20/20 Vision Helen Shrewsbury lived in Lyttelton for over 20 years and was a member of Naval Point Sailing Club. Helen met her husband, Stephen, five years ago when she relocated to Auckland, taking her beloved Whiting 29 with her and exploring the Hauraki Gulf while teaching Stephen how to sail. Two years ago they left New Zealand for Europe to start an exciting new life living on board their Seastream 43, a 25yr old custom built blue water cutter rigged sloop. They keep a blog of their adventures – www.handsondeck.co.nz. Helen offers some advice to those hoping to do something similar.
If there is one word to live by when cruising in Europe it is “Flexibility”. As a New Zealand registered boat cruising in Europe with one dual UK/NZ and one NZ passport holder, trying to understand Schengen and the trials and tribulations of Brexit was a bit of a minefield! We had arrived in the UK in March 2020, just as the pandemic was starting to take hold and nations were going into lockdown. Our original intention of buying a boat in Europe and spending the summer of 2020 cruising The Mediterranean, was fast becoming an unrealistic dream. As it turned out and due to our flexible plans, we were lucky and found the right boat in England and spent a wonderful summer doing our shake-down sail exploring the South Coast of England, Isles of Scilly, Wales, Northern Ireland and Western Scotland before returning to Cornwall to refit the boat in preparation for the start of our long sail home. There were many obstacles we had to negotiate before we left the UK to make sure our time in Europe and beyond, was as stress free as possible. Here are just a few of those obstacles and, with the benefit of 20/20 vision, some of the things we wished we’d known but learned the hard way:
