sv evi

Luz (6)

During the past year we flew to New Zealand, and then we sailed to Fiji, and then we sailed to Vanuatu, and we came to Australia on our longest passage, which was 9 days. We saw lots of cool animals. We saw a mama orca and a baby orca in NZ. We also saw our first dolphins in NZ. They hung around. We saw some kind of whale leaving Viani Bay in Fiji. We saw kangaroos, koalas and platypuses in Australia.

Some of my favorite things about living on a boat are that sometimes whenever we want we can go out and check it it’s sprinkling since we will see the raindrops on the water. Another of my favorite things is I can ask to swim and there is the ocean right outside. Another great thing is that when we are on passage Mama makes us so many different options for food.

Tomu (10)

One thing that is hard about living on a boat is that sometimes you get seasick. It’s hard because you need to take the seasickness pill before you go on passage, because once you feel sick it’s too late. It’s hard because you have nowhere to run — when we are on passage you can’t exercise. The high of living on a boat is being able to make new friends, and how when you say goodbye to them you think you will never see them again, but then sometimes you DO see them again in the next country. On the contrary, the low is that when you make new friends, sometimes you really don’t get to see them again.

My favorite place so far was Tanna Island in Vanuatu. I liked going to the volcano the second time, and I also liked playing soccer with the kids there.

Life on a boat is different than life in Tacoma because you can always go for a swim, and most times there is a beach. I like that everything on the boat has a different name: the toilet is the head, the couch is the settee, the kitchen is the galley, and the window is the hatch.

I like getting to see different animals, like kangaroos, koalas, platypuses, humpback whales, orcas, sea turtles, dolphins, and lots of different kinds of fish. There are many highs and lows about living on a boat, but I think there are mostly highs.

Jade (8)

I really miss all my friends from back home and that we’ve met while sailing. A hard thing is that when I’m annoyed, I can’t just go to Sterling or Hannah and Simon’s or Benny’s house because I can’t drive the dinghy myself yet, but I can start the motor. Sometimes Mama lets me go on the paddle board by myself if it’s not too windy or too much current. It’s always hard to say goodbye to friends because they are going to sell their boat or go home. I want people to visit us more often. Also, I really miss SV Pangea, SV Renard, and SV Due South because we spent the most time with them. I miss a whole bunch of people but I don’t want to name them all right now.

I’m scared that they won’t celebrate Halloween in Indonesia. I want to fly back home for next Halloween. I think the holidays are better celebrated at home, although they are good here too. At home we get more presents and more candy.

I think that the animals we’ve seen are super cool, and I’m excited to have some more adventures. Since living on the boat I like to play a lot more games that I didn’t used to like; for example, Catan, Doppelkopf, and Pinnochle. I think I really improved on reading in the past year. I can read well now. I want to do some more underwater swim-throughs. I learned how to pop my ears so I can go down deeper without getting too much pressure when I’m swimming. I like drinking from coconuts.

Living on the boat we collect all sorts of cards: Taniwha cards from the library in NZ, Disney cards from grocery stores in Australia, and Pokemon cards. Also, it’s kinda hard because you get seasick sometimes, although I don’t get seasick too often. Mama says that we can’t climb trees very high now because Tomu fell out of a tree in Fiji.

In public school, if I’m really tired, then I still have to go to school, but home school is different: if I’m really tired then we can skip school that day. One drawback about home school is that we don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day — I miss giving and getting Valentines. I love school. The end.

Hannah (48)

Cruising around on a sailboat with your kids is not for the faint of heart. At times, the worries get to me, and I think, what if this? what if that? At other times, I just go to sleep and trust that Riki has it covered. 🙂 Or I just feel like it doesn’t make sense for two people to be worried about something, so I just let it go, and think, that’s the captain’s job.

My roles here on sv evi are markedly different from my roles at home. Here, I am the queen of the galley: I am in charge of all things food-related, from buying to stowing to meal planning to cooking. That suits me, because I love food! Back home I was teaching school all day, and it fell under Riki’s purview to grocery shop and cook dinner for the family (though I still did the meal planning, can’t fully let go of control! haha).

I am also the primary home school teacher. Similar to teaching back home but… different aged kids!

I generally do the OpenCPN side of the navigation (downloading sat images, adding layers, and configuring the program) while Riki does the Navionics side. I file a float plan with Passage Guardian before each passage. And I usually do the departure planning (weather stuff) on PredictWind before passages.

I miss things for sure about living in T-town. I miss playing pickleball, rock climbing, backpacking, hanging out with friends and family. I miss seeing my nephews and nieces grow up! I still haven’t met my newest niece Mira Chin Pratt.

But I’m so happy here on the boat! I like the rhythm of life, the slowed-down pace. I love how many games I get to play with Riki and the kids. I love the constant adventure — how we can decide to sail somewhere or stay somewhere each day. I love the camaraderie with other sailors and how easy it is to make friends. I love inviting folks over to dinner. I love seeing my kids becoming more and more independent.

Riki (60)

Well, Riki is currently trying to fix the solenoid for our windlass. We were planning to leave for Indonesia today, but then the windlass was acting up. I’m going to write a little here as a place-holder for him. It’s funny because I wrote the little blurb about Riki before we moved aboard, back in August 2023. He was too busy to write then, and is still too busy to write now!

From my perspective, Riki loves living on sv evi. He sometimes gets frustrated when things break, and he has another job to add to the list. But mostly he is thriving. He loves sailing, and he loves adventuring. He sometimes turns to me and says, can you believe we are doing this? with a big grin on his face.

He carries a lot of responsibility on his shoulders as the captain, and as the chief engineer and fixer. He does all those jobs with grace in his mini-skirt blue sarong.