Hi. I’m Sara Kulins, and as you can see I love the water. Its a long story to how I got to starting this website, but its all because of my love for the ocean. I will embrace any means to get out on it, in it, around it but I do have a special affinity for boats.
The ocean is legitimately where I am happiest. When growing up my dad would take me and my brothers fishing and my favourite part was always catching the bait, looking at the plethora of little creatures we attracted into our net. I wasn’t ever that into fishing but rather interested in exploring and spending time on the edge of the ocean.
I grew up and went on to study biology at Adelphi University (Long Island, New York) with the dream of one day becoming a marine biologist. In my third year at Adelphi I studied abroad at University of the Sunshine Coast near Brisbane (Queensland, Australia). I finally got a chance to get into some scuba diving in some warmer waters and I was hooked. That was around age 18 but it was from then on I felt the ocean really calling me. I was just always drawn to the sea. I wanted to be able to explore underwater more, stay in the water longer, go deeper, swim amongst the creatures and observe the behaviour of the creatures you can only see if you dare to look below the surface.
Since then I have graduated Adelphi University and travelled to New Zealand, did a half year studentship at University of Auckland’s Leigh Marine Lab, worked at a Dive Shop and became a Divemaster. Just shy of a year in New Zealand I got a job as an outdoor/ marine educator at Sir Peter Blake Marine Education and Recreation Centre and I am still there over three years later, loving it. Furthermore, I love the place where I work so much I am even doing my masters research on the Long Bay-Okura Marine Reserve.
Prior to moving to New Zealand from Long Island NY, I had little boating experience, I went canoeing and kayaking on occasion, was seasick on a few fishing charters, and would catch little fish from a small boat on a lake when I was really young but that was pretty much it.
As I grew up and decided to pursue marine science I went out on a few more boats, some whale watching tours, science field trips, guided dives and the occasional scenic boat outing.
But as far as sailing goes, I had no experience. I had always been in awe of sailboats though. Once I had been aboard the Christeeen, an old Oyster Sloop in Oyster Bay, utilized for educational programs, I knew I wanted to learn how to sail. Oh and there was this one really cool catamaran I was on touring the Whitsunday Islands in Australia during my study abroad assured me I needed to get out on sailboats more.
But that was it… until I immersed myself in the real life of the Hauraki Gulf.
Fast forward several years and I spent two and a half years living on a boat and taking a boat to work. This old Ex-Crayfish Trawler from the Chatham Islands was converted prior to Ben purchasing it in September 2015. This is where we called our home until October 2018.
She needed a lot of work, there was so much rust, everywhere, but there was much more to do than maintain so we started to spend weekends doing work on her and never wanted to leave. We asked permission from the marina to live aboard and this was granted, after moving onto Okawa II we would find more opportunities to take the boat out, visit the islands and spend weekends anchored up in peaceful bays and chip away at the rusty hull and decks.
Meanwhile, while working at MERC in Long Bay I learned how to sail small boats and not too long after began to lead experiences taking students sailing, where they do the steering and trimming but you’re pretty much the captain.
I can’t remember how exactly it all came to be but I ended up buying an 8hp Yamaha. It was the single most expensive thing I had ever bought to date that wasn’t a car or a plane ticket, but I was proud of it! We put it on a small aquapro and that was my runabout.
I used the little boat to get to and from work, hauling the boat up the beach when I arrived. Eventually I upgraded to a newer boat and older but bigger 15hp engine, and I might have pushed the limits, taking it out in most conditions as long as it wasn’t blowing a gale!
Meanwhile I fell in love with sailing and the idea of travelling solely using the power of the wind. And when Ben said ‘I’m going to buy this yacht’ there was no objection from me. So the kind of crazy thing is now… my partner, Ben, and I are in the middle of building a steel yacht. Its a massive undertaking that will take us a few years still but it could be our forever home, who knows. The best way to have full faith in your vessel is to build it yourself I suppose.
So far we have a facebook page for our boat building project S.V. Miss Conduct, to document our progress and one day share our adventures with the world. I think we have the opportunity to inspire lots of people with our adventures and educate others about the ocean as we learn and experiences new places and marine environments.
As we’ve lived on a boat prior, we cannot wait to go back to living on the water. In a few years when she’s in the water we’ll move onboard and a few years after that we’ll be planning to go offshore and visit the islands of the South Pacific and beyond.
Follow your dreams, and love the ocean.