About the Boat ...

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'Camara' - a new name for a new era of this 80ft beauty, the first of 10 Ocean 80's built by Southern Ocean Shipyard and designed by David Alan-Williams and Doug Peterson. She was built for the 1981/1982 Whitbread RTWR, then called 'Ocean Greyhound' and renamed to 'FCF Challenger' before the race finished. In 1989/1990 she raced as 'Creighton's Naturally' in her last appearance in the Whitbread RTWR. When we purchased her in late 2015, she had been seized by Customs NZ and was just short of being disposed of. We looked at her and knew she has good bones but is in desperate need of a major refit, which so far has seen us taking her right back to the hull, re-glassing where necessary and starting again. It is no doubt a mammoth project but with Peter's boatbuilding experience and Christina's background in the banking sector we have the skills and knowledge to see this project through.

ABOUT US ...

We are a family of four (Peter, Christina, Cameron and Tara) who have previously been sailing/cruising for about 15 years on our old yacht, a 42ft monohull. Our family loves all types of water sports and the outdoors and you'll never see us running out of things to do in an anchorage. Depending on the weather condition you either find us surfing or kitesurfing, or perhaps we are out enjoying what Mother Nature has to offer kayaking, paddle boarding, spearfishing or exploring the island. Of course we love sailing and we are excited about what kind of sailing experience our new boat is going to give us but it is the whole package of this cruising lifestyle that suits us in every way!

Peter has been born and bred in South Africa and developed a love for the ocean and passion for surfing at a young age. Introduced to sailing in his youth, it had always been his dream to sail away one day looking for the perfect wave and he did so in 1998, meeting Christina a year into his journey in the Caribbean. Together we have sailed a fair few miles and have had our kids 'along the way', with our son crossing his first ocean at the tender age of 11 months.

With Peter having worked in the boatbuilding/marine industry for nearly 20 years, we have always had a look out for a project boat but had never expected one of this magnitude to come our way. Saying that, we both love a challenge and have certainly  the determination, drive and skills to tackle a project like this. We intend to launch her next summer when we will spend the summer sailing around New Zealand before we will leave for the islands in 2019 with only one plan in mind, to sail from one slice of paradise to another looking for the perfect wave and kitespot! At this point we are gauging interest from people in regards to future kitesurf/surf expeditions aboard Camara, so let us know if sailing aboard a 80ft Maxi with racing pedigree and all the 'toys' on board to enjoy island life sounds like the kind of experience you would be keen on!