Making our own history
In 2002, the R. Tucker Thompson set out on a voyage to Korea for 'Sail Korea 2002', a tall ships Festival held to celebrate the Football World Cup in Korea and Japan. Then it was onwards for the West Coast Challenge on the United States... then home to New Zealand. This is Bill Miller's story.
Part 2 : Finding "The Tucker"
For a 69-year-old landlubber from Missouri to sail to New Zealand on a Tall Ship sounds like a pipe dream! I did, but the question is how did I find the ship? Missouri, my home, is a long way from the sea. Ships and sailing is not an everyday thing in my live. This is what made it possible.
Debbie, an adventuresome girl from Columbia, Missouri, started the chain of events. Fifteen years in a successful career in accounting and she decided to change her life. She sold her interest in the business and started traveling. In the South Pacific she found the R Tucker Thompson, a Tall Ship, and joined the crew for part of the journey around the Pacific. How did she find the ship and why did she want change her life? I ask her and she sent me her answers, but that's another story. Debbie's firm had a client named Terry, a recently retired math professor. Terry went to her office to pickup his tax forms and spoke to Debbie about her travels in the Pacific Ocean. Debbie gave Terry a post-it with the Tucker's web page. Terry was very interested since he had been to Tahiti in his youth and wanted to return. He contacted the Tucker organization, managed by a lady, named Jane, in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. Terry got information from Jane about the ship and possibly joining for a sail.
Terry's romantic interest is Carolyn, who works for the state of Missouri as an archivist of historical records. Workers in our court house in Fulton, Missouri, opened a curtain one day and found a bookcase full of old legal documents. Carolyn was asked to review and categorize the data from these dusty records, which had long ago been forgotten. My wife, who has an interest in such things, met Carolyn and a friendship was established. Carolyn told Susan about Terry talking to Jane.
Susan told me about Terry and the Tucker, I contacted Jane in New Zealand via the web page. In January 2002, I booked the San Diego to New Zealand leg of the Tucker's journey.
The chain reversed, Susan told Carolyn, Carolyn told Terry. When Terry heard about my booking, he decided he had to know the guy that would go on such a trip. He and Carolyn came to my home in Fulton to discuss. We met a second time at a restaurant in Columbia for more discussions. Terry finally committed to join the Tucker on the trip at least from San Diego to Tahiti.
Terry and I decided to get a preview of the Tucker in San Francisco before she got to San Diego. So Terry, Carolyn, Susan and I went to San Francisco. We met Jane and her husband Geoff who were in San Francisco with the Tucker for the Tall Ship Festival. That evening all six of us went out for an enjoyable dinner and got to know each other.
Terry and I joined the Tucker and sailed from San Diego. On the journey we became good friends. In Nuku Hiva, in the Marqueses, Terry had to leave the Tucker. However, Debbie who had been on the Tucker up to Seattle and had left the ship rejoined in the Marqueses. I met Debbie the first time when she rejoined. Susan, who swore she would never sail, joined the Tucker after flying into Rarotonga to check on me. Debbie decided to leave the ship in Rarotonga. We met Debbie again on the wharf in Opua, Bay of Islands at the final arrival ceremonies. Debbie was soon to leave New Zealand on the way back to Columbia.
Now as I write this Susan and I are staying in an apartment in Russell, Bay of Islands, owned by Jane and Geoff. We had dinner last night with Jane and Geoff in a beautiful restaurant on the Russell waterfront.
Now all five in this story are among my new wonderful and exciting mates who have shared the Tucker.
And that, my friend, is how a 69 year-old landlubber found himself in the middle of the Pacific.
Choosing Adventure by Debbie L. Gittinger
Whenever possible choose ADVENTURE. - Kay Foley
It didn't start out being my motto but one that stared at me for the entire month of January. It is quite amazing how one's choices can ripple down to affect other people.
I have sailed on the R Tucker Thompson twice, both times on portions of her tour around the Pacific Ocean. The first segment was from Japan to Canada and Seattle and again from Marqueses to the Cook Islands. Previously, I had sailed on a Windjammer Barefoot Cruise in the Caribbean and twice on the Soren Larsen visiting such places as New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji.
Many people have asked what draws a gal from mid-Missouri to want to spend so much time on the ocean. The sailing community puts you in a small environment where you can travel by yourself and make friends. From my first sailing experience in 1998, I have acquired great friends from all over the world who share my love of travel and adventure.
I first met Bill in Nuka Hiva, Marqueses in October 2002. Little did I know that 5,500 miles away from home I would be meeting someone from my own backyard and find that I was the link that led him there. Bill and I had a chance during our sail from Marquesas to the Cook Islands to share our stories.
Bill asked me what led up to my decision to sell a successful accounting business and have what most outsiders have viewed as a mid-life crisis. Probably the biggest reason is that I wasn't feeling very challenged anymore. The biggest hurdle of all was leaving the known for the unknown; selling my business when I didn't have a job. A couple of weeks of good sailing allowed me to ponder my future. During night watch you do a lot of pondering at 4:00am. Finally, I was able to jump that hurdle. Shaking up your life a bit forces you to find and face new challenges. I was willing to shake it up in a big way.
However, a decision such as this does not happen overnight. A lot of planning goes into selling a house, selling a business and packing belongings for long-term storage. It took about four years from the initial thought until completion. Believe me, you can change your mind many, many times in four years.
As a result I spent six months telling clients that I would be leaving and what new adventures were awaiting me. Terry, one of my firm's clients stopped in my office as he was picking up his tax return and asked about my six-months of travel plans. He listened with interest about my plans to sail for two months and travel through Papua, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Fiji. Little did I know that he had recently purchased a sailboat and had a keen interest in sailing. I wrote the website address for the R Tucker Thompson (www.tucker.co.nz) on a post-it note so he could read up about my trip.
I'm still looking for my future. However, I feel blessed that I have time and the capacity to enjoy my current experiences. More than anything I'm trying to Keep an adventurous heart! - Kay Foley
Seeing the Tucker for the First Time
My first sight in San Francisco of the Tucker, as the crew called the R Tucker Thompson, was awe-inspiring. The only feeling that came to mind from my past was the first day of construction on a new house. For months you design and plan, trying to work out every detail, roof pitch, door swings, support structures, lot slopes, bank loans, contractors, etc. On the first day the tractors rumble in, the earth shakes and the first scoop of dirt is moved: awesome, regardless of the number of homes built in the past. You knew that misery, headaches and problems would follow, some work would not be done as planned and some plans would not wor
Now after months of planning, making decisions and writing letters, I knew from seeing the Tucker that what was an idea was coming into reality.
Why would I sail on an 85-foot long ship across the largest ocean in the world? Life is certainly comfortable and I am very happy in our cozy Fulton home. Before this trip, I would have never listed sailing anywhere, in any top ten things to do. But when the offer was made and understood, I jumped at the chance. Here was a chance to participate in a grand adventure. To be part of the crew and visit exotic places. So my answer to why is that I have the opportunity to do something that I have never done before in a most desirable way. On a blustery San Francisco day, I entered and stood on the deck for the first time. I looked up at the two masts pointing into the sky with the complex mass of rigging and furled sails. I realized that I was in a place as alien to me as standing on the moon. I know that in spite of leaving behind the ones I love and a comfortable and secure niche in the world, I know that I want to do this.
