May 06 2008
The Boat
The boat was built by foundling children using popsicle sticks and chewing gum (strawberry and grape bubblelicious) wadded together with buffalo spit. This construction technique has proven to be bullet proof, literally. Last year while plying the harrowing waters of el sud de california we were attacked by swarming bullet birds and sustained not a lick of damage.
Really Now. She’s mostly homemade, fibreglass with charming bits of titanium here and there. No foundling children were used or abused in her construction. At least not the we know of.
The boat’s hull was built in 1987 at Westerly Marine in Costa Mesa, CA. The original owner hauled the hull and deck (not attached) to Dulzura, Ca (about 25 miles east of San Diego) where he put in bulkheads, the interior and the running gear. In 1989 the boat was launched in San Diego and rigged by the good men at Pacific Offshore Rigging, who installed a used mast from a CSY 44′ motorsailer.
Then began the sea trails. Early on the boat had some problems. After extensive use and testing offshore (and some failures), the first owner decided to abandon this project and begin another. The boat was put on the market, where she languished without offers.
It was during the launching party of the man’s new boat, that we discussed his old one. “You should buy it” says he. “I can’t afford it” says I. ”Yes you can, I’ll work with you” he offered, and so began my association with the boat.
Originally christened “Gavilan”, which means “Hawk” in spanish, we were required to rename her because the original owner wanted to transfer the name to his new boat. We chose the name “Tawodi”, which means “Hawk” in cherokee, because I didn’t want to change the name (bad luck). Thus has the boats name remained the same, although spoken differently.
All that happened back in 1996, since then the boat has evolved, revolved, reformed and upgraded to become a truly amazing craft. The projects never stop, and this great vessel just gets better and better. She has now sailed over 100,000 miles on her own bottom, and achieved boatspeeds above 20 knots (briefly). I have always felt that if you truly want to voyage under the power of sail, there are two things which cannot be over-stated. First is the ability to sail upwind, second is the ability to sail in light air. These are both things that Tawodi does very well, therefore, she gets to sail a lot.