Family Cruising

by Dalia Jones

www.sailbayofislands.com

How we got involved with the Savusavu Junior Sailing Club
and Saturday with the junior sailors
 
Back in 1995, when we were cruising the South Pacific islands on our 30-ft yacht with our 5-months-old daughter Eleanor, our trademark was the washing line adorned with a row of brightly-washed nappies, drying in the warm sun. It never failed to advertise the “baby on board” message, and as soon as we dropped anchor near a village, canoes would approach with ladies offering us pawpaw and bananas.
“You have baby on boat?” big smile boasting sparkling white teeth, “banana, pawpaw - is good for baby! You take…”
Inevitably, Eleanor’s first solid food was bananas and pawpaw. And she still loves them! Of course, we always had something handy to trade for the fresh fruit – T shirts, household goods, dry food, and with both sides happy after the exchange, instant friendship was sealed. Later, when we went ashore, everyone wanted to hold the baby – the islanders adore babies – and Eleanor became an instant celebrity. She would be passed around, hugged and kissed, the hell with our strict hygiene standards. Despite my constant worry with both our toddler daughters, they never caught any skin disease, infection or cold during our travels. It only served to build the strong immune system they have today.

The islanders love babies, including ours	Cruising kids start dolphin-watching at an early age

Three years later, with 18-months-old Melanie added to our crew list, we set off on our new, home-built yacht Freewind, for another South Pacific adventure. On our 46-ft “family cruiser” we sailed through Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and the North Queensland coast. During the last 10 years since then we have spent almost every winter in the South Pacific and have made Savusavu in Fiji our second home.
Cruising with young kids has its difficult moments, to be sure, but it also puts a different perspective on cruising, determining what you do and see and the people you meet. Many rewarding experiences we would have missed altogether had we not been cruising with the kids. Upon encountering strangers, the ice is immediately broken and common ground acknowledged as the kids play together – for them, the cultural and language restraints seem non-existent. As our girls splashed in the water with the local village kids, I would find myself sitting under the coconut trees with the other mothers, talking about what mums all over the world talk about – babies, school, health problems. Despite language barriers, we all shared the same concerns and it was as natural as the conversation Ron was having with the men about which fishing lures work best in local waters.

Eleanor and Melanie (in the back) with their friends in Albert Cove, Rabi Island, Fiji	Eleanor, learning the art of coconut grating in the village where we anchored

When cruising with your kids you are perceived as a parent first, then as a ‘yachtie’. And as parents, don’t we all want the same thing for our kids? Health, happiness and a good future, whether we live on a boat, in a coconut-frond house or in a mansion.

Getting a ride on a canoe with our friend Jimmy, in the Western province, Solomon Islands	All kids love ice blocks! The girls with their friend Lasalini in Taveuni Island, Fiji

One very rewarding experience we would missed had it not been for our kids, was getting involved with the Junior Sailing program of the Savusavu Yacht Club.

Nakama Creek, Savusavu, Fiji taken from Freewind’s mooring	The Copra Shed Marina, Savusavu, Fiji with the Round-the-World Ralley boats tied up in front

Savusavu, in Vanua Levu, the northern big island in Fiji, is a small town we kept returning to since we first sailed into Savusavu Bay in 1995. Like many other visiting yachties, we found ourselves drawn to the place’s beauty, perfect (and cyclone-safe) harbour, and most of all – the ever-smiling, welcoming people of ‘Fiji’s Hidden Paradise’, as Savusavu is often called. Finally, in 2004, we bought a small piece of land and started building a house on it. Savusavu is a cultural melting pot; Fijians and Indo-Fijians (brought to Fiji from India by the British more than 100 years ago) live in harmony, with European descendants of coconut plantation owners, and they all welcome the cruising boats with wonderful Fijian hospitality. The Savusavu Yacht Club is where you can meet them all, including the occasional tourists that wander into town straight off the inter-island ferry.

The Savusavu Yacht Club at the Copra Shed	Kids racing the Optimists, Savusavu

The Club sponsors the Junior Sailing program, which is open to all kids keen to learn sailing and develop their sailing skills. It is a great opportunity for the local kids who do not have much offered to them in the form of out-of-school activities, apart from playing rugby. Our daughters certainly qualified as keen sailors and this is how our association with the program began.

Ron and Geoff – coaching the kids at the Savusavu Junior Sailing Club        photo: Trevina Gray	Ron (in the orange dinghy) coaching the Junior Sailing Club kids

When we were young, both Ron and I were fortunate enough to be involved with fantastic sailing clubs that nurtured young sailors and as a result, we both grew up loving sailing and the sea. Now, when our own kids were at the same stage in life, it was payback time. Ron soon became co-coach with Geoff Taylor, who had been running the Optimist program in Savusavu. Although the eight fibreglass Optimist boats were old and past their use-by date, the kids’ enthusiasm and boat-handling skills more than compensated for that. Sails and rigging were tied up with bits of string and held together with duct tape, but the boats sailed and raced every Saturday, without fail. Unlike most things in Fiji, which run on ‘Fiji time’, the kids would have all the boats on the beach, rigged and ready to take off before the official start time of 9 o’clock. As soon as they got the OK from the coach, they were off on the water.
 

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It’s early Saturday morning in paradise, ‘Freewind’ lies idly on her mooring, the kids are awake. Eleanor pops her head through the hatch and announces:

“Dad, the kids are on the beach, rigging the Optimists, we better hurry!”
The skies are overcast, it feels like a light drizzle is on its way, typical ‘rainy season’ weather in the tropics. This doesn’t promise much wind for dinghy racing, but more than a dozen kids are on the beach, waiting eagerly to launch the sailing dinghies for the Junior Sailing Club’s Saturday session, so coach Ron and daughters Eleanor (11) and Melanie (9) get into our dinghy and head ashore.

Eleanor and Melanie rigging an Optimist on Saturday morning	The boats all ready to go

In no time, the Optimist sailing dinghies are rigged and ready to go, and the kids are off. Some in pairs, most single-handing, with the Club boat or our own dinghy as ‘chase boat’. There’s even a little breeze and the clouds are lifting – looks like a good sailing day after all.
Although during races, the competitive spirit is high, the most important thing is to have fun. Like all the people of the South Pacific, Fijians will always find something to joke about, and eventually you will find their merry laughter catching as it overflows onto you. If you are not happy and relaxed, you just feel out of place. More so, of course, around the kids. Their joy and eagerness to sit at the tiller, grab the mainsheet and push the little boats to maximum speed was all the gratitude one needed for the time and effort devoted to coaching. The eagerness was matched by their skill as small boat handlers. Born so close to the sea, most of those kids were as comfortable on the water as they were on land.

Kids racing – Sauvsavu Junior Sailing Club	Around the marker buoy towards the finish line

The racing is taken seriously, or at least as seriously as anything else is taken in Fiji. Everyone is focused at the start, eager to be the first across the line, but as the race goes on and some boats lag behind, the sailors that admit defeat would take a “short cut” inside a buoy, to the yelling and uproar from the spectator/chase boat “cheating!, cheating!”. More laughing and cheering, hand-waving and in the end, both the race winner and the race cheat are hailed and honoured in a mini-carnival.
The announcement “OK everyone, capsizing exercise!” is received with cheers rather than apprehension, and in no time the boats are upside down, everyone in the water, including the kids in the chase boat. Then, there follows a cheerful mayhem of splashing, shouting and joking, in which somehow all the boats end up sitting upright, ready to sail again, and everyone refreshed from the swim in the cool water.

Capsizing is part of the training	Junior sailors with coaches Geoff and Ron on board Freewind

At the end of the day, everyone is tired, but happy with the day’s sailing and fun; all the gear has been put away – ready for more enjoyment and racing next Saturday.

Read more about the Savusavu Junior sailing Club:
 Building the new plywood Optimist dinghies
Laser sailing at SSYC - September 2010 (Freewind's Log)