Colin MacRae has never been afraid of a rebuild. Years ago, he bought a hurricane-damaged catamaran written off by most as beyond saving. What followed was a full-blown reconstruction. Hull sections were rebuilt, systems replaced, interiors reworked, and, piece by piece, Parlay Revival was brought back to life.
That project turned into a global voyage and a substantial international YouTube following. MacRae, a Kiwi who built his audience largely offshore and has slowly gone on to create a strong New Zealand-based following, became known not only for the scale of the rebuild but also for documenting the process in detail. Many will also recognise him from Below Deck, where his background as an engineer and later chief engineer on superyachts made him a central figure across several seasons.
Now, in Bangkok, the story has taken an unexpected turn.
In a recent Facebook post, MacRae wrote:
“Life took a serious turn for the worse this weekend when I thought I could play rugby at 40.”
The result was a complete rupture of his Achilles tendon.
“It felt like someone had shot me in the heel with a shotgun.”
He underwent surgery to reattach the tendon. It was, as he describes it, a full rupture.
At the time of the injury, Parlay was already hauled out in Thailand while MacRae dealt with significant osmosis blistering along the hull. The boat is accessed by ladder, a simple detail that now adds complexity to his life. With his leg immobilised, even reaching his own deck requires effort.
He admits that, for now, he can “lift myself up the ladder [to] home and limp inside.”
Not a minor injury; walking normally can take four to six months, and full recovery up to nine months.
MacRae says his surgeon has told him he will effectively have to learn to walk again over the coming months. Surfing, he admits, may be “T-minus unknown numbers of months” away.
For someone accustomed to climbing rigs, working under hulls and moving confidently around boatyards, the adjustment will be significant. Yet he describes it as another bump in the road.
In the hospital for their anniversary
There has been support close at hand. During his hospital stay in Bangkok, MacRae and his partner Brittany marked their three-year anniversary. Not quite the setting they would have chosen. He wrote that Brittany “didn’t skip a beat,” supporting him through surgery and recovery, as she has done since the early stages of their relationship.
The broader Parlay Revival project continues to evolve. MacRae was back in New Zealand early last year as part of his global circuit before heading north again. Thailand was intended as a maintenance stop to address osmosis and complete further work. Instead, it has become a base for rehabilitation.
Anyone doing a boat project will know how crooked the path to completion can be. Weather, supply chains, funding, exhaustion—and injury!—all contribute to slowing down the plan.
For those who have followed Parlay Revival from the beginning, setbacks have always been part of the story. Having chatted to MacRae a few times and being an avid follower, I know for sure that he’ll be back playing rugby and fixing his boat as fast as possible.
