Dangling

We made the decision to stay one more day here by Kawau Islands. The Kilkeas, with ambitions to be off to Australia on Monday made the decision to head up the coast to Marsden so we bade our final goodbyes as they left the anchorage.

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.