LUXE PROFILE: Sailing Merewether

Sloths in the jungles of Panama, manta rays in the green waters of French Polynesia; wildlife is naturally drawn to Isabelle (Izzy) Nee, 29, and Kieran Wyse, 30.

Their epic adventure caught the breeze when Kieran bought a 13m Beneteau yacht in Croatia in 2018. He christened it Merewether, his Newcastle suburb, laughing to his mum that he was taking a piece of home to all four corners.

During his second summer cruising the Med, Kieran was considering packing it in when he chance-met Izzy on the Greek island of Ios. He describes Izzy as changing his life, giving him the motivation and teamwork to start a journey that continues today.

So Kieran, an industrial electrician from Newcastle, and Izzy, a TV journalist from Sweden, fell in love and crossed two seas and two oceans, visited 18 countries, traversed the Panama Canal and spent the past 750 days with each other. When tempers flare they seek opposite ends of the yacht to fume. But spending in-depth time in each other’s presence means their love is mainly smooth sailing.

Sailing five weeks nonstop across the Pacific from South America to French Polynesia demanded exacting teamwork with the pair rotating three-hour shifts — no room for slacking sailors. And one hairy time on this leg, the lights of a vessel bore straight for Merewether. With an even chance it was pirates, our crew lived an adrenaline-fuelled night. Phew, just a fishing boat! Also, that time in the Caribbean when Captain Kieran sliced his hand on rigging, forced to drink rum to quell the pain. He was saved by a trusty Kiwi nurse on the next yacht, who stitched him up nicely. But these two wax sublime about their life. Izzy enthuses: “We take our home Merewether to places most people in the world never get to go.”

“You are a colonial explorer,” Kieran adds. “You might not be first to discover these magic places, but in the pandemic, they’re bereft of people — full of marine animals and lush growth.”

Our explorers literally pick wild coconuts and paw paw from trees in the Caribbean and Pacific Islands, with the comfort of sleeping in their home with their belongings. In fact, they live partly off the grid, with solar panels and rainwater storage on Merewether.

“This is our career,” Kieran said. “We’ve left the 9-to-5 and converted to the four winds of the ocean.”

Waiting out the pandemic in French Polynesia (Tahiti looks nice!), they have their sights on Fiji and Australia so Kieran can show Izzy his home country. Water babies at sea? All in the wider, wet plan!

Izzy and Kieran chronicle their escapades with weekly YouTube videos, enjoying positive feedback from viewers around the world. This documents memories and gives an income to keep sailing. You can see their entire adventure on YouTube #SailingMerewether. For a deeper dive, extra content is available on Patreon, a subscription service platform for creators and artists to share their work.

WRITTEN BY GILLIAN SUMMERS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SAILING MEREWEATHER