New Zealand « Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

A Very British Day

by steve, on April 30th, 2011 (New Zealand, Passages)

British in three ways.

1) The weather was lousy.

2) I did my UK taxes. The observant ones amongst you may wonder why considering that I only recently did them. But last time I was late. And I was fined for being late. We’re sitting here in this miserable weather. Do I want to do my taxes when we’re up in Fiji. No way. They’re done. Yay.

3) The Royal Wedding. Yes, we did watch it. I bought a new months worth of internet on Thursday going for an option with lots of Gb so we could watch live streaming video of the wedding. Mainly for Helen but partly for me too I guess. It seems the Royal Family has taken a big step into the modern age with this new addition and the way in which they’ve handled the wedding. I’m kind of on the fence as a royalist but I find it hard to think of being British without them so I welcome this fresh update.

Helen spent part of the day baking cakes and biscuits. Fresh in the evening they were delicious.

In a brief lull in the weather I spent some time on Passages looking into a problem they had with their new internet antenna/device. We made some progress before I was called in for dinner (how old am I?). I brought it back with me and made further progress in the evening. Although the fix is not complete I feel close enough now to believe it is possible. Right now it’s too cold to get out of bed I finish it off.

The weekend weather forecast is dire. Lots of wind and lots of rain. The vague hint of a weather window I mentioned yesterday is actually less vague now. I don’t trust forecast much beyond 3-4 days but the forecasts are showing a weather window forming Fri/Sat next week. I will be glued to this one. Please keep your fingers crossed for all of us waiting here.

Going Nowhere

by steve, on April 29th, 2011 (New Zealand)

The title sums it up. We went nowhere and are going nowhere for some time. Here is the latest marine forecast for the Bay of Islands area from this morning

Forecast : Gale warning. Friday: Southeast 35 knots gusting 45 knots, easing to 25 knots gusting 35 knots this morning and to 20 knots gusting 30 knots in the evening. Very rough sea easing to rough this morning and to moderate in the evening. Fair visibility in showers, some heavy and possibly thundery with poor visibility until evening.

Outlook : Outlook until midnight Monday: Saturday: Easterly 25 knots. A few showers. Sunday: Easterly 30 knots, tending northeast at night. A few showers, turning to rain. Monday: Northeast 30 knots. Rain, some heavy.

Yesterday was a build up to this but from late morning the gales, gusts and downpours had established themselves. Several boats lost their holding and drifted through the anchorage, one very close to us. Our anchor held firm but even then we let the rest of the chain out for the night for added protection. The spare GPS with anchor alarm on came to bed with us.

During the day I spent more time on our website. I haven’t touched the main website (www.aboarddignity.com) for over a year. Flush with the revenue torrent from the blog ads I’ve put a few ads onto the main site too and updated a few pages. A summary of the changes is on the main page.

We had been due to meet a few cruisers ashore at 6pm last night but noone felt safe leaving their boat in this weather. With the forecast above we may not leave the boat for a few days. Medium term there is the vaguest hint of a weather window appearing 9-10 days from now. We’re in the middle of a double-whammy pair of low pressure systems and it’s hard to tell which on is bringing the current weather. I still hold a slim hope that the second one will head east rather the south and will be ready to go if it does.

Pahia and Back

by steve, on April 28th, 2011 (New Zealand)

The weather looked great so we decided to stretch our legs and go for a walk. We hiked the ridge trail to Pahia and took the coastal trail back to Opua. While in Pahia we looked around a few shops and tucked into some fish and chips. All in all we were out and about for five and a half hours of which we spent only about half an hour sitting down. Our legs were pretty tired by the end of the trip. We needed the exercise.

Back on the boat I sorted out our Advanced Notice of Departure paperwork for NZ and our Advanced Notice of Arrival paperwork for Fiji emailing them both off to the various authorities. I then went ashore to pick up our shaft seal, some spare pawls/springs for our winches and some fishing line for the new rod/reel.

I checked my website advertising revenue and had a bit of a surprise. I had thought that to make any money one would have to have millions of visitors clicking away at ads on the site. With the hits I get on this site my expectations were to learn something and perhaps to earn a down payment on a paperclip after a few months. After a few days I have earned an (estimated) $2.60 so far although this may have been all from curious/generous readers on day 1. I can get a whole load of paperclips for that. Don’t want to be overwhelmed.

The near term weather situation is for a few days of howling winds. That won’t be fun. The seven day picture still shows no real sign of a weather window for Fiji although right at the end it shows a low forming off the east coast of Australia which might, just might, turn out to be the system that will carry us up and out of here.

A Day in the Bay

by steve, on April 27th, 2011 (Emily Grace, Imagine, New Zealand, Passages, Pursuit)

With bad weather threatened in the afternoon we went ashore in the morning to get a few things done. On the way out we dropped by Emily Grace to say hello. He’d been reading our blog and had a spare irrigation syringe for us and our efforts against the leak. Ashore we dropped off some trash and then checked our the Bursco chandlers. I was able to pick up an off cut piece of hose which I can use as a chaff presenter for our sea anchor. Their prices for a new reefing line was a bit steep.

We then said hello to Phil at Cars for Cruisers before heading onto the customs office to double check procedures for exiting the country. We then visited the marina office to pick up a key for the facilities before going to Catermarine to look around there. Their prices for lines were much cheaper so I bough the replacement line for our 1st reef. Our seal hadn’t arrived yet but nosing around the store we set out eyes upon a good man over board pole which we’ve been looking for for ages. I also had a discussion with one of the staff about trolling rods/reels as I want to lose fewer lures and catch more fish. Before leaving we asked to have the pole set aside. Later Helen acquiesced and allowed me my new fishing rod which I picked up in the afternoon.

As a treat we had a late breakfast/lunch ashore before heading back to the boat. When I returned in the afternoon to pick up the pole/rod I ran into March/Pam from Passages as well as Gary from Pursuit IV. On the way back to the boat I dropped by Imagine as I’d heard they’d had dinghy motor problems but that was now resolved.

The threatened bad weather never arrived but we ended up moving the boat anyway. The boats near where we were were all on submerged moorings which was not obvious until we swung on our anchor/chain and they didn’t. We’re a bit more exposed now but feel safer.

The shaft seal didn’t arrive yesterday but I’ve received confirmation it was signed for by Catermarine this morning. We’ll pick it up today. I need to pick up some fishing line. I could have sworn I had a reel but couldn’t find it when I looked yesterday. I’m looking forward to using that on our next passage.

The long term weather outlook still offers no sign of a passage opportunity. A low is projected to barrel down from the tropics a few days from now but it turns and heads west of New Zealand. If it goes east instead we may have a chance. Slim hopes indeed. The upside is that while we wait for our window it’s inevitable more and more of our friends will show up here in and around Opua.

Nasty, rainy day

by steve, on April 26th, 2011 (New Zealand)

The local forecast for the day didn’t look good and worsening throughout the day. Wanting to be near Opua on Tuesday and desiring the increased shelter the area offer we set off before breakfast. We only hoisted the head sail but sailed fine on it alone arriving and anchoring just before the heavens opened. That was that for the day. We were pinned inside by very inclement weather which turned to gales in the afternoon and evening. Later on the wind shifted significantly bringing us very close to another boat in howling wind and rain. I had to go outside and shorten the chain by about 30ft to maintain a comfortable distance.

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During our sail I kept an eye on our leaky seal. It did start dripping but not a lot. I won’t touch it until we get better syringes which I can use to get the grease deeper into the seal. As it is I’m wondering if it’s now worth the bother of replacing the seal. The new one is now in the country so I may just hang onto it as an emergency spare.

I played around with the blog a little bit. Not sure if I like it but I’ve put google ads on the site. More out of curiosity and learning than an exercise in getting rich. On the latter front we’ve earned precisely $0.00 since I switched it all on. Scaling up you can see it’s not going to be a big thing. I think I’ll run it for a few weeks just to see what happens then switch it all off.

No sign of a weather window for the next week.

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A Very British Day

Going Nowhere

Pahia and Back

A Day in the Bay

Nasty, rainy day