Intrepid Kiwis sail the dream

in the Greek Islands

Guest post by Caryl and Keith Turner who spent four years at sea.

We are Caryl and Keith Turner.  I would describe us as a resourceful couple wanting to get the most out of life.  I wanted to travel through Europe and Keith wanted to sail around NZ so we compromised by sailing overseas.


We retired from senior government positions at the age of 55 to embark on our sailing adventure in May 2004.  Planning started four years prior when we determined the earliest time we could responsibly leave work to undertake such an adventure.  We wanted to be still young and fit enough for the hard work ahead but financially set up to have a comfortable standard of living in retirement.  We planned to be away for two to three years but that got extended to an extra two years when we: a) met NZers in Gibraltar who convinced us to see Turkey and b) in Turkey we signed up for the Eastern Mediterranean yacht rally. Our house was rented out while we were away.

We purchased Intrepid in North Carolina in May 2004 and, after working on her from dawn to dusk for six weeks, sailed across the Atlantic to Portugal via the Azores.  This was our shake-down cruise before entering the Med.

We sailed on Intrepid for four and a half years mainly in the Med as far east as Israel and Egypt.  In that time we flew home to NZ twice for a total period of six months.  After departing from Turkey in April 2007 we worked our way west and completed our adventure in November 2008.  Intrepid was a great performer and kept us safe on many ocean passages.

Keith wanted to continue the cruising life up into Thailand but I wanted to restore my personal relationships before it became too late.

Sailing life is a challenge – we had to be adaptable and be prepared to “give it a go” when sometimes you felt like giving up.  There were often obstacles and discomforts - the emotional trauma of leaving family behind.  Things that people take for granted such as washing machines and unlimited water supply were not usually available.  Provisioning was always a challenge as food would often be carried in backpacks then a dinghy, similarly diesel.  It is not always easy living in a confined space without wanting to “kill” each other - we learned to be kind to each other in times of stress. Overall it was a great experience where we both learned new skills and made some wonderful friends.

Less than a year after selling Intrepid we bought a Dutch cruiser in Amsterdam with two other couples.  We have been travelling the French canals for 2-3 months each of the northern hemisphere summer for the last three years on a rotating basis, April through to October.

This is a less strenuous occupation, a relaxing holiday compared to the sailing lifestyle. It is a great way of seeing “the real” France, away from the tourist areas.

But you can still have boat issues; you need to be able to fix mechanical and electrical problems, often in isolated places where help is just not available, and be happy to make do with the basics.
To us canal boating seems like a natural progression from sailing to campervanning.