The sailing vessel, Tusitala, Samoan for “story teller,” does indeed have a story to tell. She is a gaff-rigged cutter, 30.5 LOD, commissioned by Robert and Marge Saxton, of Round Pond,
Maine; designed by John Atlkins in 1979, and built and launched in Rockport, Maine by Rockport Marine. in 1986, the Saxtons, in their mid sixties, began a circumnavigation, which
they concluded in their seventies.
I bought Tusitala in 2021 and have spent the last three years restoring her, completely replacing the galley and redesigning the forepeak cabin. I love the elegant simplicity of Tusitala’s design
— perfect in its common-sense practicality. Before purchasing Tusitala, I had never sailed a gaff rig, but her lower center-of-effort makes
her “steady on.” And I love the wide decks.
With their circumnavigation, Tusitala and the Saxtons are an nspiration for senior sailors. Not incidentally, after they finished their circumnavigation, the Saxtons toured the 49 continental
United States in a camper.