MARSHALLESE MODEL SAILING CANOES RACE

These intricately modeled canoes are raced from one island on the atoll to another that may be several miles away. No radios, no gps, no electronics. Just "set it and forget it" and hope it reaches its destination. Most don't. Sometimes all it takes to win is to arrive. Kind of like life.

MARSHALLESE SAILING CANOE

...With a view of part of Majuro Atoll in the background.

This photo was taken from the deck of "Morning Wings". You can see the solid "liferail" we have instead of the normal sailboat "lifelines." These rails are 36 inches above the deck and are very sturdy. We also have jacklines from bow to stern on each side of the cabin that we hook our safety harnesses to when underway. This makes for an extra safe cruising boat in heavy seas.

We have incorporated quite a few safety features like these in our design to make it secure when sailing with just two folks on board.

It makes for a bad day if you get out of your berth in the morning and go up on deck to discover that your crewmate is nowhere to be found.

Don't laugh - it's happened to some unfortunate folks before!

THE "COCONUT CUP REGATTA".......

...is a race held in the lagoon of Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands each year. Because there are very few sailboats they allow all comers to enter. You will see everything from sailing canoes to 100 foot cruisers participating.

Carol is on the starboard, I'm on the port, and a guest helmsman on the wheel. It was a blustery, (note the sloppily reefed sail) drizzly day, but a fun regatta anyway.

At the stern of the boat you can see our arch with the radar dome, two 65 watt solar panels, and the Airmarine Wind Generator. The two boxes hanging from the arch are stereo speakers for the music to go with those wonderful evenings spent relaxing in the cockpit.

We won a prize: 55 gallons of diesel, but I don't remember why. Maybe because we were not last. There was a great party that night with lots of Marshallese singing and copious amounts of liquid refreshments.

"MORNING WINGS" ON THE HARD

This view gives you a good look at our hull shape. Our keel is quite strong and protects the propeller and rudder well. All of our chainplates and stanchions are mounted on either the hull or the gunnels. This makes our decks very watertight as no fittings penetrate them. All in all our boat is very dry in all kinds of weather and sea conditions. Our beam is 11'6" so the boat is roomy inside.
Photo taken at KEEHI MARINA, Honolulu Hawaii

ONE TOUGH OLD BOAT

I was in Hawaii and Carol was in bed in our apartment in the Marshall Islands when she received a call every sailor dreads:

"YOUR BOAT IS ON THE ROCKS!"

It seems the mooring had parted and MORNING WINGS had drifted onto the beach during the night. Competent, as always, Carol got a crew of guys together and they floated it off the shore at the next high tide.

The old explorers used to put their ships on the beach to clean the bottoms. The maneuver was called "careening" and it was quite commonly employed. However, they planned their beachings and ours was very unplanned.

We know of two other boats that were beached. Both were 30 foot Catalinas and both were destroyed.

A Hans Christian is a heavy, forgiving, comfortable cruising boat. It will not win many races but it is built to take it. Carol told me that everything was fine. The only damage was some broken fiberglass on the rudder. I guess we can still do the rest of our cruising - to Tonga, Fiji, Australia, and beyond.

UNDERWAY TO THE MARSHALL ISLANDS

Our boat is a 1975 Hans Christian. It is 36 feet long on deck and was probably one of the last 36 footers made by Hans Christian. The molds were then sold and used for the hulls of the cheaper "Union" brand boats. We have checked with Bob Perry the designer of the boat and he agreed that it was a genuine Hans Christian, not one of the later, inferior models.

This photo was taken by the Saunders from the deck of their boat "Swan". This is the departure of "Morning Wings" from Keehi Lagoon near Honolulu as we left for the Marshall Islands. We are sporting all new chain plates, stanchions and rigging that was added during our Hawaii stay. We also had the Volvo Diesel repaired and a new mainsail made. In all, about $40,000 in upgrades.

The lady, her dream, the boat

In 1989 our kids were grown, retirement was near, and I asked my wife what her wish was for our lives from this point on. Carol replied, "I've always had a dream of sailing to wonderful islands and countries. To explore, Scuba, and relax."
"Done" I replied, " All we need to do is get a boat, learn to sail, learn to scuba, learn to navigate, and we're on our way. That shouldn't be too hard."