The weather this week has been very alternating.\u00a0 Every other day we have variable weather and on the alternate days we have a consistently good day.\u00a0 Yesterday was a consistently good day.\u00a0 Confused?\u00a0 Because we had an afternoon event planned we had a shortened work day but we still made progress :<\/p>\n

\n
• Sanded all the gelcoat touch ups<\/li>\n
• Replaced temporary split pin at top of mast<\/li>\n
• Added a layer of varnish to the shower sill<\/li>\n
• Picked up new code zero halyard<\/li>\n
• Replaced old main halyard (which was in the code zero halyard’s position) with new code zero halyard<\/li>\n
• Assembled gooseneck twice.\u00a0 First time I thought I had it on the boom upside down but I discovered I was wrong about this after removing it.<\/li>\n
• Installed new main sheet<\/li>\n
• Reattached sail bag<\/li>\n
• 80% inflated dinghy (which was returned from having handle\/rollock reattached)<\/li>\n
• Filed off ridges from inside boom in order to install new sheave for outhaul\/third reef<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  On the external projects more progress was made than anticipated.\u00a0 The dinghy arrived.\u00a0 The anchor roller strengthening is now complete.\u00a0 The chain chute is complete.\u00a0 The props \/ shafts were returned from having a hole drilled and pin inserted. The new sheave was cut.\u00a0 Our window inserts are now expected early next week and I postponed the forestay work to Monday.<\/p>\n

  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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

  Around 2:30pm we broke for the day and cleaned up for our afternoon out.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 First was a very impressive traditional Maori challenge, far better than the one we saw at the Maori experience in Rotorua.<\/p>\n

  Next we had a half hour lecture by weather guru Bob McDavitt.\u00a0 For those that don’t know him, he puts out an excellent cruising forecast each Sunday that makes a relevant read every Sunday.\u00a0 As such he practically received a heroes welcome by the cruisers as a result of this service.\u00a0 He does offer professional guidance \/ route planning to those that wish it.\u00a0 His half hour brief was very informative.\u00a0 He confirmed the weather scenario for leaving north that I’m now already anticipating.\u00a0 More importantly he helped us understand the broader context for the weather patterns and their near term impact.\u00a0 We’re in what’s called a declining La Nina situation which historically extends the cyclone season.\u00a0 Thus the general recommendation is not to leave until May.\u00a0 This fits our general plan which was to be ready by the third week in April and to take the first available weather window.\u00a0 That window should now appear early May.\u00a0 This extra time allows us the opportunity to flex our new wings (once installed) with a sail, perhaps, up to Opua before we leave.<\/p>\n

  Next was the BBQ which was a fine feast.\u00a0 I thought I was taking a little of everything but my plate ended up piled high.\u00a0 Having had a light and early lunch I was famished and polished off the lot.<\/p>\n

  Finally we were given a cultural Maori performance by a national competition winning local singing group.\u00a0 Again – far better than the ones we’ve seen at tourist attractions.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

  We were not alone for this farewell presentation.\u00a0 We sat amongst old friends from the ‘class of ’10’ puddle jumpers : Attitude, Boree, Callisto, El Regallo, Imagine, Leu Cat, Proximity, Scream & Tahina.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

  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.\u00a0 Just got to get the boat work finished !!!!!<\/p>\n

  <\/embed><\/p>\n

  We finished the evening by inviting Frank and Karen over to a messy Dignity to share a bottle of wine.\u00a0 Almost like being back out on the water.\u00a0 Except for the gentle rocking.\u00a0 The slapping of waves.\u00a0 The warm nights.\u00a0 The beautiful beaches.\u00a0 The great snorkeling.\u00a0 No yard dust.\u00a0 Not having to pee in a bucket.\u00a0 Ok – so not quite so similar but we’re on our way soon.<\/p>\n

  ADDED LATER: All too easy. Euler problem nailed. Off to work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The weather this week has been very alternating. Every other day we have variable weather and on the alternate days we have a consistently good day. Yesterday was a consistently good day. Confused? Because we had an afternoon event planned we had a shortened work day but we still made progress :<\/p>\n

  Sanded all the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[186,185,120,192,144,15,130,198,137,178],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attitude","category-boree","category-callisto","category-el-regalo","category-imagine","category-leu-cat","category-new-zealand","category-proximity","category-scream","category-tahina","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4395"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4401,"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4395\/revisions\/4401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}