Samoa's Vaatele Gaualofa back to sea

Talofa lava to our family of Voyagers, Malo lava le soifua manuia.

My humble apologies for being quiet in more than year due to lots of works that needed done on land in maintenance of Gaualofa, preparing crew, awareness programs and much more into sustaining our mission.

She's returned home proudly flying her five stars again into foreign seas.

It's a very hot Thursday afternoon, October 2nd 2014, when Samoa's Vaatele Gaualofa, raises her sails again for another open ocean voyage.


Her sister Canoe, Marumaru Atua from the Cook Islands accompanies her.

Before their departure, both crews receive traditional blessings from His Highness the Head of State, Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi. His Highness is the Patron for the Aiga Folau o Samoa (Samoa Voyaging Society).

while her Highness Filifilia Tamasese prepares a hearty breakfast to remember.

Galumalemana Steve Percival takes photos inside and outside their Highness's residence, Tuaefu in remembrance of the event.

In his farewell address, His Highness, acknowledges the contribution of Dieter and Hanna Pullman of Germany to our Pacific people. The canoes remind him of their (Pullman's) commitments to preserving our oceans, our environments and the future of our people.

The two vans on standby take voyagers back to the beach.

There, the crew of Samoas Vaatele Gaualofa, receives a briefing on their environmental duties at sea from James Atherton Environment Consultant. He reminds them on the importance in logging all necessary things they observe. South Pacific Regional Environment Program ( SPREP) sponsors this part of their mission together with Conservation International (CI)

It was time for them to leave the city of Apia, when they all gathered under the nearest shade on the beach for a cultural prayer from the father figure on Gaualofa, Chief, Lavata'i Mailagi.

Traditionally, the land crew, families, and friends of Samoa's Vaatele Gaualofa, present, each of the crew members on both canoes, with the most popular fragrance mosooi lei.

Marumaru Atua is ten minutes ahead of her sister Gaualofa, now heading to Fiji.

Faafetai i lau tapua'iga,
Ma ia manuteleina le tatou folauga.
Leilua.

7th August 2012

“You must be dreaming. Are you joking? Get that idea out of your head and get back to what you were doing.”

Have you heard this somewhere before? Sometimes the seed of the idea, the beginning of the dream, ends right there. But then maybe it could sound like “hang on a minute I can do that”. I could go to the library; I could look on the internet; I can talk or mix with people who know; I can ready myself or do some training; I can advertise myself to the right people.

Listening to some of the crew in the fleet and here on Gaualofa has been humbling in this respect. Both similar and different. Similar because whether intentional or not most of us voyagers started with a dream then tried real hard to make it a reality. Different is , our separate journeys and reasons, which could be: to travel, to find our heritage, to experience life on a traditional canoe, traditional navigation, ocean conservation, to be an example for family….. Your reason is yours and so is your dream. Fight for it.

We are really looking forward to arriving in Tuvalu (just 150 nm to go) and meeting with the people. Also having our first land wish. Mine is to drink a coconut. Anama says she can’t wait to have a snowflake. Lole says his is pavlova , John wants a coconut crab, Bruce wants fruit like maybe an orange, Kim wants a freshly baked chocolate chippie and cold milk, Jordan wants green tea ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. Taleni wants pig ears. Senio wants ufi.

Soifua
Andrew Banse and Gaualofa  crew

Life onboard

A warm breeze caresses the deck of our va'a as we cruise steadily across calm seas. Praise God that for the first time in a while the wind is allowing us to sail almost directly toward our destination of Tuvalu, after awkward gusts and sudden wind shifts had had us literally sailing in circles over the past few days. Someone's prayers have obviously been answered on our behalf! And we are grateful.
 
We are now two weeks into our journey home to Samoa, and have yet to see any land. The captain says that we might reach our next stop by the end of the week, and all on board are eager to re-acquaint themselves with the solid earth for a few days. Meanwhile, on board we are living Life at Sea: we read, we write; some study while others entertain themselves and each other with songs and other musical antics. We bake in the midday sun while praying for a cooling respite of rain, and we hope for clear stars and a warming breeze at night. We fish, we eat; we sit back and watch as our belly’s grow softer. We wash dishes, bathe, and swab the deck in salt water. We talk sometimes of base things such as what delicacies might next emerge from Lole's magical fry pan for dinner; and we converse at other times on elevated themes such as how to improve the lives of our people, and what noble purpose might our lives serve upon completing our current sojourn upon our mother Gaualofa. Thus we sail on...

 At the moment it is 3am, my watch shift is done, and the moon sets upon our stern while Orion slowly rises from beyond our bow. Perhaps we should enjoy one more peanut butter cracker and another 'ukulele singalong before bed...or maybe just bed.

 

Sending love to you all.

Bruce and Gaualofa crew.

Remembering those we met on the journey

Good morning from roughly 435nm East of Tuvalu. 


Today is day 15 on the ocean, 3 days longer than first anticipated. Such is the case with voyaging. I have to say, I kinda prefer how our ancestors did it … sail ‘til you see land or run out of stuff to eat. None of this ETA and sailplan stuff. It takes the anticipation out of the equation.


Last night was a quiet night on Gaualofa, after a squally Friday night. Looking at our sail path over the last 48 hours, I noticed a couple of loop-de-loops on the screen – the first being from Friday night when the squalls won 3-1 over our shift’s attempts at tacking (our lone point comes from collecting a little over 50 litres of rainwater, a hard-won bonus). The second loop happened yesterday afternoon when we took the opportunity to re-patch a sail while the winds were light. Andrew and I took turns at sewing the relatively long tear, and I have to admit that Andrew’s stitches were much neater than mine. The only person who would be more horrified than my Form 2 Home Economics teacher at the state of my sewing skills, would be my mum (when we were growing up she could sew a dress perfectly, blindfolded). In any case we slapped on a length of sail tape over the sewed up bits. You know, just to be safe.


Like I said, last night was pretty quiet on board, with most people disappearing below deck after dinner. I guess the wind got taken out of our sails, both literally and figuratively. Nick, our fearless leader, posted up daily Easting targets on the whiteboard, putting our arrival to Tuvalu at this coming Friday (hopefully, with fingers crossed, and a multitude of prayers muttered into the wind). So, it’s understandable that people would need a little time to recharge and adjust to the new ETA. Sure, Gaualofa has done longer stints at sea, but it might have something to do with being homeward bound and the painfully slow progress we’ve made up to this point.


To other news, story time continues to be a daily hit. Since Jordan‘s post, we’ve had French language lessons, a couple of singalongs, a fitness demonstration (Kalolo’s attempt at getting the crew involved in more physical activity), and a fair bit of sharing. The other day, we turned our minds and memories to the people that have touched our lives at the various stops we’ve made - strangers who have opened up their homes to this ragtag bunch of voyagers. We’ll always be grateful to the people that made this voyage possible – Dieter and Hanna Paulmann, their hardworking logistics team, the Voyaging Societies, and many, many more. But, there are also those people who, at every stop we’ve made, have made each port feel that much more like home by their kindness and generosity. We each shared memories of total strangers who had, by their actions, forever earned a place in our individual voyaging stories. And, there were so many. There are so many. People that we can’t always put a name to, but can picture in our minds, with sincere gratitude.


A hearty handshake,
a welcome embrace,
a hot shower,
a place to sleep,
the chance to kick back amongst homey surroundings.
A meal here,
a drink or two there,
a token gift to remember a person and place by.


Strangers who have become friends,
friends who have grown into family.
Eager listeners who soak up our so-called adventures,
curious and in awe of our day-to-day lives on the va’a.
People who dream of what we do.
People who accept us as something we often lose sight of – voyagers from afar.
People who, through their kindness and generosity, have given us a place to call home so far away from our own.
People to whom we are most thankful.
Fa’afetai, fa’afetai tele lava.


Collectively, we can only hope to one day return the kindness that has been shown to us, if not pay it forward.


And with that, breakfast beckons. Lole has baked some delicious smelling bread to go with coffee, perfect for the drizzle and overcast weather that seems to be the order of the day. 


Wishing you all a peaceful Sunday, and an awesome week ahead at work and school.


Much love from somewhere along 7 degrees South and 171 degrees East.
Anama Solofa & the Gaualofa crew.

Family - on board and at home

Aiga folau a Samoa.  My current family here on board Gaualofa.  As the days draw on, I can feel us all growing closer and closer just like our canoe inches closer to Tuvalu.  Every day for the past couple of days we have been having story time just before we eat dinner.  We each take turns telling stories, giving demonstrations, and teaching one another a little more about ourselves.  We have laughed, cried, argued, been scolded, and grown just like any other family.  We have heard triumphant stories of survival in horrid situations, learned how to make toffee, give foot massages, and today I taught the crew how to start dreadlocks by giving Taleni one!  I am learning more Samoan everyday and learning more about where my mother’s family comes from.  


We passed the half way point to Tuvalu recently and are praying for more wind to blow us in the right direction to get to Tuvalu in a timely manner.  We are currently creeping along going about 2-3kts and with the wind sometimes straight from the east, we have to tack north and south struggling to keep us going somewhat in the right direction.  The refreshing squalls come in everyone once in a while giving Gaualofa and her crew a nice fresh water rinse and replenishing our water supplies.


It’s a beautiful clear night tonight, with the moon and stars shining down on us.  There is a nice breeze coming in, and the boys are playing their ukuleles and guitars and singing songs from back home.  I think it’s time I get off the computer and join them.  I just want to send my love to all my aiga ma uo back home in the South Bay of LA and in Arizona.  


Miss you all, talk to you guys soon!
Blessing from somewhere in the south Pacific,
Jordan Suyeto and the Gaualofa Crew

Gaualofa - Tacking her way to Tuvalu

It's been seven days now since we left the Solomon Islands, and for most of that time we have been fighting very strong sea and wind conditions; not to mention having been constantly wet from the squalls and the waves that have been breaking over the va'a. At night, it is so dark in these conditions and the wind so strong, that the wind-driven rain is hurting when it hits you in the face. Up till now, we are still fighting upwind, tacking our way to Tuvalu.

In the last two days the winds have eased off, bringing Gaualofa to a crawling speed of just 2.5 knots. Slow as it is, it's given us time to recover and regain our strength, and enjoy a much needed rest.

Late yesterday evening, to lift our spirits, I landed a massive yellowfin tuna. It was a good fight on the hand line; everyone crowded to see what was on the end of the line, and when it was landed there was a great shout of "cheeeehoooo!". It weighted 60 plus kilos cheeeehoooo! We had a feast - a tuna feast. You name it, we had it: curried tuna, sashimi, oka, poke, fried fish, flaked tuna with onion and mayo on crackers - all washed down with a nice ice-cold Vailima....... now there's a thought for when we arrive in Samoa! It's strange how a cup of coffee can taste out here. As always, it was amazing as to how Lole, our cook, made that tuna taste different in so many ways.

With still 667 nautical miles to go, tacking our way to Tuvalu, we are asking you to keep us in your prayers for a favourable wind as we on Gaualofa endeavour to make Samoa proud.

Tofa soifua,

John Misky & the Gaualofa crew.

Knots, sunrises and fish!

We’ve been a little light on blog entries of late. I put it down to post-Festival of Pacific Arts exhaustion. But things are well on their way to getting back to normal on Gaualofa. A few of us left Honiara with sniffles and slight ‘flu, most of which have cleared thanks to Lole’s intuitive cooking of soups and belly-warming stews. The sometimes squally weather we’ve encountered so far ain’t got nothin’ on Lole’s ability to keep the crew well-fed and heart healthy. So far this leg, we’ve covered roughly 360 nautical miles since leaving Point Cruz Yacht Club on Saturday. At this rate, we hope to arrive in Funafuti before the end of next week.

Sailing has sometimes been changeable, almost as frequent as the change of watch crews. On the first night out, John’s watch weathered a storm that caused a slight tear in one of our sails. By the time our watch came up, all was calm on deck. But then again, we’ve had our fair share of squalls and rain showers that the next watch happily avoid. Such is life on the watch merry-go-round. Yesterday afternoon, with the sails set just so and the winds holding steady, we were able to tie down the foe and enjoy auto-foe for the rest of the day. A productive afternoon in the sun saw pretty much the whole crew on deck practicing knots. Kim and I are being put through Kalolo’s school of hard knots after our skills were found to be a little, shall we say, untidy. Our bowline exam was set for yesterday, but I think there may be a few resits, what with Kalolo relishing his role as school teacher/taskmaster (maybe a little too much?).

As I write this entry, dawn is breaking on the horizon. The 3-6am shift is, I find, the hardest and the best shift – hard because it’s the second shift our watch crew has done in one night, but best because we get to see the transition from pitch black night to the start of another day on the ocean. Kalolo has just set our fishing lines for the first time since setting out for Tuvalu. Here’s hoping we catch some fish soon, I’ve got a craving for sashimi. We’ve had a few flying fish land on the deck the past couple of nights, but their small sizes meant they were returned unharmed to the sea … if somewhat regretfully by the boys. Another flying fish has just been discovered near the bow, a decent sized one this time, but again discarded because it seems to have lain undiscovered overnight. Oh well, the oka-cravers will just have to wait a little longer.

I wonder how the other vakas are doing. It’s been a little over a week since we said our goodbyes on Ranadi Beach in Honiara and we hear they’ve had a rough time of it so far. I hope the winds and weather are kinder to them as they set out for their respective destinations. While still in Honiara someone said to me ‘in a few weeks this will all be a dream’. Thinking back, the last two weeks in Honiara alone were like an activity-filled, multi-cultural, technicolour dream. I’ve been on Gaualofa going on 6 weeks now and have collected so many awesome memories already … and we’ve still got Tuvalu and Tokelau to go!

Well, that’s it from us this Friday. Lole has started on breakfast, my favourite meal of the day, so I’m off to wash up and see if I can get some bowline practice in before Kalolo remembers that Kim bore the brunt of much of his ‘lecturing’ yesterday, and decides that today is to be my turn.

Manuia lava feau ole aso.

Alofaaga mai le auvaa ole Gaualofa.

Anama Solofa

Looks like the crew got what they were hoping for :)