Up at 4 am, in the rental car by 4:44 am. This is no ordinary road trip. The crew is psych’d.
Cape Lookout
Our first stop after leaving the Palm Beach area was at Cape Lookout in North Carolina, just south of Cape Hatteras. We’d stopped there en route to Boston mainly to wait out a storm that would be passing through the Boston area, but it turned out to be an excellent anchorage. We toured the Cape…
Bedding, fillets & tape
Sorry it’s been a few days with no words. Things just sorta got in the way I guess. Jeep needs a new clutch and when I was at the garage to arrange that the old Camaro wouldn’t start! I guess if you’re going to break down the garage is the best place. …
Sea Mercy – One Water Tank at a Time
SEA MERCY – ONE WATER TANK AT A TIME
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| Dirk (S/V PEREGRINE) inspects the 300 yards of garden hose suspended over the reef – No snag, please! |
Susui Island – June 18, 2016
One of the main hardships after a hurricane wipes out a village is the lack of fresh water. It may be raining but there is no water to be had. In most of the villages of Vanua Balavu, the main source of water is rain catchment from the roofs into large water tanks. No roof, no gutter, no water tank = no water. It will be months before the community centers, churches and homes have new roofs and gutters. Indeed, our Sea Mercy Recovery team has asked for roofing and guttering for the villages in dire needs. But what to do in the meantime?
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| Living in precarious conditions, to say the least |
Our team has identified 3 villages in critical need, all on islands off of the main island of Vanua Balavu: Avea, Susui, and Cikobia.
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| Stern anchor into the reef, as close as we dare, it took a team to set-up the delivery |
Two weeks ago, the super yacht NOMADESS delivered 6,000 liters in Avea and Cikobia, and 8,000 liters in Susui. But in spite of rationing the population to 1 liter/person/day, the villages are running out of water. So, our little fleet rallied to see what we could do.
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| In Avea, no more water catchment… living in makeshift tin houses |
AVEA – Located Northeast of Vanua Balavu, Avea is a small, low island, where 330 people fight to survive. When we arrived, the cisterns were almost empty.
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| Portable water maker, solar panels, pumps… let’s get it to shore |
One team of engineers worked on setting up the water maker stored on board DOMINO and soon they were pumping water out of the brackish water well and turning it into fresh water, slowly filling the main tank at the center of the village.
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| In Avea, let’s fill this cistern! |
Meanwhile, DOMINO was moving into position, dropping anchor in front of the village and backing close to the reef, a stern anchor set inside the reef. How do you deliver water? Strong from the experience on board NOMADESS, the Sea Mercy water team quickly deployed 200 yards of garden hose, floated them above the reef, dropped the end into the village’s 2nd water cistern.
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| Hard-hit Avea |
JP fired up the 12 KW Northern Light Genset, powered up the HORIZON Seafari HRO watermaker, and that was it! Water making at the rate 250l/hour – DOMINO pumped water for almost 14 hours (with a 2-hour break for shut-eyes) and delivered close to 3,500 liters of water, to the great joy of the locals who gave us an amazingly warm tea party and church ceremony, singing choir and all!
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| All the kids sang and danced for us! |
SUSUI – No sooner had we disconnected the hoses from Avea at 0800 and let the HRO rest a bit, we were en route for SUSUI, 11 miles south, where S/V PEREGRINE’s Dirk and Gretchen had prepared our arrival.
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| It’s just a short hop from Avea to Susui |
Under Dirk’s brilliant guidance, JP dropped anchor in front of the village, backed up in a small hook in the reef, and Dirk dropped our stern anchor as close to the reef as possible. But the bottom was rock-hard and I ended up diving the anchor, wedging it between dead coral heads, making sure that all the chain was flat on the bottom and that no line was caught into the rising coral heads. Piece of cake at low tide on a flat-calm day!
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| JP and I taking care to float the hose above the reef. |
Within minutes, our volunteers were stringing 300 yards of hose off our stern, once more floating them over the reef, and dropped the end into the cistern. By 11:30 we were pumping again.
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| A happy Jacob inspects our Horizon HRO water maker |
We pumped all day and most of the night, till the 3 PM the next day, some 23 hours of pumping and 5,600 liters of water. Jacob, the village’s mayor, helped us all day and night, keeping a night watch and calling us, checking on the water flow.
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| Jacob loved the power of our Northern Light genset |
On board, JP checked on the flow volume every 30 minutes, checking our tank’s level, adjusting the makeshift distribution valve for an even flow: no need to overflow or dry-out DOMINO’s tanks!
HOW LONG can the HRO pump? We have no idea! This was the first time we ran the water maker for so long and it worked beautifully.
Enough water? Not quite! The rest of the fleet had ran their own on-board water makers, delivering close to 1,000 liters in water jugs.
Once more, the villagers took care of us, with a nice kava ceremony and community dinner. We were blown away!
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| The villagers in Susui prepared a feast! |
Hopefully, this will hold the village till the roofing and guttering gets installed. Sea Mercy is shipping the materials and we can’t wait to see the roofing go up at the community centers!
CIKOBIA – This kind of water delivery operation demands flat calm conditions, which we had for the 3 days in Avea and Susui. But the wind kicked up and is not supposed to let up for the week to come. Cikobia is a tricky delivery, needing high tide in the middle of the day and glassy waters. Unfortunately, we were not able to deliver and the fleet is waiting for better conditions while the village is still rationed at 1 liter/day/person. They really need roofing, guttering, and a way to tap into their collapsed water source. To be followed.
If you want to help any of those 3 islands with
water makers and stream head pumping,
visit the
and make a donation for
VANUA BALAVU!
Thank you!
Until next time…
dominomarie
Sea Mercy Vanua Balavu – One step at a time
RECOVERY: ONE STEP AT A TIME
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| The school in Mua Levu (East Coast of Vanua Balavu) is just matchsticks |
Malaka Bay, Vanua Balavu,
June 5, 2016 (17*14.260S, 178*58.090W)
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| In Mua Levu, school is conducted under a UNICEF tent. Kids travel by long boat and open transport from 4 villages, rain or shine, no raincoat, no shoes |
When faced with such a massive disaster and a recovery process of such magnitude as Cyclone Winston, where do you start? How do you proceed?
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| What is left of the school in Avea… and the beach beyond it has been washed away |
SEA MERCY coordinates with major NGOs (Red Cross, UNICEF) as well as government agencies, and identifies gaps in the aid process. Since the organization is small, it is nimble and able not only to respond quickly to small needs but also to initiate long-term, inexpensive programs that benefit long-lasting recovery and self-sufficiency. That’s what we did this week with interventions in Loma Loma and Delaconi, Avea, Susui, and Cikobia.
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| Super Yacht NOMADESS came to the rescue |
When we toured Loma Loma last week, Dr. Malo —the hospital physician— asked for the women’s ward windows panes to be repaired, for the children’s ward to be repainted and for some linens for the beds. Within hours, our coordinator had relayed the need to NOMADESS, a super yacht coming our way. That yacht was only with us for 2 days, but what a powerhouse!
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| NOMADESS crew at work: repainting the hospital children’s ward |
The crew repainted the wards, fixed the windows, brought linen… but they didn’t stop there. They went on to the 3 islands in the lagoon in dire need of water. The situation in Cikobia was so dire that the islanders were ready to light up their emergency signal: a fire seen by the next island, then relayed to the mainland! Sea Mercy yachts Peregrine and Remedy relayed for immediate help!
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| Cikobia: filled 6,000 liters by jerry jug on long boats |
In 2 days, NOMADESS brought relief while using daring, exhausting means: 6,000 liters in Cikobia, 6,000 liters in Susui and 8,000 liters in Avea. TWO DAYS… and they were gone, having relieved the immediate water needs and worries of hundreds of islanders.
You can read the story at http://seamercy.org.
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| The crew of INTERLUDE IV babied the solar panels and water maker kit all the way from the mainland. DOMINO will deliver them to Avea for water making |
Right now, we are loading 2 water makers on DOMINO, complete with solar panels, pumps and hoses to deliver next week to Avea where one of our fleet yacht will monitor water making and refilling of the water tanks. Then, on to the next island!
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| Fitting the fishermen with more wetsuits from Dive Tutukaka, New Zealand |
Meanwhile, on the west coast of Vanua Balavu, DOMINO was preparing the next step: help the fishermen, improve the community gardens and start composting. It takes a lot of talking, meetings with the chiefs and the officials, respect for local customs and hierarchy, but once the rapport is established the people are eager to let us in.
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| Vanua Balavu’s agricultural officer gives JP the Thumbs Up on the Sea Mercy gardening program |
With the full accord of the local agricultural officer and spurring from the public health nurse, we went to work. Six of us met with the women’s club leaders and the school teachers.
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| In Mua Mua, clearing space for the 1st compost pile |
If JP thought he was pretty good with the machete when he started to clear the site for the compost pile, Mila showed him how to really use a machete! A few stick, and there we are, the first compost pile on the island… and more to come, in each of the 12 villages!
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| First compost pile in Malaka |
We loaded our backpacks with fresh bokchoi and the women were happy with their first vegetable sale.
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| The Sea Mercy Volunteers pile up in the hospital’s truck to visit the villages, travelling Fiji style |
Given the success in DELACONI, we are more than happy to go on.
Monday: Malaka and Mua Mua,
Tuesday: Mua Levu, Boitaci, and Mavana
Wednesday: Avea
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| Dr. Gretchen reviews priorities |
It’s a busy schedule but the smile on the Fijian faces is all we need to keep us going.
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| “And how are we to get all this aid to shore?” Clothes and food… a start but far from being enough |
WANT TO HELP VANUA BALAVU?
SEA MERCY now has a specific donation page for each site where they deliver aid.
Pick Vanua Balavu!
THANK YOU
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| Dinghies start shuttling bundles of clothes and food to shore |
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| Sea Mercy Volunteer Anita Damiani walks through the wrecked school library in Mavana |
Until next time…
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| Returning to our anchorage in Malaka Bay after a long day on the road |
dominomarie
Mississippi River Here We Come!
Our stay at Green Turtle was a good one as it always is. So much so that for a few moments we thought about stopping right here for the summer. But then I saw the river levels on the Mississippi dropping and our thoughts of staying quickly vanished.
M…
Mississippi River Here We Come!
Our stay at Green Turtle was a good one as it always is. So much so that for a few moments we thought about stopping right here for the summer. But then I saw the river levels on the Mississippi dropping and our thoughts of staying quickly vanished. My…
Vanua Balavu: One Village at a Time
WINSTON REFUGEES: ONE VILLAGE AT A TIME
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| DELACONI – flattened homes |
Malaka Bay, Vanua Balavu, May 31, 2016 (17*14.260S, 178*58.090W)
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| The 3 west coast villages of Vanua Balavu: Delaconi, Malaka, and Mua Mu |
You’ve seen it many times on TV, refugees in tents, precarious living conditions, but it doesn’t hit you until you see it for yourself. Never had I imagined that a cyclone could deal such utter devastation and perhaps the annihilation of a traditional lifestyle.
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| DELACONI – 3 months ofter Winston… still no roof, still no gutter… a disaster |
The three villages we are assigned are located on the west coast of Vanua Balavu: Delaconi, Malaka, and Mua Mua.
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| Mua Mua – devastated coconut and pine trees, 80% of the people under tents or precarious shelter |
Of the villages total 95 structures, 80 have been completely destroyed, and only 15 are still standing but damaged. Tents and Shelter Boxes line the villages lanes, flanking the concrete slabs where the houses used to stand. Women are cooking the last of the staples distributed by the government. All contemplate a lasting hardship.
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| In Delaconi, where the 3 school buildings have been flattened, the schoolmaster makes do under UNICEF tents. The Kindergarten building is almost rebuilt (Fiji Governement) |
Delaconi was the darling of cruising yachts, since its chief controls visits to the Bay of Islands, a favorite cruising ground. The we visited last year, we couldn’t help commenting how wealthy the village was. Indeed, the entire village had put together a traditional birthday celebration for Robbie (one of the cruisers), complete with roasted pig, flower necklaces and dances. Wealth no more. The school’s 3 building have been wiped out and the new schoolmaster copes with teaching all grades k-8 under UNICEF tents. “We’re coping,” says he, grabbing our soccer and rugby balls.
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| Sea Mercy delivering aid in Malaka |
Malaka, a favorite anchorage in good holding mud, is no better. On the beach landing, the fishery’s ice maker and blast freezer were damaged, but the fisheries department has just shipped a new freezer: help is coming. Along the main village path, again, tents line up under damaged solar panels. There is no electricity in the village, aside from individual solar panels.
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| Sonny, Malaka’s headman, welcomes our visit. The pine forest is devastated, so are the coconut groves. The cassava plantations have been 90% wiped out |
Mua Mua is perhaps the poorest of the 3 villages, with little hope of quick recovery.
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| The very hard-hit Mua Mua |
As if the loss of their homes were not enough, villagers also have lost their way of income: copra. All coconut plantations have been severely damaged and the villagers estimate it will be 5 to 10 years before they will harvest a decent crop. Meanwhile, they need to clear the plantations of fallen trees and replant a new crop. But they just don’t have enough coconuts left to replant and must import them from Rotuma.
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| Mua Mua is a disaster zone |
Women, whose traditional occupation was the weaving of pandanus leaves into mats and trinkets for tourists, have lost their ways. Pandanus trees have blown away and they estimate that it will take up to 5 years before an adequate crop.
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| Unisi, Malaka’s leading woman, tends the community garden and is desperate to fight the caterpillar infestation |
Yet, in this dismal picture, life goes on and we admire the spirit of the Fijian people. Women are leading the way with their community gardens. The gardening kits donated by the Australian government have been put to good use in all three villages and the community gardens are trhiving. In Delaconi, the women pride themselves in having been voted the best community garden in the entire island. And they should be proud: lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, and all sorts of roots. They are eager to start a composting program, boost their production and sell fresh organic produce to the yachts visiting the Bay of Islands.
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| Making do in Malaka |
In Malaka, the fisheries representative is eager to support the fishermen, who provide food and income for the village. The 7 professional fishermen, however, run on scant material and equipment: not enough fishing lines and hooks, masks, fins, snorkels. Women help with night fishing and we can hear them babble while they fish out of their canoes, on our port and starboard.
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| It’s the same disaster zone everywhere we go |
In Mua Mua, the chief struggles to understand how to rebuild after such a devastation. The young men are overwhelmed with the task of clearing fallen trees and replanting the coconut farms. Yet, the nurses and dietitian come from Loma Loma to conduct their regular clinic… under a tent.
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| JP meets the health care team under their makeshift tent-consultation room |
The needs are staggering. The government is responsive: each family has been issued a credit card with funds to rebuild their homes. This week, all heads of households have travelled to Suva to collect their credit cards and order their building materials: work on building houses will start soon. But what about tools? Supplies? Household items? Clothes? Food?
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| In Malaka, the community garden: cucumber row |
That’s where Sea Mercy comes in. This week, 8 Sea Mercy yachts are working the “Sea Bridge” around Vanua Balavu, assessing the needs of each village and delivering what aid they can, from organizing water delivery to clearing trees and delivering food and tools.
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| In Delaconi, Biu guards our aid delivery on the beach |
As for us, we are working with our 3 villages.
In Delaconi, our guide Biu shadows us and makes sure that our supplies get to the people in need: food, clothing, shoes, tools are snatched up in a snap. On Sunday, after church (blown roof and windows), the pastor delivered our first case of canned goods. To the question, who should get the first of the canned goods, his answer was quick: “Widows and orphans.” And so it was that we met the many orphans and widows in the village.
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| The pastor lost everything, his home, his property, and lives under a tent. Yet, when we brought the aid, he distributed first to the neediest: orphans and widows |
In Malaka, the young headman and his wife (the village nurse) are keen on distributing our aid of equitably.
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| The fishermen appreciate the wetsuits |
This afternoon, the fisheries rep. is taking us to fit the 7 fishermen with wetsuits donated by Dive Tutukaka in New Zealand.
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| The chief fell in love with the Sea Mercy Luminaid solar lights. |
In Mua Mua, our guide Lo is taking an active role in making sure the aid gets to the chief’s house. In the afternoon, she calls all the women and distributes the aid. But it is the chief, who had to think a bit about according us Sevu Sevu and asked many questions before allowing to work in the village, who was dazzled by the LuminAid solar lights that will give each home a bit of light in this village that does not have any generator and where most individual solar panels have been blown away.
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| Do-Mini is loaded to the gills |
In the last 3 days, we have delivered 8 cases of canned foods, 110 lbs of rice, 10 kg of flour, 2 kg salt30 machetes with files, 3 bow saws, 3 boxes of nails, 50 solar lights, 3 tarpaulins and sails, 11 packs of fishing line, 7 boxes of fishing hooks, 4 bags of shoes, 6 bags of clothing, 2 bags of bedding, 25 bars of soap, 3 cases of water sanitation tablets, 7 wetsuits.
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| In Mua Mua, Lo is anxious to plant the seeds that Sea Mercy provided, thanks to the donation from the RamaKrishna, Fiji |
We are barely scratching the top of the iceberg. Village women are very eager to create sustainable community gardens, while the men will be busy to replant the coconut and rebuild the homes. It is an overwhelming task.
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| Tomatoes grow year-round |
Want to help? Gardening tools, gardening education, seeds, and of course for food, clothing, mattresses, bedding, sturdy plastic containers, home-building tools, linoleum floors… if you care to help, send your donation to seamercy.org – The Sea Mercy fleet of volunteer yachts will make sure it gets where it’s needed! One beach at a time, one village at a time.
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| The Delaconi school: the only building left standing… |
(Photo: Marie HF)
Marie Dufour, Yacht DOMINO Powercat
Sea Mercy in Loma Loma
Sea Mercy Vanua Balavu
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| The Sea Mercy Fleet in Loma Loma, Vanua Balavu |
May 27, 2016
Loma Loma, Vanua Balavu, Northern Lau Group, Fiji
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| The Island of Vanua Balavu and its outlying islands: Avea, Susu, Muni and Cikobia |
Providing help to remote islands of the South Pacific has been our long-range goal for the last 15 years. And here we are, in Vanua Balavu, Fiji’s remote Lau Group, with 7 other yachts, all parts of Sea Mercy. We are on a recovery and rebuild mission, assisting the local populations after Cyclone Winston slammed its Category 5 fury into Vanua Balavu on February 20th.
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| The shoreline in LomaLoma |
OUR MISSION – Vanua Balavu was the hardest-hit of all the islands in the Lau Group. Casualties were heavy: five people died in the village of LomaLoma, four in Boitaci, and one in Delaconi. Dozens were injured. Ten were medivac’d to Suva with severe injuries. The devastation is obvious, even 3 months later.
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| Not much left of this home |
The health officer who cleared our quarantine was still traumatized as she recounted a night of horror, she and her family trying to escape the surge that was overtaking her home, swimming to higher ground while avoiding flying debris, roofing, trees. The psychological scars are obvious and deep.
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| Sea Mercy Yacht PEREGRINE at anchor in Loma Loma |
Our fleet of 8 Sea Mercy yachts has a 2-step mission:
1 – Assess the needs of remote islands
2 – Request supplies, deliver them, and help rebuild.
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| Jonathan Robinson, our coordinator, loads water purification tablets on the dinghies |
Jonathan Robinson, a retired Royal Navy helicopter pilot, is our task master, fresh from his experience with Sea Mercy last year in Vanuatu, where he provided relief after cyclone Pam. And what energy! No sooner had we finished our clearance that Jonathan had gathered the aid that had been shipped by Sea Mercy: 4 pallets of supplies, canned food, 16,000 water purification tablets, dozens of machetes, tarps, chain saws, clothes and linen. Quickly divided into 8 stacks, supplies were shuttled all afternoon to the various boats.
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| DOMINO’s aft deck is the perfect place for our daily briefings, assessment reports, priority settings, and tasking |
At briefing, Johnathan had us paired up and tasked out.
- Peregrine and Remedy to assess Avea, Susui and Munia
- Perry and The Southern Cross to assess Tuvuca (difficult access, by catamaran only)
- Amelie IV and Dream Catcher to assess Nayau (no access, stand out only)
- Amelie IV and Domino to assess Panacea and Yacata (o access, stand out only)
while Jonathan on Chez Nous will remain in Loma Loma to take our reports (emailed by Iridium) and stage the coming of Super Yachts.
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| Drs. Gretchen and JP visit with Dr. Malo at the Loma Loma hospital |
Still we had time to visit the hospital and meet with Dr. Malo. This young doctor has been at his post for only 4 months and we can only imagine how horrendous his task of dealing with a Cat. 5 cyclone within weeks of starting his new job. He is responsible for 3,000 souls in Vanua Balavu and surrounding islands. He is assisted by 20 nurses (clinical and public health) and he runs the Loma Loma hospital, a 16-bed facility. Kindly, he gave us a tour while forgetting his lunch hour, and this is what we found.
- The children’s ward (4 beds) can use a new coat of paint, happy murals and toys. The 2 young boys lying there were quite lonely.
- The men’s ward (4 beds) is rather basic.
- The women’s ward (4 beds) also includes an emergency cubicle with basic gurney and crash cart.
- The birthing center is not being used, its windows broken, its paint peeling.
- The dentist chair is used for tooth extractions only, since all electric parts have been damaged during the storm and have been sent to Suva for repair.
- The linen cabinet is virtually empty
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| The Women’s ward |
NEWS FLASH – As soon as we visited the hospital, we communicated our findings to NOMADESS, a yacht coming our way. Within 24 hours, the crew had delivered supplies and linens to the hospital, repainted the children’s ward and replaced the windows in the women’s ward (and delivered 6,000 liters of water (each) to the islands of Susui, Avea and Cikobia
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| The NOMADESS crew repaints the Children’s ward |
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| The women’s ward windows, all fixed up |
To the side of the hospital, the health center where mothers usually take their babies for checks-ups has been boarded-up, rocked off its foundations, condemned for the time being.
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| The Health Center, rocked off its foundation, no longer safe |
Wherever we walked in the village, we saw condemned buildings but tents for temporary shelter, signs of re-building, and the ever-present “Bula” of the Fijians.
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| Concrete slabs and tents: a common site all over Vanua Balavu |
Our job here is to communicate those needs to Sea Mercy, to get what we can delivered to the villages, one village at a time.
Want to help us? Just log on to the Sea Mercy website and donate. Your donation will go a long way, since all of us are volunteers. $ for a pot of paint and paint brushes? $ for toys? $ for children’s shoes and women underwear? Yes, please! Visit http://seamercy.org/
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| Blown-out roofs, no gutters = no water catchment = no water! |
More on the next blog…
dominomarie
BROADSWORD – The Ultimate Passagemaker
BROADSWORD – The Ultimate Passagemaker
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| BROADSWORD entering South Minerva Reef |
May 21, 2016
North Minerva Reef
PASSAGEMAKERS! Much has been written about them since Robert Beebe’s initial coining of the term Passagemaker. As a reminder, what was that initial definition? A vessel that is affordable, economical, capable to cross any ocean, and simple enough to be handled by a couple with no particular sea-going experience.
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| BROADSWORD made a “splash” at the Auckland Boat Show |
Since Beebe’s Passagemaker and Leishman’s Nordhavn 46, the market has evolved and designers have struggled to fulfill the demand of MORE (accommodations and systems) on LESS (hull length,) often resulting in vessels that are complicated, inefficient to run, and expensive to maintain.
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| We spotted Dashew’s ICEBERG off of New Zealan |
Dashew’s sleek FPB series, though spectacular, is yet one step beyond the concept of affordable or simple. Somewhere along the line, the initial Passagemaker concept has been lost. Today’s yachtsman should not have to break into Fort Knox to afford his cruising ambitions and should not need an engineering degree to operate his yacht. Where to turn to, then?
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| Dashew’s complex FPB has, in our opinion, a major flaw: no aft deck room |
Thanks to Dennis Harjamaa, the Passagemaker concept has just been revived in the body of the LRC 58. When we saw BROADSWORD glide into South Minerva Reef without making a wake, its slender aluminum hull gleaming salmon-pink in the rising sun, JP and I fell in love with that yacht. In addition to its sleek ratio (17.6m/3.6m,) wrap-around windows, spacious aft deck, and one-level living, the LRC 58 checks off every box in our Passagemaker checklist.
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| BROADSWORD’s bright galley |
- Affordable: around $700,000 US.
- Economical: at cruising speed of 9.5 kts, burns 1 liter per nautical mile.
- Capable: with a range of 4,400 NM at 9.5 kts, this is a true circumnavigator, self-righting should it broach.
- Simple: One owner’s stateroom, one head, and adjustable sofas in the parlour that allow for a double and a single bunk.
- Understated elegance: bare 5083 aluminum, soothing interior in slate-and-sand tones, a classic yacht feeling thanks to the withe-painted wood headliner, sleek integrated stainless steel counters in the galley; this is a true gentleman’s yacht that has everything to please a lady.
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| The lovely Parlour |
Kindly, BROADSWORD’s owner Dominic Park invited us to tour his home, accompanied by the designer himself, Dennis Harjamaa, and shared his story with us. Dominic was looking for a motor yacht that could fulfill his dreams of spending the summers in Greece and the winters in the Caribbean, meaning two transatlantic crossings a year and the ability to handle the Gulf Stream at any time. Simple systems and easy maintenance were at the top of Mr. Park’s list. But no ocean-crossing monohull on the market met his criteria. Enter the young designer, Dennis Harjamaa.
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| Dominic (left) and Dennis (right) built a lovely, capable, affordable passagemaker |
The right man, with the right idea, at the right time and in the right place, Dennis is not your ordinary designer. Born and educated in Finland, his youth was steeped in the rich brew of sturdy Norse boats. Dennis then honed his skills at the Washington County Technical School in Eastport, Maine, where he studied all aspects of classical wooden boat building and lofting. After that he spent one year at the Landing School in Kennebunkport. He is now running Artnautica Yacht Design in Auckland, New Zealand. Four years ago, he started designing the LRC58 for himself, perhaps to prove the point that “LESS IS MORE.” With hull # 1, KOTI (“Home” in Finnish) on the launching block, Harjamaa had triggered enough of Mr. Park’s interest to start building hull #2, BROADSWORD (launched last September 2015.) Hull #3 is currently under construction at Dickey Boats. Another hull will be starting construction in Holland within a few weeks.
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| The bow |
If we like the LRC 58’s clean design and simple systems, we also like the fact that BROADSWORD was built in New Zealand by DICKEY Boats. Quality craftsmanship is obvious in all details, great care has been taken at all steps to prevent galvanic corrosion, materials and furnishings are of the highest quality, all complying to the exacting New Zealand standards. One detail we like: the massive hoisting rings that allow the LRC to be lifted by any crane!
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| The massive hoisting ring |
We asked Dominic Park what he liked best about his yacht. “The bed!” Indeed, the queen-size bed is spacious, an extension of the parlour where Mr. Park finds serenity while he lounges in the saloon’s diffuse light, appreciating the comfort of a cocoon without the darkness of a dungeon. He also likes the Raymarine electronics smart suite on C-Zone which affords him to select the running mode of the electronics at the push of a button.
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| “Mr. Todd” – |
We also asked him what he would do differently. A bigger engine? no, but a get-home engine would be nice, although the LRC58 is fitted with trick-booms that can be rigged with sails.
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| The Raymarine Suite |
As for Dennis, he particularly likes the KUBOTA engine block, a 4-cylinder tractor diesel engine marinized by BETA Marine in the UK, that comes with a 3-year self-service warranty. Do your own maintenance!
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| The saloon and helm |
What about future boats? Dennis Harjamaa, still inspired by classic designs ranging from George Buehler’s “Troller Yacht” concept to Nigel Irens and Michael Kasten, even Philip Stark’s futuristic designs, has several designs on the drawing board, including a 20.8m and a 24m cruiser that will have 2 cabins, 2 heads, 2 engines (1 main and 1 get-home.) Currently designed for Mr. Park —whose requirements now include a crew member— we expect to see this yacht in production very soon.
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| The ample aft deck, ready for dinghy storage during passages: just fold the table and chairs! Marvelous one-level design, room for a large party! |
What about technology? With an eye on the future but not willing to be a Guinea pig, the designer looks for developments in solar panel efficiency, gyroscopic stabilization (LRC58 has no stabilization and perhaps needs none) diesel electric engines, proven and tested. Dennis will not put a client underway with a half-baked system.
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| Dominic Park, proud and happy owner! |
“It’s not so much going from A to B that I like,” quips Mr. Park, “it’s rather enjoying the life at B!” This no-nonsense gentleman’s yacht should delight Mr. Park as BROADSWORD embarks on her Maiden Voyage, from NZ to Fiji, Tonga, the Samoas, French Polynesia, Panama, the Caribbean, and—at last— Greece. Doing this passage at counter-current is the ultimate test for a motor yacht.
Why? “Just because I can!” Bon Voyage, Dominic!
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| Dennis and Dominic enjoy their creation |
Looking for a world cruiser? Take a good look at the serious LRC 58 by Artnautica’s designer, Dennis Hargamaa… and remember Dennis’ name: this young man might surprise us yet with clean, efficient, affordable designs!
Till next time…
dominomarie
