Get Lost On Purpose

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  • Living in the moment

    Living on a boat is interesting. Drew and I usually find ourselves to be one of few couples, or groups, in our age bracket that have chosen to spend this time in our lives sailing. Most people whose waves you cross out here are closer to our parents age and this has been their dream for as long as they can remember…often times longer than Drew or myself have been alive. We constantly try to remove our feet from our mouths, having to say “oh…we didn’t mean it that way” when we refer to the older age bracket of most of our fellow travelers. There is never an ounce of disrespect in our words. Just blatant fact. It’s okay mom and dad…god willing, Drew and I will be listening to our kids do the same thing one day.

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    However, believe me…there may be a few more years notched on their belts but whatever the age, be it 40, 50, 60, or even 70…EVERYONE OUT HERE IS YOUNG AT HEART.

    Truth is…whether you’ve had this dream for thirty years, or ten, there is a connection you find amongst yourselves, no matter the age difference, unlike that of anything I have ever experienced. The more I learn about sailing the more I’ll be able to participate in conversations but for now, I mostly sit back and listen to Drew and our newest companions (usually males) talk about types of engines, outboard motors, dinghys, satellites, weather patterns. All the while laughing to myself as they each try to hide behind their polarized sunglass lenses when the occasional female walks by on the dock or glides by in in a boat. And even though I might not understand it all just yet, my heart is happy because there is never a time that Drew’s face lights up more than it does when he is talking about his pride and joy, Dosia

    We often get the questions that you would normally expect people to ask us–how are you able to do this at such a young age…how can you afford it…what do your parents think about you being all the way out here…(the inevitable) how did you guys meet (we always have fun telling that one)…what about jobs…are you nervous to go back at the end and basically start all over…

    We cant, and won’t lie, that returning back to the states after our journey is over (whenever that shall be) is scary. We pretty much know our life as far as November and even that is not set in stone. After that’s its an open book. Drew does his best to keep us in a position where we will not go home to nothing but you do find yourself faced with the fact that according to the “norm” we should be settling down, focusing on careers, saving money, etc.

    I have not had the pleasure to meet the couple below, Antonia and Peter, just yet, or their one and a half year old son, Silas, who has joined in their journey and is now on their boat with them. Drew met them in the boatyard in Ecuador. They are now getting ready to leave New Zealand and move to Fiji on their boat. And we want to introduce you to them because she is hands down one of the funniest and best blog writers we have ever come across. I wanted to correlate this blog in with one that she wrote and it all has to do with the many questions we face spending these years in our lives on a boat. I have never heard it said better…

    “The first time I decided to go sailing, it was 1999, and everyone who knew their way around a computer was busy making their first million, while I savvily decided to drop out on a sailboat in the Caribbean. This earned me a net profit of zero dollars, though it did set my life on a fairly consistent path of seeking more boats on which to drop out, spoiling any long-term career ambitions I may once have had and ensuring that any money I ever made would quickly be squandered on marinized stainless steel and underwater epoxy.

    But now I’m thirty-four years old, a real grown-up, a mother. Silas is just learning how to walk. I should be shopping for the best preschool, working my way up the corporate ladder, saving for college and retirement, buying a home and a better car and acquiring a mortgage. Or at least, that’s what the pictures on TV tell me I should be doing.

    But one day ten years ago, while sailing through the Bahamas, I leaned backwards over the lifelines and I saw: the pink sky at dawn over a rose-tinted sea. The sun glimmering over the horizon and the moon, watchful in the heavens. I had the sensation of skimming over the surface of a water-washed planet, a human with a place in an intricate cosmos.

    That’s what I want to give my son.”

    Cheers to that.

  • Still anchored in Teahupoo

    Agh…I’ve got a case of writers block. Maybe it’s because we’ve had a pretty quiet week here on Dosia. Right now Drew’s off trying to get some good live shots on camera of the surfers out on Teahupoo. I usually use alone time like this on the boat to lay out on the bow, get some sun, write a new blog post or in my journal, and blast the iPod to greats like Chicago, Journey, or Lionel Richie. What? Don’t judge me. Lionel Richie will never go out style in my book.

    To be honest, the surfing competition is not measuring up to what I had in mind. As a spectator sport, I’m going to go ahead and throw it in there with the likes of golf, or tennis. No disrespect to any sports or those who like any individual one more than others. To some, I’m sure surfing is edge of your seat entertainment. Unfortunately for myself, I’m finding that even 45 guys with washboard abs and perfect tans isn’t enough to hold my attention for more than an hour or so. Now is when we really wish our fellow traveler, Kyber, who’s cruising on his boat Natural Mystic, were here so maybe he could explain things to us and I would be more into it.

    I remember caring less about football until I was about 13 and my dad explained to me what it meant to play the game. Hooked. Now if I had a magic genie grant me three wishes, one would be that I could be a college football player just for one day so I could play in a football game between the hedges on a sunny Athens Saturday. Man…that’s got to be one of the greatest feelings in the world. Much the same, I would imagine, for these guys who have found a passion for the water.

    Anyway, I think we both assumed this would be more of a party atmosphere…bands jamming out on the docks, people hanging out, meeting some new folks. After the competition on Saturday we went over to the marina and there was a band but poor things…no one was there and those who were were not paying a lick of attention to them. We stayed for a song or two, drank our two beers we’d come with, and went back to the boat. The one party that did go on that night was on a boat sponsored by Billabong and it happened to anchor about 50 feet from us. For that night we were going to live vicariously through the music, hoots, and hollars that were coming from that private party across the way.

    Ah, we did come across one new person. Saturday night about ten (I was already watching the back of my eyelids) I hear Drew scream “HEY” out of nowhere. Turns out he heard something outside the boat and looked up out of the hatch above the bed and found himself face to face with some guy. We still aren’t sure what he was up to because as soon as Drew jumped out of the hatch the guy pushed back, cranked up his dinghy, and took off. He obviously had some intention because he used oars to get himself close enough to the deck of the boat instead of motoring over. Guess he wasn’t quiet enough. Maybe he thought we were on the party boat next door or something. Next thing I know Drew’s in our dinghy chasing after him. Never caught him but it was a little spooky. I’m sure he was just some drunk guy trying to sneak a peek or try and snag a gas can off the deck. Regardless, usually anybody and everybody is welcome to come aboard and hang out with us on Dosia but I think homeboy blew his chance.

    Not real sure if we’re going to stick around for the rest of the competition or not. We may move on and check out some other parts of the island. Since it’ll only take a few more days, I think we are going to do the full lap around Tahiti. Hoping to find some hiking to stretch the legs a little.

    We got to call both of our moms and Drew’s Nanny yesterday but we want to take the chance to say Happy Mother’s Day to all our followers. Hope you all had a great one yesterday : )

  • Chillin in Teahupoo

    It’s been easy living these last few days in Teahupoo. I’ve been working on the dinghy motor trying to figure out the mysterious problem in the fuel system that’s slowing us down. Wednesday afternoon I was sitting in the dinghy, cover off the motor, with a completely puzzled look on my face. I look up and see a guy on an approaching boat holding up a good size yellowfin tuna. Judging from the endless stack of 100+ pounders inside the boat, he was looking to unload some of the smaller catch and we were the first takers he ran into on the way back to the marina. So we found ourselves with more than enough free tuna for the next few days. I grilled some last night with a lemon pepper and butter sauce and today I can’t seem to stay out of the soy and wasabi. This stuff would be so pricey in the states and even in the store in Papeete, but down here random guys we never met before just stop by and hand it over like they owe it to us. You don’t really know hospitality till you visit these islands.

    Yesterday was the official opening of the Billabong Pro and today was the first day of surfing. Although the contest runs from May 9-20, they only surf three full days. I assume they choose the days based on the weather systems lurking to the south that affect the break along this coast. Everyone tunes into the major radio station at 6:30AM to find out whether that day has been chosen for the competition. We don’t really need to turn the radio on since we’re anchored right along the channel from the marina to the pass where the break is.  Many of the surfers and most all of the media and spectators gather at the marina to catch boats out to the inlet so by 7AM the size of the wake from passing boats rocking us around is our best indicator of competition days. It was the same deal for the trials which took place last week while we were anchored here.

    Margie and I aren’t the most seasoned surfing spectators but we’re learning. We take the dinghy out to the pass, tie onto one of the buoys, and try to eavesdrop on the boats next to us to find out who’s surfing, why he didn’t take that wave, and how in the hell this thing is scored. We finally figured out the scoring but as for who’s surfing, we’re probably surrounded by professionals and we haven’t a clue who they are. We’re flashing pics of everyone with hopes of making identifications later when we have a good internet connection. The only person I’m certain I’ll recognize is Kelly Slater from his days on Baywatch. It’s pretty cool there’s no roped off areas. This morning we pulled up and practically tied off to one of the Billabong media boats where they interview the surfers after they compete. The unique line up at Teahupoo also allows for the regular spectator to get some pretty good photos.

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    We put up a bunch of new photos in our Flickr Photostream. Check em out whenever you get a chance. Also, if you’re interesting in watching the competition live on the web go to http://billabong.manaspot.pf At least that’s where we can watch it for free from the boat. I assume you can access the site from out of the country.

  • Some Photos from the South Pacific

    Here’s some photos from around Teahupoo we took yesterday! It was the most colorful sunset we’ve seen yet. That’s the media and announcer stand for the Teahupoo Billabong Pro in the third pic.
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