Hello, this is Captain Sam.
The story of ships and me in my life began when I was in my early teens, when my family moved from our native New Zealand and hopped aboard the Islander 55, anchored in Thailand. is. Of course, that was the beginning of a completely different life. As we sailed around the Straits of Malacca, we learned about the joy of sailing, the pace and sense of time depending on the weather, and the connection with the natural world.
However, as I was still a teenager at the time, I started to miss the conveniences and small luxuries of everyday life in a city, and two years after I left Thailand, when I was 17 years old, I decided that I would never live on a ship again. I decided to leave my family and enter the University of Auckland in New Zealand to pursue my love of music.
However, after graduating from university and looking for a job in my hometown of New Zealand, I found myself working as a marina staff member by the sea again. I didn't realize until I started working that the knowledge and skills I had unknowingly acquired as a child, such as general ship maintenance methods, rope work, and maritime terminology, were special.
While I was working as a shipwright's apprentice at a marina, my family had already moved from Borneo to Taiwan and settled in Japan.
In 2018, I visited my family who had moved to Kamijima Town on the beautiful Seto Inland Sea, and I was immediately touched by the warmth of the islanders.I was also inspired by the calm sea and scenery that were perfect for sailing, and I also decided to move to Yuge. I immediately started thinking about moving to the island. I felt like I could make my humble dream of going out to sea on a handmade boat come true here.
While working as a shipwright, I began to appreciate the simplicity and ease of maintenance of yacht designer James Wallum's designs. I was fascinated by Wallum's designs, and I used Wallum's plans for my own boat. I decided to choose. I think the curve of the hull is in harmony with the landscape of the islands. Additionally, our environmentally conscious and long-lasting design provides more peace of mind than any other commercially available design scheme or material.
However, compared to many countries overseas, building a ship in Japan was not easy for me. This is because many types of wood and adhesives were different from those used overseas, and because there were very few sailors in Japan, ship equipment was expensive. I believe that I was able to continue the project despite these conditions solely because of the advice and materials provided by the people on the island. James Wallum and Haneke Boone's detailed and practical blueprints were also very helpful in making production decisions.
Construction of “Asanagi” began in 2019 and was completed the following year in 2020. “Yūnagi” was completed in the first half of 2021.
