Preparing our boat (and us) for a cyclone

Episode 033 Since moving onboard our sailing boat, Te Tāiko, we have experienced many adverse weather events in New Zealand in the span of 18 months. There have been so many of these events that we haven’t filmed all of them. We have spent a lot of time hiding from strong winds, storms, and bad weather. We've experienced up to 60 knots of wind in an anchorage and up to 50 knots plus in the marina. Little did we know that the worst was yet to come. We had just gone through a squash zone (the bit between a high and a low pressure system) when Adam noticed the possibility of a cyclone forming in the tropics. This cyclone was soon called Cyclone Gabrielle. We now had some decisions to make and prepare Tāiko and us for Cyclone Gabrielle. What we didn’t expect was the devastating impact Gabrielle was going to have on our home town of Hawke’s Bay and the East Coast of New Zealand. After seeing the devastation caused to Hawke's Bay, emotionally this was a very hard video for us to put together and we hope you can see the love we have for the East Coast of New Zealand. We're working really hard to make sure all our videos have subtitles and are currently working through our previous videos. However, the good news is this one has subtitles! We hope you enjoy it! As always, thanks for watching. Sincere thanks to Charlotte Rockstar Jones for composing and recording Te Tāiko's theme song. Please remember to subscribe, like, comment - it helps us out! If commenting, we ask that you be respectful. Any comments made that are intended to be hurtful, disrespectful, antagonistic, and inappropriate to us or our viewers will be deleted and you will be blocked from our channel. Ways to support us: Subscribe to YouTube (it's free) 👉https://www.youtube.com/@adamandvickistravels?sub_confirmation=1 Become a Patreon 👉patreon.com/adamandvickistravels FOLLOW US: Website 👉https://www.adamandvickistravels.co.nz/ Pinterest 👉 www.pinterest.com/adamandvickistravels Facebook 👉 https://www.facebook.com/adamandvickistravels/ Instagram 👉https://www.instagram.com/adamandvickistravels/ Music from Epidemic Sound. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------We’re Adam and Vicki. After a few years of studying and working hard we decided it was time to make a change. We needed a change that would allow us to spend more time together, give us a better work/life balance, and the freedom to travel. While we still had time on our side, we wanted to use it to live rather than use it to chase money. Learning to sail was the answer. In December 2021 we moved onboard Te Tāiko, a Chico40, and since then we have been so fortunate to explore many of New Zealand’s pest free islands and its beautiful anchorages. With our love of travel and adventure, this lifestyle has enabled us to experience so much more than we could ever have imagined. From new experiences to meeting incredible people along the way, our life has been enriched in so many ways and makes us ever so more appreciative of our environment and the footprint we leave behind. Tāiko is our floating home. She gives us the freedom to go anywhere the wind and weather allows. By living a more minimalistic and sustainable lifestyle, she has provided us with a better work/life balance and has taught us to live and be present more in the moment. Tāiko has also taught us to be more independent and less reliant on services. Some of these experiences have taken us out of our comfort zone many times but as the saying goes, ‘a comfort zone is a wonderful place but nothing grows there’. Our plan is to do blue water cruising. So, over the next year we will be completing some maintenance work on Tāiko and be getting her ready to meet New Zealand’s category 1 requirements to be able to go offshore. In the meantime, follow along with us as we navigate this new lifestyle whilst sharpening our skills exploring New Zealand waters. #boatlife #boat #travelvlog #digitalnomad #lifestyle #sailing #travel