Sam decided to do something else rather than visit us.  This left us and me in particular pretty upset.  He is young and going through all this in his own way but I also handled things wrong.  This resulted in our feeling very low through the afternoon.  In the end, I hope, this episode will result in us all having a greater understanding of how we are each coping with this phase of our lives.  Plans have now been made to get together later in the week.

Today we’re going sailing.  There’s a nice weather window to go out into the bay for 2-3 days.  We’re thinking of heading over to the wrecks at Tangalooma and maybe the Sand Hills.  We’ll see.  The good news is the wind doesn’t pick up until later in the morning so we still get a lie in.

This will be our first sail since May in Fiji.  How much has happened since!!!  We’re looking forward to testing everything out and having what is likely to be our final fling on the boat.  The course is set into the plotter, VHF channel use in the area understood, weather websites researched and bookmarked.  We’re ready to go.

Went for a walk.

Invited Neil from Attitude over for pizza in the evening.

That was our day.

After lunch and a rest we cast off the mooring ball and had a very pleasant blue sky sail to Port Denaru where we found a mooring ball close to both Endless and Attitude.

We agreed to all meet up ashore for a meal out. Cathy and Neil were off to the airport with their grandson so they just stopped for a drink while Petr joined us for dinner. We went to Cardo’s which promised both Chinese food and meaty dishes. The boys all went for steak ribs and the girls went for Chinese. Unfortunately, being handled by different kitchens the Chinese arrived long after we’d finished our steaks.

Today is Anne and John’s last day aboard. We’re planning a shopping trip into Nadi this morning and no doubt a certain amount of time will be spent packing.

Next task was to head for Opua to sell the car back to Phil from Cars for Cruisers. I had an agreement with Rob and Ruth from Albatross III to head up to Opua too and give me a ride back. Just before leaving we bumped into a young lady from the NE US whose on a traveling trip and was looking for passage up to Fiji. We offered to take her up to Opua and back to investigate things there and learn a bit more about making what she was trying to do work.

On arriving in Opua I let Lauren off to explore the area and agreed to meet up at the Fish and Chip shop at noon where I’d promised to buy lunch for everyone for helping out. The deal with Phil went through smoothly and soon I was walking away with a cashable check.

While waiting for Lauren to show up I bumped into Andy from Zephyrus which was a pleasant surprise. We chatted for a while and I asked about people looking for crew. He had a good lead and shared it with Lauren when she found us. About 12:30 Rob and Ruth turned up having seen some friends. Unfortunately the Fish and Chip shop in Opua had closed down so we headed off to Pahia for the banks and shops there. Half way there I realize I’d left my GPS unit somewhere so we headed back finding it with Phil.

Leaving the others to look around I first went to Westpac to cash the check using my passport to prove my identity. She had to call Phil to verify the check was ok to cash and he approved with the caveat I owed him a GPS unit. She found the explanation of his remark quite funny. My next stop was the ANZ bank to deposit most the cash keeping enough to pay for our new kayak.

With all the financials handled I found the others and bought all Fish and Chips on the waterfront which turned out to be overfilling but delicious.

Rob took us north out of Pahia for a different route back to Whangarei. A few miles out of town I realized I didn’t have our folder containing our boat papers and passports. Not again. So back into town we went. I checked first at the Westpac. The teller grinned hugely and went to the safe to retrieve my passport. I found the folder in the ANZ where I’d left it. Where was my head???? I checked to make sure it was still in the right place physically. I think my brain had already set sail.

No more mishaps beset us as we traveled back to Whangarei. Rob helped me collect the kayak which we placed on the boat. Helen had spent the day making a clean boat immaculate for the evening’s party. By now there was not much time left. I performed a few small jobs around the boat before showering and soon after folks began to show.

All in all we had the pleasure of welcoming the crew from Albatross III, Attitude, Blue Penguin, Boree, Callisto, Clara Katherine, Division II, El Regalo, Imagine, Jackster, Leu Cat, Marquesa, Proximity, Sail Away, Scream, Sea Mist, Sidewinder, Stray Kitty, Tahina, True Companions and Tyee along with one or two marina neighbours. That was about forty people at once. It was a great test of our through hulls as we were down about 6-9 inches in the water. We didn’t sink.

This morning we woke fairly early and after doing last minute internetty things we dropped of our key to the shower block and headed out. As we headed down the river the winds were light and behind us. And cold. We motored on batteries alone for about 30 mins before turning on the generator. Near the river mouth we caught sight of True Companions ahead of us and called them on the radio to greet them.

As we rounded the heads we hit a dead patch and used the opportunity to raise the new main. We crossed our fingers hoping for wind as we really wanted to see how our new sails would perform. We didn’t have to wait too long and soon we were in winds that were to vary between 10-20 knots as we headed up the coast. We were gobsmacked by the improved boat performance. Before the boat speed would fade below about 12 knots under main and jib. Now she was achieving above 1/2 wind speed all the way down to 9 knots on the beam. We’ve never seen it so good.

We have found a couple of issues. The reef points on the new main are higher up than before and now the 1st reef only has a turn of spare line at the winch which is not enough to reef on the fly. We also have new modes of vibration on the luff of the main which we need to figure out how to handle. Apart from that everything seems to be in amazing shape. It feels like we have a new boat.

Our original plan had us making our way up the coast in smaller steps. With reduced wind tomorrow and nasty northeasterlies forecast for Friday we’re aiming to cover as much distance as we can today and complete the trip to the Bay of Islands tomorrow where we can find shelter from any type of wind. Our goal for today is the Whangamumu Bay which we visited last November.

We’ve now settled into a pleasant sail up the coast putting on and taking off our warm clothes as the sun goes in and out. We have about a knot of counter current but we’re doing well against it. We even have a line out for fish but nothing caught yet. We’ve shed the land life and are back on the water.

• Lubricated all pulleys and sliders
• More varnish onto shower sill
• Replaced line cover over pulleys (involved spending 1/2 hour picking out a hole in tube of sealant)
• Cleaned mess on cabin top (from gluing last weekend)
• Created sail bag zip handle
• Fixed nav station light which had been flickering
• Found and sanded more gelcoat patches

Around midday we packed it in, tidied up and had a brief lunch before heading into town to watch the Tai Tokerau Haka Road Show.  The show was an opportunity for three of the local (normally competitive) traditional singing/dancing groups to showcase their work along with a few other entertainers.

The show was to a packed hall and had a fundraising (for Christchurch) element to it.  Curiously they had a Butlins style host who introduced each act.  The opener was a great singing chap who the audience knew as a contestant on NZ Idol.  Next was the first of the singing/dancing groups.  If we thought we were treated last Friday, it just got better.  With about 15 females and 15 males in traditional costume we were given several different performances all strung together seemlessly.  The crowd would cheer when certain songs began presumably because they were familiar.  All the male led performances for this group and those that followed seemed to be some variation on the haka.

Next came two sisters, a 14 year old on the cello and a 10 year old who played the violin so well it almost brought tears to the eyes.  They played 2 songs to huge applause from the audience.

Next came the smallest of the three traditional groups about the same size as the group we had last Friday.  Between them and the final group was a round of raffle winners.  The last traditional group was the same group of performers as we had last Friday but beefed up in numbers.  They exceeded their prior performance by a long shot.  The larger audience brought out more enthusiasm and with more of them and bigger acoustics their performance sang out.

And there it could have finished except they decided to bring all three groups together on stage to sing and dance three traditional numbers which they all knew.  Fantastic stuff.

It was no surprise that we ran into cruisers in the hall.  We ended up sitting right at the front in front of Brian and JoDon from El Regallo.  We bumped into Kathy from Attitude on the way out.

We didn’t stay too long as we had a little more to do.  We drove to Bunnings to pick up a few bits and pieces for the boat.  On the way back to the boat we stopped off and had a walk around the wetlands area we’d seen many times and vowed to visit.  It was a quite pleasant and very easy walk allowing us to see a number of birds, etc. quite close to town.

Back on the boat it was now 4:30 and we lost the will to go back to work and cracked open a couple of beers instead.

Dinner was another couple of NZ steaks.  I’m going to miss these.  We’ve never really cooked steak too often but we’ve treated ourselves to nice filets just a little too often recently.  Afterwards we settled down for a movie.

Perhaps to try and get into the spirit of the near future we watched the 50s movie ‘South Pacific’ which turned out to be too long and a struggle to get through.  We soldiered on even though Helen ended up playing cards on the computer and I spent most of the time watching the live telemetry and commentary from the Malaysian Grand Prix.  A quick check on IMDB revealed the usual con about movie locations.  None of it was filmed in the South Pacific.  The closest location was Hawaii (20 degrees north of the equator) and the rest in Ibiza (Spain), Malaysia and LA.  All I can say is “Bloody Alonso”.  Nothing to do with the movie or Ibiza – he drove into the back of Hamilton.

It’s now Monday morning.  Real time blog readers can get the same weather forecast as us at metservice.  We might just get a continued good run of weather ahead and be out of the yard by the end of the week.

• Sanded all the gelcoat touch ups
• Replaced temporary split pin at top of mast
• Added a layer of varnish to the shower sill
• Picked up new code zero halyard
• Replaced old main halyard (which was in the code zero halyard’s position) with new code zero halyard
• Assembled gooseneck twice.  First time I thought I had it on the boom upside down but I discovered I was wrong about this after removing it.
• Installed new main sheet
• Reattached sail bag
• 80% inflated dinghy (which was returned from having handle/rollock reattached)
• Filed off ridges from inside boom in order to install new sheave for outhaul/third reef

On the external projects more progress was made than anticipated.  The dinghy arrived.  The anchor roller strengthening is now complete.  The chain chute is complete.  The props / shafts were returned from having a hole drilled and pin inserted. The new sheave was cut.  Our window inserts are now expected early next week and I postponed the forestay work to Monday.

I actually had a little time to study a few Euler problems and have now developed a strategy to solve one of them which I’ll implement over the weekend.  It’s interesting going back to them as at first they all look far too complicated to solve but sooner or later dormant brain cells wake up from their slumber and go to work.

Around 2:30pm we broke for the day and cleaned up for our afternoon out.  The town of Whangarei was putting on a farewell seminar/show for the cruisers who’ve spent time (and presumably quite a lot of money) here in the town – particularly on services to their ocean battered boats.  First was a very impressive traditional Maori challenge, far better than the one we saw at the Maori experience in Rotorua.

Next we had a half hour lecture by weather guru Bob McDavitt.  For those that don’t know him, he puts out an excellent cruising forecast each Sunday that makes a relevant read every Sunday.  As such he practically received a heroes welcome by the cruisers as a result of this service.  He does offer professional guidance / route planning to those that wish it.  His half hour brief was very informative.  He confirmed the weather scenario for leaving north that I’m now already anticipating.  More importantly he helped us understand the broader context for the weather patterns and their near term impact.  We’re in what’s called a declining La Nina situation which historically extends the cyclone season.  Thus the general recommendation is not to leave until May.  This fits our general plan which was to be ready by the third week in April and to take the first available weather window.  That window should now appear early May.  This extra time allows us the opportunity to flex our new wings (once installed) with a sail, perhaps, up to Opua before we leave.

Next was the BBQ which was a fine feast.  I thought I was taking a little of everything but my plate ended up piled high.  Having had a light and early lunch I was famished and polished off the lot.

Finally we were given a cultural Maori performance by a national competition winning local singing group.  Again – far better than the ones we’ve seen at tourist attractions.  We are lucky to have the opportunity in our lives to go cruising and further privileged to be given such joyful, harmonious and passionate performances.

We were not alone for this farewell presentation.  We sat amongst old friends from the ‘class of ’10’ puddle jumpers : Attitude, Boree, Callisto, El Regallo, Imagine, Leu Cat, Proximity, Scream & Tahina.  There were plenty of others there too and the sad thing is was our need to catch up with old friends prevented us from really making any new.

Being in the company of so many friends and having the Polynesian dancing and singing going on made most, if not all, of us keen to start our crossing and get back out into the wonders of the South Pacific.  Just got to get the boat work finished !!!!!

We finished the evening by inviting Frank and Karen over to a messy Dignity to share a bottle of wine.  Almost like being back out on the water.  Except for the gentle rocking.  The slapping of waves.  The warm nights.  The beautiful beaches.  The great snorkeling.  No yard dust.  Not having to pee in a bucket.  Ok – so not quite so similar but we’re on our way soon.

ADDED LATER: All too easy. Euler problem nailed. Off to work.

• Contacted Leu Cat and made joint order for clamshell vents (what I previously called scoops)
• Scheduled rigger for Friday afternoon visit to fix top of forestay
• Shopped to find replacement washers for our prop nuts only to learn this is a bad way to secure the nuts.  This has led to a new project to create holes for locking pins.
• Took dinhy handle to store to order new one and discuss cleaning debris from old handle removal.  Now need to figure out how to get dinghy to them,
• Opened up both stern bunks to allow access to seals and couplings.  Chap came in afternoon to work on port side.  I need to remove more batteries to allow access to starboard side this morning.
• Researched appropriate paint to use on plexiglass and bought some.
• Found alternate source for plexiglass who would supply and cut to size for less than Bunnings.  Cancelled Bunnings order and bought plexiglass.
• Took plexiglass to signwriters and discuss job/choose font for lettering.
• Checked all four plexiglass panels on boat.  Vertical dimension fine.  Horizontal dimension <2mm too narrow.  Probably not noticeable when all is done.
• Lugged all 5 dive tanks out of locker, down the ladder, into the car then into dive store where regulators are being serviced for promised free fill.  Learned they’d have to charge us $100 each for inspection first and another $190 each to research missing ID number required in NZ.  Lugged 5 tanks pack to car, out of the car, up the ladder and back into locker without fill.  Also learned regulator servicing is still awaiting parts which I was told were in stock.
• Removed top of two winches to begin service.  Decided job was to messy in windy/rainy conditions so deferred this to a later day.
• Found a melted fuse holder – probably a dirty contact.  Bought new one.
• Made a list of things needed for ditch bag.  Bought some.

Dan has been continuing the gradual work on our anchor roller and begun looking into creating an improvement to our chain locker which will stop the chain from piling up.  Ross, who’s looking at our seals and couplings spent some time removing the old ones on the port side so he can measure up and order new ones for each side.  Ominously he mentioned he’d thought we had imperial sized components rather than metric which is used on all French boats.  Perhaps he was diverted by the US registration.  This may mean having to wait longer for parts.  Hope not.

While out and about we bumped into Kathy from Attitude.  They’ve been having to do a lot of work on their boat.  She said that it was hard to remember the life on tranquil blue waters anchored off exotic islands.  Sort of feeling that way ourselves at the moment.

We finished the day with a visit to another Indian Restaurant in town for which we had a two for one meal offer.  Turned out we couldn’t bring our own wine in conjunction with the offer and so we didn’t end up saving very much.  Nice to get out though.

Not all went well. After fixing the first wheel I tested it’s motion (having thought I’d done this before drilling all the holes, applying all the goop and screwing it on). I found it wouldn’t extend below without jamming against the bottom of the dinghy. I had to quickly remove everything before the goop set and fill the four holes I’d made. Very messy. I eventually fitted both wheel satisfactorily and they seem to work well. From the picture I took afterwards it looks like the right hand wheel is a little wonky. It shouldn’t make much difference but it’ll probably bother me forever.

In the evening we met up with our friends at the Mongolian Restaurant where they had an all you can eat special on. Quite a few of us had skipped lunch in order to make the most of this (typical for cruisers). It was all very enjoyable. We’ll probably go there again sometime.

This morning is a slow one. A little time off from the boat chores is in order.