How to stay grounded living on a sailing boat - Ep 107

How to stay grounded living on a sailing boat Please consider supporting our journey as creators of artistic content here: https://www.patreon.com/CruisingKiwis We sailed back to New Zealand from Fiji in 2018, with two sailing hitchhikers. Rob and the boys took one of these hitchhikers on a road trip to visit Tane Mahuta, a large Kauri tree and king of the forest. The story told by the Department of conservation guide, Conrad, about how this 2000 year old Kauri has managed to stay strong and live long with the help of his neighbouring trees touched us deeply. We wanted to share it again here. Music David Mumford - Ball and chain BACK STORY In 1997, after rowing at the Atlanta Olympics, Rob decided to row a tiny seven-metre plywood boat, 2500 miles from Tenerife in the Canary Islands to Barbados in the Caribbean. It took 6 weeks and he and his rowing partner, Phil Stubbs, won the inaugural Atlantic Rowing Race. His first taste of a blue water ocean crossing. Skip forward to 2014 and, married with three children, Rob and Rachel purchased Javelot a 43 ft Fountaine Pajot catamaran. Armed only with Rob's 3 years of racing P class yachts from the age of 11 to 13, and Rachel's non existent sailing knowledge, we set off to learn the ropes of ocean sailing. We broke stuff, replaced stuff and got to know our boat before heading offshore with the kids, Finn 18, Declan 16 and Ivan 13, in tow. Through trial and error, we have become confident wayfarers, kind of. Our plan? To sail around the world. Part of the journey will be retracing Rob’s eldest brother Kerry’s travels at sea. Using Kerry’s original letters from the 1970’s we will re trace his movements from Australia through Indonesia and South East Asia to Cambodia where Kerry’s life was cut short after straying into Cambodian waters in 1978. Kerry and two friends were attacked by a Khmer Rouge gun boat, captured, tortured and executed. www.brothernumberone.co.nz ***** Follow us in real time on Instagram and Facebook @thecruisingkiwis @finn_hamill @declan_hamill @ivanhamill #NeverStopWanderingNeverStopWondering​. #TheCruisingKiwis