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Big Island, Hawaii
We moved to Kona, Hawaii in January of 1993, two years after a Christmas vacation we took to the Big Island December of 1990. We moved without a clear plan of what we would do after we got here, except for getting our kids in school and acclamating them to their new life. Gradually, as we got comfortable in our new community, we naturally gravitated towards ocean activities. I got a job teaching ballet at the local dance academy, and a second job as a crew member on a tourist boat taking people snorkling and sight seeing down at Kealakekua Bay, the sight of the historic Captain Cook Monument. Richard got a job crewing on "Captain Zodiac", a rafting trip, and a second job crewing on "Kamanu Charters", one of the first sailing charters on the Kona Coast, eventually becoming and remaining their captain for 8 years. Meanwhile, we were caretaking a 24 foot sloop for a man we met in return for sailing it and racing it in the local Kona Sailing Club. We learned a lot while caring for that boat and racing it all up and down the Kona Coast. We both had minimal experience from sailing as kids at summer camps, and with Dad on the local lake, but our experience and knowledge was growing by the day. It wasn't too long after that, that we decided we wanted to find a boat that we could call our own. Richard met David at "Yacht Finders" brokerage in San Diego in 1994. We went back over there in 1995 for the "Americas Cup" competition, and he showed us the most magnificent boats in several marinas in the San Diego area. Again, we learned a lot about boat designs and boat designers. We looked at the "Tayana", "Passport", "Norseman", "Cheoy Lee", "Taswell", "Slocum", "Hans Christian" to name a few.
One day, David calls us here in Hawaii, and says we ought to go look at a "Tashiba 40" that's in a harbor in Honolulu. Richard was leaning towards the "Passport 42" and the "Slocum 43", and both of us really loved the "Taswell" we saw in San Diego. Even though we had never seen a "Tashiba", Richard had agreed to go see it for 2 reasons; it was made by the prestigious Tashing Boat Yard, the same yard that built the Taswell and the Norseman,and it was designed by Robert Perry, the same designer that designed many of the fine boats we had already seen.
So off we flew to Honolulu to take a tour of the "Tashiba 40" named "Amazing Grace".
She was moored in a little harbor called Keehi Lagoon in Honolulu, and the second I saw her sitting in her slip, I felt warmth flow through me. We stepped on board and Richard immediately started asking a million questions, and inspecting the deck and the rigging. I was dying to go down below ,but I waited until everyone was ready. The second we stepped through the companion way and into the cabin below, I fell in love. I had a very deep sense that we had found what was to be our home some day, on the greatest adventure of our lives. Then we sailed her for a test run out of the harbor. The way she sailed was magnificent, she was commanding, strong, and majestic, yet graceful and forgiving. We had a lovely visit with the owners, Mike and Karla, then set out to the nearest Pub for a brew and a conference.
We didn't say much to each other on the way to the Pub, but once we sat down and our beers had arrived, we looked at each other and both of us were grinning from ear to ear. We knew that we had found our lady, "Amazing Grace"... and that she is indeed, a name that she has lived up to time and time again.