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On Sunday we got to say goodbye to some friends and hello to friends we’ve recently shared last and final farewells.
The goodbyes went to Imagine, Passages and Boree who were among a number of boats who made the decision to head north yesterday. When I’d looked at my sources of weather information all I saw was two days of motoring followed by winds on the nose. The problem is there is more than one source for the weather and certainly more than one brain looking and interpreting them. We all have different needs, boats and preferences and all this adds up to a decision to stay or go. A bit of the radio chatter as the boats left made it sound like they were riding off into a rough ride. I hope, for their sake, they’re not. But sooner or later we all go.
Paul made his planned return to Auckland. We walked with him to the bus stop and waited with him. Once he’d left we wandered around the hilltop roads and made our way down to the coast path that connects Pahia to Opua. We soon ran into David and Marian from Kilkea and stopped to chat with them. Sooner after that we ran into the Blue Penguins who we’d recently said our final, final last goodbyes to as they were headed to New Caledonia. They were going our way so we walked with them back to Opua. Ben, like me, is fascinated with the whole mentality of the departure decision and wants to write something up on it.
In the evening we had David and Katie from Troutbridge, Kay and Fergus from Paleides (another recent last, final, never again farewell) and Mike and Ann from Callisto over for curry and a few drops of wine. It ended up being a late one for all and, as ever, a good time was had by all. And guess what the recurring theme was last night.
The weather.
So what’s it looking like for us now.
The Thursday/Friday opportunity still stands and is now favouring a Thursday afternoon departure. There’s a trough/front coming over and we simply take off right behind it where we can expect northwesterlies or even westerly winds for a few days. I’ve morbidly played around with a possible departure tomorrow (Tuesday) riding the northeasterlies up to the north of New Zealand and then sail the following northerlies eastward. We’d then have to take the coming front out at sea. I would probably lose favours with the Admiral if I chose that path.
Fiji-itus should be a recognized disease. Sooner or later the prospect of another day in Opua basin crushes the spirit and the pull of the islands overcomes every other need of mind and body. I suspect we saw an outbreak yesterday. But I can feel it in my fingers (they’re cold). I may be going down with it too.
by steve, on May 8th, 2011 ( New Zealand) Still no weather window. We’ve heard from some of the boats heading their way north and they’re managing to pick their way up there. I’m still glad we made the decision to stay but it does reinforce the notion that once you go you make do with what you’ve got. There’s a saying. You only get to pick the weather for the day you leave. I see no possibility of leaving today. The next opportunity looks to be shaping up around Thursday/Friday. From this far out you never can really tell but things look to be shaping up for a smoother passage than the recent slight opportunity.
The local area forecast was pretty brisk with 20+ knot winds and local squalls predicted. Not to be perturbed I made the call to go sailing. Paul is very likely to return to Auckland today to be called back when we get close to a new opportunity. We’d always talked about the possibility of getting him aboard before we set off to get a feel for the boat. Saturday was a perfect opportunity. We motored out of the bay to where the water was a little cleaner and turned on the water maker. We then raised the sails and started sailing. The wind was coming straight down the channel so we had to tack our way out. We started with one reef in the sails and soon had to put in a second as the strong wind forecast was spot on. Paul got some great experience with the boat which performed fantastically. Each time we try the new sails out in new conditions we find ourselves surprised. At one point we were making over 8 knots while regenerating making about 1.5kW of electricity.
Given the wind direction we decided to only go as far as Roberton Island where we had lunch then went ashore for the climb to the top. Paul was just as stunned by the beauty of the bay from the top of the walk as we were back on December 6th last year.
We didn’t stay long. We headed back on head sail only. Making our way up wind this way was pretty slow and took a long tack (and a little motoring) to get around the head land. After this it was a gentle downwind ride back into Opua Bay. The port shaft seal drip had resurrected so that required a bit more grease to be applied. Unfortunately a small occured when accessing the shaft seal. A stored block which I couldn’t see dropped onto the drip tray I’d made when I opened the hatch smashing the tray. Now having to contend with a drip, water everywhere and a failed containment system I was less than pleased. Fortunately I managed to shut the drip down almost immediately. With Paul’s assistance and ideas we made a Mark II drip tray in short order and after dinner I was able to install it. I suspect this may become a bit of a recurring theme and is ratchetting up the possibility we’ll replace the seal somewhere in Fiji.
Finally, on the remote chance interest is pointed in this direction I’d like to wish Sam, our youngest son, a Happy 21st Birthday. Here his birthday was yesterday but it’s today on the east coast USA. The cruising life has some great highs but being away from family is perhaps the greatest cost.
I’ll now go back to scrutinizing the weather forecasts. This coming Friday would be an auspicious departure. It’s Friday the 13th. Helen and I married on a Friday the 13th just under 25 years ago.
by steve, on May 7th, 2011 ( New Zealand) We didn’t leave yesterday. What a bummer. I feel it was the right decision but I can’t be sure. The organized fleet of boats left yesterday but most of our puddle jumper friends, including those down in Whangarei, opted to stay put. We hope for their sake we were wrong. The threatened squalls never materialized and hence the threatened high seas didn’t really materialize either. However, the boats heading out reported light northerly winds. Many were motoring which is not too unusual this close to land. The problem is that you can still pick your weather sources and find a forecast less unfavourable than others. It’s dangerous to let ‘letsgetoutofhereitis’ take hold.
The problem is I don’t see anything else coming along just yet. Some say Sunday is the day to go. I don’t see it. Too much light air to the north afterwards. Don’t mind that if the seas are down but they won’t be. There’s a system predicted to come over the area next Wednesday. Perhaps behind that.
We discussed options with our crew Paul. He is welcome to stay but has the option to go back to Auckland for a while. It’s not easy as the situation is far from clear and we’re still in a day to day decision making mode. Chances are today we’ll just go out sailing in the bay to give Paul some experience with the boat and get us out of the brown soupy water we’re in so we can make water.
Not a lot happened yesterday. Paul and I went ashore for a while to do the 5 min Opua full tour. We played some cards in the afternoon. Paul was able to do some work. We watched the first part of a Shackleton documentary/movie in the evening.
by steve, on May 6th, 2011 ( Blue Penguin, Boree, Callisto, Curious, Imagine, New Zealand, Paleides, Passages, True Companions) Another forecast. Another decision. Our general plan of leaving NZ is simply to get out of Dodge when we can, make some distance north and east then take each day as it comes. Even if we have to sit there for a day or two. As long as it’s safe to do so.
So here’s today’s local forecast.
Squall warning. Waves may rise rapidly during squalls. Friday: Northeast 20 knots rising to 25 knots gusting 35 knots this morning. Changing northwest 20 knots this afternoon, then easing to 15 knots this evening and to 10 knots tonight. Squalls of 45 knots possible until evening. Moderate sea becoming rough for a time this morning, then becoming slight this evening. Poor visibility in rain, with some heavy and thundery falls until evening.
If we were out at sea and had no choice and this came down on us we could deal with it. We wouldn’t like it but we’ve done it before. Does it make sense to leave land with this happening? Easy answer. No. In all good conscience I cannot set sail into possibly dangerous weather while we are close to shore.
So we probably won’t leave today. We’ve got to let this one pass. We had planned to fuel up and check out early morning. I will at least delay this until we get a longer read on today’s weather but as I said, chances are we won’t leave today.
Looking out to tomorrow it’s not looking so good either. The low pressure system to our SW is now projected to come a little further north than yesterday’s forecasts were suggesting. This puts a more northerly component into the winds we can expect over the next couple of days. We would have to sail extremely close to the wind to make some decent northing. Yesterday the seas were flat. We know this from the folks who motored up from anchorages on the coast. I don’t mind sailing close hauled on flat seas but not those kicked up by squally weather. So, if tomorrow’s winds remain just west of north (as they are currently predicted to be) tomorrow won’t look good either.
But this is all on a hair trigger which is this low to the SW. If it stays a little further to the south that is all we need to kick us up northwards. So now it’s a waiting game.
That was the weather. Now the news. I’ll summarize.
Customs were notified of our probable departure today. Paul arrived. We borrowed a car from Phil and drove to Opua for lunch and fresh food collection. In the evening we went ashore for dinner at the yacht club. A few more of the puddle jumpers have arrived. Two new comers to Opua were Callisto and Boree. Nice to see them. Everyone was talking about the weather of course and possible plans for leaving. There were many opinions and all were good to listen to. Also there were Imagine, Passages, Paleides, True Companions, Blue Penguin, Avante, Curious and many others. I totally violated my no drinking night before passage rule. It doesn’t seem to have mattered.
by steve, on May 5th, 2011 ( Imagine, New Zealand) We’re still on for departure tomorrow.
Yesterday we did have plans to go sailing but given the latest reversal in the weather we stayed put and did some final, final prep. A brief bullet list of what we did :
- Laundry
- Vasalined dodger/sail bag zips
- Inspected all shackes and cable ties (preventing pins unwinding)
- Inspected and marked shrouds (to detect possible unwind of screws)
- Filed down rough edges on old main halyard (now the topping lift) clamp
- Lubricated sail cars
- Tested the electrical propulsion (chargers, fans, etc.) All ok.
- Organized car for final, final provisioning today.
- Sealed stern rail.
- Continued (compulsive) internal reorganization.
- Cooked additional food for trip.
I spent a couple of hours aboard Imagine in the morning helping out Stuart while he performed some work atop the mast. It was nice to chat to Sheila while we provided support to Stuart. He was changing bulbs on his anchor / tricolour lights and found some corrosion in the wires which needed fixing.
There really isn’t a great deal more to be done today. We will surely think of a few things but generally we should get a chance to relax. We will do one final supermarket pass today for fresh veg.
Based on the very latest forecast we’re aiming to refuel and check out of NZ tomorrow morning with a view to set sail around midday. We may have to motor up the bay before the winds turn but that’s ok as we need to get into clear water to run the water maker and top up before we leave. The bay here is still brown from the run off from the recent deluge. Not the sort of place I want to run the water maker.
 Finally, we received some form of entertainment yesterday watching a small yacht being salvaged. As a sober reminder of the conditions we experienced last weekend, this smaller vessel had been overwhelmed by the conditions and had sunk with just the top of it’s mast showing. A floating crane was used to bring it to the surface where a strong pump was used to pull the water out of the insides and float it.
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