Another pleasant day yesterday. We went ashore to walk to the bay to the north for a pie lunch. At the dock we noticed a lot of activity. It turned out the ferry delayed by weather since Tuesday, three days earlier, was on the way in.
Walking along the road we ran into the folks who we met at the hot springs who had intended to return on the Tuesday ferry. We also ran into Mary, met the previous day, who was in a similar position.
After our walk and lunch we returned to the boat where we prepped her for the trip. We put two reefs into the main anticipating some strong weather across the channel. I had to go up the mast to retrieve the courtesy flag line which had snapped and fouled in the strong weather.
Avoiding alcohol we retired early to be woken by the alarm at 2:45am.
The passage wasn’t as bad as we feared, in fact it was as good as I hoped. Better still, the moon was full which we hadn’t anticipated. The incoming tide was not interfering with the swell and we had winds in the low 20s. The current in the channel was left to right so we had to aim 15 degrees to port to go in the direction we wanted. Nevertheless we made 8-9 knots over the channel.
Helen went for some shut eye as we rounded the Coromandel peninsular. She missed all the fun. We lost the wind so I motor sailed for a bit – for a while having to bring in the head sail. When the wind returned it was light. I removed the second reef and later removed the first. Then the wind picked up. I reefed the head sail to lose some speed then reefed the main. Now losing some wind I took the reef out of the head sail. By then I was boiling hot with all the effort.
By the time I woke Helen things had settled down for a straight run into Waiheke which we made in good time eventually anchoring in Oneroa Bay.
We chose this bay because of it’s good holding, protection from the south and civilization ashore. We’re ready for some. As we sit here more and more boats are piling in. It is Easter weekend after all. It should be quite a crowd by the end of day.
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