Paul, having spent the night with us, was very helpful in giving me a ride to the Icom service center here in Auckland. It turned out to be a lot further away than I expected so I was very glad of the ride. On the way back he dropped me off at the lift raft service center. His car wasn’t big enough to take the life raft so I opted to complete the trip back by taxi.
Despite the manufacturer stating we should service the life raft every two years this was the first time we did so. I was shocked to see how much was replaced but pleased to learn what was actually in with the life raft. There is quite a substantial set of flares contained which will complement those we have in the cabin in case of distress where we don’t need to leave the main boat. Flares do have a limited lifetime so it was good we had this service done now. Of course, it is important we have a life raft that works in the unhoped for event we need it.
Once the life raft was installed into it’s slot I walked over to the workshop near Pier 21 to give them our desired lengths for the kauri trim we want to prevent our next microwave from sliding off it’s home.
After that it was time for lunch. We ate a very delicious sushi then headed off to the supermarket for our first round of provisioning. On this trip we only took what we could carry the mile or so back to the boat. (Today we’re going again but returning by taxi)
In the afternoon I made the 45 minute return walk back to the work shop to pick up our trim. It looked really nice. Had a quick chat with Pam from Passages who appeared to welcome a quick break from polishing the boat sides.
In the afternoon I managed to work out a new plan to have our mainsail attended to. We’d already decided to return to the Viaduct Marina for when Sam arrives 11 days from now. We changed our booking to come in a day early and arranged a hire car so we can drive up to Whangarei and have it sorted there and then. The last thing I want is a weather window to appear and have to miss it because we need to get up to Whangarei to have our sail fixed. The sailmaker has agreed to this so we’re all set.
Incidentally, a fantastic weather window opened for Fiji yesterday. Pity we’re not in a position to take it. Particularly considering the southerly winds we have right now have brought a bit of a chill.
Early evening Ed from A Cappella dropped by. We’ve not seen him for a year so it was nice to catch up. They have a similar plan to us for the next couple of year so we’ll be still in touch with them for a while. There is a special tie amongst all those we crossed the Pacific with in 2010 and it’s nice to keep in contact.
Around 7pm past crew(wo)man Lissa visited with sister Megan. It was nice to see them again. They’d been invited out to Waiheke for the weekend but can’t make it. She does a lot of wedding photography so weekends are inevitably busy. We shared pizza and stories. Nice evening.
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