We have a Bavaria 46 Cruiser called Pebbles. It’s a lovely boat. Here are her specs:

Built: 2006

Length is 46 foot (14.4m)

Draft is 1.85m

Beam is 4.35m

Cabins: 4

Horse power: 55

Rigging: Cutter rigged sloop

Toilets: 2

Showers: 3

Tankage: 2 x 130 water, 210 + 350 fuel

 

Our story:

Once Dean’s kids left home and were settled in their new lives, we were ready for something different. We lived in Raumati Beach on the Kapiti Coast, 45 minutes north of Wellington. Suburbia, well and truly. While I loved living there (the landscape, some good mates, Kapiti Island, Waikanae River) I did struggle with the finality of living in the burbs. Life inside four walls was never really my dream. Living as a Buddhist nun in the Himalayas has always been on the cards for me!

We decided to buy a boat to live in. We saw a Bavaria 46 in Auckland and decided that was the boat for us. We saw about 15 other boats all around the north island as well. I really had no idea – I just nodded – it was such a novelty to me. I’d only been sailing twice: The first time as a kid, on a catamaran; the second time with Dean. Seeing him on the deck, jiggling a spinnaker…I really saw him for who he was.

The boat had to be a decent live aboard, first and foremost. Then it had to sail, and then it had to be able to sail offshore (maybe not Antarctica, but definitely the Pacific Islands). We listened to all the purists rubbish production boats. We read the forums about keels falling off. But Dean was pretty sure that a Bavaria was what we wanted.

Then we saw Pebble Rebel in Mana Marina. We went on board and just knew. We met the owners – lovely people. They had a sad story though. Not long after they bought the boat, he was diagnosed with a motor neuron disease. His partner had to winch him in and out of the cabin. But he was fierce about continuing to sail. He and Pebble Rebel won the Trans Tasman race in 2006. They inspired us. We still keep in touch and we love that.

We went home, 100% sure we wanted that boat, but with a slightly sinking heart we knew we really couldn’t afford it. So we decided to put it off for a few more years and save like crazy.

That same afternoon we went for a walk to the beach. We bumped into a friend of ours who we hadn’t seen for awhile. He looked terrible. His wife had died suddenly. I didn’t know what to say to him. We walked along the beach and asked ourselves, “What are we waiting for?” All the answers just weren’t good enough.

So we rang the owners of Pebble Rebel and made them an offer. The boat had been on the market for over a year and it was becoming almost impossible for them to sail it now. You could feel that pain, but their determination to do what they did anyway, added to our story.

Our offer was accepted and a couple of months later we were the very proud (although slightly shocked) owners of a gorgeous boat. I remember walking into the boat for the first time, as its new owner, and thinking, “This is too amazing to be true.” I had the same feeling when my Mum bought her house on the sea front at Owhiro Bay. We thought she was mad. But she spent her last years there before she died of cancer in 2014. Everything worked out the way it should.

We renamed the boat Pebbles. We wanted to honour its history and its first owners, but wanted to make it our own. Dean likes the reference to The Flintstones (he’s named our dinghy, BamBam) and I like the reference to New Zealand rivers and stones and nature. Either way, it’s ours. (My feminist take on The Flintstones doesn’t quite allow me to fully adopt the reference! However, I have bought a Pebbles pink wig and bones for my hair.)

We want to go on a sailing adventure while our knees can still hack it and before any grandchildren start arriving. We want to keep being in love with our boat and the possibility it holds and be able to put that into action.

Today we opened the hatch in our cabin for a ‘hatch cuddle’. I told Dean that I want to do this every day that we are away – I want to, every day, take a moment to appreciate where we are right now, and each other.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not starry eyed about life – I’ve had my tragedies. I know that it’s going to be hard and I’m going to want to kill Dean some days (and visa versa). But this is our year. Bloody better be anyway.

Happy adventures to us all!