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Arctic sailing

author, journalist

America's Cup

new & secondhand books for sale

Pre-order for April 2025

High Heels and Gumboots
– a city girl and a lot to learn

Based on the award winning column, North & South magazine:

Best Columnist/Blogger, Magazine Media Awards 2020.

For anyone who has dreamed of buying a lifestyle block. . . here’s the brutal, hilarious and heart-warming reality.

​

Rebecca Hayter was a yachting journalist based in Auckland,
New Zealand when she followed a whim to buy a lifestyle block

on the beach at Golden Bay, but she didn’t know

what she didn’t know.

 

Unexpectedly in charge of chickens, sheep and an orchard, Rebecca shamelessly exploited local knowledge as she tackled drought, isolation and the mysteries of her Massey Ferguson 135. As a journalist, she explored local politics and the differences between urban and rural New Zealand. As a daughter, she explored the most complex relationship of her life.

Wild Seas to Greenland 
a sailing adventure with ocean racer Ross Field

Wild Seas to greenland book

When 1994 Whitbread Race winner Ross Field refitted his 20-year-old aluminium yacht Rosemary for the Northwest Passage,

he applied Kiwi DIY, latest technology and 35 years of ocean racing experience. Rebecca Hayter followed his refit in detail. Then she signed on as crew for one of the world's most dangerous oceans.

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Sheila in the Wind

by Adrian Hayter (Dad)

This famous New Zealand sailing classic has been republished by Lodestar Books, UK, more than 60 years after it was first published.

Sheila in the Wind is Adrian Hayter's honest, introspective account of the first solo voyage from England to New Zealand in the aftermath of WW2.

With an introduction by Adrian Hayter's youngest daughter, Rebecca Hayter.

Albert Strange design Sheila 2

UK & Europe readers: available from Lodestarbooks.com

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In the Footstraps of Giants

the New Zealand windsurfing story

by Bruce Trotter

Who could have foreseen that this crazy new sport, which somehow combined surfing and sailing, would draw us all together and shape our lives in the way that it did?

​Former grandmaster windsurfing world champion Bruce Trotter celebrates the sport and the individuals, places and events that have shaped 50 years
of windsurfing in New Zealand.

Trotter’s vivid storytelling and Kiwi humour takes us back to an era of Dacron, daggerboards, wooden booms and skegs – so grab your harness, hook in, and relive the magic.​

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Swirly World Lost at Sea

by Andrew Fagan

The final edition of Andrew Fagan's Swirly World trilogy in which he attempts to set a record for the smallest boat to solo circumnavigate via the Great Capes. All copies autographed by Andrew Fagan. In January 2022, solo sailor and lead singer of Kiwi band The Mockers, Andrew Fagan set sail from Auckland, New Zealand in his tiny 5.18-metre sloop-rigged plywood yacht, Swirly World. He was attempting to set the record for the smallest boat to sail around the world solo via the Great Capes. The voyage was estimated to take 14 months non-stop. He set off across the vast South Pacific Ocean towards Cape Horn.  Written with his humour and a solemn sense of awareness, Swirly World Lost at Sea is a sailing adventure, memoir and a clinical understanding of the brutality and the beauty of the sea.

Oceanspirit Publishing
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Storms Ahead

Rick Dodson: America's Cup champion to Paralympian

by Rebecca Hayter

Between victorious America's Cup campaigns with Team New Zealand in 1995 and 2000, Rick Dodson was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). He kept it secret, knowing it could end his career. As MS took effect, he embarked on a new challenge, the 2016 Paralympics.

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Des Townson: a sailing legacy

by Brian Peet

A stunning, coffee table-style book of 344 pages, 244mm x 288mm,

with more than 200 photos and drawings.

Des Townson was a yacht designer and boat builder known for exquisitely graceful yachts and the remote-controlled Electron. He possessed an analytical mind, an innate feel for sailing boats and an eye for their visual balance. He believed that if he were blind-folded and put on the helm of any of his yachts, he would know which it was, by how it felt under sail.

His close friend Brian Peet chronicles his life and design work through the recollections of Des and his family, friends and colleagues, and pays tribute to his legacy, best represented by his yachts still sailing and cruising New Zealand waters.

Des Townson yacht designs
What You Wish For

What You Wish For

One man's guide to life, death and alternative therapies

by Paul Blacklow and Rebecca Hayter

by Paul Blacklow and Rebecca Hayter

Life was going well for Paul Blacklow. He was newly married, working with some of New Zealand's top sportsmen as a sports massage therapist and training to run a half-marathon. Then he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND). Paul, the quintessential Kiwi bloke, decided to explore alternative therapies. The result is What You Wifh For, an accessible guide for people diagnosed with a terminal illness, and a moving story of determination, humour and love to inspire anyone seeking answers to some of life's big questions.

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Oceans Alone

Chris Sayer's solo adventures on the high seas

by Rebecca Hayter

Chris Sayer had always dreamed of the Vendee Globe Race, and the stepping stone was the single-handed Mini Transat 650 class.

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