About us

Ruth
First mate, chief blogger

The prospect of owning a boat, let alone living on one, had never crossed my mind until I met David. Growing up in Hull on the east coast of England didn’t particularly inspire sailing aspirations and I didn’t have much experience of being on boats. In fact, one of my most vivid childhood memories was being horrendously seasick on the North Sea Ferry in a howling gale. After that experience, I put myself in the category of people who didn’t do well at sea. 

However, in the first year of our relationship, I learned that travelling the world on a sailboat was an aspiration of David’s. At the time, I chalked it up to one of those “some day” dreams that I would never really have to deal with; after all we lived in landlocked Manchester at the time. But that changed when we moved to Wellington, New Zealand. Wellington also, does not seem like a likely cruiser’s paradise, but it did provide us with the opportunity to learn to sail. I surprised myself on the beginners sailing course we took together by a) not being the most seasick person on the course, and b) actually understanding the basic principles of sailing. We had a wide mix of sailing conditions during the course, from the typical strong windy Wellington conditions to balmy spring days with gentle breezes. Apart from being a little cold and wet on occasion, I found that I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.

From there onwards, we did a few weekend trips to the Marlborough Sounds with our old sailing instructor, and crewed a few times in friendly races at the weekends in Wellington. I’m definitely a fair weather cruiser. I enjoying being out on the water in nice weather and calm sea conditions, but I’m not all that enthused about racing in the rain or crossing the Cook Strait. Even so, the odd weekend sailing trip is a world away from living full time on board. So it was with trepidation that I agreed to buy a boat. I could see it meant a lot to David, and keeping an open mind, I agreed to live aboard for 12 months and re-evaluate from there. Living aboard has definitely had its challenges, but it has also been rewarding. It’s given us the opportunity to sail around New Zealand and see some incredibly beautiful parts of the country. I enjoy the independence and freedom that sailing creates, and I’m also incredibly proud of the seamanship skills I’ve gained in the last 2 years. Our maiden voyage around the coastal waters of New Zealand is the perfect opportunity to to see what we think of the cruising lifestyle, and to find out whether we want to do more in the future.

David

Captain, Ship’s Engineer

Sailing has always appealed to me as a unique way of travelling as it gives you a lot of freedom over where you can go and allows you to access beautiful and remote locations. I also enjoy being completely independent and the challenge of being self-sufficient. I’m always interested in learning new skills and knew we couldn’t take our sailing skills any further until we became boat owners ourselves. Owning a sailboat in an enormous undertaking, and requires a lot more responsibility than simply crewing. As a boat owner you have to learn about plumbing, electrics, mechanics, navigation, living afloat and of course actually sailing! My experience as an engineer has certainly come in handy for making upgrades to the boat.

Growing up in Derby, I did some dinghy sailing on the Derbyshire reservoirs and the odd weekend trip on friend’s boats, but I certainly wouldn’t have classified myself as a sailor until now. I have always been involved in outdoor pursuits as I enjoy being outside and the physical challenge of such sports. Until we moved to Wellington my main hobby had always been climbing, and I had done several expeditions overseas. However, there wasn’t much opportunity to continue climbing in the Wellington area, and sailing was a great way to fill that gap.

But I’m also a realist, and I knew that going from being a novice sailor to buying a large sailboat and taking it around the world with my new wife (who’s also a novice sailor and gets seasick) would be a recipe for disaster (or at the very least lead to quite a few arguments). Living on the boat in Wellington and doing all the work on her myself to make her a suitable liveaboard was a great way to accustom us to the lifestyle and prepare us for this coastal journey around New Zealand.