The cruising Kiwis
From personal tragedy was born an incredible oceangoing journey,
with this intrepid family following their hearts – and their sense
of adventure – circumnavigating the globe.
words Liz French | photos Jon Nash, Ivan Hamill + SV Selki
Declan, Ivan, Rachel and Rob dressed for the Australian beaches.
Circumnavigating the world on your catamaran is a massive adventure. It has been normal daily life for the Hamill family of five (six counting the cat) for the last five years. The backstory, and one reason for it, is a devastating event that has been forever woven into the fabric of Rob Hamill’s life.
Whakatāne-born Rob was 14 when the family lost contact with his older brother Kerry, known to be sailing in Southeast Asia. In 1978, when Rob was 16, it was confirmed that Kerry’s yacht had been ambushed in Cambodian waters by the Khmer Rouge and that he and a crewmate (the third shot during capture) had been held in the notorious Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh, tortured, forced to sign false confessions, and murdered.
Kerry with his girlfriend Gail aboard the Foxy Lady with her freshly painted eyes in
Phuket, Thailand.
Knowledge that could have stymied Rob Hamill has, if anything, impelled him forward. Rob represented New Zealand in rowing for 16 years, winning a silver medal at the World Rowing Championships. He rowed in the Atlanta Olympics and may be best known for when he and crewmate Phil Stubbs won the 1997 inaugural Atlantic Rowing Race. Rob wrote a book, The Naked Rower, about this. He also made a documentary, Brother Number One, based on the quest for resolution for Kerry. His magnetism as a raconteur made him a popular fixture on the speakers’ circuit.
While the desire to retrace his brother’s journey was clearly a catalyst to set sail, it’s obvious this is a man with intrepid adventure in his DNA. He’s proud that his wife Rachel and sons, 22-year-old Finn, Declan (19), and Ivan (16), plus the cat, fully embrace it.
They bought Javelot, a 43-foot Fountaine Pajot catamaran, in Whangārei in 2014. It had been sailed out from Belgium and required maintenance before the family could make their first foray out of New Zealand. They honed their skills with several months of Pacific Island sailing. Rachel was new to sailing and recalls a particularly gruelling trip to Tonga as the only time she just wanted off.
Javelot, the Hamills’ floating home seeing out the day at Queensland’s, Double Island Point.
They departed on their circumnavigation of the globe in October 2018, making it to Darwin where Kerry had originally sailed from in 1977. When COVID-19 kept them in Australia, they discovered a captivating coastline, the Kimberley region in Western Australia a highlight. Being hit by lightning off the Gold Coast was the lowlight with thousands of dollars of electronics decimated.
Watch the Hamill boys on YouTube (“Kiwi Boys”) to see how they are revelling in having the world as their playground and classroom. You see the fearless three leaping off the catamaran, shimmying up rigging, and swimming with whale sharks. Declan, referred to fondly as “EMC” (the Expendable Middle Child,) cutting free a craypot that got stuck around their rudder. Eldest son Finn freediving to near disaster. All exploring wherever they are mooring. “They react calmly and rationally to every situation and show emotional intelligence way beyond their ages,” says their father, confident the lessons in resilience learned at sea will serve them well.
Finn was pulled from the depths by his father and brothers following a free diving blackout (re-enactment).
Finn is off the yacht often in his quest to row in the Paris Olympics this year, having already gained Silver in the Under 23 World Champs and competed in the men’s lightweight single at the World Championships in Serbia.
Their route has so far taken them from Darwin up through Indonesia, including Ende on the island of Flores that Kerry had reported visiting. Then to Malaysia and Thailand. Future fluid plans include sailing up to the Mediterranean and on to the Caribbean before returning to the Pacific via the Panama Canal.
Finn, Declan, Rob, Rachel and Ivan at Cambodia’s magnificent Angkor Wat.
The Hamills have felt the pull of Southeast Asia, where they experienced nothing but friendship and kindness, felt very safe and lapped up the local street food. “It goes against all our accepted food prep rules, yet we ate it for months and never got ill,” says Rob while admitting that drinking dodgy water did him in. They have also made friends with fellow yachties from all over the world. “The Kiwi flag is a positive thing.”
The longer passages have proved challenging as they involve overnight sailing. The family takes turns at being on watch and Rob says he is always hyper alert for any natural or man-made threats. Technology is the other challenge, as it is vital for navigation and communication. Lose it or, worse still, your phone (which has happened), and it can take forever to regain all the apps and information on which life at sea and in a myriad of different countries depends.
Because thousands are vicariously voyaging with them via their YouTube channel, “The Cruising Kiwis”, they make a commitment to post an update every Sunday. Rachel spends hours editing and collating the weekly videos of a family living their best (and occasionally worst) lives. Watch them and share what she describes as the privilege of being “strangers in strange lands”.