They set sail from Sao Vicente, bound for Recife, on 9 December 1970, meaning they would be at sea that year for Christmas.  Vertue Carina was reaching fast in gusty conditions, with the occasional wave breaking over the deck and filling the cockpit, often soaking the washed nappies and other items they were attempting to dry in the sun. 

The main and important thing behind all of this is to pass the knowledge onto them because as you know, they will be the future ... my hairs are going white and everything is going slow.

This was an age before helicopter parenting became a thing, but even so, the Saunders children were given a remarkably free rein, and were often riotously exuberant. WALKABOUT's dinghy was stowed upright on the cabin top, and it was a favourite haunt of the kids,

“This was our first Christmas at sea.  My wife surprised me with a large tin of tobacco, and I surprised her with a package of her favourite cigarettes. She had certainly bought both, and I had been aware of their existence all along, but that did not lessen our surprise or render the presents less appreciated.”

When I first became interested, I thought that this taciturn Englishman was working in a space where eccentricity meets the counterculture…. Well-meaning hippies, who were fun to follow, but not to be taken too seriously. But the more I learned the more appreciative I became.

An upright, quietly spoken gentleman in a captain’s cap introduced himself, and without any hint of self-engrandisment, made it clear that he knew what he was talking about when it came to wooden boats.

A first voyage in 1976 represented a bold attempt at what is known as “experimental archaeology,” testing aspects of material culture, in this case an arcane boat type, in order to understand their function and practicality, so writes Duncan Blair.

It is an old, coral-encrusted question, puzzled over for the last three centuries, and usually posed in three parts. Where did Polynesians come from, when did they get there, and how?

A flawed attempt to settle Australia’s ‘empty north’ triggered an epic 2,300NM open boat voyage along the unexplored northwest coast, from Van Diemen Gulf down to today’s Geraldton.

I’m Thinking, Is This An April Fools Prank From A Mate Or A Genuine Attempt To Return A Significant Piece Of New Zealand’s Wooden Boat Building History To New Zealand? The fantastic story of TANGAROA by Larry Paul