galapagos, the
BlueMoon
’Äôs crew headed south and
west toward the Marquesas. They
had fuel, water, and supplies laid in
to get through a month or more on
the open seas’Äîbut of course, any
number of things could go wrong.
Technically, the sailing for this
passage was often a challenge. ’ÄúThe
wind out here has been a handful.
It changes every couple of hours,
which is not at all what I expect-
ed,’Äù says Trey. ’ÄúWe end up doing
sail changes multiple times per
day’Äîwhich takes all three of us the
better part of an hour sometimes.’Äù
Of course, on some days, the wind
cooperates and the ship takes care
of herself’Äîfor the most part. ’ÄúUn-
der Artie’Äôs (our auto-pilot’Äôs) guid-
ance, the boat continuously moves
us along while we go about our
business. When we glance out the
port holes, we see the water sliding
by all day and night,’Äù says Trey.
Though the days can quickly slip
one into the next with nothing but
water on the horizon, the passage
was not totally uneventful. On
the morning following the night
that Trey dubbed ’ÄúThe Night of the
Living Squids,’Äù the crew found 18
dead squids on deck. Trey also had
a squid land on his pillow while he
slept, and Amy was hit in the chest
by a squid while making coffee
during her watch. The
Blue Moon
often finds a squid or two, but none
of them could explain why they
encountered so many that night.
More seriously, the crew also ex-
perienced a few scares at sea. About
a week from their destination, ’ÄúAmy
woke up around midnight in excru-
ciating abdominal pain that was
spreading throughout her body. We
started trying to contact friends and
family who are medical profession-
als through the satellite phone,’Äù
says Trey. Finally reaching a nurse,
the crew was told to get Amy to the
nearest hospital right away’Äîobvi-
ously, an impossible feat. Gail, back
at home, eventually reached Amy’Äôs
OBGYN, who counseled Trey and
Ryan to give her water and antibiot-
ics. This method was successful, but
it took Amy several days to recover,
leaving her crewmates tired from
the extra watches.
Land Ho!
At long last, however, the
Blue
Moon
sailed into the cove of Hiva
Oa, a member of the Marquesas
Islands in French Polynesia. Reach-
ing this point was a great moment
for Trey:’ÄúCrossing the Pacific onmy
own boat was my biggest bucket list
event. CHECK!’Äù he says. The island
was more beautiful than the crew
could have realized’Äîand far more to
them than just a stop along the way.
’ÄúThis place is beautiful. It is a wild,
lush, rugged, unspoiled beautiful.
The craggy mountain peaks rise a
thousand meters or so right out of
the water. The thundering applause
of the waves crashing is always in
the background,’Äù says Trey.
In Hiva Oa, Ryan and the Bene-
fields also encountered several of the
sailors and crews they had met along
the way, in St. Maarten and the
Galapagos. Despite their struggles
with the changing winds, this reas-
sured them that they were making
reasonable time on their journey.
After a few days, the
Blue Moon
cruised on from Hiva Oa to Nuka
Hiva, the next island over. There,
both Trey and Amy received tattoos
to commemorate their journey. To
those who know Trey, this might
be a bit of a surprise. ’ÄúI never had
much interest in tattooing my-
self,’Äù he says. ’ÄúIt occurred to me
a few years ago that the art of the
tattoo originated in the place I had
forever longed to see. I thought
that if I ever made it here, and
if I happened upon a traditional
Marquesian artist, I might con-
sider a memento of my journey; to
here, and through life.’Äù The tattoo
Trey received is rich with symbolic
meaning in the Polynesian culture.
As they slowly cruise from island
to island, Trey reflects that he has
allowed too little time to prop-
erly explore and experience these
islands. Nevertheless, they had
to leave the Marquesas behind all
too soon for their next adventure:
picking up wife and mother Gail
Benefield in Tahiti, where she will
join their crew for the passage to
Bora Bora.
78
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER 201 3
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