Wedding trip

Log Book Update 13/11/10!
Gaualofa Overnight Sail Apia-Sinalei

Gaualofa has sailed from Apia to Sinalei on the Saturday morning the 13th of November; they reached Sinalei late Saturday night. The Vaá is in the South end of Upolu to host its very first wedding, today Monday the 15th.
The entire crew and members of the Samoan Voyaging Society would like to congratulate Iosefa and Siko Percival on their special day and wish them all the best on their journey through life’s great joys.
yeah just look at the terminator, when he said he'll be back I didn't expect him to come back as a senator. lol

NZ Sailors

Log Book 27/09/10

Torbay Yacht Club Sailors

Gaualofa and her crew took a group from the Apia Yacht Club out for a sail. This group included NZ kids who were on a youth sailing exchange with the yacht club. The kids are from Torbay Yacht Club, New Zealand. This club is renown for hosting the Sir Peter Blake Regatta every year. Marc (Skipper of Gaualofa) set the course to a sandbar (outside the lagoon next to the village of Letogo) 6 nmi north east from Apia, a great swimming spot, anchorage and spot a turtle or two. Winds were blowing north easterly at 15 knots with northern swells, so we were averaging 8 knots. There were a few green faces on the way, until we arrived to our destination. Lunch was served as soon as we had arrived and then the exploring of the sandbar and its surroundings commenced. It was a shorter and less bumper sail back to Apia harbour. Everyone had enjoyed the sail but had especially enjoyed the refreshing swim.

Overnight Sail with Apia Yacht Club

Log Book 06/09/10

Overnight Sail with AYC

Saturday morning was a beautiful day for a sail. Winds were blowing northeast at 10-12 knots, north swells of about 3 meters high. The Gaualofa and her crew were asked to be the support vessel for a sailing trip the Apia Yacht Club had arranged for the weekend. We had a few guests on board as well. There were 4 lasers and two hobie cats, a 14 and 16 which consisted of the fleet. Marc, set the course for a sandbar that we regularly sail to, which is NE from Apia ca. 7 miles from our point of origin, Mulinuu peninsular, so we were all on a beat. It took us about 3 hours to get to the sandbar and by then we were all hungry and overheated. After setting up the smaller boats for moorage a late lunch was made by the Gaualofa crew. Michael and Beniot (hobie sailors from AYC) set up camp on the sandbar to which everyone joined later as the yacht club sailors had arranged to a BBQ. Night was hitting fast and after a few camp stories around the fire we all called it a night and retreated back to Gaualofa for a proper night’s rest. The following morning, Sunday, we were all up and gearing for the sail back. After a great breakfast prepared by all, after sighting a few turtles we all rigged up ready to begin our sailing for the day. As the winds didn’t change much it was a run back to the Apia harbour. It took us less than an hour to sail back all keeping close to each other. The Gaualofa crew is still receiving thank you letters from our guests during the weekend. A big MALO LAVA to all!!!

Discovering Tokelau by the stars.

24 August 10 Since our last trip the crew of Gaualofa set a heading for Tokelau but this trip has a twist. We set sail without the use of a compass, GPS, maps or a watch to tell time. It’s the next step towards personal development for each crew member into the chapter of sailing, traditional navigation.
There was two parts to the training;
The first part was to prepare in chronological order the stars and planets we will be using to arrive into Tokelau. We were fortunate to have on board a traditional navigator from Tokelau but the entire crew required the skills to identify the key stars and planets to have a clear understanding of the navigators choice of heading.
The second part of the training was to determine the va’a speed in order to estimate distance travelled this is called a “speed check”.

We measured a point from the bow of the va’a to astern of the va’a. With that distance we use the white wash from the breaking waves at the bow of the va’a to count how many seconds it take to reach the point astern. With that we broke each second into estimated knots to determine speed, for example a 6 second speed check would establish that we are travelling at an average speed of 8 knots.
Each voyage is broken down in shifts by three watch teams. Each team works three hours with the two remaining teams on six hour rest. Each watch group is lead by a watch captain who is in-charge of performing speed checks every hour of their shift.


We collate the information collected to keep us on our heading to our final destination. How smart were our ancestors aye! It is an important piece of knowledge that is vital to our culture. How cool is that? We didnt use electronic instruments.

In search of the Kingdom.

25 July 2010
Talofa supports (smiles)
It has been a while since our last entry but we are back online full throttle. Following on from our last entry in May the keen crew of the Va’a Gaualofa and the executive committee of the Samoa Voyaging Society decided to sail to Nukualofa, Tonga.

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The opportunity came about through the whale watching training to take place in Tonga. This was organised by Ocean Noise Production (ONP) for the skippers and first mate of each participating va’a from the Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Tahiti, and yours truly Samoa. Being the enthusiastic environmental advocates we thought we would minimise the carbon footprint of two crew members flying into two countries by sailing with a full crew. The trip to Nukualofa also proved a valuable opportunity for training for old crew and new.

The president of the Samoa Voyaging Society, Tuatagaloa Joe Annandale joined the crew as it has been a long life dream for the president and founding member of the society. Tuatagaloa Joe Annandale’s additional purpose was to attend the coronation of the King of Tonga.

Log Book 25/07/10
Crew: Marc, Tuatagaloa Joe, Ewan, John, Waine, Fani, Fa’apau, Koleni, Siaosi, Kalolo, Senio, Tuafale, Ioe, Ieremia, Billi, Fa’aleaga.

Set sail from Apia Marina at 1400hrs west of Upolu pass Apolima Island searing her traditional rig.
Once we passed the convergence current zone in the leeway shore of Upolu we started heading south for Nukualofa.
Only managed to catch half a fish the other half we shared with a shark (dumb shark!).
Day one, a historical trip as it is the first official international voyage for Gaualofa as well as our president Tuatagaloa Joe.
End entry.



Log Book 26/07/10
Crew: Marc, Tuatagaloa Joe, Ewan, John, Waine, Fani, Fa’apau, Koleni, Siaosi, Kalolo, Senio, Tuafale, Ioe, Ieremia, Billi, Fa’aleaga.

It’s day two and the wind has decided to change from East to South South East and just for the fun of it, just to spice things up she decides to change again to blow South straight in front of us. We adapt to the situation and follow the wind taking us towards Vava’u.
We arrive into the Vava’u group at 2100hrs and enter anchorage in front of Neiafu at 2230hr. It’s raining and squalling when we anchor but the crew break out in song lead by Tuatagaloa Joe with his ukulele and guitar till 0100hrs.
End entry. (Yawn)



Log Book 09/08/10 to 12/08/10
Crew: Marc, Ewan, John, Waine, Fani, Fa’apau, Koleni, Siaosi, Kalolo, Senio, Tuafale, Ioe, Ieremia, Billi, Fa’aleaga.

Guest: Iren, Spainish (captain of Newromancer yacht), Tibault, French (first mate of Newromancer).

We have been sailing between the Vava’u group islands and it is a sailors paradise. There is always shelter which is open to the wind but protected from deep ocean swell - it is a sailors cherry on the cake. We have been spending our time getting to know the locals of Neiafu, training, and building team sprit within the crew.
We’ve been repetitively practicing manoeuvres such as tacking, man over board, coastal navigation, and anchoring drills.The training has been tough, useful, and well worth it. Definitely a great place for training.
End entry

Log Book 13/08/10
Crew: Marc, James, Ewan, John, Waine, Fani, Fa’apau, Koleni, Siaosi, Kalolo, Senio, Tuafale, Ioe, Ieremia, Billi, Fa’aleaga.

If you are the superstitious type then this entry might feel a little scary because it is Friday the 13th and we are setting sail to return home to Samoa. We are joined by another crew member and secretary of the Samoa Voyaging Society James Atherton on the journey home.
We depart Neiafu leaving behind two crew members of Gaualofa to work on board va’a Hine Moana undertaking whale watching trips to increase training and experience.
It is said that the most important part of the day is breakfast so what better way to start Friday the 13th than a hearty breakfast of crepes, cinnamon buns, and coffee with our Tongan friends and colleagues from Hine Moana. After Breakfast we farewell our friends, then kick them off our va’a, and set sail around Neiafu to farewell everyone before heading towards Afi ava from there we set our heading North North East towards Samoa.
End entry.


Log Book 14/08/10
Crew: Marc, James, Ewan, John, Waine, Fani, Fa’apau, Koleni, Siaosi, Kalolo, Senio, Tuafale, Ioe, Ieremia, Billi, Fa’aleaga.

We arrive into Samoa anchoring in Apia after passing the international dateline experiencing Friday the 13th twice and a 40 hour trip travelling at an average speed of eight knots.
It’s great to be back and we are welcomed back with a warm and delicious dinner prepared by the society, family, and supporters.
Till next time, end entry. (Yummy)