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SHONARemember the final scene of Romancing the Stone, the 1984 movie? Michael Douglas picks up Kathleen Turner from her apartment street in a yacht and they travel off on another adventure. Well that is how I feel sometimes. My life so far seems like that crazy movie, full of ups and downs, twists and turns, and now I’m off on a yacht somewhere.
My fondest memories of growing up are of the beach. Most holidays were spent with family and friends, swimming, fishing, beach combing or sculpting my dream castle in the sand. When I left school I wanted to be a designer for the theatre because of my creative flair and love of dance. I ended up hairdressing for 30 something years. That career sustained me through a marriage, designing and building a house from scratch, raising two sons, divorce, building a salon, self employment and finally meeting Gavin (he came for a haircut). Gavin lost his first wife to breast cancer and was raising his teenage son and daughter. We married after six months, only to find out a month after our wedding that I had breast cancer. Not a great start to blending a family and building an extension to accommodate six. But, thank you God, with early detection and awesome support from friends and family, we are still all here 18+ years later. When I was dealing with ‘facing death’ (wow that sounds intense ) and feeling like I was letting down my new family, I started reassessing my ‘new chance at life’. So, along with running my salon, I went to Auckland Uni and did a three year degree, Bachelor of Education, Teaching. Gavin worked long hours too, supporting three of us at University, one at Music School and one at collage. And we bought and maintained two rental properties. When life gets too busy you just need to buy a boat and mess about on the ocean. Sailing for me has been so therapeutic. Not only all the fresh sea air and swimming, but just being able to socialise with invited guests and relax without all the everyday pressures. Now our four adult children are all in good jobs and relationships, we have sold up properties and can continue our own sailing/life adventures, before we are needed home to be grandparents one day. |
GAVOffshore sailing, actually any type of sailing simply never factored into the equation as I contemplated life soon after Wendy passed away at age 35.
I’d been fairly successful in sales and was making a pretty good fist of it as I forayed into management.…Then BOOM as so often happens, ‘life smacks you between the eyes’, God hadn’t finished with me yet. Two years later Shona came crashing into my life and this solo Dad’s life took another turn, this time for the better! We both love the ocean, really enjoy catching fish and share our favourite seafood, Scallops (mmmm my mouth is watering at the thought…). After our blended family of six had settled (as much as you can with teens) and many holidays to the beach in the summer and skiing the volcano in the winter, we bought our first yacht. I had owned fizz-boats before hand, so basically knew the rules of the road (water). In 2008, we purchased our first yacht a 32’ Jeanneau, (without Shona seeing it and my very first TradeMe purchase) then in 2011 we purchased a 38’ Fountaine Pajot Catamaran. We have sailed up and down the Northern part of the East Coast of New Zealands North Island from Tauranga to Doubtless Bay and I have completed a 14 day passage from Fiji to Whangarei NZ (Usually 7-10 days…but there was very little wind). We’ve now sold pretty much everything and after buying a yacht in Croatia, are looking forward to the next part of our adventure and learning a bit more about life. 
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The Boat - WHITE ARROW
Is a 2012 Salona 44 built in Croatia by AD Boats Ltd, when she was first built, she was used as one of the "Poster" yachts for the company brochures.
Details:
Name: White Arrow
Length: 13.50 meters
Beam: 4.19 meters
Draft: 2.55 meters
Flag: New Zealand
Engine: Yanmar 55hp
Check out the Reviews:
Cruising World
Sail Clip
Yachting World
Details:
Name: White Arrow
Length: 13.50 meters
Beam: 4.19 meters
Draft: 2.55 meters
Flag: New Zealand
Engine: Yanmar 55hp
Check out the Reviews:
Cruising World
Sail Clip
Yachting World
