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  • 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.

  • Regatta Vava’u 2009

    my first nephew, Reo Wesley Kopp
    This past Tuesday, September 1st, for the first time my brother became a daddy, my parents became grandparents, my other two brothers became uncles, and my sister and I aunts for the first time! My oldest brother, Rhett, and his wife, Kellie, welcomed a beautiful, healthy little boy named Reo Wesley Kopp. I will have to vicariously relish in my role as Aunt Marge (even though I’m hoping to come up with something a bit cooler than that) via pics for the next two and a half months. I haven’t even met this little person yet and already my heart is flooded with love for him and I can barely look at pics without crying. As I get older and my siblings begin to have children, for the first time in my life I am able to understand what I’ve heard from so many all these years that there is nothing greater than one’s love for their child. If pictures tug at my heart like those I’ve seen of my nephew, I can only imagine, and greatly look forward to, the amazement, admiration, and love that must come from having one of my own. Drew’s looking at me like…hold up there missy. No worries honey I’m not saying it has to be now!

    The first annual Vava’u Regatta is in full force and even the rain hasn’t been able to dampen the spirits of all those involved. The committee who heads this event must be incredibly pleased with the turnout as almost every boat in the harbor is partaking in the festivities. Each boat involved received a “passport” and at the end of the regatta prizes will be awarded to those who have the most stamps. To get them you visit all the local businesses and of course, spending money there will get you a stamp worth more points and then there have been tons of events going on as well. There was the pub crawl, a Fun Day for the kids, the Governor’s Cup Race, a Full Moon Party, pot lucks on several of the outer anchorage beaches, and today….dun, dun, dunnnn….the cornhole tourny! I have to be honest with you. I have never attempted to play cornhole at 10 o’clock in the morning as my past experiences were always at UGA tailgates before football games. Seeing how Drew and I are two of the very few who even know what cornhole is here, a short description might be necessary for some of our readers. Cornhole is nothing more than a slanted piece of plywood with a hole in the middle and the goal of the game is to toss a beanbag through the hole from about twenty or so feet away. A dead ringer will score you the most points and anything other than that is judged based off of closeness. In my mind I know that this game has become nothing short of a phenomenon for fans of teams in the SEC because it another ploy to have an excuse to drink. Even on island time ten in the morning is a little early for beers, at least for me, so this will have to played for nothing more than sheer, heart racing, exhilerating fun. We’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out!
    Boats lining up for the start of the Governor's Cup Drew and Cole doing play by play on the Regatta Race Elizabeth, Devyn, me, and Carlee at the Full Moon Party
    The foul weather sidelined Dosia for the Governor’s Cup Race this past Saturday so Cole from s/v Zen hopped on board with us and we motored along next to the race and pulled three dinghies for other racing boats. Ironic that we don’t even OWN a dinghy right now but we had three with us that day. Zen came in third for the catamaran category and it was fun listening to Drew and ten year old Cole’s commentary and play by plays. That night the race was followed up by the Full Moon Party and they really out did themselves. I expected nothing more than a bonfire on a beach and was surprised to find a bbq, dinghy VALET, music videos on a large projection screen run by generators, a DJ, and lots and lots of dancing. The moon finally poked through the clouds a little after ten and the glow lit the dance floor. We heard rumors that the last people standing were there until 4:30 in the morning. More power to ’em! Tomorrow wraps up the regatta and tomorrow night is Aaron from s/v Wayward Wind’s 40th birthday. His girlfriend, Lauren, has arranged a pig roast so yummy eats will be in order for sure. It’s been full steam ahead, birthdays galore, non stop socializing since we arrived a little over two weeks ago. My parents have always told me that I need to learn to just say no sometimes but out here, the time you have with a lot of these people is all you’ve got. Chances of seeing most of them again are going to be slim to none. So while we can we’ll enjoy, partake, and continue to make memories with our cruising “family,” and then come Wednesday we’ll be able to get back to the outer anchorages, have some down time, and really do some exploring in the waters of this great island nation.

  • 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.

  • Tonga ‘tastic!

    I’ve been doing my best to behave since the debauchery that was last Friday night and obeying the finger wagging via email of my mom who didn’t like it to much when she read that her daughter didn’t remember what she had for dinner. I’m sure she wasn’t surprised as I’ve always been a bit of a party girl but even from thousands of miles away, my mom can still get onto me and put me in my place. That’s some pretty powerful parenting, huh?! Okay, okay…we over indulged one night. Shame, shame but it sure did make for some awesome sudo memories for me. All I’ve been able to say in emails to folks back home about this place is that it is Tonga ‘tastic and I’ll tell ya, it’s making it hard to act right! Let’s see…for the first time in months we’ve got more than enough restaurants and bars to entertain us about 30 yards from the boat and getting two for every dollar in the exchange rate has allowed us to partake in those. Getting there was a bit of a challenge seeing how we still have no dinghy and we had pretty much resorted to sticking our thumbs out and hitching rides to and from shore. But our good friends Christa and Richard from s/v Karma had a spare dinghy and 4 hp engine on board and have been gracious enough to let us borrow it for the time being. So as far as the dinghy search goes, here’s a quick, hopefully brief, update—-

    We thought this place would be a gold mine for a new dinghy with the moorings fleet here. Oh it is…just none of them are for sale. For days Drew and I were teased by a stack of about 15 dinghys, one on top of the other on shore, but they all belong to the private yachts in the harbor and are spoken for. Well crap…there goes that idea. We have worked daily to find something to replace our poor dinghy but let’s face it, we aren’t settling for anything less than we wanted and don’t feel like we should have to, even if it means leaving here without one and moving onto Fiji and searching there. That being said, a restaurant owner here heard Drew was looking and he may or may not be interested in selling. So we’ve resorted to going to his restaurant for the past two days and we’re hoping to eventually wear him down and that we might be able to persuade him. If not, we’ll enjoy Karma’s spare for as long as they’ll allow us and we’ll move on and search in Fiji—-

    To top off the bars and restaurants there are birthday parties everywhere! Today we celebrate Allan’s 50th from s/v Lovesong and last Saturday Seth & Elizabeth of Honeymoon threw a joint birthday bash, which I made a cake for that turned out super yummy. Check out their website to read all about that as it was definitely a b-day extravaganza ! Yesterday Drew and I wandered over to Tonga Bob’s to work on the fellow with the dinghy only to find out that night the restaurant hosts a drag queen show for the Faka ladies of the island. Well we weren’t missing out on that and our bartender at the moment was going to be in the show. Drew went to the restroom and he proceeded to tell me that the two young gentlemen, roundabout 13 years old, in school uniforms who had been playing pool when we arrived told him to put something in Drew’s drink to make him woozy so that they could take me with them. I told Drew as soon as he came back and he brought to my attention that their name tags on their uniforms said prefects, meaning they were school leaders. Rather scary….goes to show that the strict religious foundation here in Tonga might be wavering a bit. We did in fact gather a group of other cruisers and ventured off to check out the show last night and our shy little bartender who’d served us up a couple of beers that afternoon was long gone and in his place was THE entertainer of the evening swinging from the rafters and lip synching to Celine Dion in panty hose, angel wings, and a diaper. HILARIOUS! We were all in tears from laughing so hard and it was a great night. There is little room for close minded people in the cruising world, trust me.

    We’re off to cruise the island with Lovesong, Karma, Zen, & Flashback today in 4 wheel drive buggies for Allan’s birthday. Tonight a birthday dinner of fresh mahi auctioned off on the local VHF net this morning to raise money for the hospital. I cannot tell you how awesome it is to finally be reunited with folks we hadn’t seen in several months. It’s like seeing family again, in a sense, as you can develop such close relationships with other cruisers. No doubt, there will be plenty of memories taken away from this place and mom, I’ll do better so that I can remember them all : )