He set sail alone in his 20-foot sloop, Kawabunga, on a 10,000-mile voyage to paradise and back.
The High Seas Adventures of an FSU Alum

More often than not, it's the serious students who major in Business Administration -the no-nonsense types who run the banks and government agencies and insurance companies, the ones who can skim a complex contract and then quote the fine print verbatim. Back in the mid-'70s, that was Charlie Dewell. In 1975 he graduated from Ferris State University with a Business Administration degree that served him well for his next 20 years as an investigating agent and Workers' Compensation hearing representative. But Charlie had a dream.

Breathtaking Beauty
"I have fantasized about sailing away to the exotic South Seas for as long as I can remember," begins Dewell in his book, "Kawabunga's South Seas Adventure."

In 1995 fantasy begat reality as he set sail alone in his 20-foot sloop, Kawabunga, on what was to be a 10,000-mile voyage to paradise and back. He shares the breathtaking experience with his readers.

"The snorkeling was magnificent," Dewell writes of the waters surrounding Palmyra, an uninhabited atoll he explored with his wife Margaret who had flown to Tahiti to sail with him to Hawaii.

"We marveled at the beauty and life on the reef. The coral formations were spectacular. Multicolored coral fish abounded...it was like swimming in a giant luxury aquarium...the entire atoll is a fantasy retreat where you can watch squadrons of manta rays, eels, sea turtles and sea snakes swim by."

The Dewells spent three weeks on Palmyra, beachcombing, exploring azure lagoons, lobstering in the moonlight and recapturing their childhood on the deserted island with its history of buried treasure.

"Palmyra was the most memorable part of the trip," Dewell recalls. "Its enchanting beauty is what you dream about when you think of a South Seas island."

Weathering the Storms
The storms the Dewells encountered are memorable for the white-knuckle challenges they hurled.

"We clashed with our first major league squall of the passage on November 5 at 20 hundred hours," says Dewell. "I was astonished at the suddenness of the encounter as the conditions had been very fluky over the last several days, and we certainly had not even dreamed of scuffling with any squalls. I was caught napping in the cockpit, waiting for the full moon to rise, and before I knew what happened, we were hit between the eyes with 40-knot gusts and torrential rain . . . Kawabunga was immediately overwhelmed, the little sloop lurched to port, nearly rolling me over the cockpit combing into the boiling water that was now only inches from my face."

Storms even more savage were yet to come, particularly during the trip home across the North Pacific, Dewell notes.

"Waves would strike Kawabunga from abeam making the entire ship shudder," writes Dewell. "In short order the little ship would press on, staggering through the heaving ocean. The scene reminded me of the old World War II submarine movies where a depth charge would explode just outside the boat, causing leaks to erupt, and the crew would go to work with wrenches to repair the damage. Then they would sweat it out, knowing the destroyer would return for another attack."

Home Port
Two years after setting sail, Charlie Dewell and the little Kawabunga, both incredibly intact, docked at Marina del Rey, California where the Dewells now live aboard ship. Charlie works as a dock master, and Margaret runs South Seas Publishing Co., the printer and distributor of her husband's books.

The former Business Administration major cites Ferris State University as a catalyst that in due course coaxed him to pursue his exotic childhood fantasy.

"FSU has a practical 'get out there and do it' application of things," says Dewell, a former Sigma Phi Epsilon who calls his years at Ferris the four most wonderful years of his life, the South Seas adventure notwithstanding. "FSU is not just about abstract ideas.

"What took the most courage by far was quitting my job in 1995 to 'get out there and do it,' to follow the dream," Dewell says. "It's much easier to stay with what you're doing and follow the leader."

Charlie Dewell is not following in anyone's wake; he's cutting his own, working on another book and dreaming of his next adventure to Puka Puka in the Northern Cook Islands and New Zealand. Charlie's dream isn't over yet.