Join Joel's Journey: Sailing Kokua Across Oceans
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Hey there, my name is Joel Tippens, former urban farmer and community gardener, 'retired' and drawing a S.S. check. I have been living aboard a little sailboat in Chickamauga Lake on the Tennessee River for three years now- floating on a lake with an ocean in my heart! But now I am packing and soon heading to Florida to begin outfitting a little Southern Cross 28 cutter rig named Kokua for blue water sailing!
Growing up on the beach, I have dreamed of sailing the ocean since high school, over 50 years ago! An entire life has been lived with marriages and grown kids and grandkids. Over the years I have survived a massive heart attack and cancer, and I once miraculously walked away from a head on collision! I'm not getting any younger, so now it is time and I can't do this alone!
Wanna come along with me and some beautiful people who love the ocean and discover stories of the beautiful things people do to help the planet? To help one another? In Hawai'i the word is "Kokua." The depth of meaning behind the word Kokua is as significant to the culture as the meaning behind Aloha! Beautiful people with big hearts expressing kokua through actions of helping and mutual aid and solidarity and doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do, expecting nothing in return! So much more than charity! Big love! Loving actions! When we kokua it is a deep expression of aloha!
Once I get to Florida and get aboard I will be launching a Youtube channel to bring you along on the journey- from fixing the stinky head to learning to use a sextant to setting sail offshore! You can follow along on social media, too. Here's the link to our Facebook page:
I will post the first Youtube video and link it here very soon! A videographer in Florida has offered to provide some video production training! Very stoked about that! I am going to need a laptop, and a GoPro, and yeah, maybe a tripod. I want to provide good quality content as I am able to share the reality of a liveaboard lifestyle and the marine life encountered underway. Stories can be a powerful form of advocacy for our oceans as we learn from other cruising liveaboards; coral farmers; local fisherman and surfers and whalewatchers.
S/V Kokua (S/V stands for 'sailing vessel') is a great cruiser with potential to take us on some long passages, but there are a list of improvements to be made for strength, safety, and seaworthiness. New equipment needed includes a windvane for self-steering, additional solar panels, a more efficient galley, and upgrades to nav and weather. Life raft; dinghy; additional anchor chain; the full list is coming!
I have some dear braddas from my daze in the Coast Guard aboard a 180' buoy tender who are sailing as I write this. It has only taken me fifty years to reach this place in my life to join them, and yet it is never too late to do the dream!
Will you kokua? I am so stoked to invite you along! Mahalo nui, and much aloha, braddas and seestas!
Organizer
Joel Tippens
Organizer
Daytona Beach, FL