My name is Emma. I’m French. I was born in 2014, at the age of 33.
When I turned thirty, I felt that a conventional lifestyle and routine were becoming too heavy for me. So I decided to start again from zero and flew to the Pacific. That’s when I met the unexpected, on a road in Tahiti: Tom. And a few days later, Karaka.
I immediately felt connected to the philosophy of the Karaka project. It was obvious. Since then, we have been working together as a couple to keep this adventure alive.
Life on board requires sacrifices and mutual help. Even if we are all different, with our own personalities and life stories, we all need love, respect, purpose, social connection, but also moments alone to think and recharge. We don’t communicate in the same way, and it takes time to understand each other. Living together 24/7 makes everything faster — friendships as well as tensions. That’s the human adventure. It is rich and always changing, even after many years and many different crews.
Technically, Tom and I work as a team on the boat’s maintenance. Tom manages projects like welding, rigging and mechanics. On my side, I am autonomous with steel restoration and protection. I repair and improve the living spaces and handle the electricity (we have a real workshop on board and a generator for that). I also repair sails. Sometimes we resize sails for Karaka or make new ones for the pirogue.
The more skills you have, the more freedom you gain.
Together, Tom and I completed Karaka’s two biggest refits:
- 10 months in 2017
- 9 months in 2024
Each refit was intense. We worked every day from morning to evening, sometimes with a few days off on weekends. When we are not in refit mode, we continue to maintain the boat, but we can sail again and welcome travelers (crew members). Sometimes we sail just the two of us, but it’s nicer with more people.
When sailing, to keep it simple, Tom is at the helm as captain. I handle maneuvers on deck and explain to new crew members how to do things. You don’t need sailing experience to come on Karaka , you will learn step by step. More experienced crew members also help teach the newcomers. Everyone learns together.
The boat is very simple. We don’t have electric winches or an electric windlass.
In daily life, I also take care of logistics: welcoming crew members, making sure onboard rules are respected, managing groceries and shared expenses, and so on.
I have always loved cooking in an intuitive and creative way. On Karaka, we don’t have a fridge, and we no longer have an oven and it works very well like that. We move constantly from one country to another, and my cooking has adapted to this lifestyle. It mixes influences and changes depending on market ingredients, inspiration, and the tools I have for cooking and preserving food. I’ve learned many ways to cook with simple means, it’s challenging and I love it. Fermentation, drying, homemade cheese, bread cooked in a wok…
When the place and weather allow it, we go spearfishing. Sometimes I take prints of the fish we eat, I have been practicing gyotaku since 2020.
On board, near our cabin, I transformed a former toilet room into my workshop. There I can draw, paint, build, print and carve (linocut, block print, gel plate, cyanotype…). I work in different disciplines, depending on the period. I usually need time, quiet and solitude to create and my workshop is that small hidden refuge.
Musically, I love improvised jam evenings, but I had to train my ear a lot in recent years to really hear rhythms and instruments. I’ve improved, and now I sometimes sing while playing guitar. Like everything else, I have my phases. It comes and goes.
This is a glimpse of who I am and my role aboard Karaka.
Emma.
