sv evi

My auntie Evi has been an indomitable force in my life. She was a dream steward for my siblings and I. She was always encouraging us to take our retirement in our 20’s not our 60’s, much to my father’s chagrin. She gave us opportunities that we wouldn’t otherwise have had. She taught me to ski at age 6. She took Libby & me to Europe for 6 weeks when I graduated high school. She visited me in Germany, in New Zealand, in Guatemala, bringing my dad along. She flew me to her boat, Wonderland, affectionately called Wondy, and then paid my expenses while I was aboard.

Evi was inspiring in the way she just did things. She lived in the mountains in Colorado at her house that she bought at a garage sale. She cut and split her own firewood into her 70’s with chainsaw and axe. She skied black diamonds until she disappeared into the ocean, remarking that her knees weren’t what they used to be. She could do 3 pull-ups at age 70, big boobs and all. She drove an old 1988 Volvo whose bumper sticker proclaimed, “Caution, this car stops at all garage sales.” She yelled at waiters who would try to take her plate away before she ate every speck on it, including the garnish. She spent her money on experiences, not things.

On her last visit to my home in Tacoma in April 2012, Evi came with me to school all day two days in a row. She participated in my circle of Spanish-speaking students and then spoke the next day at Friday Forum about her time on Wonderland. She also squirmed under the body of my car tightening the oil drainplug with a wrench.

She bought Wondy at age 60, when she retired. I crewed for her for 2 months in the Bahamas, just us two girls, captain and mate. Susha and I crewed for 8 months on Wondy across the Atlantic from Spain to Brazil via Senegal and the Cape Verdes. I crewed again in the South Pacific, from French Polynesia to Samoa via the Cook Islands. In all that time, we never met another female captain. Now my sister Libby and I are both captains.

Evi was also a bigwig in the computer science field. Fifteen years ago in a small roadside restaurant in New Zealand, the only other patron approached our table and asked “Are you Evi Nemeth?” When we crossed the Atlantic in 2004 we had to wait in every port for Ev to finish working on a “chappie” of the new edition of her book on Unix System Administration.

Ev read the whole Harry Potter series aloud to us as we crossed the Atlantic when Susha and I were too seasick to read on our own. She also read us the Tolkien series. She cooked most of the meals as we cut veggies and directed her from the cockpit. She flushed our leftover turdlets that we couldn’t get down the head. She took good care of us.

Evlet loved kids. Whenever we would encounter a kid boat, Evi would rush to get out her special kids books to show the kids. She loved boat kids especially–said they were so independent and could relate so well to everyone. She loved to play cards, especially bridge, Doppelkopf and Skat. She loved dark chocolate with hazelnuts and coffee ice cream. She had no tolerance for spicy food, and called peppers of any sort “pieces of pain”.

She loved me. She called me “big girl” and “hamster” and “clumpy”.

She made me promise that when she got old and lost her brain or her body, that I would take her to Amsterdam and give her a shot. Said she didn’t want to live as a vegetable. 

She was so frickin’ cool. She was different–never gave a thought to what anyone would think of her. We had so many adventures together…hitchhiking in Samoa, dancing at a reggae party in Grenada, you name it, she was up for it. And she was so strong, it seemed like she would live forever.

Until in late May 2013 she left Opua, New Zealand aboard the famous old wooden schooner Niña. There were 7 people aboard. Evi was excited because she was in charge of the navigation. The last communication heard from the Niña was a text message from Evi on June 5th to the weather guru Bob McDavitt, stating that the sails were shredded and they were down to bare poles and asking which direction they should head to avoid the storm. New Zealand conducted a maritime search, but never found any sign of crew nor ship.

That is the back story for our two week trip to New Zealand to see about Wondy. Wondy had been sitting on the mooring since Ev left him there in May 2013. **note. most people refer to boats with feminine pronouns. not evi. ev always referred to wondy as “he”. I wanted to go to Opua as a sort of pilgrimmage–to visit Wondy and take care of him a bit.

Playing 2 handed bridge in the Labasa airport.

Waiting for the flight to Auckland in the Nadi airport.

Our visit to NZ was 10 days of working on the boat sandwiched by visits to friends in Auckland & Tutukaka on either end. Riki’s mate Dave picked us up at the airport and put us up on his wooden boat Riada II in the Westhaven marina. He took us out to a lovely Italian dinner and drove us north to Opua.

Riding around in the marina carts at Westhaven.

Waking up on Riada II.

Ted and his wife Karen met us at the dock in Opua. Ted is a gentle soul and a mechanical whiz. You name it, he can fix it. Ted had launched our dinghy and mounted the outboard for us in advance of our arrival. Ted and Ev were dear friends, and he has been keeping Wondy afloat in Ev’s absence. We saw Ted daily while in Opua: he lent us his car; he & Karen drove us to Tutekaka when we left Opua; he & Karen watched Wade for us. When I hugged Ted goodbye, it was a long squishy Evi hug. A hug that said I love you and thank you for loving my auntie so. A hug that left us both teary-eyed.

Our first night on Wonderland we put the baby to sleep and cleaned until midnight. We cooked corn on the stove and drank whisky gingers. At Riki’s prompting we poured one for Evi, and we toasted Wonderland.

We moved Wondy to the dock to give him a good clean.

Just before reaching the dock the steering broke. Luckily Ted had had the foresight to ask a friend to be ready in the dinghy, and he pushed us in safely. We spent a few days cleaning the deck and wiping inside surfaces with vinegar solution and Riki removed the offending corroded L brackets that hold the sheaves and corroded metal plate they bolted to.

I had a shoulder-shaking breath-catching sob when I looked under the V-berth and saw Ev’s red sweats. She always wore those in the Lair in Colorado. One night we watched a Harry Potter movie we found aboard but the Bailey boys fell asleep and I finished it alone.

We hauled Wondy. The bottom didn’t look as bad as we had expected after almost 2 years in the water without moving. We spent 2 nights on the hard, climbing the ladder to get home and catching all the sink wastewater in a bucket. We scraped, sanded, primed, applied 2.5 coats of paint, sanded the prop, changed the zincs, buffed the rust stains off the topsides. Basically busted our asses and it felt so good to do something for Wondy and for Ev. I know she’d be happy. She loved her boat, as most captains do.

Tada! Riki buffed out the stain on the freeboard after the photo was taken. 🙂

The Opua community was very welcoming to us. Everyone remembers Evi. Mike at Cater Marine remembered how she would stretch her dollars. Once while we were hauled out I asked for childcare on the morning VHF net, and a woman named Leah whom I hadn’t met offered to watch Wade so I could help Riki work. She kept him for 4 hours and sent her daughter over later to help me.

Riki worked harder than I did, as he knows more about what to do and I was often taking care of Wade. He did a better job on Wondy’s haulout than he has ever done on Guava; for example, he buffed out Wondy’s rust stains while Guava still sports hers. The first night aboard Riki said, “there’s a lot of work to do here, and I’m the right guy for the job.” I beamed at him, “I know you are, sweetie.” It feels good to know in your bones that you married the right person. 🙂

Riki replacing the automatic bilge pump.

We also had one day of fun as tourists in Russell. We both bought hats. We wrote postcards and drank coffee by the water. Riki bought me a greenstone necklace, a double twist which signifies friendship and two lives coming together as one. Greenstone can only be given, not bought for oneself. He gave it to me our last night on Wondy.

Wade’s favorite spot to sit on Wondy.

And then we were off visiting Riki’s dear friends Hilton & Melva at the Riverbank B&B near Tutukaka. Wade learned to walk(!) on their back deck.

Melva working her magic in the kitchen.

Next we basked in the world-famous Kiwi hospitality of John & Kirsty our last night in Auckland. John and Riki met in South Minerva Reef in 2012 and he offered us to stay at his home on our return to Auckland. John and Kirsty were both rock stars with Wade, as evidenced in the photos.

What will happen to Wonderland? We don’t know. We would love to cruise him back to the Northwest and keep him in Tacoma. But things aren’t entirely up to us.

***A big note of thanks to my mom who is here in Fiji visiting and has watched Wade for the past 3 hours so I could do this blog post!! 🙂