Tag Archives: sail

Shawnigan is FOR SALE!!! $140,000 NZD (~100k USD) SOLD!!!

Yep you read that right, S/V Shawnigan , our lovely solid, world cruising ready, Sparkman and Stephens, Stevens 40 is up for sale! $140,000 NZD

Before I post all of her details I will reassure you that this DOESN’T mean we, Afamilyafloat , are done with sailing / boat life… we’re just switching things up and looking at a different boat. Exciting changes to come!

I know most people love video tours: so here’s a link to our “old” one (or see below). There are few improvements , additions and removals, since the video so we will list these below. Please feel free to message us here or call (NZ +64 2041790882) directly if you have any questions. Note : we are currently in New Zealand, so listing in NZD for the NZ and Australian market.

Vessel Name: “SHAWNIGAN” Model: 40’ STEVENS 40 center cockpit cutter Builder: STEVENS Yachts, Queen Long Yard, Taiwan, R.O.C. Designer: Sparkman & Stephens Year Built: 1982 LOA: 40’ 7” LWL: 31’ 4” Beam: 12’ 6” Draft: 6.75’ Displacement: 24,000 # Ballast: 8,000#, internal in fiberglass fin Power: VolvoPenta 40 Equipment: – Wheel steering, autopilot, Hydrovane with spare wind paddle- Complete set of sails including mainsail, harken roller furler with 120% and 150% , hank-on staysail – ICOM IC-M802 SSB and VHF radio, RAYTHEON RL70 radar, B & G depth sounder, GARMIN 176 GPS/plotter, Lawrence fish finder /depth sounder. Vesper Marine AIS receiver and transponder – Safety equipment: ground tackle electric windlass with 350′ hi-tensile G4 American made chain, 45# ROCNA . Standing rigging , turnbuckles and running rigging done in 2012 – custom hard dodger – 3x 150W solar panels, mounted on arch. Installed fridge/freezer in 2021 as a drop in model – Dickinson Diesel Heater . 2 Levac heads and a shower. Master bed in aft cabin. Two berths in v-berth with leecloths. Pull out settee with leecloth on starboard side of main cabin, and another leecloth for settee on port side. New awlgrip paint 2017.

This STEVENS 40 is a production fiberglass sailboat designed by the famed Sparkman & Stephens and built in Taiwan in the early eighties. Only 10 boats were built under this brand between 1982 and 1984 until the boatyard Queen Long Marine Shipbuilding became in 1984 the exclusive builder of the well-known HYLAS Yachts. The STEVENS 40 and 47 are very similar to the high end HYLAS on many levels: solidly built, sea-kindly hull designed for blue water cruising, center cockpit layout and high-quality teak interior.

Dodger with the sides rolled up, providing shade in hot sunny locations.

Dodger providing comfort in wet conditions.

Starboard side of main cabin looking aft.

looking toward port side and forward of main cabin

Double compression post bound with spectra (structural and cosmetic).

Main cabin view from Port looking aft and towards the chart table.

DCIM101GOPROGOPR2040. — right side of stove has been customized as a drop in fridge/freezer (see photo above of port side).

Galley: 2 ice boxes (we use for dry food, and pots and pans) and Force10 stove/oven) and a large double sink with fresh and saltwater pumps and new faucet for electric powered flow.

Aft head with Levac. Shower to the left of head (currently used for storage).

6 weeks in Tonga: Part 2 – The Ha’apai group and Tongatapu September-October 2018

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Okay okay I’m officially way over a year behind on my posts. Since leaving Tonga to do a travel nursing assignment and then moving to New Zealand to work full time and have the kids in school, I have to be honest, blogging hasn’t been at the top of my to do list. And to be honest, the ease of using Instagram for posting current photos has taken over my usual blogging effort. That being said, I do understand that not everyone is on Instagram and I usually don’t write as much there either. My apologies. But I persist none the less, so here it is, over a year later, the second part of our Tonga sailing adventures. This one isn’t going to be too juicy, as I feel like we really didn’t do that much after leaving the Vava’u Group of Tonga.

Tonga: Part 2.

Nothing like a little last minute, fly by the seat of your pants plan making… Nursing job in NZ offered, travel assignment in California accepted, confirmation from our friend Nic to fly out and help Christian sail… all to leading us to plan our sailing in Tonga to arrive in Tongatapu by Oct 10th in order for me (Josie) to fly out and Nic to fly in.

From the Vava’u group, we headed south to the next group of islands called the Ha’apai Group. This group of islands are less inhabited and more pristine. Supposedly there are more whales here as well, but while we were there the wind was steadily 20+kts , making the whale watching not so happening. We found ourselves anchored in front of a a cruiser friendly “resort” called “Sea Change Eco Retreat” off of the Uoleva Island. They have a great beach bar with nice cold drinks, local Tongan beer and good french press coffee. What more could you ask for on a remote island in Tonga. Apparently, this was the area where the mutiny on the Bounty started. We didn’t get any bad vibes from this place, even with that history. And honestly, I think this Uoleva was one of the highlights of Tonga despite the constant wind and probably the one place we would want to go back to if we sail back there. I think we would have to learn to kite surf to really have a blast there.

Time was closing in and groups of cruisers started to part ways as each one’s timeline for heading to New Zealand started to differ. We had a few “last” dinners with the last of the cruisers around us ( SV Caramor, Counting Stars, Blue Zulu, Dol Selene), taking turns having each boat over for dinner on our boat or us on theirs. This starting feeling like the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.

Taj, you have a friend on your shoulder.Took a sail to town aboard S/V Blue Zulu. Always nice to sail on another boat once in a while. Kid crew from SV Counting Stars, Blue Zulu and Shawnigan on our visit to town.

S/V Counting Stars heading out just after us… also catching the whale sighting.

On our way out of Uoleva to the southern end of the Ha’apai group, we spotted some whales! What a lovely departure gift. That day we sailed down to Lolofutu where we anchored for a night and met the caretaker aboard the catamaran Wildlife, a whale watching charter adventure boat . Not only were they cool, like minded people, but they happen to have kids eager to meet our kids. Always love a new “kid boat”. They were planning to head to Tongatapu soon as well, so our parting farewell was easy knowing we would meet again soon.

After a great passage down to Tongatapu, we found anchor room in front of Big Mama’s Yacht Club, a well known facility among the cruisers. It use to be a hopping spot, but after a hurricane a few years back that wiped it out, it hasn’t quite recovered, but its getting there.

We spent a few days wondering around the main part of the city. A large part of one morning was spent trying to find the immigration/port captain to check out of the country. We walked and walked which felt great. There were many churches, local schools, clinics, restaurants. There was little to be desired as far as finding good food in Tongatapu though. We found it safest to stick with our own meals on the boat. However, there was one pizza place though that was pretty good, thanks to S/V Wildlife crew’s recommendation. The most important thing though…, we found coffee and wifi. A cruisers dream.

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Tonga probably has as many churches as they have house… well, not really, but there are an aweful lot. Here’s an old one that was just abandoned and fenced off. So beautiful. Its too bad they dont renovate it and keep it in use or make it into a museum of sorts. Another church…Tongans really hold high value on the deceased… especially the Royal Family. Nina getting her hair cut before heading down to New Zealand. October 9th, 2018: The Family taking me to the airport… a dinghy ride to shore, a taxi to the Nukualofa Airport. I’ll be away for 3 months, working as a Travel Nurse in California, without seeing them again until I fly to New Zealand with Ellamae in tow.

An example of Taj’s homeschooling alphabet art. He attached the dinosaur to the flower.

Suwarrow – Cook Islands

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From Maupiti we set sail for Suwarrow, not certain that we would actually stop there. 5 days and 700 miles later, we made landfall August 22nd, 2018.

Suwarrow is one of the most northern of the 15 Cook Islands, which are self governing, but in free association with New Zealand. Its a bit out of the way, but on the way to Tonga. We had the option of going the rhumb (straight) line from Maupiti to Tonga, take the more southern route to Palmerston, or take the more northern route to Suwarrow. Most of our cruising friends that left before us went to Suwarrow and raved about it. A few went to Palmerston, but history has it as a fair weather only stop, and the weather was not predicted to be so fair. And rather than doing a straight shot 1,200 miles to Tonga, we opted to aim toward Suwarrow, keep and eye on the weather and as long as it was looking good to stop, we would.

Sail by the wind Jellies that we caught

and released. Their real name is Velella Velella . Also known as sea raft, by-the-wind sailor, purple sail, little sail, or simply Velella .

Our departure from Maupiti was seamless. We made it out the pass and turned west. The wind was great, perfect for the asymmetrical. We had her flying for a while, it was smooth sailing. Then the wind started to pick up and as I was saying to Christian that we should probably take down the A-sail, we heard a tearing sound. The sail completely tore down the center and across the top. We quickly got it down and unfurled the jib. The unfortunate part of this, besides loosing our A-sail, was that we had already took down our 150 genoa sail and exchanged it for the 120. The shape of our 120 is great and it made for a more comfortable sail, but our speed wasn’t what it could be if we had the 150 out. No matter though, the next day the wind picked up more and the 120 was more than enough. We made it to Suwarrow. The wind was strong as we came in. Bajka was already there, as well as La Cigale.

Good night sun and good bye asymmetrical 😦

The Island was beautiful! We had heard that it was watched over by two Rangers (caretakers), Harry and John. We got a very warm welcome from these two men, when they motored their skiff out to our boat to check us in to the country. After talking with them we learned that they get brought in on a supply ship with supplies from one of the southern islands called Rarotonga, the largest Cook Island, and stay for 6-7 months at a time without re-supply. These two rangers were so awesome. They had the best attitudes, and were so kind to share “their space” with us cruisers. Many nights they allowed us to have potlucks and bonfires on the beach and would join us for the fun. Most nights included musical jam sessions as well, so we heard…

We ended up staying for only one night. We arrived in the morning, checked in, stayed the night and then left the next afternoon. The weather window looked good to leave and we didn’t want to risk getting stuck there for 3 weeks with the limited provisions we had left, plus another 700 mile sail. As soon as we arrived, Bajka and LA Cigale came to pick up the kids to do the Geocaching activity that was started a month or so earlier by another sailing family on S/Y Moya.

So after a evening potluck with music, and a morning of checking out the island, learning a bit from the rangers about the local medicinal plants, checking out the local feeding frenzy of sharks, then checking out of the country, we set sail for Tonga.