Mark and Fiona Rammell spent decades doing what many consider the sensible things: steady careers, raising a family and building a beloved local enterprise. Mark flew for Air New Zealand for more than 30 years, including long-haul routes to Los Angeles. Fiona taught primary school and later specialized in mathematics. Together they raised four children and ran 14 acres of carefully maintained gardens in New Zealand’s capital, a destination that attracts about 30,000 visitors each year to see the cherry blossoms and other seasonal displays.
Now, as their children are grown and retirement approaches, the Rammells have decided to focus on themselves. “For the next ten years we’re going to be selfish,” Mark says. He’s 62 and Fiona is 57. For several years they owned a share in a Salthouse 60, which they enjoyed cruising locally, but Mark’s long-held dream of circumnavigating the globe kept nudging at him. The sudden loss of a close friend to cancer gave the couple fresh urgency to act.
Speaking from aboard their brand-new Nordhavn 51, Awanui NZ, near Bodrum on the Turkish coast, the couple described their plans to Soundings at the start of what they hope will be a five-year world cruise. “We’re learning a lot and making rookie mistakes,” Mark said in April, “but we’re getting better all the time.”
Awanui NZ is the first hull of the Nordhavn N51 series, launched in February. The Rammells accepted delivery in Istanbul and began their shakedown cruise from Tuzla with a Nordhavn representative and a captain on board to assist. They like that the N51 is being produced as a standardized model—intended to reduce custom changes, cost and build time—making a true long-range Nordhavn more attainable for more people.
Mark first encountered the idea of a long-range Nordhavn during a visit to the Dana Point facility in California, where he toured an N52 and thought it was “the perfect boat.” The price put that option out of reach then, but he stayed in touch with Nordhavn leadership. When the company announced the N51, he discussed it with Fiona and with the friend who later urged him to make a promise before he died. “Before he passed,” Mark recalls, “he made me promise that we would do it.” When hull number one became available, they committed.
The N51 stretched their budget—“it was really tight,” Mark admits—but they didn’t shop around. They trusted Nordhavn’s experience, particularly after learning the same yard had built more than two dozen N41s. The production approach allowed the yard to deliver a boat complete with many details, down to glassware and linens, which Fiona appreciated. “They made owning a Nordhavn possible for people who otherwise couldn’t,” she says. “They did it better than Mark or I could have.”
The N51 layout includes two en suite staterooms, a day head, a flybridge and a pilothouse patterned on Nordhavn’s long-range designs; the interior follows the N41 aesthetic. Standard equipment includes stabilizers, a bow thruster, a davit and twin 160-hp John Deere engines, with Garmin electronics filling the navigation suite—enough systems to keep a seasoned pilot like Mark engaged for months.
After a lifetime of airline training, Mark finds the transition to self-reliant offshore cruising humbling. “In the airlines you spend weeks in classrooms and simulators mastering one aircraft,” he says. “Out here you can’t afford that. You must use common sense and be cautious.” To build competence, he completed the New Zealand Coastguard Boatmaster course and is using time aboard Awanui NZ to log practical hours.
Fiona isn’t yet ready for overnight passages; at first she plans to travel by land while a friend flies in for longer excursions. Even so, she’s warming to life at sea after their first weeks aboard. The boat has had a few teething issues—Nordhavn addressed a wet-exhaust backpressure problem and a stabilizer-cylinder fault that released hydraulic fluid into the bilge—and the Rammells expect operator mistakes as they learn the systems.
“We anchored for the first time last night,” Fiona laughs. When the windlass stalled while recovering the anchor, they found a manual handle on YouTube that made it work again. “Lots of boaters would laugh at us,” she says, but they take these moments in stride.
Mark studies electronics manuals and approaches systems cautiously. “I think, ‘What if I push a button and the autopilot doesn’t disconnect?’” he says. “Younger people take it in their stride; we’ll take our time.”
They’re also discovering the boat’s favorite spaces. The galley sits amidships so the cook stays part of the action in the salon; there’s no dishwasher, but they share dish duty after every meal. Fiona loves the onboard washer and dryer, which frees them from hauling laundry ashore. Mark favors the covered cockpit for end-of-day relaxation: “We can sit there with a glass of wine or a beer and unwind.”
Their initial cruising approach is deliberately slow: covering roughly 100 miles in 20 days and departing only when forecasts show swells well below their personal limits. That pace keeps running costs down; at about 7 knots, Awanui NZ burns roughly 2.5 gallons of fuel per hour, a speed Mark finds comfortable and confident at the helm. “In an airplane at 35,000 feet you don’t run into anything,” he notes. “Here, you can run into everything, and things can happen fast even at 7 knots.”
From Turkey they plan to head west through the Mediterranean, then north toward the United Kingdom. Summer 2025 will include the UK and Scotland, with winter 2025 spent in the Netherlands. In 2026 they hope to cross the Atlantic via Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland, then cruise down the U.S. East Coast—past Maine and New York and down the Intracoastal Waterway to Florida. Their longer-term plan is to transit the Panama Canal and cruise the Pacific coasts of Central America, Mexico and the U.S. West Coast, aiming to return to New Zealand in about five years.
Fiona started a YouTube channel, @AwanuiNZ, so family and friends could follow their journey; the idea came from their daughter’s travel posts on Instagram. “I loved seeing her daily photos and knowing she was safe,” Fiona says. “Our subscribers want the same—a quick look each morning to see what’s happening.” They’re not chasing online fame; they’re an ordinary couple sharing an extraordinary adventure.
“If you have a dream, start the process and be determined,” Mark says. “Before you know it, the dream will become reality.”
LOA: 50’9”
Beam: 15’8”
Draft: 4’9”
Displ.: 71,575 lbs.
Fuel: 1,450 gals.
Water: 300 gals.
Power: (2) 160-hp
John Deere 4045AFM85 M1
This story was originally published in the June 2024 issue.