Yohanta

Yohanta is the story of a 63 ft sailing boat, from its conception, through four years of construction, to its launching and the realisation of a long-held dream.

The name Yohanta was derived from ‘Hanta Yo’ – a term of deference to an elder of the Kwakiutl tribe – meaning “One Who Clears the Way”. It was the author's intention to use this project to settle and clarify the tumultuous experiences of his recent past and to make 'way' for a more stable future. It was with this singular purpose in mind that the long and arduous hours spent in building Yohanta were sustained and ultimately realised in her launching. The subsequent seven years on the high seas encompassed scuba charter in the Comoros Islands of the Indian Ocean followed by a crossing of the South Atlantic and a year of cruising up the coast of South America, and culminated in chartering in the Grenadines, among the windward Islands of the Caribbean. Yohanta voyaged among the ravages of turbulent banana republics and failed coups d'etat to the wild dichotomies of the seemingly tranquil West Indies and its often despotic and violent reality.

Yohanta is also an intimate journey of self-discovery, written by a father to his three beloved daughters. As a metaphor of transformation, she provided its author with catharsis and redemption from a youth smitten with instability and the endlessly repeating cycles of manic depression. "Building Yohanta was like deconstructing and then reassembling my own psyche in a more organised and mindful form. Sailing her was an extraordinary journey of discovery - a revelation - and an awakening to new realms of being."