Our Story

Crew.org.nz - how it happened

I come from a family of sailors, and but only discovered the great world of keelboat racing in 2000, when I met a man called Tony Smith who invited me onboard his Ross 930, 'Fast Company'.

I was hooked like I had never been hooked before. Within a few months, I had resigned my marketing job and became a freelance writer. The excuse was that I wanted to pursue writing. The real reason was that I wanted to go sailing, as often as I wanted and for as long as I wanted.

In Christmas 2003, I met 'Cool Change', a Murray Ross designed 8.5m race boat with a long prod and a bright pink gennaker, and she stole my heart. I bought her a month later. I loved short handed sailing, and with first Kate Brunette and then Lisa Knapton, I raced in two handed races, as well as solo races, and fully crewed racing with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, the Richmond Yacht Club and the Ponsonby Cruising Club.

I was eating, breathing and sleeping sailing, but there was no magazine or website for the sport. In New Zealand, the greatest sailing nation of them all! What was that all about?

I launched Crew.org.nz in July 2004. I roped in the services of a friend who designed websites, and sent out an email to my sailing friends to tell them that Crew.org.nz was born. Each person passed the message on, and its popularity was immediate. The website, which today is both an online magazine and an online community where sailors chat and interact, fulfilled a huge need in the sailing community as a hub of information.

Now when people ask what I do for a living, I can honestly say that I am one of the few people whose work is doing exactly what I want to be doing: it's all about sailing.

I really hope that you enjoy Crew.org.nz, and will look forward to meeting you one day.

Cheers, and good sailing!

Zoe
Editor/Publisher, Crew.org.nz

Footnote: Crew.org.nz was sold to David Howie in July 2007.