A round a week after we arrived in Tonga we had slowed down and learned to accept the Tongan way. Life here is unpolished and nothing happens fast, or even at all. Church, feasts, sleeping and relaxing seem the order of the day.
We arrived late August in 2019 aboard our yacht A Capella, an aluminium Allures 45.9 that we had bought two years earlier with a view to circumnavigating the globe. Tonga was the final country we visited before heading south to New Zealand to avoid the cyclone season. It would mark the end of our amazing trip across the Pacific Ocean.
SIMPLE BEAUTY
Tonga consists of 170 islands, 36 of which are inhabited and they are spread over a vast expanse of sea. The country is divided into four regions: Niua group, Vava’u group, Ha’apai group and Tongatapu, with a total population of just over 100,000. The climate is tropical and the easterly trade winds are warm and reliable.
The Tongan people are lovely, with a confident, smiley nature. The houses are small, open and decorated in simple ways, agriculture is basic and animals roam freely. The ladies run the markets and make a reedy weaving material used for making ta’ovalas – woven mats worn round the waist. These are traditional garments unique to Tonga and are the equivalent of a coat and tie and worn by both men and women. On Sundays the world falls silent apart from church bells and enthusiastic singing and later on, feasting.
We spent a week in Niuatoputapu, in the northerly Niua group where the 700 or so residents live very simple lives. Only 28 sailing boats had arrived before us this year.
BOOZY ISLAND WELCOME
This story is from the July 2023 edition of Yachting Monthly UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the July 2023 edition of Yachting Monthly UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
How to rig preventers and boom brakes
Rigging a preventer or using a boom brake is just good seamanship when sailing downwind, but doing so badly is asking for trouble, says Rachael Sprot
Don't let Thames sewage kill off this lovely boat
Samuel Pepys mentions oysters in his diaries 68 times, but that was when they were as common as winkles along the banks of the Thames and when they were a source of cheap protein for the masses.
I finally found the magic of the sea
I won’t be in theatres with a notebook as much as usual this month – time for some wider, wetter horizons – but may be musing, as I often do, on how rare it is for theatre to express a convincing reality about the oceans and the trade or pursuit of seafaring.
TECHNICAL GOLDEN OLDIES
Ken Endean looks back on the boats he has owned over 50 years and explains why the hull lines of older yachts continue to offer first-class handling
HOW IT WORKS MARKING
Many cruising yacht skippers mark very little on board their boats.
TECHNICAL INSTALLING A NEW ENGINE
When a mysterious loss of coolant jeopardised his sailing, Andy Du Port knew the time had tome to replace his yacht’s:veteran Volvo Penta
NEW GEAR
Dennis O’Neill rounds up the latest marine innovations, including developments in women’s sailing jackets
MARIE TABARLY HONOURING HER FATHER
Marie Tabarly took line honours in the Ocean Globe Race, surpassing her father’s record while racing aboard his famous 73ft ketch Pen Duick VI
HEATHER THOMAS SMASHING RECORDS
In leading her all-female crew to victory in the OGR, Heather Thomas has broken records and taken women's sailing into the stratosphere
MAIDEN MAKES HISTORY AGAIN
Being the first all-female crew to win a round-the-world race is seismic in itself, but the diverse nationalities of the crew are just as significant for the future of sailing