“Bodacious” the word : variously – “remarkable” – “outstanding” – “audacious” – “brazen” – “sexy” – “voluptuous” !

“Bodacious” the yacht : a 53ft Laurie Davidson aluminium racer/cruiser, built in 1986, fitting all those descriptions. She is owned by friends John Toon and Simon Meikle, and based in Westhaven Marina in downtown Auckland. An introduction to, and time spent with, Simon on a John Winlove “Boys Breakaway” trip in October 2011, particularly while cruising on John’s “M V Matawai” from Auckland to Whangaroa  Harbour and back resulted in this 2nd major offshore adventure for me. Simon invited me to help deliver Bodacious to Fiji in June 2012, where she would remain until September so that Simon and John and their families and friends could escape over winter months and enjoy cruising the tropical climate of Fiji.

The delivery was skippered by John and Simon, with 4 crew comprising 3 of John’s friends and myself. I did not know John and his 3 friends, and they did not know me, and given the unavoidable intimacy of 6 people blue water sailing in a 52ft yacht it was maybe a brave call for Simon to invite me and perhaps for me to accept. However I gave no thought to that at the time I willingly accepted Simon’s invitation. I will say now that we quickly settled in to being a good team and were very happy friends by the time we arrived in Savusavu.

John and his friends Kath, Oli and Sean all work in the film production industry.  John is a very seasoned sailor, Oli has a mixed seafaring background like my own and while Kath and Sean both have some sailing experience, blue water sailing was new to them but they both seemed to have it on their bucket list so jumped at John’s invitation to help with the delivery. All four of them were fresh from filming the production of “Mr Pip” in Papua, New Guinea, and were deserving of this more relaxed adventure.

Thursday 7 June.

Our planned 1 June departure had been delayed because of a low pressure system passing over north of the North Island. The Auckland-Noumea race departed on Saturday 2 June and suffered the brunt of the storm, with 5 of the 16 yachts retiring, including Beau Geste with structural damage and Cotton Blossom with severe sea sickness amongst the crew. However, on Thursday 7 June we left Westhaven, fueled up, cleared Customs and were out of Waitemata Harbour by 1200hrs, heading north up through the Hauraki Gulf. Our intention was to hitch hike off the back of the low and carry the SE breeze as far as we could, gauging east. Once we got north of Cape Reinga we would pick up the forecast NE wind and slide in to Savusavu with the wind not too far forward of the beam all the way. All on one starboard board. Not unexpectedly, the passage didn’t quite work out like that. Before we reached Tiri Channel we were sailing in a 10kn cold SW breeze, which carried us through the night.

Friday 8 June.

The cool SW 10-15kn breeze continued to push us along at around 7 knots all day, steering 350 but bearing away to 000 when we could. Evening brought a clear star lit night, until 2000hrs when the full moon rose and chased all the stars away. A couple of 30kn squalls during the night gave us a good shove north, tracking 000 with the wind aft of the port beam. We were reaching as broadly as we could. We had settled in to watch routine of 2 hours on and 4 hours off, with 2 on watch at any time, with 1 person changing every hour, with the result that we mixed up well with each other both while on watch and off watch.

Saturday 9 June.

When I came on watch at 0600, conditions were much the same. The sun rose through cumulus cloud, which brought rain squalls during the morning. By 1200hrs, after 2 full days at sea, we had covered 330nm at an average speed of 6.8kns, which had included a considerable amount of motor sailing. The breeze was still SW, 10-15kn. From time to time, after a period of running the engine to keep the batteries charged, both John and Simon felt that the folding prop wasn’t folding as it should and they could feel it still spinning, through the shaft. A discussion ensued between them about the proper procedure to fold the prop. Simon’s view was that the prop should be folded by pulling the throttle back in to reverse while the engine was turned off, but John thought it didn’t matter if the motor was running, so long as the motor remained in neutral while the throttle was pulled back in to reverse.  John was at the helm, so that is what he did : pulled the throttle back from forward to neutral, held it in neutral then pulled it quickly back in to reverse. We are not sure whether the prop folded or not, but we all heard and felt a loud “clunk” come from within the engine cavity. During the afternoon, while doing a routine motor check, John found a couple of sheared bolt heads in the bilges and it quickly became apparent that the “clunk” that we had heard and felt was the bolts in the R and D coupling shearing. Simon and Oli sorted out a plan of temporary repair, and got started and worked on it until they became thwarted by nightfall. We sailed through the night in a 10-15kn SW breeze, with calm sea. We were making reasonable progress, but we were concerned it wasn’t enough to get us ahead of a looming low pressure system coming down on us from NW, which would bring NE winds right on the nose if we continued to head directly to Savusavu.

Sunday 10 June.

Sunday dawned fine and sunny, with calm sea. At 1200hrs the wind backed to SE, still 10-15kn. Our heading was now 060 and our position, after 3 full days was approx 28deg S and 175deg W, so we were not yet half way. Simon and Oli, with offerings of assistance from others of us when needed, had repaired the R and D coupling and we were able to run the motor again and improve our progress with a little motor sailing. Conditions at this point were ideal. The barometer had been rising, as had the sea temperature. There was no sign of the low pressure system north west of us getting any closer and we were hoping we would skirt round south east of it. We continued through the night with a SE 10kn breeze, motor sailing from time to time at 2000 revs.

Monday 11 June.

At 0600 the log showed that we had covered 655nm, the barometer reading was 1020, the breeze was still 10kn SE. By 1100hrs there were some ominous looking clouds ahead to the NW, threatening a change in the weather with stronger wind from in front of us instead of from behind, and possibly rain. We made our first sail change of the trip by removing the genoa and replacing it with the no.3 headsail. At 1200hrs we were slightly south of 25deg S and slightly east of 176deg W, heading 014. Then sure enough, by 1400hrs the breeze headed us, only at 10kn but it meant that we were now punching in to the sea rather than running with it. So we took a reef in the main and motor sailed for comfort.  At this point, our ETA for Savusavu was midnight Wednesday, so we were predicting the trip would take us less than a week.

Tuesday 12 June.

Dawn broke with grey skies and 10kn NE, which was not good for us. We were being pushed west. The breeze increased during the morning, with seas getting gnarly. The sky and the sea were both grey and rain was threatening all around us. We were sailing with slightly eased sheets to avoid banging and crashing in to the waves. At 25kn of wind speed and building, we decided to roll in the headsail, reduce the main to 3 reefs, tighten the mainsheet and motor sail more directly on course to Savusavu. At 1200hrs, after 5 full days, our log told us we had travelled 896nm. At 1400hrs my fishing reel suddenly screamed. Simon grabbed the rod out of the holder and passed it to me and after a bit of a battle I pulled in a nice 25kg shortbill swordfish. I filletted 12 large steaks of it and they went in to the freezer. At this point our heading was taking us way west of Fiji. The wind was forecast to back from NE to NW which would have been better for us, but not until Thursday, which would be too late for us. So John and Tony decided to abandon Savusavu and head for Denareau.  The bad weather continued to get worse, with nasty rain squalls. At 1600hrs a squall suddenly came out of the west with torrential rain. Oli, Sean and Kath were on deck as the boat was suddenly slammed from starboard tack to port tack, but still motor sailing on the same 320 heading.  John and Simon and myself went on deck to help get things under control. Although Sean had read 50kn gust when the front hit, the breeze eventually settled at 20-25kn from NW and we were able to abandon Denarau as our destination and set a comfortable course bearing 000 for Kadavu Island, although we were motosailing with the breeze right on the nose. At 2200hrs the breeze died and backed right round to ESE at 10kn.

Wednesday 13 June.

By midnight the ESE breeze had increased to 20kn. We altered course to 025 to try to gauge east, but we were fighting a strong current pushing us west. We were motor sailing at 8kn, and it was raining heavily. At 0200 a huge downpour hit us from the east, and it felt like it was the same downpour that had hit us from the west the previous afternoon, and was now coming back at us. It rained and rained all day. The only excitement for the day was in the fishing department. Kath hooked in to something huge which pretty much stripped her reel of line before it broke off, but I hooked and landed a nice Mahimahi. The changing colours of a Mahimahi when hooked and landed is something quite extraordinary. Numerous fish do it, but none so dramatically as a Mahmahi. By 2200hrs we were motorsailing in to a 15kn NW breeze, back on port tack, with Kadavu not far to the north of us. We could in fact see the glow of Suva over and beyond Kadavu. During the night we trucked north along Great Astrolabe Reef, giving it a wide berth.

Thursday 14 June.

We continued on in to a 15-25kn NNW breeze, bearing 045, still on port tack. We banged and crashed, even though we were motorsailing with slightly eased sheets to try to avoid it. We still had 3 reefs in the main and no. 3 headsail. The only activity we had was rolling the headsail in and out on the furler to balance the helm in the oscillating breeze. We continued on, leaving Gau Island to port, heading towards Taveuni. At some point we needed to tack over on to starboard to gauge west in to Vanua Levu. We were being helped by the current to guage west, which was good, given that the breeze was NNW. At 1800hrs, after a pleasant happy hour and a lovely beef ragout dinner on deck, our patience with our slow progress ran out a little (as it always does when your destination is nearly in sight) and we pulled up full main, started the motor again and backed our course to 350 and headed to slide passed just east of Koro Island, which we did about midnight.

Friday 15 June.

Dawn broke at 0600, with Vanua Levu well in sight. All hands were on deck as we navigated towards and around the dangers of Point Reef, and in through Point Passage, arriving at Nakama Creek and Savusavu proper at approximately 0830hrs. After a bit of jostling with moored boats in the tight confines of the estuary as a consequence of our anchor failing to hold, Pia from the Savusavu yacht club directed us to a mooring which we gratefully grabbed. We managed to enjoy a champagne breakfast with bacon, eggs, sausages, toast, tomato sauce etc before the heavy rain came once again, dousing the wet weather gear and other garments we had just brought up on deck to dry out in the tropical sun which we were expecting. So with that we all stripped down and leaped overboard for a welcome swim while we waited for Customs clearance. The friendly Customs officers came about midday and left with little fuss, after which we felt we had finally arrived in Savusavu safe, sound and still sane and sensible.

We all stayed in Savusavu for the weekend, enjoying the hospitality of Geoff’s Savusavu Yacht club, visiting the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort, and sampling the fares of the local cafes. One by one we booked air fares back to NZ, but John and Simon stayed on to deliver Bodacious to Musket Cove.

All in all, a neat and very memorable time. Would do it again, same boat, same people.

Passage statistics:-

Distance covered  :  1411 nautical miles. (Auckland – Savusavu as the crow flies is 1100 nautical miles, or 1800 kilometres).

Time taken  :  7 days, 20.5 hours.

Average speed  :  7.5 knots.

Weather conditions  :  Very average, not testing, lots of rain.

The Plan : ETD 1 May : Destination : Savusavu, Fiji.
The Actual : Departure 1400hrs Tues 7 May; arrival Suva 0700hrs Sun 19 May.
Distance covered : 1741nm in 12 days.

Gavin and Bindy had prepared their Bavaria 42 cruiser “Distracted” to get away from our winter for a 6 month cruise of the Fiji-Wallis-Vanuatu-New Caledonia region of the Pacific over May-October. I joined them for the delivery from Wellington to Fiji. Our departure was delayed while we sat out a low pressure system passing across the North Island. We were hoping to pick up on the back of it and get a good start with a tail wind up the Wairarapa Coast. We cleared customs at Chafers marina and departed at 1400hrs on Tuesday 7th, motor sailing with 2 tucks in the main in to a moderate SW breeze and lumpy Cook Strait sea. We arrived at Palliser around 2100hrs. I spent the night in my bunk hugging the bucket, but by the time I got up for my 0300 watch the next day the sea had calmed up the east coast, the breeze had dropped and we were motoring in to a 5kn NW breeze. By 1000hrs on Wednesday we were directly east of Castle Point. The barometer reading was 1025, which was to be the highest reading for the whole trip. At 1600hrs I pulled in a nice skippy tuna on my trolling lure, which gave us some lovely fresh sashimi which Bindy served up with ginger and wasabi as an entrée for our evening meal. We reached Cape Kidnappers around 1900hrs heading 010 in to a 6kn NNW breeze, making slow passage, even though we had spent a lot of time motor sailing at 2000 revs to try to stay ahead of a front bringing a predicted strong NW breeze. We had settled well in to our 3hrs-on-6hrs-off watch routine by now and had a quiet night.

By 0600hrs on Thursday we were due east of Gisborne still heading 010 in a 10kn NW breeze and lumpy sea. At this point Bindy discovered that the header tank for the portside head was leaking, and clearly we had a blockage preventing the header tank from draining in to the sea. It was quite unpleasant and rendered the port head unusable. No enquiry was made as to the cause of the blockage, but given that Gavin and Bindy had been living aboard “Distracted” for 3 months before departure and that no blockage had occurred during that time and that I was the only new factor in the equation, all the suspicion lay with me. Personally I blamed the soft but thick toilet paper which Bindy has a preference for, over the more appropriate marine grade toilet paper. Possibly as my penance, Gavin decided that the remedial solution would be for me, when we had the next lull in the weather, to dive overboard and attack the blockage from below by poking a flexible metal “snake” through the skin fitting in the hull up to the bottom of the header tank. Joy! Fortunately for me no lull in the weather was imminent. During the day the wind veered north and our heading veered to 045, taking us away from our proper heading of 000 to Fiji, but not concerning me because I had a secret wish of visiting the Minerva Reef, south west of Tonga.

At about midnight on Thursday we crossed the 180 degree meridian and I learnt a very important lesson when sailing in this part of the world about the need to note in the log whether our longitude position was “E” or “W”. Since leaving Wellington we had been in the habit of noting our longitude as “E” but suddenly we had to be careful to record “W”, even though the actual numbers of degrees longitude were very similar, and we knew that at some stage we would inevitably cross back from “W” to “E” to get on course to Fiji.

At dawn on Friday 10th we were 90nm due east of East Cape. The wind had backed to SW at a nice 22kns and our heading improved to 320 and our SOG to 7-8kn. A good sailing day, but it didn’t last. By midnight we were wallowing in misty rain, motoring at 1200 revs. At dawn a 20-30kn SE breeze kicked in pushing us due north at 7-8kns and we had another good sailing day. Gavin got the storm jib and the tri-sail out from under the forehead birth in readiness for some heavier weather.

At approximately 1600hrs when we were 360nm east of North Cape, the ever vigilant Bindy spied a ship on the AIS behind us on our port quarter, bearing towards us and clearly intending to overtake us. The AIS showed it to be the Argentinian cargo vessel “Bahia Blanca”. By 1700hrs she was within our 60nm vector and despite Gavin and myself showing little concern and explaining to Bindy that we were the stand-on vessel, it was too much pressure for Bindy and she called up on the VHF asking the skipper if he could see us slightly to leeward of his starboard bow and asking what his intentions were. He said he couldn’t see us, but that he would “steer north” to clear us. Bindy kept a sharp eye on the AIS, and saw the vessel slip past on our port side, but not within our visible range. The skipper then radioed to Bindy and said he hadn’t seen us but asked Bindy for our destination and number of POB’s. Bindy politely replied, but then received no response. Gavin and I had given her so much stick about her over-zealous concern at radioing the ship that Bindy now became concerned that her radio call had been inappropriate and the cargo vessel had sinister intentions. Bindy’s guilt and concern grew to the point where she radioed back to the cargo vessel and politely asked whether there was “any problem”. She got a “no problem” response, exchanged some pleasantries with the Argentinian skipper, then relaxed. Finally however we could say that we had “left NZ” because we were now north of North Cape. It had taken us a little over 4 days to cover the approximate 530nm distance from Chafers marina to North Cape, making our average speed a little over 5.5kns, mostly motor sailing.

At around midnight on Saturday 12th we crossed back west of longitude 180, heading 340, with a 20-30kn SE breeze keeping our speed at 7-8kns. Seas were lumpy but we were sailing comfortably. We maintained that through Sunday.

Come Monday we were holding the same breeze, but the seas were easing and we were making good distance. In the 3 days between 1200hrs on Friday to 1200hrs on Monday the log recorded a distance of 460nm, an average of a little over 150nm per day. This roughly reflected the average for the whole 12 day trip : an average speed of a little over 6kns covering 145nm per day. At 0800 on Monday when Gavin checked his emails he saw that Bob McDavitt (our passage planner) had emailed to us in the early hours of the morning (Bob seems to be an absolute night owl!) warning of a low pressure system heading SE from Fiji and telling us to turn hard left to 280 degrees to miss the worst of the system. We did as he told, but having missed his call by 6hrs we unfortunately did not miss the effect of the low pressure system.
But off we went almost due west, with a building ESE wind and building seas behind us. For the day, our log reads:-
– “0600 : nice sailing, good seas”
– “1800 : main off, tri-sail on, storm jib on bobstay, half heady, seas building”

Tuesday 14th was our most exciting day. Log readings are:-
– “0200 : E 25-30, seas 2-3m, dark and stormy”
– “0600 : E 30-40, daylight, stormy with rain squalls, seas building 5-6m”
– “0800 : wave over transom, sea in the cockpit, SOG pushed to 14.2kn”
In the 12hrs between midnight on Monday to midday on Tuesday the barometer dropped from 1013 t0 1003, the lowest recorded reading on the trip. During the night while on watch Gavin had considered taking down the tri-sail and sailing under storm jib only, but in the dawn of the morning things don’t seem to be quite as bad as they do in the night, so we continued with the tri-sail set. At 1000hrs with me on watch and Gavin and Bindy resting in the cabin, as one large wave slid underneath us, I looked behind and for a change I couldn’t see the seas behind me, or the horizon. All I could see was the top of the next wave, and it was building. As “Distracted” slid down in to the trough ahead of the next wave and I kept looking up I was minded of my surfing days and I knew this next wave was going to be either a ride from heaven or a wipe-out from hell. As Distracted’s transom slid up to the top of the wave, the wave crested and fortunately broke evenly down each side of the hull so that we didn’t broach. But all of a sudden we were off, literally surfing down the wave which, from the trough, I had estimated to be 10m. I glanced at the log and read 24.2kns. I felt an uncanny vibration in the hull. I had time to worry about what was going to happen at the bottom, but I needn’t have because the bow just rode up a little on the wave in front and the big wave just rolled on underneath us. But it was enough to bring Gavin and Bindy rushing out of the cabin. We discovered later that the hull speed was such that it sucked the plug clean out of the blocked header tank, so that the port head was once again operational, avoiding the need for me to go overboard with the snake, mid-Pacific. With the wind gusts at 50kn we decided to remove the tri-sail and sail under storm jib only. Gavin also brought the sea anchor up on deck, ready to deploy. With a heading of 280, a tail wind over our starboard quarter and a following sea, we were averaging 8kns under storm jib only. However by 1600hrs, although still rocky-rolly, the seas had eased and the breeze was down to a comfortable 30kns. We were able to improve our heading to 290. Then by 1800hrs we were at 000, heading for Fiji again.

At midnight the wind veered from ESE to SW, 18-20kn, so we gybed on to port and a heading of 350, comfortably doing 6kns. Wednesday was champagne sailing, all day, back under full main and genoa and us finally in shorts and T shirts. We were able to hang our wet weather gear out to dry and at 1800hrs we had a glorious bright red sunset.

On Thursday morning Bindy treated us to brunch of bacon and egg butties in freshly cooked bread. We had mostly eaten well with Bindy’s pre-cooked frozen meals, but freshly cooked slabs of white bread filled with runny eggs and bacon was scrumptious. We sat all day in the cockpit forgetting our watch details and yarning and enjoying the now tropical air. We had full sails up but only 8kns of breeze so we were motor sailing at 1300 revs. The breeze died on us during the day, the sea flattened and we just kept motoring. While it was good for catching up on sleep, it was not good for progress, nor for our fuel reserves. We hooked a yellow fin tuna on the lure, so had more fresh fish which was a treat. At this point our Savusavu ETA was Monday 20th, but our concern was lack of wind and dwindling fuel.

Friday morning saw us continuing to motor sail in light breezes and calm seas. Gavin made the call to abandon Savusavu as our destination and shorten the trip to Suva, which we did. That suited me because I had previously entered Savusavu as a port, Suva would be a new experience for future, and I was beginning to outstay my leave from the office. On Saturday we motor sailed up the east side of Astrolabe Reef, turned left and entered Suva harbour at 0700 on Sunday May 19th. Notwithstanding radio calls and emails to the Port Authority, Customs Office and Royal Suva Yacht Club, we were not boarded by Customs and cleared until 1530hrs on Monday 20 May. We were then able to make landfall at the Royal Suva Yacht Club for a very welcome beer, and replenish fuel supplies.

All in all, a fantastic trip.

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The weather forcast for Anniversary Weekend (Friday 20 – Monday 23 Jan.) was reasonanbly favourable. A “dying” 25kn NW breeze on Friday, turning “fresh” southerly on Sunday afternoon, but “dying away” on Monday. So Lynn Bridget & I decided that we would cross the Strait and have a  few fun days in Queen Charlotte Sound. Sniffy & Bindy were taking “Distracted” across, so we could accompany them. Sniffy was confident the forecast would be kind for the girls on their first crossing. Wrong! The 25kn NW did not die until we got to Tory Channel late in the afternoon, and the “fresh” southerly came in at 30kn in the Strait on Sunday and didn’t ease until Tuesday. So we had a lumpy sea most of the way across, motorsailing on reefed main, breeze across the starboard bow. Lynn & Bridget both held on to their lunch, but it was a struggle for Bridget. She did very well, but was pleased to reach the calm on the western side of the Strait. Monday was too rough to chance the return trip, so we delayed it ’till the southerly eased & the swell dropped on Tuesday.

But the pleasure of the 3 days in between, in the protected calm of the Sounds, made the crossings more than bearable.

We departed Chaffers Marina at 1245hrs on Friday and entered Tory Channel about 1800hrs. By the time we entered Tory the NW breeze had gone and the sea was flat calm. We pulled the mainsail down & the sails remained fully furled until we came to leave Tory Channel on Tuesday. That’s what you mostly do with sails on a big yacht in the Sounds. We said hello to Wal Edwards on the way up Tory, then headed for Ngarruru Bay, but went past and ended up in more shelter at the very top of Kawia Bay on a friendly mooring. We rafted up with Distracted and spent the first of 4 very relaxed and fun nights wining and dining and story-telling with Sniffy & Bindy.

Saturday dawned calm & sunny. Distracted cruised off early to explore Queen Charlotte but we stayed awhile for a leisurely breakfast. After we threw the mooring we motored in to Queen Charlotte, hooking in to Double Cove in time for afternoon tea at the lovely Manthel batch, with Neil & Adrienne in residence to welcome us. Ineviteably, Neil bought out some beers and wines, and Adrienne produced “afternoon tea” of fresh sweet corn, ham sandwiches and baby sausage rolls ! Delightful. Then we motored off, exploring Lochmara & Onahau Bays, then in to Grove Arm looking for Distracted. We found her anchored in Bottle Bay. The forecast was for NW rising to 30kn during the night, and we decided Bottle Bay wasn’t the most ideal in those conditions. I knew Malcy Brown had a mooring in “the most sheltered bay in the whole of the Sounds” : East Bay at the head of Lochmara. So I got hold of Malcy at his Te Horo ranch and he said we were welcome to use his mooring. We did, and if ever a 30kn breeze blew during the night, we never felt or heard a thing! Distracted rafted up with us, and we had another fun evening.

Sunday dawned calm and sunny again. We had seen and said hello to Robert Fisher on his jetty on Saturday afternoon and he had invited us up for coffee on Sunday morning. So we eagerly picked up his mooring on the SE corner of Double Cove at 1100hrs and went up to see Bob & Polly & Henrietta. We had a very pleasant time and departed just as the forecast southerly started rolling down from Mount Freeth in to Grove Arm. We found Distracted on a mooring in Becks Bay and rafted up with her. The southerly went over the top of us and we had another comfortably calm night.

Monday morning was calm where we were, but we knew it would be different out in Cook Strait. Bridget had to be back in Wellington on Monday night. Neither she nor Lynn wanted a rough trip back, so we decided to delay our return crossing until Tuesday. Distracted cruised off up the Sound, but we took Bridget in to Picton to catch a ferry. She sent a text from the middle of Cook Strait later in the day to say we had made the right decision. We found Distracted late in the afternoon moored in Tawa Bay at the very head of Onapua Bay. We rafted up again for the night. In the process of picking up the mooring, Lynn and I managed between us to drop both of our boathooks overboard and they drifted to the shore. I swam in to retrieve them. The water was murky and I couldn’t see the bottom. When I got to the shore and stood up, I planted one foot on something soft and rubbery, which shot out from under me. The motion and the fright nearly sent me flying. I knew immediately I had trodden on a stingray and disturbed it. Quite a large one as it turned out, watching it later from back on the boat as it mooched around the shallows. Beautiful fish to watch gliding through the water, but scary to stand on. After retrieving the boathooks, I spent time in the water scrubbing the Chaffers marina slime off the waterline, and diving to scrub the marine growth off the propellor. We spent another night in the very pleasant company of Sniffy and Bindy, enjoying a DVD of the Simon & Garfunkel concert after dinner.

We departed Tawa Bay at 0900 with the intention of getting out of Tory and across the Strait to catch slack water at Karori Rock early in the afternoon. But we struck trouble just inside Tory Channel. As we raised the mainsail, when it was a quarter of the way up, it jammed tightly where it enters the track just above the boom. One of the perils of running halyards on electric winches! The bolt rope folded over on to the thick stitching of a batten pocket, and I was too slow to feel the extra drag on the electric winch. The sail jammed solid in the track! No way would it come down again. Lynn & I threw all our resourcefiulness at it for a full hour and a half before we eventually got it free. We cut away some of the stitching on the batten pocket and poured detergent down the track and that seemed to do the trick. No significant damage. Distracted had begun her crossing but very kindly returned to investigate our delay. As a consequence of the delay, although the first part of the crossing was relatively calm as we motorsailed in to a 15kn SE breeze across our starboard bow, we hit the Karori rip at its very worst. Incoming tide sweeping eastward, in the face of a 15kn SE breeze, meant the waves were standing up on end with deep troughs, tightly packed. I could see the line of white caps as we approached from a mile away. Sea Kiwi crashed her way through the quite enormous and unpredictable “washing machine” waves with only an occasional shudder, down the back of one wave, burying in to the front of the next one.  I think Lynn held her breath for the full 15 minutes or so it took us to get through the rip, and I had to prise her white knuckles of both hands from the grab rail on the companionway when we got to the other side of the rip.

We arrived safely at Chaffers Marina at 1700hrs well pleased with ourselves. Pleasantly weary, and feeling as though we had had a very enjoyable and memorable first holiday on Sea Kiwi.

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