We had never been on a sailing boat before and only did this trip to fill in the day we had no plans. One of the best days we had over there, thank you all so much. The whole experience (including the lunch freshly made) was fabulous. Would recommend to anyone, any age, experience on the water or not. Thank you all once again, we'll be back :)

Thanks to Tom and Tom for an awesome day. They went out of their way to make everything work like clockwork. Just don't go without a wind; it is a yacht after all. Boy that grinding can be hard work.

What an amazing experience and probably the major highlight of our short visit to this wonderful NZ region!!
We climbed aboard and after a briefing were treated to a scrumptous lunch prepared for us by Tom in the bows of this incredible machine.
Once lunch was done we set sail around the incredibly beautiful Bay of Islands and being part of the crew, grinded our way under the orders of Tom and Kerin. Don't think this is just a luxurious sail because you become part of the crew on this amazing and very famous yacht, and my teenage son absolutely LOVED it!! First time he's 'willingly' worked for nothing. :D
We stopped off in a lagoon for a swim, explore and kayak or just a relax on the beach. Then time to set sail again as we glided around the Bay of Island having an awsome time and successfully leaning the vessel to almost 90° whilst sipping champagne and chatting to fellow passenger/crew. All the while learning about the adventures of this amazing yacht from it's 'real crew' and their personal adventures.
THIS IS AN EXPERIENCE NOT TO BE MISSED AND DEFINITELY VALUE FOR $$$$$
HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Beware - the Sail NZ experience out of Paihia has switched from a comfortable, land-lubber friendly Catamaran to an ocean going, single hull yacht which is NOT equipped for land-lubbers and which DOES sail at angles that have one rail dipping in the ocean. We enjoyed our sail and - if the publicity materials had properly disclosed the trip - would give it more than an average rating - BUT - publicity materials still show a Cat and some of our fellow passengers were clearly ill-equipped for the racing yacht experience that they got! We would recommend the trip to friends who are sailors and/or simply enjoy the sea. We would NOT recommend the trip to friends who are not at home on boats! The trip lasts about 6 hours - four on the water and two on shore at one of the islands. A fairly basic lunch is provided. Our crew members were delightful.