Step into swirly world
Expect the unexpected… That’s what Kiwi sailor and songwriter Andrew Fagan is telling fans about his upcoming tour, Passage of Time – Solo Songs and Stories from Swirly World. The frontman of legendary NZ band The Mockers will present a unique show blending spoken word and storytelling at Sherwood this November.
Fagan will share tales from his sailing and music adventures, performing an intimate set of songs spanning his entire career from classics to prolific solo work. He’s got a couple of world records under his belt – and the stories to match – which were achieved on his wee boat, Swirly World. Sailing since he was a teenager, Fagan started off with competitive racing.
“Then I morphed into living on a boat when I started performing with The Mockers back in the early 80s,” Fagan says. “We moved to Auckland and instead of moving into a flat, I bought a little 18-foot boat to live on. I read all the books as a teenager about solo offshore sailing, and always wanted to do that.”
And do that he did. Between performing and song writing, he’d sail offshore, trying to emulate his solo-sailing hero’s adventures. In 1985 he found Swirly World and headed off on his first big adventure.
“I did my first offshore solo trip up to the Kermadec Islands, which is about 650 mikes northeast of Auckland. After that I got bitten by the bug. It was everything I wanted. The jeopardy and the self-reliance of solo sailing – I just loved it. I still do.”
He carried on in bands and writing songs while also sailing as much as he could. In 1994 he competed in the Solo Tasman Race, where sailors head from New Plymouth to Mooloolaba, north of Brisbane, 1,200 miles all in. This is where he picked up his first world record, which still stands today – the smallest sailing yacht to have ever been to Australia and back from New Zealand.
“It was something I’d always aspired to as a teenager and then I finally did it, and my boat Swirly World was the smallest in the world to ever have done the race. It’s actually the smallest in the world to have ever raced off shore. It took me 17 days to get there and 17 days to get back – I came last because the boat’s only five metres long, 17 feet long.”
Following this he headed to England for his band, hoping to expand beyond a New Zealand audience. Returning in 2007 he sailed Swirly World down to the south Antarctic Falkland Islands and back, circumnavigating New Zealand solo and snagging his second world record.
These days much of Fagan’s time is still spent in boats, jokingly describing his day-to-day as an “aquatic slave”. He started a career in talkback radio after his second world record in 2008 and fell into the maritime world after finishing up in 2015. He picked up a commercial qualification marine ticket in 1995 when he used to teach sailing.
“I’ve sort of come to it late in life, to be honest. It’s very different to the rest of my life, or what my life was.”
In 2022 he attempted to sail Swirly World around the world, but sadly only managed to get halfway across the Pacific. He had prepared for 14 months, but the ocean and Swirly World had other plans. Throughout all his sailing adventures, however, he’s continued to write and record music, which is what his next tour is all about.
“What I’ve found is that people seem to be quite interested in this solo sailing stuff, because they either can or can’t get their head around it, and maybe in their own minds they don’t really understand the compulsion. So for those that would be interested, I’m going to talk about that and show a few images that are relevant to it,” Fagan says.
As well as his fascinating sailing tales, Fagan will share some poems from his four poetry books and sing songs – originals and those he likes from others.
Andrew Fagan will bring his Passage of Time show to Sherwood on Wednesday, 5 November. For more information and to grab tickets, head to sherwoodqueenstown.nz.
