portrait of laura dekker in our backyard

Laura Dekker after a healthy dose of South Island goodness.
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND.  (April 30, 2013)

shack rope swing

Tormentina (age 4) on the blue line.
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - WHITIANGA (April 2013)

ben ditto & shawn reeder

Our good friend Ben Ditto (a kickass climber & photographer) recently connected us with a fellow photographer named Shawn Reeder who is currently shooting on the north & south island of New Zealand.  Check out Shawn's excellent time lapse videos HERE.

Shawn Reeder & the Anasazi  Girls.
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND.  (April 2013)

justin bastien

The backyard of the shack has become a regular stopping point for our traveling friends.

Last month, Ventura (California) based photographer, Justin Bastien came to visit us after a few weeks of surfing, caving, climbing, and shooting.  What a treat to have his positive energy here and to see his recent work.

Justin B. & Princess T.
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND.  (May 2013)

wild child tormentina

Whitianga Harbour, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND  (April 2013)

coming back together

whitianga harbour

Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND  (April 2013)

splicing dyneema

James splicing Anasazi Girl's fancy Dyneema & Karver jewelry in the backyard of the shack.
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND.  (April 2013)

quentín duforest

Our friend Quentín Duforest is from a town in Northern France called Le Touquet, so he understands what kind of French sailing beast Anasazi Girl is.

Since there is no berth space deep enough at the Whitianga Marina to tie up the boat, loading gear on and off the boat involves trips up & down the ladder, 16 feet above the ground.   Thanks to Quentín, over the last week he and James have loaded all of the boat gear from the shack back onto the boat.

Quentín Duforest - Engineer, Photographer, Sailor, & Pro Kite Surfer
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND (April 2013)

whitianga marina docks

James and Raivo on the dock - Whitianga Marina.
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND  (March 2013)

the princess & the pearl

Tormentina & Pearl in our backyard.
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND.  (April 2013)

rudders & tracks

Rudders & tracks with some history.  Time to make some more miles.
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND.  (April 2013)

anasazi girl's bags

Sheet bags on the left, bulkhead bags on the right, and the baby's mesh cage front & center.
All clean & ready to go for the next voyage.
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZELALAND.  (April 2013)

cushion stars, sand dollar, & pipi shells

Pipi Shells & Raivo's Action Suit
Mercury Bay, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND.  (April 2013)

Tormentina's beautiful collection at low tide:  Cushion Stars & Sand Dollar
Whitianga Harbour, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND.  (April 2013)

under the magnolia tree

My beautiful girls under the magnolia tree.
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND.  (April 2013)

backcountry.com web ad featuring tormentina

My kids are so amazing.

They have been working since they were tiny to help support my photography, our family, and our life program of adventure, travel, and sailing.

My cousin Timothy Chan (who lives in Colorado) just sent a Backcountry.com email ad & a link that features Tormentina on their web-site.

Image below was taken before we started sailing as a family.  It is one of our favorite places on the planet - on the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego, near the Straits of Magellan.  We have not decided where we will go next with Anasazi Girl, but it is very tempting to sail the boat next to Puerto Williams or Ushuaia.  Cold, cold, but it is one of the cleanest, wildest, purest places we have ever been.

My Pink Flamingo, Tormentina (age 2)
Laguna Verde - Tierra del Fuego - CHILE (March 2011)

pōhutukawa trees, sleemans park, whitianga

haul-out progress, whitianga

magical coromandel

oystercatchers, whitianga harbour

Oystercatchers at low tide, Whitianga Harbour
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula, NEW ZEALAND (March 2013)

second coat of primer

makao, whitianga

We met the crew of SY Makao at the marina in Whitianga.  We have been in the same places over the last five years...  Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Kampot, Carnac, Lorient, La Trinité-Sur-Mer, Ushuaia, and Puerto Montt, but have never crossed paths until just now.

Crew of SY Makao  from L to R:  Martin (5 months), Katell, Thibaut (2 years) & Mathieu Hauet.
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND  (March 2013)

L to R:  Katell, Thibaut, Tormentina, James & Raivo.
Whitianga Marina, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND.  (March 2013)

SV Makao
Whitianga Marina, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND.  (March 2013)

primer

First coat of primer on the keel.
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula, NEW ZEALAND.  (March 2013)

the cameron brothers

Our friend Kez Cameron, an 18' Skiff sailor from Tauranga, showed up at the boatyard in Whitianga yesterday.  He brought a surprise - two of his brothers, Logan and Garrick - to help James finish preparing Anasazi Girl's hull for new antifouling.  The four of them powered up and they finished taking off the bottom paint, every last bit of it. Thanks to the guys, we are now 5 days ahead of schedule.

Afterward, we had beer and New Zealand lamb, grilled in the backyard.  It was eaten with no utensils or plates, finger-lickin' Patagonia style.  Nice to have friends in this life.

Portrait of Kez Cameron. Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND. (March 2013)

L to R:  Logan, Garrick, James, Kez, and the kids in front.
Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula - NEW ZEALAND  (March 2013)

antifouling, whitianga marina

by James Burwick

Whitianga Marina travel-lift in the foreground with Whitianga's Scenic & Historic Reserve and Whitianga Harbour
in the background.  The marina participates in the New Zealand Clean Marina enviornmental program.

Down to the business of removing the old antifouling on Anasazi Girl.

It has been one year since the boat was last slipped onto the South African Navy Dockyard's hard-stand in Simons Town.   During that refit, I gave her a super thin, 3 liter coat of antifouling.  It’s much easier this time to get back to the layer of primer.

A Girl’s spot at the Whitianga Marina is super clean.  The natural environment surrounding it is quite stunning and very peaceful.  My mind works better when everything around me is clean and organized.  Maybe I am a bit neurotic like Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets.  I love his obsessive scene with the bars of soap.

Work has been a combination of wet sanding & dust-free machine sanding with a vacuum suction.  There is no fairing material on the hull, just a coat of primer over the carbon prepreg.  So I try to move slow, working deliberately and methodically, putting the pain in the box for later.

I don’t feel the aches in my body until I return to our Kiwi sleep-out.  When I finally stop moving and lay on a bed that my entire family fits on, what an appreciation I have for the simple comfort of a soft mattress.

Underside of Anasazi Girl's bow with half the anitfouling from South Africa taken down to the primer.

Anasazi Girl's autoclave carbon fin keel & lead bulb.