A storm on the other side of the world brought this story.

        When rain, wind and hail severely damaged the roof of their house in Perth, Australia, my friends, Wendy and Rob, had to move out while it was repaired.  In doing so, they went through all the stuff that inevitably accumulates over time, including old sailing magazines in which they found several pieces of interest, one of which they mailed to me.

        “Meditation on the Spirits” by New Zealander Adrian Faulkner appeared in the June 2003 issue of CRUISING WORLD.  The story is well written, and I paraphrase because it is copyrighted.

        In 1985 before setting off on a long voyage Adrian Faulkner hid a bottle of cognac on Meditation Rock, Adele Island, about 50 nautical miles northwest of Nelson at the top of New Zealand’s South Island, in what he hoped to be an affirmation that nature would protect him and that he would return.

        He then sailed across the Tasman, up the east coast of Australia, and on to Indonesia, where beset by doubts about his purpose, he turned around and sailed home.

        Back in New Zealand he pursued several careers, married, and sadly buried his wife.

        In 1988 he anchored again off Adele Island, but was unable to locate the bottle of cognac.

        Three more years found him ready to sail off again.

        This time he made it all the way around the world, even visiting by car the city of Cognac in France along the way.

         In New Zealand, circumnavigation completed, he found in an old log book the original entry for May 10, 1985, with details that he thought might enable him to locate the hidden cache.

        On May 10, 2002, he and Helen, his companion, climbed to Meditation Rock and there in a nest of moss they found the bottle. 

        They opened it and put the steadfast--and well aged--spirit to its intended use.