The sailing adventures of SV Meriwether and her crew
I wake up at odd hours sometimes. Two in the morning, eight in the morning—it doesn’t seem to follow any sort of logic, and I’ve long since stopped trying to understand it. What I do know is that once I’m awake, that’s it. There’s no rolling over, no drifting back off. I’ve learned not to fight it, because that only...
We were still on Great Barrier Island as the final week of March rolled in, holding onto a bit of hope that the weather might give us a window to leave the greater Port Fitzroy area—maybe even circumnavigate the island. Kerri was still optimistic about that plan. I, on the other hand, was remembering what April looked like last year...
The second half of March picked up right where the first left off—two days of wind, two days of calm, and then right back to wind again. It became a rhythm whether we liked it or not. Rather than making miles, we spent most of our time shifting from one anchorage to the next, always looking for the best protection...
After a much-needed morning of sleep, we got straight back to it. We lifted anchor and motored Meriwether deeper into the protected waters of Great Barrier Island, where a network of anchorages offered plenty of options for both shelter and exploration. At that point, we weren’t chasing anything specific—we were just happy to be afloat again, protected, and slowly easing...
Well, we did it. The day after our resupply stop at Marsden Cove, we finally left the greater Whangarei area behind. There was one small detail: no wind. That didn’t stop us. It just meant the engine would do the work for now – a good test of the old diesel donkey. Our destination sat about 20 nautical miles offshore—a...
After splashing Meriwether, we motored the three miles to the nearest anchorage at Limestone Island and dropped the hook. The plan was simple: rest a few days, let our bodies recover, and slowly shift back into sailing mode before starting the 2026 season. It was the first time in months that my body had a chance to relax. Unfortunately, boat life...
Even before we could touch the official critical items list, the boat handed us our first unplanned project: batteries. One of our lithium batteries had taken on water even though the boat was on dry land. As it turns out said Lithium battery was not waterproof. That one was done. The second battery was on its ninth year of service...
We returned to New Zealand after a full day of airports and seats clearly designed by someone who has never sat in one for more than ten minutes. From there it was a rental car and a three-hour drive to the yard where Meriwether had been waiting patiently for the past seven months. We knew better than to move straight...
Having survived our first cyclone tropical storm we were finally able to progress south towards Whangarei where Meriwether had a scheduled haul out in less than two weeks, and Kerri and I had flights back to the US booked for 4 days after that. There was a lot to do before both dates, so any major sight seeing was off...
We had waited out the storm in Whangaroa without any major issues. Once the weather cleared up enough, we immediately pushed Meriwether back out into the open ocean where we retraced our route of the past few weeks. This included three partial day sails with two overnight stays in anchorages new to us until we reached the Bay of Islands...
