By admin | Published:
July 17, 2012
Once upon a time I was visiting the Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamanship, and somebody asked if I wanted a tour of Alaska Eagle. No big deal, but why not? And then there I was, walking the deck, prowling below, and this feeling crept over me. Gosh. Alaska Eagle. Ex-Flyer. Round the [...]
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July 16, 2012
It’s billed as the largest boat ever built in Vava’u, and it is sailing now after a six-month build in the fisheries shed at Halaevalu Wharf, Neiafu. Named for the Kingdom of Tonga’s beloved Queen Salote Tupou III, whose 46-year rule began at the age of 18 and ended in 1966, here is the new [...]
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April 20, 2012
Here is an updated timetable for Saturday’s memorial to the crew lost aboard Low Speed Chase: The event has shifted into BELVEDERE COVE AND RACCOON STRAITS A detailed link is HERE All participating boats are asked to turn on running lights All participants shall wear Personal Floatation Devices Schedule: 1845 Gather to the southeast of [...]
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February 23, 2012
A San Francisco treat since 2004, the Ocean Film Festival is growing in new directions, and you should know. Will it go international come 2013? Don’t bet against it, and meanwhile there is a pre-event on Friday, February 24 at the Aquarium of the Bay to launch their first Evening of Sailing with three shorts [...]
By admin | Published:
January 30, 2012
Number one question of the day: WHAT IS IT? Answer of the day number one: Plankton. Number two question of the day: Who sailed 27 of 31 days last October? Answer of the day number two: The schooner Seaward, operated by Call of the Sea, an educational nonprofit focused on marine sciences, nautical heritage, and [...]
By admin | Published:
September 27, 2011
A while back I challenged readers to name a regatta that in just three years became the biggest annual festival in its island state. The answer was, and is, Regatta Vava’u & Festival. Northernmost of the island groups in the Kingdom of Tonga, Vava’u has whales, reefs for the diving, beaches (though not as many [...]
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September 12, 2011
We could consider it the good news that I started out watching Monday Night Football during Tuesday lunch, live on the Tongan side of the International Date Line. The scene was the Aquarium Café, Neiafu, Vava’u with a brace of new friends. We could consider it the bad news that the score was 14-7 in [...]
By admin | Published:
September 7, 2011
Quick, now. Name a regatta that became the biggest festival in its island state in just three years. Where pigs range free. Where the King banned all whaling in 1979. Where a Catholic schoolboy’s uniform mandates the long, wraparound skirt called a tupenu. Where protected sailing waters know nothing of the sea state in (another [...]
By admin | Published:
August 7, 2011
It was a hopping weekend, of course, with the opening races of the America’s Cup World Series in Cascais, Portugal, and that worked, but I am not going to attempt to add to those doings in this space, today. Let me take the day off, instead, by way of pointing out that the six vaca [...]
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June 29, 2011
I’ve never met her personal-like, but what’s not to “Like” in someone who sailed her 28-foot boat around the world, witnessed a lot of damage—to islands, coral, people—and then joined up with Oceans Watch to contribute her drop in the bucket about it. As I write, Donna Lange is someplace south of Andros Island, en [...]