Kiwi engineer, turned celebrity influencer Colin MacRae
is currently sailing his Lagoon 450 catamaran home to Aotearoa, having left Tonga last
week.
This will be the first time the Below Deck star has brought the yacht, that he and his crew
painstakingly repaired by hand to Aotearoa, and all going to schedule, they’ll be sailing in to
Ōrākei Marina on Saturday December 2nd to meet and greet with fans and supporters at an
invite-only welcome home party at neighbouring Akarana Eatery.
The Parlay Revival crew are no strangers to sharing their stories online, racking up over
280,000 subscribers on YouTube and 1.2 million viewers every month.
For Colin, the journey home has been a long time coming and he’s excited about meeting
his kiwi supporters and being able show them his yacht Parlay Revival up close for the first
time. It’s also an opportunity for Colin to support a cause close to his heart – creating
opportunities for New Zealanders – in particular young Kiwi’s, to get outside and onto the
Waitematā.
In a city surrounded by water, many people, still don’t have safe opportunities to access it.
The Akarana Marine Sports Charitable Trust is working to change that by providing the
community with safe pathways to the sea. Their flagship programme – for decile 1 and 2
intermediate school students has so far provided over 2000 tamariki with a full day marine
education experience at no cost to the school or student.
The Welcome Home party is being hosted by Lagoon Sail and Orakei Marine so that 100% of
funds raised by Colin, the Parlay Crew and guests can be donated to the Akarana Marine
Sports Trust. The week following, Colin will be taking a New Navigator Class sailing on Parlay
Revival to give them a first-hand marine experience.
About Parlay Revival
Parlay Revival is a story of perseverance and hard work, as Colin MacRae and friends bought
a hurricane damaged Lagoon 450 catamaran following hurricane Irma in the British Virgin
Islands. It was deemed a constructive total loss so it was a huge undertaking to repair. After
being struck by lightning twice, they went on to discover broken bulkheads in the boat. It
seemed that everything was against them, but in true kiwi style, stuck to their guns and
having successfully circumnavigated the globe while building a massive online following –
they are headed home to Aotearoa!
About Colin MacRae
Between sailing and fixing Parlay, Colin MacRae has also become a firm fan favourite on
Bravo’s Below Deck Sailing Yacht, as chief Engineer. Colin joined Captain Glenn Shephard
onboard Parsifal for Season two, and since then has won the hearts of both crew and fans.
Throughout this epic journey, Colin and the crew have built an impressive online following,
with almost half a million followers on Instagram, over 280,000 subscribers on YouTube and
46 million views total.
About the Akarana Marine Sports Charitable Trust
Akarana Marine Sports Charitable Trust was established by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club in
2012. The Trust’s mission is to create safe pathways to the sea for the community. The Trust
owns and operated the Hyundai Marine Sports Centre, which provides Marine based sports
clubs with facilities and resources, alongside delivery community outreach programmes
such as the New Navigators Programme.