Families that puke together, stay together
Tony Braddock is pottering, his wife Jan is making tea, and little Blake, their 3-year-old grandson, is drawing a squiggle.
The Braddocks’ boat, Alishan, stays at Seaview Marina in Petone. They’ve lived on a boat for 22 years, and even raised their two children, Hayden and Chrissy, following this different way of life.
Jan says the boat life has made her family closer.
‘‘Our kids had their teenage years here.
‘‘They learnt to get on. They had to. They are now each others’ staunchest supporters – they are stunning together.’’
Tony and Jan used to live in a house in Levin. They realised they had to do something different, as a family, in order to be foreverhappy together. They chose adventure at sea.
Over the years they have felt the pressure from others to buy a house, so they could get into the property market. They did put an offer on one once, but missed out. They had looked at each other and said, ‘‘Thank goodness for that’’.
The Braddocks started their sailing life in a little fibreglass boat. It was too slow for Tony. He’d whack the side of the boat with a rope, like a horse. They progressed in size with various boats until their dream boat, a 42-foot Alan Wright designed Lotus 1280.
When boat people are asked standard questions like, ‘‘How do you live in such a small space?’’, Tony says, ‘‘My backyard never finishes’’.
Jan gets seasick. But over the years she’s found a remedy that works for her: electronic acupuncture bands and Nausicalm.
They can’t ever imagine swapping their ever changing sea for a patch of grass. ‘‘It’s what we do.’’
The Braddocks are proud that there are now three generations of their family attached to the sea.
Hayden lives on a boat a few berths down and Chrissy hopes to live on a boat with her own family one day.
Every Friday night their growing sea family squishes into the cockpit to eat fish and chips.