pearl kiri

Raivo & Tormentina welcome aboard our newest crew member Pearl.

PEARL KIRI SAO-BURWICK
Born: 20-12-2012
Auckland, New Zealand
Pearl = after James' Grandmother
Kiri = "mountain" in Khmer

Our Southern Ocean Pearl was born at the home of our midwife,Tina Patrick, in Ponsonby.  Tormentina, 4-year old junior mid-wife, cut the cord and helped catch the baby.  Pearl moved onto Anasazi Girl when she was less than a day old.

Happy holidays to everyone!

auckland harbour

Team Vodaphone Orma 60 Trimaran

Triple 8

Snatch

auckland city skyline

evening sailing - auckland harbour

hobson west marina, viaduct harbour, auckland

takapuna beach, auckland

mission bay, auckland

following the vendée globe

We are following the Vendée race every day now.  Tormentina & Raivo are especially interested since we lived next to Jean-Pierre Dick's boat Virbac Paprec 3, Armel Le Cléac'h's Banque Populaire, and Tanguy de Lamotte's Class 40 Initiatives for a month at the Base-de-sous-marins in Lorient last year.  Tormentina also met François Gabart in Lorient two years prior (at age 1) when James went out for a day sail with him.

We met Armel's wife and son and she mentioned that some day she wants to go sailing with her family.  We had to laugh when she told us that she had a "qualified" skipper.

Tormentina fell in love with all the bad-ass skippers when she saw them walking down the docks in their "action suits", but Tanguy won BIG points when he gave her a box of chocolates.

Look forward to returning to Lorient with baby #3.

Armel Le Cléac'h's Banque Populaire

Banque Populaire 90° Stability Test

Armel on his boat Banque Populaire

Cockpit of Armel Le Cléac'h's Banque Populaire

Banque Populaire 90° Stability Test

James and Raivo in front of JP Dick's Virbac Paprec 3

JP Dick's Virbac Paprec 3

Tormentina kissing Tanguy de Lamotte

AC72s, viaduct harbour, auckland, nz

Anasazi Girl is currently tied up downtown at the Viaduct Harbour, at Hobson's West in Auckland.  It is super nice to not have to get into a vehicle and strap the kids into car seats to go somewhere.  The newly renovated Tepid Baths is just a block away, so our dirt-bag sailing family is getting clean, the kids are getting plenty of swim exercise, and we don't have to worry about them falling off the dock.

Gone now is the hard-stand work area and work sheds that used to make up our neighborhood when we were in Auckland with Anasazi Girl five years ago.  A pedestrian bridge connects the CBD to Sailor's Corner, cafes and restaurants line the waterfront, and the new Events Center building is located where James and I used to have our 20' sea container.  

In 2007 we lived in the container for two months while we prepped Anasazi Girl on the hard for James' non-stop (9000 mile West to East) run Auckland to Cape Town.  We worked long hours on the boat, provisioned at the Fish Market, showered in the Team NZ locker rooms, cycled to Okahu & Mission Bay on our Merida road bikes, had a frequent flyer card at Valentino's, and rode Sector 9 longboards every Friday night to Mo's bar (corner of Wolfe & Federal) for one of Hemingway's favorite drinks - mojitos.  James is certain that we conceived Tormentina with a recipe of mojitos and skateboards in the 20 footer on the wharf.

These days, one of the coolest things we get to see are the AC72s out for their practice sails in the harbour.