atahualpa domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home3/aboarddi/public_html/blog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114Had some more Skype calls. Got a chance to chat with son John who’d getting on without Ella and Bao. He’s using Skype to stay [...]]]>
Had some more Skype calls. Got a chance to chat with son John who’d getting on without Ella and Bao. He’s using Skype to stay in daily (if not more) contact with them. He seems well.
We also had great chats with the David and Marian on Kilkea, Stuart and Sheila on Imagine and again with John from Sea Mist who’s now recovering from a hip replacement in Singapore. He’s doing well and for once seems to know not to push himself too hard.
It seems they’ll all be up in Langkawa, Malaysia soon. The opportunity to swing by there on our way out of Australia (by plane) and see our friends again is irresistible, particularly with many offers to stay aboard with our friends. Many factors could influence our being able to do this but it’s very high on our list.
We’ve also accepted an invite and made plans to have a Thanksgiving dinner with the Bristol Roses. Sam will come with us and their sons Elliot and Owen will be there. We last saw them in the middle of the Pacific. Also there will be Jack and Jan from Anthem. The song of the sea is truly playing loudly this side of the shore.
We continue to dance a dance of courtship with Dignity’s buyers. We all need to be cautious but we’re making positive steps. Contracts are now signed, deposits deposited and inspections booked.
This morning Helen found one of the buyers’ website – Helene Young. She’s an author as well as a commercial pilot. She has mentioned us in her blog so I must return the compliment. We’ll continue our dance of courtship and hopefully all get together soon.
]]>The rough patches on our starboard shroud cover were bugging [...]]]>
The rough patches on our starboard shroud cover were bugging me so shortly after lunch I had Helen haul me up the mast in the bosun’s chair. With the chop in the water on the north side of the bay I was swinging around up there alarmingly so I came straight back down and we moved the boat over to the south side of the bay. Up in the rigging the motion wasn’t quite so bad as before and I managed to cut away 4 segments where the sail batons had rubbed through the plastic shroud cover creating sharp holes. I managed to tape over one cut out section before feeling quite ill from the swinging around. I came back down.
The chop in the bay didn’t calm down until the evening so the other three sections are untaped. I’m wondering if it’s best to leave it that way as it allows the shroud cover to rotate and may reduce friction if in contact with the sail later on. Will cogitate on this.
Weather looks good to go to Great Barrier Island today. The winds are a little down on yesterday and the chop will now be behind us rather than ahead. This latter point makes a lot of difference to comfort. The plan is it head into Port Fitzroy and spend a few days there before moving around the island perhaps to other anchorages.
]]>Leaving the dock was easy as there was no wind in the harbour. There was not much more outside so we made the decision to go to Kawau Island. We motored all the way putting up the head sail for a bit of an assist when a light squall came through and gave us a bit of a blow.
We anchored near to the yacht club again with our minds on Fish and Chips for dinner that evening.
By now the skies had cleared and the day warmed up. Perfect for some relaxing. The Kilkeas had shown up in the same anchorage promising company for the evening.
After a lunch of hot soup and bread I read for a while then dozed off. Only for a bit because my mind took off with two problems whirling round. One was a Project Euler problem I’d read a week or so and forgotten about. An approach to solving it had come to me so I couldn’t rest without trying it out.
While my solution (which turned out to be correct) was running the second problem began to bug me. Although I’d used the main VHF radio to communicate with Gulf Harbour Marina in the morning as we departed I was struck by it’s quietness. Ordinarily I should expect some announcements from the NZ coast guard on channel 16 but we’d heard none. I called Kilkea for a radio check and it was not good. With the squelch turned right down I could hear them over the hiss but as soon as I squelched the radio, nothing came through.
The obvious thought was there was something up with the antenna splitter. I started undoing panels and getting at wires, checking things out and doing further tests between my handhelds, the main unit and Kilkea. At one point I tried putting my old AIS antenna directly onto the radio. Same symptoms. This suggested a problem with the radio itself. All this was frustrated by finding my box of radio spares missing. We turned the boat over looking for it. In the end, Helen seems to recall, putting the contents into another container which is now buried very deeply. We’re not sure about this and there’s a nagging and horrible possibility the stuff got tossed out by accident during clear up in the yard.
I dug out our old Raymarine radio which still worked but had been replaced as it did not have the capability of a remote handset. With it in place everything worked ok. I spent some time trying to figure out if there was a setup issue with the Icom radio but could not find a cause or solution.
My conclusion is that there is some damage to the receiving circuit on the VHF radio. It may be a coincidence that I’ve been plugging in and out the AIS transponder/splitter recently but I can’t discount it. Nor can I discount the possibility I had things wired incorrectly and blasted too much signal into the radio thus damaging the receive side of things.
It was now late in the afternoon and I’d missed my relaxation. I tidied things up a bit, including myself, before we headed off in the dinghy to pick up David and Marian and go ashore.
We ordered fish and chips but were persuaded to go with burgers instead. The ‘Kawau Burgers’ were delicious and were nicely washed down with a couple of beers. We were treated to a fantastic sunset while chatting outside.
Once the sun had set it turned cold quite quickly so we soon headed back. We dropped off David and Marian with a rerun of the morning’s goodbyes – not unusual when cruising.
We finished off the evening watching a few TV shows. In parallel I researched the options with the VHF radio. Things weren’t too encouraging. The unit is no longer on sale in the US and costs a kidney here in NZ. Icom have an inferior unit on sale in the US which doesn’t come with a remote. They have an exciting newer unit (for which I’d also have to buy a new remote) that hasn’t yet received FCC approval so is not on sale. Awkward.
There are options to have the radio repaired here in NZ but that would mean diverting back to Gulf Harbour and missing the next opportunity to sail out to Great Barrier Island. It might be the cheapest option but we may never get anywhere. At the end of the evening I found a bunch of ex-display units for sale on Ebay in the US for a decent price. Result.
I’ve ordered one for piece of mind. Sam will bring it. If I can get the current unit fixed here then all the better. For now I’ve got the old Raymarine jammed into a hole too small for it in the console and consequently sticking half out. It’s ugly but it works.
We have wind predicted for today but it’s from the north to north east. Not the best for sailing over to Great Barrier. So after putting things back together (I had to cut a lot of my cable ties which made things neat while troubleshooting yesterday) perhaps I can have my missed relaxation.
Sunday or Monday look better for the trip to Great Barrier so we’ll watch and wait.
]]>This morning we went out for a walk with Marion from Kilkea. She showed us the walk around/through the golf course. It was simply nice to be out.
We popped [...]]]>
This morning we went out for a walk with Marion from Kilkea. She showed us the walk around/through the golf course. It was simply nice to be out.
We popped into the shops at the tail end of the walk to pick a few things up. On the way back to the boat we were passed by and picked up by Don (Irv) and Marie from Freezing Rain who are back in the area. We ended up chatting with them for a while before heading back down our dock to the boat. Before we reached Dignity we ran into the Ivory Keys and ended up chatting with them for some time too.
We eventually made it back to the boat and at some point geared ourselves up to do a little more boat work. Mostly cleaning at this stage. I cleaned out all my fishing gear throwing a lot of old line away and derusting a few things that needed it. I also fixed the navigation light which had given up the ghost.
We invited the Kilkeas and Freezing Rains over for curry dinner. Knowing that the Kilkeas and we are likely to be leaving tomorrow we imposed a limit of one bottle per couple on ourselves. I think we did pretty good when we ended up with three between us and a sip of port (well – what was left from Tuesday evening) back on Kilkea.
The weather is looking okayish for a departure to Great Barrier Island tomorrow. As long as we leave early. We still may lose the wind along the way but might get away with it. We need to move on.
It’s only a month before Sam arrives and we’d like to get to see a fair bit of the Hauraki Gulf before then. Time to move.
Presuming we do get out of here early morning we’ll be turning our AIS transponder on. We should be visible for sometime at the the station down in Auckland that relays boat positions onto the web. A good site to see this data is www.marinetraffic.com. Look for us popping out of Gulf Harbour around 7:30am to 8am.
And if you want to see the weather forecasts we’re looking at, a good one is here.
]]>There is this website I once saw. It painted such a nice picture I made a note of it. Here it is: http://www.holidayafloat.com/sailing_in_the_hauraki_gulf.html.
Have a read. If you get as far as the last paragraph, the one for climate it says, and I quote, “February and March are generally considered [...]]]>
There is this website I once saw. It painted such a nice picture I made a note of it. Here it is: http://www.holidayafloat.com/sailing_in_the_hauraki_gulf.html.
Have a read. If you get as far as the last paragraph, the one for climate it says, and I quote, “February and March are generally considered as the months with the best and most-settled weather for the Hauraki Gulf …”
What? Seriously? It’s March now and it’s been March for some time. We’ve seen about three settled days this month.
Here is today’s forecast (which, incidentally, is pretty close to yesterday’s) : “For the Hauraki Gulf: Tuesday: Southeast 35 knots gusting 50 knots, easing to 30 knots gusting 40 knots this morning, to 25 knots gusting 35 knots this afternoon and to 15 knots this evening. Very rough sea becoming rough this morning and slight in the evening. Fair visibility in scattered rain.”
Settled weather? My arse.
We spent yesterday morning in the boat simply because leaving the boat and dealing with the water density in the air would have been more akin to swimming than walking. After lunch things had improved sufficiently to be described as miserable. We accompanied David and Marian to nearby Orewa as they needed to pick up some reading glasses and we needed to get a letter notarized (the outside world continues to impinge). On the way back we stopped off at the Countdown in even nearer by Whangaparaoa to pick up some supplies including some more wine given the recent rate of consumption.
Back at the boat we had fun getting our shopping aboard as the wind (as it had all day) was still doing an excellent job pushing the boat away from the dock. I had to pull the boat in and when it was close enough, let go, and in the few seconds available get the next box of stuff up to Helen.
That just about defines our excitement for the day. By mutual consent the Kilkeas and us took a night off from each other causing a chorus of relief from our livers.
Looking ahead we see a window of opportunity to leave here on Friday when lighter north west winds are expected and the sea state to have calmed. That would give us a great run for the 40nm to Great Barrier Island. We will watch and wait.
]]>David and Marian are trying to sell their car before they depart for [...]]]>
David and Marian are trying to sell their car before they depart for Australia so they left it at the car park with signs fore and aft while we took a pleasant walk back along the edge of the marina.
Back at the boats we parted ways for a couple of hours. We later rejoined the Kilkeas to watch the beginning of leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race – from here to Brazil via the southern ocean. The local forecast is pretty grim but this is nothing compared to what the six boats are going to encounter down south.
The race had the boats sail the harbour three times before heading out and round a marker not too far from us. Once the boats had completed their harbour legs we left the boat to view them from a nearby hill.
We were momentarily distracted by a piece of providence. Marian found a fresh snapper on the dock and another floating in the water. She retrieved them making the decision this would be good for dinner. We could see nothing wrong with them and could only wonder if someone had simply caught too many and dropped a couple.
We found a good vantage point where we could watch the fleet through our binoculars. It was quite exciting but hard to tell who was in the lead. We were all quite glad to be ashore and not out on the water which had been one of our considered options.
By the time we headed back further decisions had been made. Helen and Marian headed off to view some of the nearby show homes while David and I were dispatched to fillet the fish. I learned a couple of things from David who did a far better job than I so that was good.
David and I rewarded ourselves for our hard effort with a couple of beers while we awaited the ladies return. When they did Helen and I took the fish and headed back to Dignity as Helen had offered to cook the fish.
David and Marian joined us for dinner which was excellent. A few bottles of wine helped polish off the dinner and the evening.
Overnight the weather has deteriorated considerably. We have howling wind and rain outside. There are 50 knot winds forecast for today out at sea. We’re quite glad to be in the marina and not out on anchor.
]]>Well, the winds were from the east so the [...]]]>
Well, the winds were from the east so the forecasters got that bit right. However, the winds turned out to be around 30 knots and the seas a tad more choppy than expected. Once you’re out there you just deal with what you get and it wasn’t too bad. We’d left with one reef in the main and soon had two and about 3 reefs in the head sail. We still made very good time doing 7-8 knots in general and about 9 at times despite a counter current. There was a definite sense the boat was moving faster than it used to.
We consequently made very good time into Gulf Harbour Marina and were greeted at the end of our dock by David and Marian who helped us tie on the lines. With the wind blowing us off the dock it was good to have someone there to help.
We soon had ourselves sorted out and joined the Kilkeas for a ride down to Auckland to watch the Volvo Ocean racers perform in the harbour.
Marian came up with the idea to watch the race from Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron club house. With Irish chutzpah she blagged us into the place despite our inappropriate dress. There we not only had food and beer but had an excellent view of the harbour as well as a TV with live commentary of the race. Brilliant.
It turned out to be excellent fun made all the better for the New Zealand boat, Camper, winning the race.
After the excitement settled down we headed back up to Gulf Harbour Marina and stopped by Kilkea for a quick drink. Irish Canadian’s on St Patrick’s Day. No such chance of a quick drink. To be quite honest, St Patrick’s Day had nothing to do with it.
The Volvo Ocean Race leaves Auckland today and has to take a dog leg nearby before heading out. The forecast for today is closer to what we experienced yesterday so plans to be out there to watch them go by are probably going to be parked in favour of getting up on the hill and watching them from go from up high.
Looking further out the weather situation will continue to deteriorate. We have two low pressure systems barrelling and I suspect we’ll be here in the marina until later in the week.
]]>The walk took us down to the old copper mine. [...]]]>
The walk took us down to the old copper mine. The pump house was modelled directly off those from Cornish mines so it looked quite familiar. The land through which we walked was very pretty – tall pines and ferns with lovely views over the bay to the mainland.
We took the inland path coming back. Under my direction we took a couple of wrong turns which bothered me not one bit as I was enjoying being out and about. We made it back to the mansion in time for lunch where be both opted for breakfast at the tea house. After our very filling breakfast/lunch we took a tour of the mansion which was reasonably interesting.
Having done the public part of Kawau Island we moved the boat over by the Kawau Island Yacht Club.
We popped ashore in the dinghy to have a look around. We walked the vast (not) distance to and old smelter and all the way back. Having blown many minutes we headed back to the boat. We were still full in the evening that we passed on any thought of going back ashore to eat at the yacht club.
Today we’re almost certainly taking the boat round to Gulf Harbour marina at first light. We plan to spend the day with David and Marian from Kilkea II down in Auckland watching the harbour racing on the day before the Volvo ocean race takes off. The wind is picking up and looking to really build over the next few days. Being pinned into a marina for a few days is not really what we want but we can’t miss the chance of spending St Patrick’s Day with our good Irish friends.
]]>The weather was [...]]]>
The weather was very pleasant as was the company. We always enjoy the David and Marian’s company. They’re leaving for Australia within the next few months and this may be our last meeting for a while. There is a possibility we’ll get together for the departure of the Volvo round the world ocean race departure on the 18th. We have to get our heads around finishing off our work and getting out of here first.
On the walk back David and I opted for the diversion to the top of the 787ft hill overlooking the town and river. The ladies shirked out of this minor exercise heading straight for the boat and a cold bottle of wine. In the end David and I were not far behind and nor were the cold beers which were well earned.
Beating the Sunday night special offer turnover we paid a visit to the local supermarket to add to our growing supplies of wine for our cruise up to the islands.
Helen wanted to finish off watching the BBC version of Pride & Prejudice. Not my thing so it was back to the XBox for me for a couple of hours diversion.
We finished the day having hot showers aboard using the water heated up via the heat exchanger from the port engine. Nice.
It’s now Monday and the weekend is over. Back to work for us. It’s still early and cold outside so we have the generator on to do a wash and have the A/C set to provide warmth.
I for one am looking forward to our return to Fiji.
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