Askari is a 40 foot Searunner Trimaran. She was designed by Jim Brown, built in Wasilla Alaska and launched in 1982. According to her USCG documentation, she was registered as a commercial fishing vessel. In 1992 she went from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean thru the Panama Canal. At some time she was registered in Miami Florida.

When I first met her she was in St. Croix, in S,alt River Marina. She was owned by a man named Doug Brooks. She was painted light blue and had turquoise canvas. She was a very pretty trimaran. When I was in my early thirties I was living in St Croix aboard my little purple monohull, Melody Anne. I was a self employed canvas worker with my shop aboard my little monohull. I made a spray dodger for Askari, and Doug invited me to go on a lovely day sail aboard. I remember being impressed by the amount of deck space, and the stability under sail. The years passed, and so did Doug.

Askari was purchased by Ralph Davis, who had circumnavigated twice aboard his trimaran Windchime. Unfortunately, Windchime hit a reef in St. Croix, her home port, and was destroyed. Ralph salvaged what he could and bought Askari, moved aboard, and loved her for a while but he didn’t keep her long, his health was failing, and he ended up selling her to his friend Tom Logsdon. Tom had the engine overhauled and started doing some deck repairs, but his friend Ralph died and willed Tom his house. Soon Tom’s energy and attention moved from Askari to the house, and Askari sat at her mooring in Salt River, every year getting a little more lonely.

One day at a memorial service for a friend, Tom approached me and asked if I had a boat. I had been living on land for a little over a year, after returning from a 13 year adventure across the Pacific to Southeast Asia aboard a sexy and fast Newick trimaran named Naga, with Jack Petith. Naga and Jack didn’t want to leave Thailand, so I returned to the Virgin Islands and resumed my business as a canvas worker, but at the time I met Tom, i had no boat. Tom offered to sell me Askari so I went to have a look at her. She was badly neglected, and looking pretty close to a wreck at the time. But the price was acceptable for the condition she was in, and I knew if I worked hard at it, I could bring her back to life and seaworthiness.

Roger Hatfield who built boats on St Croix at Gold Coast Yachts had once built a 37 foot Searunner, so he came aboard Askari and gave her an unofficial survey. He told me basically what was wrong with her and what needed to be fixed. He also told me the good things about her and said I would do wello have such a boat.

Next I had an engineer/mechanic friend take a look at the old Yanmar engine and give me his advice and opinions. The engine was old, but it ran. She would need constant maintenance and lots of attention. But she ran. And then I spent the night aboard, trying to decide if I should buy her. The bow nets were like built in hammocks, loose and comfortable to sleep on. Her bunks were filled with stuff but I could see there would be space for sleeping. The center cockpit seemed far from the edges of the boat and a very safe place to control things when under way. And the aft cabin was spacious, right away i could imagine how to perfectly set it up for use as my canvas loft. And so in November of 2014 I bought Askari, and together we began our adventures.

The first thing I did was scrape what I think was about 10 years of barnacles and sponges off her bottom. It took several tanks of air and some help from friends, and except for a 1″ crab trying to nest in my ear, that job went well.

Experienced in sail and canvas repairs, the sails and running rigging were my next challenge. Ralph Davis had brought all his sails from Windchime aboard, so first i had to figure out which ones fit the boat. I repaired all of them, then decided which ones to keep and which to get rid of, and I rigged her so I could sail her from Salt River to Christiansted Harbor.

I didn’t trust that old diesel engine, so with a large inflatable as a tug/tender, I managed to sail her out of salt river and a short way down the coast of St Croix to Christiansted Harbor where I tied her to a dock in front of the cubicle apartment I was calling home. Miraculously, the mast didn’t fall down.

One day about a dozen friends showed up with cold drinks and food, and we cleaned and organized Askari, and soon I was able to move aboard and move my sail and canvas shop out of the space I rented on the boardwalk and into Askari’s aft cabin. I was home.

In the space that was the designated setee area, I created a 5 foot by 7 foot flat space and turned it into my work table. Just forward of that I parked my 120 pound industrial sewing machine, and the nav desk and pilot berth housed my other smaller sewing machines. I had a lot of work to do on Askari to bring her back to life, and that required money. So I set her up to provide the space I needed to earn that money. I did my best to keep her ready for sailing, I didn’t want a floating sail loft, i wanted a sailboat. Fortunately, the aft cabin was ideal for the set-up of my work space.

The galley was clear and operational, and the two forward cabins were my living space- one cabin to sleep in, one cabin to hang out and read, use the computer, or contemplate the resurrection of Askari. There was a shower all the way forward but I thought a better use for that space would be my walk-in closet, a nod to my femininity. I took showers on deck like a civilized wooden boat sailor.

The next big project was replacing ALL the rigging. Every chainplate, toggle, tang and cable needed replacing. One of the chainplates I could fold in half with my hands. Several of the clevis pins disintegrated when I put a vise grip to them, and a toggle broke as I was waiting for the crane at St Croix Ma I9rine to pull my mast. With the advice and knowledge of several experienced friends, I replaced all my standing rigging. Replacing the bow chainplate was a scary proposition but needed to be done. Watching YouTube videos gave me an idea of the surgery involved. I hired my friend Oliver to take on that job. A friend with a drill press cut and drilled my chainplates in exchange for some boat canvas. A former marine and all around hero helped me with the hard stuff like getting the old wire out of the staylock fittings (lots of hammering involved)and he put his strength into turning the seized bolts and other assorted impossible jobs. The rigger from Gold Coast Yachts tuned it for me, and Askari was once more standing up proud and strong.

My Marine friend helped me sail her to St Kitts, and there I hauled her out of the water and spent 5 months living alone in the boatyard, getting to know some of the systems, and sanding, painting and repairing rotten wood. Little by little, day by day, I transformed her from the mess that she was into a beautiful, proud yellow trimaran. I painted her eyes on the bow so she could see where she was going. I hung flower leis on her bow rail. At Christmas time I decorated her with tinsel leis and bells. One of the last big boatyard jobs was building a new rudder and replacing all the gudgeons and pintles.

I chose bright colors for her new canvas, and I created a bimini, dodger, sail cover and various other needed canvas. I ordered a new mainsail and a new yankee.I sailed her back to St Croix and hauled her again to put in a new shaft and shaft strut.

My father cane down to visit and see what I had gotten myself into. He spend days sitting on a park bench on the Christiansted boardwalk sanding the teak and holly floorboards, helping me make my beautiful sailboat even more beautiful. Yes he thought I was crazy. But he was proud of me.

My dream for Askari was to sail her, really sail her, either spend a few years bouncing up and down the Caribbean, or take her to the South Pacific islands and hang out there a while. The Caribbean I felt I could do single handed, but sailing to French Polynesia solo was not part of the plan. And no, i don’t really like single handing. Life is better when shared.

There is a website called “lovesail.com” and I gave it a shot, hoping to find a loveable experienced sailor to share my dreams. I put out a call into the realm of the internet, and thru this on-line dating site i met a man with a catamaran in the British Virgin Islands. He liked my soft curves and sharp edges. I liked his strength and determination. Rick and i sailed together to St. Kitts and St. Martin where we labored in two more boatyards, but we found joy and happiness in each other’s company. In June of 2017 we set sail for Panama aboard Askari.

We reached the San Blas islands one stormy evening, too late to get safely past the reef. We sailed back and forth in a thunderstorm until daylight gave us the visibility we needed, then anchored in close to Isla Porvenir.

We bounced around the pretty little islands for a few days, then headed to Portobello where we had to go to finalize our yacht clearance. We anchored close up to the remains of an old Spanish fort. We made friends and enjoyed the time there mostly, but It was a little inconvenient for things like good groceries, and to get to a bank one needs to take a one and a half hour bus ride. It rained and rained and rained some more. The local sail loft run by a lovely German couple wanted to hire me and steal me away from my sailing. I wasnt interested. We used thier dinghy dock and had drinks and meals with them, and time and again they asked me to stay and work. But Portobello was not where I wanted to swallow my anchor.

We finally broke free and headed toward Bocas Del Toro, but the engine quit and we had a strong current against us. Unable to make headway, we turned around and sailed back to Portobello, feeling a bit like it was sucking us back. Some ports are very sticky, it’s hard to leave them for one reason or another. Portobello was turning into that kind of port for us. I changed the raw water impeller and the engine ran, but I wasn’t holding out much hope for its continued performance.

Finally we got a day with winds to sail and we headed out towards Bocas del Toro again. It was only 250 miles away, but It took us 4 days to get there. And of course, the engine wasn’t going to cooperate. We managed to sail into port and dropped anchor near.the Bocas Yacht Club.

Here we stayed for a while, sailing to the numerous bays and anchorages in this sheltered archipelago while hurricane season blasted past the eastern Caribbean all summer long. Askari was safe and happy. I was safe and happy. And Bocas Del Toro is far from a perfect paradise, in truth there is very little to be desired, but It was a good place to stop for a while, paint the decks, fix the engine, re-vamp my galley and earn some money.

Rick’s boat was a Leopard catamaran. He left it in charter service up in the Britiah Virgin Islands while he sailed with me to Panama. His boat was roomy, modern, comfortable, easy to sail. 4 double cabins, two bathrooms with hot showers, 2 engines in good condition, large water and fuel capacity, and an anchor windlass. She had 2 large tables and lots of places to sit comfortably. Electronics apropriate for a modern sailboat. An oven and a freezer. Air conditioning. Dinghy davits. Yes, his boat was very comfortable. I called it a pizza box. Comfort food. Comfort boat.

In contrast, Askari had only one place for 2 people to comfortably sleep together, and that was on top of my work table in the aft cabin, the place that was designed to be the seating and eating area before i acquired her. My shower, used on deck or in the confines of the cockpit, is a pump action 2 gallon plastic bottle designed for spraying weed killer.

My engine was old and unreliable. Hipping the dinghy alongside the main hull and using the outboard engine for propulsion was a common means of motoring. She has a 40 gallon water tank and a 60 gallon fuel tank. There is no anchor windlass so care must be taken in choosing an anchorage, as each anchor only has 40′ of chain.

The only table aboard Askari is a teak folding TV tray, barely large enough for 2 plates. Askari’s cockpit is very comfortable for sitting, but down below, seating is a bit of a challenge. There is the single person setee atop the engine compartment. There is a bucket with a padded top. And there is the cooler, also used as a step to climb up over the sewing machine and into the bed. There is no oven, there is no freezer. No air conditioning. No dinghy davits. The electronics are basic; an autopilot we named FRED (F*cking Remarkable Electronic Device) there is a GPS and an AIS, a vhf radio that really should be replaced, and umm… that’s it.

Still, I felt Askari was the better boat. She could sail better to windward, and the centerboard keeps her from setting too much. With the cutter rigged hank-on sails, a more versatile sail set was possible. She is a wood boat and simpler to repair. And she could never be mistaken for a charter boat. Her bow nets were perfect for stargazing in a quiet anchorage. Her center cockpit provided a safe and sheltered space to work the boat. And finally, she was MY boat, the boat i put so much love and energy and time into, and really, she had everything I felt was needed for an ocean crossing.

Now that we knew we wanted to stay together and sail together, the decision had to be made, which of our two boats would we keep in the Carribean, and which to sail to the South Pacific. Unfortunately hurricane Irma decided that for us, as it mashed up Ricks boat which was in Tortola when Irma flattened the island. We flew back to the BVI’s to rescue La Bella Vita, patched her up as best we could, and sailed her to Grenada where she could get proper repairs done. When the quotes and estimates for repairs were all in hand, and looking at a minimum of 6 months hard work in the boatyard, Rick decided to sell her as-is and collect the insurance money. Askari would be the boat we sail to the South Pacific.

We ordered a new diesel engine, and while that was being delivered to Panama, we took Askari for a sail. We headed north towards Cuba but stopped at San Andres Island and spent Christmas there. The winds at that time of year were not going to help us get to Cuba, so we changed direction and sailed to Cartagena instead. The old city of Cartagena was a delight, even the anchorage was vibrant and noisy, exploding with South American culture and charm. It was a very pleasant change from the numerous disappointments of Panama.

We returned to Bocas Del Toro where our new Yanmar engine awaited us. Our mechanic was Jeff, an engine guru who could have been Danny DeVito’s twin brother. Jeff had done his best for the old diesel, he managed to get it running and keep it running, but it was never going to be something that we could count on. He and Rick pulled out the old.rusty thing and installed our new and shiny 3 cylinder Yanmar in its place. That engine is Ricks baby, and since it was installed, I rarely take the helm anymore for docking or anchoring.

Next, we sailed her to Shelter Bay Marina across from Colon, where I was accosted by horror stories of bad canal transits. No one ever talks about the uneventful passages, but they do seem to go on and on about the boat that got sideways in the lock, the boat that hit the door and mashed in its transom, the screw-ups on behalf of line handlers or advisors, and to top it all off, there was the catamaran that made it thru to the other side, was damaged in transit, and came all the way back thru the canal to haul out at Shelter Bay boatyard to have the hull repaired as well as one of the engines, then they planned to take the boat back thru the canal again, that’s three yes three transits to get to the other side.

Needless to say, I was stressed out and losing sleep. Thinking maybe Askari wouldn’t mind sailing the Caribbean a bit more. But Rick would have none of that stinking thinking, he was determined to get Askari to the Pacific Ocean and sail her to french Polynesia.

Rick, in his previous life, was an airline pilot. Calm, cool, attention to the job at hand. If anyone could get my boat safely thru the Panama Canal, with its rough concrete walls and enormous steel doors and giant ships and giant propellers just meters away from my little wooden boat, it was Rick.

Rick took the helm thru our Canal transit, while I did what I did best, handle lines. We hired 3 professional line handlers who assisted in the transit, we were tied to the wall in all six locks, and thankfully no one was hurt and nothing was damaged. Askari was in the Pacific Ocean.

After provisioning and filling with water and fuel at Vista Mar marina, we set sail for the Marquesas Islands. The first few days were rough with contrary winds and weather. We used the engine a lot those first few days. The squid would land on our deck at night and in the morning we gathered and cleaned them and feasted on thier tender flesh. It seemed like all we did was beat to windward at first, waves washing the decks and knocking things about. Gradually the wind shifted in our favor and we were reaching on a port tack, finally the sun came out and the winds got more southeast, and we were able to broadreach using the genoa.

Rick has an Irridium Go unit and we use it to get weather forecasts as well as sending out our position so my father can be a little less worried and see that we are making forward progress. It also has the capability to send and receive text data via email. I am writing this missive as something to do aside from whip line ends, bake bread, tell stories over and over, and watch sea birds and flying fish endlessly doing their thing. So far the passage has been delightfully uneventful. I guess I miss the constant communication of the internet and emails that I have grown accustomed to. And so, I am sending this out to you, hoping you find it of at least a little interest, and my writing not too difficult to follow.