Get Lost On Purpose

Author: Drew

  • Our Dinghy Rides the Short Bus

    There are certainly worse places in the world to hang out and wait for your dinghy to catch up with you. We’re in the out islands of Vava’u again; currently in anchorage #11, Tapana Island. Until this point in my sailing “career” I’ve not felt the need to give the dinghy a nickname but after a saga like ours has seen, I’m thinking it deserves one. We’ve seen and heard names like Splashback, Monkey Business, Red Rocket, and Cadillac in recent months. My pick is Short Bus. You figure it out.

    The decision has been made to pass on the islands of Fiji this year. We don’t know if and when the dinghy may arrive from Niue (we still may have to go get it ourselves) and we’re quite happy here in Tonga. There’s still two more island groups within Tonga to visit and looking at the chart of Fiji, we’d barely scrape the surface with its 300 islands and strict cruising laws. I don’t really mind. Hopefully they can get a new government settled in and we’ll make it through there on our next cruise before another military coup takes over. And there’s always the possibility of sailing back up there next year so I can market the boat to boat NZ and Australia without paying any sort of import duty. So we’re here in Tonga for another month and we’ll start looking for a weather window to New Zealand. We certainly won’t be alone. Kena, Follow You Follow Me, Karma, Carinthia, and many many others will be right here with us. Our second family on Zen, who is currently anchored about 100 feet away, will be moving on earlier than the rest as they have a huge refit planned for the boat in Whangarei and need to get there early. Luckily they are more accustomed to cold weather being from Rhode Island. We’ll be seeing them again on the big island.

    The pilot berth is filled with crap to sell or give away and I offloaded three huge bags of trash off the boat this week. I think the waterline rose an inch. I dunno what I was thinking with some of the crap I brought on this boat. Did I not think they would sell paintbrushes else where in the world? Five foot SS Piano hinges…seriously? How many times have I used this sleeping bag? And when exactly was I planning on creating and using all those CD labels? Umm..never. The important stuff stays; the spare autopilot, the 10 gallons of oil, and the Wicked Weasel catalogue.

    As I sit here and type this post, Tom from Zen just came over the net and reported that a boat was lost yesterday on an uncharted reef near Fiji. LaurieKouek, a single hander, who left here a couple of days ago lost his boat but luckily not his life because he happened to be sailing near the family on Bravado who was able to pick him up. It’s a little crazy to think that within a couple hundred miles of us, there is a guy working to salvage what’s left of his life by picking through the wreckage of his boat. I have no house, no car, no furniture, and barely any clothing that’s not on board. If I were to lose Dosia I would lose practically everything I own. It’s kind of a ghostly reminder.

    Here’s the cordinates on that reef:

    17 23’S 179 08’W near Mago Island

  • Dosia, Bluewater Cruising Sailboat For Sale

    The Vava'u Yacht Club Dosia coming into the Vava'u Harbor in Tonga

    I put off writing this blog post for the past several months but alas, it is time. The need to admit the facts not only to the readers and fans but to myself has finally come. At some point next year, we will return to the states for what I like to call “a nice, long while.” In the next couple of weeks, Dosia will enter the international yacht market; for sale to anyone, anywhere. She is my finest work of art; a modest American production boat turned world cruising yacht. November will mark my 7th year of ownership, a fair amount of time to get to know and fall in love with a boat. She’s carried me halfway around the world in safety and comfort and for that, she will always remain a part of me.

    My choice to leave the cruising lifestyle is a mixed bag of wants and needs and obligations. I want a family and a career. I need money (for a bigger boat one day). And I feel obligated to my parents and my grandmother, who deserve to see that the time and money spent on my rearing was not wasted, and to Margie, who without hestitation left behind her huge circle of family and friends to join me on this adventure. It is not a sad time at all. I’m 31. I will have spent four years off and on traveling the world. I crossed the Pacific Ocean and saw places and things most people only dream about. I have no doubt I will return to do it again, most likely more than once in the years to come. My hope is that by returning now and starting to build a life at home I can make it back out here sooner, rather than later. And that when I come, I have with me my family, my new big-ass boat with room for visitors, and the same spirit of adventure I live with now.

    And there it is. The plan. En famille to the next stage of my life. As for now, we’re still heading to NZ. We have no intention of stopping this adventure early! New Zealand and Australia are both on the list of places to see before we return to the states. If the boat sells before then, as it will be priced to do, we’ll move onto land and continue our travels till it is time to head home.

    Got an opinion on this? Please, please, please leave a comment on this post. I’d love to know what others have to say.

  • Pick a number | Cruising Vava’u

    We finally made it out of town! With a borrowed dinghy and some good friends we cruised out of Neiafu and now sit somewhat safely anchored in the bay of Hunga (#13). I say somewhat safely since around 1AM I felt a change in the swinging of the boat and started to hear the chain stretching itself around a large rock somewhere 60-70 feet below us. This morning I get the sense we’re swinging around and around and around that rock tightening the noose. I’ll have to figure something out since my scuba tank is completely empty and 60-70′ is on the deep end of free diving for me.

    I’d love to say we kicked Zen’s tail on the way down here but come on…there is little Dosia can do against a 48′ catamaran! I’m still shocked by the speed I can manage to pull out of her though. We were right at 7 knots downwind the whole way and I never put the main up. That was actually the first bay-like sailing I’ve ever done on Dosia. I never sailed around Charleston harbor before I left. I cruised right out the jetties and never looked back! So this type of smooth water sailing is new to me. I even did my first ever race Friday night on board Flashback (a Choate 40) with Geoff, Tom, and Allen. We came in third after knocking the socks off some Kiwis who seemed none to happy about it.

    You may have noticed I included a number after I wrote where we are anchored. All the major anchorages in the Vava’u group have been assigned numbers by the charter boat fleet over the years. So now instead of jumping on the radio and trying to pronounce something like Lua ui Vaha, you can call up your buddies and tell ’em “yeah man, I’m at 35.” It’s actually a great system for a place like this.

    Night before last we attended the hospital benefit function at Aquarium Cafe. It was a big event for this place. I’d say 400 people or more were in attendance. It was a traditional Tongan feast with dancers and a huge buffet. All proceeds went to the hospital in hopes of getting the anesthesia department back up and running. The company was wonderful, the dancing was decent if not hilarious (once the town drunks joined the festivities), but the food left something to be desired. Especially when it’s dark and you can’t tell what’s on the end of your fork as your hand reluctantly guides it toward your mouth.

    We’ll be out for a few days before heading back to town for the start of Regatta Vava’u in which Dosia will be entered. We ordered our official Dosia regatta tees and Margie is challenging everyone in town to beat her at the CORNHOLE tournament on Monday! Yes, CORNHOLE! One of the official tailgating games of the southern US has somehow transplanted itself into the middle of the South Pacific. We’ve not met one person who has a clue what it is so we’re shocked to see it appear as part of the regatta. Maybe this could work to her advantage.

  • Photos from Niue

    Here I am on the internet and I’ve prepared no new post.  How about some new pics?  Here’s a few from our last day in Niue.  What an amazing place!

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