Total strangers

Josef Shable was a total stranger to me. He was a tourist from Germany. I came ashore for lunch and noticed from far that he showed some interest in my boat. Out of the blue, I invited him to come aboard and he did! There was a reason for my strange behaviour. Before I became a sailor, I have always wondered and dreamed about being invited by a boat owner to go sailing. It never happened to me.

After I bought this sailing yacht in NZ, I imagined that it would be nice to invite total strangers to come sailing with me. So, I did just that on several occasions!

This young lady was another stranger who came sailing with me. She was a GP working in Tokoroa, a small country town. She was jogging around Lake Ngaroto. She stopped to talk to me and I invited her.

Gabriel Phang is a Singaporean staying in Auckland. He wished to buy a trailer yacht and he googled [Noelex]. He saw my blog and contacted me. I invited him to come for a test drive in my boat. He gladly accepted. He has since purchased his own Noelex-22. Happy sailing!

I met this couple at the Hamilton Lake. The man spoke putong hua very well. His wife is Chinese and they have lived in Beijing for many years!

This family from China was very suspicious at first. They kept asking me: how much? I told them it was free and they could not understand why I don't accept their money! Apparently in China you need to pay. No one gives away any thing for free.

Brennon Boase and his little girl were my last guests on the Nanook on Hamilton Lake. I have since sold my boat.