Circumnavigating New Zealand: Linda and Bill Hay’s six-month catamaran journey

Linda and Bill Hay have just finished circumnavigating New Zealand in their catamaran, which took them just under six months.

When Cyclone Gabrielle hit, Linda and Bill Hay were in their catamaran, “snuggled” into a bay in the Marlborough Sounds.

When Jacinda Ardern resigned, they were in Doubtful Sound and found out the news via a message from their son on a satellite phone.

Bill, 73, and Linda, 63, have just finished a six-month trip, circumnavigating New Zealand in their catamaran, Whiskey Romeo Hotel.

They set off in the 42-foot-long craft from Tauranga on October 22 and returned on April 15.

Linda Hay said their “big adventure” took them on a “figure of eight” around New Zealand, with their favourite spots being Stewart Island and Fiordland.

“The solitude and the magnitude of all those fiords - you could go for two or three days without seeing another boat,” she said.

“You felt like you were the only one on the planet.”

Hay said circumnavigating New Zealand had always been on Bill’s bucket list. Bill is a retired dentist and Linda is semi-retired. The couple live in Hamilton.

She said they had the boat for two years before setting off on the trip, “so we’d done a reasonable amount of sailing”.

From Tauranga, they went to the Bay of Islands, around the top of the North Island and down the west coast. They crossed over at the Malborough Sounds before going to Lyttleton, Akaroa and Dunedin.

Then they travelled up the west coast of the South Island to Abel Tasman. From Picton, they went to Wellington, Napier and around the East Cape before returning to Tauranga.

Linda and Bill Hay mapped out their trip as they went.

“I’m certainly a different sailor now to what I was when we left Tauranga,” she said.

Hay said they kept a blog, so loved ones could follow their journey. They were joined by friends and family at different times throughout their trip and had crew members for most of the time.

Hay said the highlights were parts of Stewart Island and Fiordland.

She said people did not realise how beautiful the fiords were until they saw Fiordland by boat.

Seeing whales and sea life in the area was also a highlight, she said.

“The sea lion that comes plopping out of the bush and swims behind the back of your boat; it’s something you never forget, and you certainly can’t get it on camera most of the time.”

Linda and Bill Hay's catamaran - Whiskey Romeo Hotel - moored in Marlborough.

There was no cellphone coverage in many places they went to, but Hay said being disconnected was a highlight and “very good for the soul”.

“You realise how caught up in everything you get until you actually get away from it. You suddenly realise what’s important.

“When Jacinda Ardern resigned, we had to hear that from somebody else.”

Hay said they were in the Marlborough Sounds when Cyclone Gabrielle hit and managed to find some shelter in Hamilton Cove.

They were “quite close” to land and “were the only ones in the whole Bay”.

“We didn’t know the full extent of the cyclone until we came out and got some phone coverage to hear what was going on. We were quite removed from that.”

Hay said the challenge after the cyclone was debris in the water, which made them “a little bit hesitant”.

“There were a few stories about logs floating around, but we had to get back at some stage so we thought, ‘We’ve just got to do it vigilantly’.”

Other challenges included crossing the Foveaux Strait in 50-knot winds and trying to anchor in Stewart Island in those winds.

They also had a “really quite rough trip” down the west coast past New Plymouth.

Linda and Bill Hay, pictured coming back into Tauranga.

Asked if she ever felt like giving up, Hay said after Cyclone Gabrielle, she was tempted to leave the boat where it was and come back to it.

Hay said they were “absolutely elated” when they finished their trip.

“We were quite emotional ... coming into the harbour.”

Hay said their next goal was to tour the Pacific, visiting Tonga, Fiji and possibly Vanuatu and Noumea.

“We’ve done the figure of eight of New Zealand and we’ve sailed all that way in our catamaran.

“[It’s] not something I thought I would do, but we did it.”