Issue date
Just say yes is a philosophy Ron Holland has lived by and it's an approach that's served him well. It's also the response Linda Ford gave when he partner, out of the blue, asked her to sail with him from New Zealand to England.
Holland and Ford have both written books about their very different experiences.
All the Oceans - Designing by the seat of my pants by Ron Holland
Holland is one of the world's foremost yacht designers, with many of those yachts going on to acclaim in events like the Admiral's Cup and Transpacific Race, and he also designed Mirabella V, the latest single-mast yacht ever constructed.
His coffee-table memoir takes the reader through more than six decades of seafaring experiences and features more than 200 images, including some of Holland's earliest sketches.
His nautical ambitions began early. At age 8, he was racing competitively; at 15, he made a solo voyage from New Zealand to Australia. Holland has also been apprehended by Fidel Castro’s navy, hung out with 1980s rock stars and designed vessels for Prince Rainier III of Monaco, King Juan Carlos of Spain and media baron Rupert Murdoch, who wrote the foreword.
"I'm pretty sure when I'm on my death bed I'm not going to be regretful," Holland said on a trailer for a docum,entary being made about him. "I have done more than I dreamed. I had big dreams but, boy, I did more.
"Really not much in my life was planned. It was saying yes to that next opportunity that came along."
- All the Oceans can be bought from Boat Books NZ or see here for more information.
Caution to the Wind by Linda Ford
Linda Ford's life changed one day in the early 1990s when her partner talked about a "yearning" to sail to England.
“Lin,” he said. "Would you dare to plan such an adventure with me?”
It was an adventure, alright, and Ford has recently published an account of the 15 months the couple spent at sea sailing from Lyttelton harbour to England and the stops they had on the way as they followed the famous trade wind route.
Their longest voyage between countries was 19 days, and during the voyage Ford, whol ives in and has worked for more than 20 years as a life coach and social worker, often found herself questioning the meaning of life, one's purpose, religion, cultures, "anything and everything".
There were also times when survival was paramount and she had thoughts that "I may never see my family again," she wrote. "It seemed ultra-important that, if we didn't survive, no one would know what had happened to me. I could disappear without a trace."
The book is available to purchase in New Zealand and Australia, in paperback or eBook. To purchase, or for more information, see here.
