A 10-year odyssey

Newport native Clark Beek describes himself as the unluckiest of sailors. He’s survived dengue fever in Costa Rica, amoebic dysentery in India and three tsunamis.

Beek left Newport Harbor for what he though would be a one-year sailing trip in 1999 at age 29 after a fast-paced career at a start-up Internet company during the dot-com boom left him with a bad taste in his mouth. He returned about a week ago after a nearly 10-year voyage around the world no richer, but with a nice tan and a thousand stories.

During his travels on his 40-foot yacht, dubbed the Condesa, Beek learned not to pay much attention to clocks, calendars or schedules.

“You get on the train in kindergarten and never get off until you hit 65,” he said. “A lot of possibilities open up when you get out of that mindset.”

Beek would wait on one island for a few weeks, poised for the perfect wind to take him to his next destination. The longest he stayed in one spot since was a 1 1/2 -year stint in Sydney, Australia. There was a year in New Zealand, three weeks in Vanuatu, a year sailing between Thailand and Malaysia, and four days in Singapore.

Beek has lived on anywhere from $8,000 to $12,000 a year since he set sail. He bought his boat, which has been his only home for most of his voyage, for less than some people spend on a new car these days. Odd jobs and writing the occasional article for sailing magazines helped supplement his budget.

“You need a lot less than most people have — I have everything I need right on the boat.” Beek said. “You look around and see people weighed down by their possessions. Those things don’t give you satisfaction.”

There were one or two close calls during Beek’s voyage. He was sailing about 10 miles off the coast of Thailand when the deadly 2004 tsunami devastated large parts of Southeast Asia the day after Christmas.

Beek never felt so much as a ripple aboard the Condesa, and only learned of the hundreds of thousands left dead on shore when worried family and friends started calling his cellphone.

An 80-foot container ship smashed into the Condesa in 2006 off the coast of Brazil. Not one to go down with his vessel, Beek jumped ship just before the crash. He spent five months living in an apartment in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while the shipping company paid for some $46,000 in repairs to his yacht.

“Clark is a guy who works very well under pressure,” said Beek’s uncle, local activist Allan Beek.

His favorite story about his nephew revolves around the time Clark made the unfortunate mistake of taking a sky diving trip while wearing cleated hiking boots.

As Clark was free falling toward the earth, his cleats got tangled up in the sky-diving gear, rendering his parachute inoperable. He somehow managed to untangle himself mid-air and open his parachute, just seconds away from a what surely would have been a hard and lethal splat.

The sky-diving company offered Clark a free jump for his trouble. Clark covered his cleats with duct take and took them up on the offer.

“Most people wouldn’t have taken that free jump,” Allan Beek said.

The son of Balboa Island Ferry operator Seymour Beek, Clark grew up around boats.

“He started off sailing early in life — he’s always been interested in sailing,” Seymour Beek said.

The Beek family home on Balboa Island overlooking Newport Harbor, where Clark tied up his boat last week, was built in 1923. It’s one of the few houses on the island that hasn’t been torn down and rebuilt.

Clark went to high school in Irvine, where his mother lives, and had a Daily Pilot paper route when he was a kid. He also grew up working on his father’s boat.

Now that his 10-year trip is over, Beek will make his way to San Francisco next week in the Condesa, where he plans to drop anchor for a long stretch. He also hopes to publish a book about his journey.

“I really don’t know, but I suspect he’ll stay put for a while,” Seymour Beek said.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].