Freewind in Savusavu, plus: Fiji – historic notes

                                                                                     www.sailbayofislands.com

And there's that one particular harbour
Sheltered from the wind
Where the children play on the shore each day
And all are safe within

                                                                                --  Jimmy Buffett

Bula from Savusavu, Fiji!
Freewind is still enjoying the tropical island harbour of Savusavu, like the many yachts that have stopped here this year. The bunch of bananas hanging in the cockpit is ripening faster than they are consumed, and the pineapples will be ripening soon. The town was busy last week when the cruise ship the Pacific Pearl stopped in Savusavu, and later the National Library Week festivities attracted many people to the town center.
Saturdays are still dedicated to Junior Sailing Club coaching, and sailing the Optimists and Lasers. The senior kids are training hard for the Oceania Games in New Caledonia next month and fundraising for the trip has been going very well – a big thank you to everyone who has contributed, both locals and overseas yachties. Ron has caught up with most of the repair and maintenance work on the Junior Sailing fleet of boats; it’s really good to see the kids putting so much into their sailing and showing results in the Saturday racing.

Home-grown bananas and pineapple from Savusavu	Savusavu Junior Sailors racing Optimists

Did you know?
The first to survey and extensively chart the Fiji Islands was Lt. Charles Wilkes, leader of the US Exploration Expedition in 1840. Many of the expedition’s charts were still used by the US Navy in the 1920s, and during WW II when planning the invasion of the Micronesian islands of Tarawa, the only available chart of the islands was the one drawn by Wilkes more than 100 years before.
Wilkes’ first port of call in Fiji was Levuka, in Ovalau, where a number of American and European sailors and whalers had settled, taking local wives. Wilkes’ guide and translator was David Whippy, who had been living in Fiji for 18 years and had gained a reputation as a reliable ally to foreign ship captains. Whippy introduced Wilkes to Chief Tanoa, one of the most powerful chiefs in Fiji at the time. Whippy, with another mariner named William Simpson later bought land in Wainunu and in Savusavu on the island of Vanua Levu and nowadays, one seems to run into their descendents everywhere not only in Vanua Levu, but scattered all over Fiji as well as in Australia and New Zealand. The Whippys were well known, and still are, for their exceptional boatbuilding skills.

Chart of Fiji drawn by Charles Wilkes, US Exploration Expedition, 1840	Drawing of Chief Tanoa’s drua (canoe) in Ovalau, from Wiles’ narrative of the voyage.

Apart from the surveying work all around the Pacific, many thousands of scientific specimens and over 4,000 artifacts were collected by the expedition’s scientific team. Most of them are now housed in the Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.
Here are some of the pieces collected in Fiji, available for view online at: http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/usexex

Fijian Tapa Cloth	Iutavatava (throwing club) and Tokokia  (war club)	KiniKini, priest’s war club

Sali - war club	Liku – pandanas skirt

Wooden drum	Shell necklace

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Quote of the Day

At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much.

- Robin Lee Graham, Dove

A lovely day in the Bay of Islands

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While Ron and Freewind bask in the Fiji sunshine, the rest of the crew who stayed on watch in the Bay of Islands over the winter are enjoying a few lovely sunny days while a high pressure system lies over New Zealand.
This morning, once the sun warmed the cool morning air, we went to stretch our legs and get some exercise walking to the top of Flagstaff Hill in Russell. We took these photos to share those magical winter moments with you.

View of Russell and Matauwhi Bay from Flagstaff Hill	View over the Bay of Islands from Flagstaff Hill, Russell

The winter solstice is behind us, the days are getting longer, which means summer is on its way. We are all looking forward to the coming sailing season in the Bay of Islands. This year is expected to be an exciting year for tourism in New Zealand, with the Rugby World Cup being held in September-October and a host of special events and attractions planned for the spring and summer throughout the country. If you are planning to travel in New Zealand during September to November, be sure to make your reservation early as there will be an influx of sports fans and their families everywhere. Freewind is already starting to fill up cabins for the beginning of the season and we’d love to hear from you if you would like to find out more about our trips and itineraries (email freewind[at]sailbayofislands.com).

Until then, we’ll keep you posted on Freewind’s whereabouts in the South Pacific and her return trip to New Zealand.

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Quote of the day:

The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea.
                                                                                                                                                     - Isak Dinesen

Updates from Fiji and New Zealand

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Savusavu Junior Sailing Club hosts the Island Cruising Association regatta

Bula from Savusavu!
It’s all quite again in Savusavu, after all the activity and excitement in June when the Island Cruising Association regatta stopped over for their annual visit. The ICA boats have been stopping in Savusavu for many years now and everyone always looks forward to their arrival. The Savusavu Yacht Club always organizes a few activities to give the yachties and townspeople a chance to mingle and get to know each other, and this is also an opportunity for the Junior Sailors to do a bit of fundraising for their club. This year, apart form the traditional Optimist races between the kids and the yachties, a lovo was organized. This is the traditional Fijian cooking which is done in a pit dug in the ground and fired up with wood all morning. By lunch time, there’s plenty of embers for baking all the good food which is wrapped in banana leaves and lowered in the hot “lovo”, then covered and baked until ready. The picnic guests – locals and visiting yachties – took the 15-minute bus ride to the beach location on a coconut plantation just out of town, and enjoyed the scenery and great Fijian hospitality. Although the weather wasn’t perfect, the food was outstanding, courtesy of the Hot Springs Hotel crew, everyone had a great time, and the Junior Sailing Club got a few dollars for their Oceania Championship fund.

	photo: Trevina Gray
The Islands Cruising Association regatta boats tied up at the Copra Shed Marina, Savusavu	Carving up the pig at the Junior Sailing Club’s fundraising picnic. Yachties and locals alike enjoyed the great lovo.

…and meanwhile, back in New Zealand

Creating sanctuaries for our native birds in the Bay of Islands

While Freewind is enjoying the warm weather of the tropics, the shore crew in Russell, the Bay of Islands, has been taking part in some conservation work in the Bay. The Guardians of the Bay, an organization dedicated to preserving the native wildlife in the Bay of Islands, organized its annual planting at Waewaetoria Island. This project of native bush re-planting has been going on for a few years now and every year another patch of newly-planted native trees is added to the already existing regenerating forest. Native birds are already returning to this beautiful island which was used for grazing sheep and cattle in the past, but is now a nature reserve. It is hoped that as trees grow and mature, more birds will discover this bit of paradise, and that with the ongoing pest control, the Department of Conservation will be able to introduce endangered species such as Kiwi and saddlebacks into the forest.

The island reserve of Waewaetoria in the Bay of Islands is a popular anchorage for yachts. Freewind stops there often to enjoy the beautiful sandy beach.	Volunteers from the Guardians of the Bay planting native trees on Waewatoria Island, to encourage endangered birds.

For more details on the project, and nature conservation in the Bay of Islands, please see:

http://www.conservation.net.nz/getting-involved/volunteer-join-or-start-a-project/volunteer/volunteer-programme-by-region/northland/waewaetorea-island-planting/
http://www.doc.govt.nz/getting-involved/volunteer-join-or-start-a-project/join-a-group/northland/guardians-of-the-bay-of-islands/