Peregrina Sails

after nearly two months away traveling, I’m just glad to see she’s still floating. ⛵️🏠

especially since it looks like the bilge breaker tripped recently 😳🫣 and it was off when I arrived today 😱

Spring has finally sprung in Melbourne! 🌸
Zia and I have been soaking up the rays doing boat jobs so I can depart for a brief visit to the USA. Going to miss my little furry soulmate so much 🥹🐶 but thankful to have awesome local friends to love her in my absence!

🌟THIS WEEKEND🌟Teaching two intro diesel courses for women/nonbinary sailors in Williamstown, Melb, in partnership with Hobsons Bay Yacht Club to fundraise for Latitude: Directions for Young People 💕😇 Plus, an “open boat” for locals to come and visit Windfola from 10-12 on Sunday morning, AND super honoured to be opening the 137th sailing season for Hobson’s Bay Yacht Club! 🔔⛵️

HBYC’s motto is “Sailing With the Community,” and they are really walking their talk by throwing open their doors on their annual opening weekend to welcome the mission of fundraising to support local youth experiencing homelessness. When I rang them to suggest the idea, there was no hesitation, they were straight into making it all happen both to support their women sailors/aspiring boat owners 👩‍🔧 AND all for Latitude — an amazing, small local org. 💕

HBYC’s enthusiasm is really rare, and I’m so impressed! As a solo sailor with 16,000+ nm and counting, AND a once-homeless youth, it means so much to me when clubs see the whole of me and take my message to heart to give back to kids with backgrounds like mine in their own communities. HBYC has already put out these cute piggy banks in their bar space to fundraise for Latitude. 🐖🏦

Spaces are limited for the classes, so please reach out to HBYC to reserve a spot. Looking forward to meeting lots of local folks on Sunday morning aboard Windfola at the HBYC docks… and hope to raise some generous donations to support Latitude! 💕🌟🥰

Back to boat projects in chilly Melb with 🐶Zia supervising, but I’m still dreaming of my time at Camp Happy Trails for Kids last month in Cali 🥹🏕️🥾☀️💕

I feel so lucky to have experienced a week as a volunteer at their life-changing outdoor camp for foster kids. I cannot say enough about how worthy this organization is — truly doing the most high-impact work by bringing FUN and SMILES and POSITIVE outdoor experiences year round to these young people!!! 😃 The connections I watched the kids make with each other at camp absolutely blew me away, and the number of staff who take leave from their “day jobs” to go work tirelessly at the camp to provide a memorable experience… I can’t even express the level of skill and love I saw them apply!! 🥹🥰 So many of them also have care experience, or even attended the camp when they were in care, and are now doing incredible things themselves. 💪 I left so inspired by you.

Having been through some really rough times during my years in care, I can see how absolutely transformative an experience like Camp Happy Trails would have been for me. I know that nature has been, and always will be, the great healer in my life… and it can be for these kids, too.
I hope more folks will help Happy Trails deliver their healing and life changing programs to these kids. Please consider making a donation now to help them give this gift of connection and camp.

On a personal note, every time I meet people doing this kind of work, it heals some part of me that lingers from my time in care. Youth workers, homeless workers, camp counselors, social workers, and the people that really show up for the care-experienced — I am in awe of you. Thank you for what you do. 💕🥹😇 You deserve all the tautoko and funding we can give! 🙏

Reunited with ⛵️Windfola and 🐶 Zia in 🇦🇺🦘 Oz and it feels sooo good! Gearing up to install some fresh boat parts from 🇺🇸 but taking time out to check out the next coastline we’ll sail on our westward venture… the gorgeous Surf Coast and Torquay 😍🌊 STUNNING! Glad to be home again 🥹💕

Finally installed the last piece of our windvane replacement and cinched up the bracket bolts. That’s the last of the accident damage to Windfola repaired. She needs a test sail, but at least she’s whole again… and I’ve left for a visit to the US to make my heart more whole, too. 🙏💕

Huge huge thanks to Ella at Anchorage Marina for making us so welcome in a time of struggle. Everywhere I look, there are silver linings in the fresh and restoring connections to other gorgeous spirits. 😇🥹💕

Windfola is becoming more whole after we were hit by that catamaran. I always try to look for the silver linings in this journey, because sailing around the world solo never seems to go quite to plan, and it’s always better to focus on what these experiences bring to me rather than what my expectations have been. Here is an accidental silver lining: landing in one of the best yard experiences we’ve ever had, in the capable hands of Penfold Marine at Savages Wharf in Williamstown, VIC.

These guys are so caring, know their stuff, and went way above and beyond to help us become more whole. Hauling out for our repairs meant an opportunity to have bottom of Windfola painted, and a full service of the engine, resolving our intermittent fuel system issue (a story for another time!). I can’t express the relief it brings me when I’m forced to get pro help and the pros treat me and my floating home with kindness, respect, and care. 💕🙏⛵️🥹

This is not what a windvane should look like. This is, however, what it — and a stainless steel aft safety rail — look like when a 45-foot luxury catamaran needlessly and recklessly drives into your vessel at anchor.
😔🥹 I’m sorry for the radio silence, but this is what we’ve been reeling and recovering from for the past couple of months.

⛵️

Happy New Year from Sydney, Australia! Despite contriving to avoid the fireworks by anchoring alone off a mooring field in a semi-industrial arm of the Paramatta River, we somehow ended up with a fireworks barge parked right in front of us… and our own private show! 🤩 It was one of those unplanned magic travel moments that simply take one’s breath away, and I found myself in a state of wonder and reflection.

For me, last year was… a marathon of rising from the ashes and rebuilding. It was heartbreak and hustle. It was catching COVID and struggling with visas while waiting to exit the place we stalled in the pandemic. It was finding a precious new whanau in a little cove on a small island that helped me get Windfola moving again. 💕 It was putting some of my grandma’s ashes in a locket around my neck on the second anniversary of her life’s end. 🕊️ It was rediscovering old friends in NZ who still had my back and believed in me. It was saying ka kite ano to the whanau in Aotearoa NZ that I love, hauling anchor, and finally sailing into the sunset across the Tasman. ⛵️

And then it was stepping into the bright Australian sunshine!☀️ It was crocodiles, sharks, jellyfish, kangaroos, scary bar crossings and being too hot but SO much happier again! It was recentering around our purpose to shine a light on and for young people from backgrounds like mine, and finding a way to empower women 👩‍🔧 at the same time! It was making deep new connections that have shaken the last of the dust off of my soul.

When 2023 ended, I was finally in alignment again with my heart’s song: to live simply and give freely.

May 2024 bring you a similar opportunity to reflect and step into more authenticity and resonance in your own life. May we all find more ways to live with less and give more. When we turn toward our communities and open our hearts, we discover we have all we need. Here’s wishing us all an abundant 2024!

So, what are we doing in Newcastle⁉️ We’re visiting the folks at Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club, who are kindly hosting us for a talk tonight at 6 PM as part of their Masterclass series! I’ll be sharing stories of my 15,000 nm solo sailing voyage thus far, and my mission to shine a light on and for young people in state care around the world! 💫 I’ll follow that up by teaching not one, but two Intro to Inboard Diesel Engine Workshops for women tomorrow! I really enjoy teaching these and giving women a hands-on opportunity to learn the basic care and maintenance of an inboard diesel engine on a keelboat. All of these events are meant to raise funds for an incredible local organization, Making Waves Foundation!

Making Waves Foundation runs programs here in Newcastle (and in other cities in Australia) that aim to empower young people from disadvantaged backgrounds by providing opportunities for them to build their confidence by going sailing. ⛵️ I had the chance to meet up with some of their people this morning and I just can’t speak highly enough about the heart they have for the work they do for young folks in need.

I know what a difference time in nature and access to water-based opportunities made for me when I was a teen aging out of care: they actually led to my first job working as a lifeguard! Participating in a Making Waves Foundation program could be that brief experience that makes a huge difference in a young person’s life and puts them on a better path.

I look forward to seeing lots of local folks out at Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club tonight, and I hope you’ll take a moment to give a donation to Making Waves Foundation in support of their programs for young people from backgrounds like mine! 💕🙏

www.makingwaves.au

Australian Sailing - NSW & ACT