A STORY in The Sunday Times nine years ago told of a woman who returned to Fiji to locate the whereabouts of the schooner Wavewalker.
That woman was Suzanne Heywood, a London-based consultant who was only seven when her parents bundled their two children to sail off on an adventure in 1976, to recreate Captain James Cook’s expedition of the globe.
She recalls seeing their home on the ocean for the first time and realising this schooner would “walk over waves” to carry them further than they had ever gone.
But a journey that was supposed to take three years ended up taking more than 10. In those years, Ms Heywood realised life on the seas was not as glamorous as it was made out to be.
Even though her family had painted a vision of a grand quest, filled with thrill-seeking and heart-pounding moments of pure awe being at the mercy of the elements, Ms Heywood was unprepared for the laborious, insidious side of this journey.
Now, decades after she left behind her sailing life, Ms Heywood has put pen to paper to tell her side of the story.
Her novel Wavewalker is now an international bestseller, up for a TV adaptation and through the eyes of a child, tells the gritty, no-holds-barred tale of what life as a sailor entails and demands.
And Fiji plays a critical role in her story.
It’s the place where she spent her days watching marine life — which compelled her to study zoology — but it is also the resting place of her once beloved Wavewalker.
“I love Fiji and I always did,” she told The Fiji Times.
“When we first arrived in Fiji, I was a small child and I went to school in a small village. I have very fond memories of those times.
“The only issue was that the other children would pull my hair (which was long and blonde) to see if it was real!
“I remember going snorkelling over magnificent coral reefs; I remember villages of people smiling at me; the smell of copra; drinking fresh coconuts; learning to paddle an outrigger canoe; meeting the chiefs on different islands and presenting them with kava roots.
“You have a wonderful country and for me it will always feel like home.”
Ms Heywood’s time on Wavewalker with a limited crew often meant she had to sub in as a deckhand, cleaner and babysitter, while putting her education on the backburner.
It was this desire to educate herself that kept pulling her towards returning home, but as she grew older, she felt trapped on Wavewalker. She managed to secure a ticket back home when she was about 17.
The decision was tough. Her parents stayed on in Fiji, and some time later, Wavewalker was berthed at the then Neisau Marina in Lautoka when it was badly damaged by Cyclone Sina in 1990.
When Ms Heywood made a decision to chronicle her journey, she knew she would have to visit Fiji and, in the process, revisit some old, painful memories that were suppressed.
“I began writing in 2016 when my children (two boys and a girl) were a similar age to when I really struggled with being trapped on Wavewalker.
“The book took a long time as I wanted to research it in detail, and then I struggled to get it published because it is not a conventional sailing book – in fact, it is really not a sailing book at all.”
She managed to get the book published in 2023 and says it was a difficult process as she was forced to confront a lot of things she had tried to forget.
“However, although it was painful, it was also invigorating as I finally felt I understood my childhood. Until I began writing, many of my old memories were like unconnected fragments — now they have been put — back together.
“I needed to come back to Fiji to find out what happened to Wavewalker because my parents would not tell me what happened to her at the end.
“I now think they were concealing this because they feared they would be charged for the fees they had not paid Neisau Marina, where they had left her.
“Of course, Neisau had closed down by the time I returned to Fiji. I did not find Wavewalker when I came back but I did find a lot more of her story.
“I am also extremely grateful to Richard Eyre, his son Mac and his daughter-in-law Elayna for letting me have her compass back.”
Reconnecting with a part of the schooner has also helped provide Ms Heywood with a modicum of relief that a part of her home is still alive.
“I am incredibly grateful, particularly to Chris Thompson who did a lot of work on this. It seems, sadly, that Wavewalker eventually sank and was cut up for scrap.
“However, before that happened, she was able to keep sailing for several more years.”
Her years on the Wavewalker and time spent in countries like Fiji have been both exhilarating and exhausting.
Ms Heywood says people may not heal from difficult childhoods and she herself would never be able to “fix” certain aspects of her parents’ behaviour towards her.
“The fact that my parents did not care about my welfare, either on the Wavewalker, or after I left the boat. They disowned me after I went to university because they did not want the cost of supporting me. However, I have now come to terms with it, and I have made huge efforts to avoid repeating their behaviours in my own parenting. I have emotional scars that will never disappear.
“The most obvious (to me) is a fear of being abandoned, as my parents abandoned me several times during my childhood. However, I now understand myself much better than I did before, and I am better able to live with these scars.”
Through her book, she has also been able to inspire other people to share stories of their own and the Wavewalker has been optioned for a mini-series by a production company called Rabbit Track Pictures.
“The actor James Norton, who is an incredible actor, has said he would like to play my father, and the writer Jack Thorne, who recently wrote the acclaimed mini-series Adolescence, has said he will write the script.
“I am now writing a new book, telling some of the stories that other people have shared with me. At least one of those stories involves Fiji, so maybe I can find a good reason to come and visit again.”
Suzanne during her early days sailing. Picture: SUPPLIED
