The Yacht and Her Crew – Blog 5

I have a confession to make about this blog – I’ve prepared it in advance! And that’s because as you read this we are all at sea, somewhere south of Stewart Island but not yet at Enderby Island, which is our first stop. I can be much more precise about my own location – I’ll be in my bunk, keeping company with my sick jar, seasick tablets and an iPod. So apologies for not sending you a blog from the cockpit, detailing the state of the sea and raving about the albatrosses and mollymawks soaring alongside. But I can at least sleep easily, knowing that we are in safe hands on a yacht that has been well-tested in some of the windiest, roughest and most remote seas on the planet.

Evohe is 25-metres long, and made of steel. She’s been to the Antarctic and through the North-west Passage, and is a frequent visitor to the subantarctic islands. Evohe is owned and skippered by Steve Kafka, who has had her since 1984. His right hand man and The Mate on this trip is Murray Watson. Murray lives in Dunedin when he’s not at sea, and he’s been with Steve and Evohe for more than six years.

Hiromi Fujiwara hails from Japan but now calls Oamaru home. She’s been on Evohe for much of the past 2-3 years, but while she was a landlubber she walked the length of Japan. Tori Muir has been The Mate on Spirit of New Zealand – she has great subantarctic credentials as Steve first met her a few years ago, in Perseverance Harbour, Campbell Island, on a small yacht with her boyfriend.

As we make our passage down to the Auckland islands our intrepid crew will be taking turns on watch. Once at the islands they’ll be moving us between yellow-eyed penguin watching locations, ferrying us ashore, and keeping us well fed. And I’m certainly looking forward to that first meal once we’re in the lee of the islands!