What's a vessel named Wahini doing in the middle of Oklahoma?
The Original Owner was a wealthy Tulsa (Cushing) oil man.
The boat has a bit of South Pacific history. I have three different sources that places it in Pape'ete, Tahiti in the late '70s early '80s. An article in a Tulsa newspaper that mentions him and his brother, who was a big Lyndon Larouche supporter, that says he spends most of the time in Tahiti on his sailboat, A blurb in the Seawind Owners Association newsletter that mentions it is for sale and lists the Pape'ete broker and I have a sales contract from the broker for selling the boat that I found folded up in a manual I got with the boat.
The story I was told by the guy I bought it from was that the Original owner bought the boat from the factory/boatyard in NY, had it shipped to the west coast where it was fitted out for sailing the trade winds, (some of that rigging remains but won't get used much in an inland lake). He and his girlfriend sailed the boat to Tahiti from California. Apparently, not long after their arrival in Tahiti the girlfriend and his wife found out about each other. Much hilarity ensued.
I don't know if the original owner brought it back to Oklahoma and sold it locally but that seems likely. I have scanty documentation of the early years of the boat but none after the listing for sale in Tahiti or it's history on Grand Lake in Oklahoma. I have installation and instruction manuals for all the fit out on the west coast as well as manuals for the New Yanmar engine and electrical equipment that was added about 15 years ago.
When I renamed the boat I wanted to pay a little homage to it's South Pacific history and my wife jokes about me spending too much time with my other woman.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wahineThe anglicized spelling for the Tahitian version would have been Vahine but I decided that would be too much of a reach for the local audience.
As for showing Taratupa as my hailing port, I was a big
McHale's Navy fan as a kid (reruns) (still am) so why not.
I am a little surprised to find that folks my age and slightly older don't know about McHale's Navy Wikipedia lists Taratupa as a fictional island Shouldn't surprise me really, most folks had no idea what
Halcyon (last boats name) meant either so
.
I have a copy of Sterling Hayden's book
Wanderer that tells of his sailing away with the kids, I am saving it to read on the boat.