I don’t remember the moment we first started discussing the possibility of buying a boat and sailing it half way around the world, but I think it was about three months into our relationship and went something like this:
Helen: I have a dream of buying a boat and sailing off to the Islands for a few years
Steve: That sounds great, but I’d love to sail around Europe and back to New Zealand…..
For most other couples that is where the conversation would have ended. Idle talk over a bottle of wine, words spilled out into the abyss of a busy Auckland bar and then floated away as the topic is changed. But for us it was just the start of an exciting journey that ends at the beginning of the adventure!
Reflecting back on that moment it seems crazy now that our conversation sparked an interest which formed a plan and created deadlines until we were hurling ourselves straight down the mountain with the same thrill a new skier experiences when they first progress off the nursery slopes! It’s even crazier when you understand that Steve had little to no sailing experience at the point of the conversation and his knowledge of boats was even less (if that was possible!).
Over the course of the next two years the focus was on learning, researching and planning. Our roles became clear – Steve researched power management systems, anchors, navigation systems and design safety. As the more experienced sailor, I researched best boat layouts, sailing performance and gave my tuppence worth when Steve questioned something he had researched. Steve, being more of a reader than me, devoured information – he was like a sponge. Very quickly he was becoming far more knowledgeable than me on what models and makes of boat we should keep on our design list and why others we were considering may not be the best choice.
The preparation
Our shared passion and drive to make this dream a reality was drawing us closer together. On a beautiful afternoon on a picnic rug at a winery concert between band sets while sharing a lovely bottle of red, Steve proposed, a couple of months before our two year anniversary. Some were surprised at how fast we were moving – I had only left my 25 year marriage three years earlier and the ink on my divorce had hardly dried, yet here I was accepting a proposal of marriage from a man I had known for less than two years! It seemed crazy yet it seemed so right for us – it was just the natural next step towards making our dream a reality and I had no hesitation saying yes to this wonderful man who had fast become, not only my future but the partner in a life long dream.
In late 2019 we believed we had drawn up a list of suitable models and makes of boats and almost every night was spent searching YachtWorld to get a feel for what was available within our budget. We decided to increase our initial boat purchasing budget of GBP100K to GBP150K. It was expected that this money would include the purchase and refit/upgrade of a boat.
With my house in Christchurch sold, Steve decided to sell his house in Auckland as it became clear that continuing to rent out the property was going to become a stress point with little monetary return, so investing the cash would be of better benefit in the current financial climate.
In mid-October we started preparing the house for sale. I was in the middle of making new curtains when I had an accident while working and broke my right wrist. Breaking a bone is never good, but this was a particularly bad one, snapping my radius and compacting it which meant the bones needed to be pulled apart and re-set before I was furnished with a big heavy cast. Not only was this an extremely painful experience, it also led to other complications and implications – difficulty with working, not being able to drive, how was I going to finish the curtains, help clear out Steve’s house, tidy the garden and what affect it may have on our impending wedding?!
Fortunately, due to Steve’s patience and hard work, we were able to meet every deadline. I managed to finish the curtains with the help of my lovely sister, who returned from sailing the South Pacific at the perfect time to assist me with hemming the material while we were installing them in the house a few hours before the auction! ACC helped me with transport while working, paying for taxis to take me to the office, meetings or hospital appointments. Steve cooked or took me out for meals and kept the apartment tidy and I managed to one finger type numerous runsheets and emails to ensure our wedding plans stayed on track.
It was around this time that we employed the services of John Neal from Mahina Expeditions as a consultant to help us choose the right boat that would suit our purposes. We provided him with a very thorough list of what we wanted (and didn’t want) and why/how we had come to this decision. We had been adamant we did not want to consider a boat with teak decks or in-mast furling. I had owned a Whiting 29 for many years which had teak decks and I vowed I would never make that mistake again as they were old, leaked and needed replacing. I did not want to go through that stress again in a few years’ time. John persuaded us to rethink as our hardline attitude meant we were discounting very suitable boats from our search – boats like Halberg Rassy, Swan, a lot of Amel’s and other boats.
Armed with new confidence and a greater selection of boats to choose from, we started our regular hunt and trawled through on-line yacht selling sites, drawing up a list of boats of interest.