When he reached the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador, Mr Martins lost his autopilot.
"It was a bit depressing because I still had about 7000 miles [11,265km] to go, all the way to New Zealand, to go that far without autopilot and alone is a big deal."
When scrambling around trying to solve all the issues he was encountering, Mr Martins came across some evidence that made him suspect the boat's name had been changed.
"You know that thing about changing the name of the boat being bad luck? The boat was called Rabalder on paper, that was what the Norwegian boys named the boat.
"I found out the original name was Pelican when I saw it on a plank. There was a point in the Pacific when everything was going wrong, the autopilot was broken, I had some issues with the sails, the lower stay started to break, everything was going wrong.
"I was getting really sick and thought there was something cursed with this boat and whatever it is I'm throwing overboard. Then I thought - it's the name. I changed it to Pelican, then everything changed."
He added: "I've been agnostic my whole life but there was one moment on the trip where ... I felt there was some spirit looking after me."
Johnathan Martins
- A serious skydiving accident on New Year's Day 2012 left him a paraplegic
- He spent the first year after his accident learning how to deal with his body.
- After about 10 months he started working on his boat ramana, which is still berthed at Tauranga Bridge Marina.
- In Easter 2013, he undertood a solo trip around New Zealand in Ramana.