Wed, 13 Nov
Greetings to all from New Zealand -
We are back in New Zealand safe and sound after a nine-day passage from Musket Cove in Fiji. We departed on Thursday 31 October and arrived in Opua, New Zealand on Saturday 9 November. This was a day longer than our eight-day passage from Tonga to NZ last year and it was more into the wind rather than having the wind push us from behind as we did last year. It was a dark passage as we left during the last phase of the moon and so only had small slivers of the waning and waxing moon for a small part of each night. Very dark out there in the big ocean with hardly any moon but it made the stars stand out brilliantly. Overall, the passage was not too bad when all is said and done.
Had some adventures and excitement with some of our gear along the way. The second night out about 8pm, the Monitor wind vane steering started to act up and after looking around and trying to get things back on course, we discovered that the rudder had broken off and disappeared. We retraced our steps a bit but quickly decided that there was very little chance of finding it in a 2-3 foot chop on a dark night. So we headed south again, hand steering which is not nearly as much fun as reading your book on watch. Paul slept on it and thought about a fix during his on-watch hours. At 5am, Paul came back on watch and Suzette went to bed. As soon as it got light, we hove to (adjusting the sails so you basically stay in one place) and Paul got out the power tools with a plan in mind. When Suzette woke up at 8am the cockpit was filled with wood and metal bits but we had a new rudder that looked like it would do the trick.
The Monitor has a vane that sticks up in the air that you adjust to the wind depending on the course you want to steer and this is connected to a rudder in the water that "steers" the boat, along with the regular big rudder, in the direction that you want to go. It was this rudder piece that we had lost. Paul had fashioned the new rudder out of a piece of alloy tubing from the roller furling system for the head sail and part of an old wooden cutting board that we had on board. Fortunately we had some long screws and a drill bit long enough to go through the 10 inches of cutting board. Combined with the battery operated Makita Drill (thanks Jack and Jean for bring the new batteries down) we were in business. We were amazed, and very thankful, with how well our new rudder worked, even in the bigger seas. The prospect of hand steering for most of the passage was not appealing although it certainly would have built up our muscles. We also have an electric auto pilot but we generally only use this when we are motoring and the seas are calm as it does not do as well with bigger seas, plus it uses power which the Monitor does not. Suzette is very fortunate that Paul is very good with his hands, mechanically inclined and sees this type of situation as a challenge and not an obstacle. It also brings out how important it is to be able to be self-reliant and creative out here.
Poor Altair was covered in salt from all of the spray that we took over the decks and was very happy to have a good bath once we tied up at the marina in Opua. We also had a bit of a cleaning project as the day before we made landfall, we discovered that the anchor windlass had dripped much of its crankcase oil on the v-berth cushions and things we had stored there. Not a pretty sight. Fortunately we had one last nappy (disposable diaper) on board that worked great to stem the flow along with some tape and a couple of plastic bags. Citrus-Solve has proven to be a fantastic in getting things clean. One thing we can say for life out here, is that it is always an adventure.
We saw more sailboats during this passage than other previous one. We sailed the last four days within sight of good friends on North Star who had the guys from Project Mayhem along as crew for the passage. It was fun to be close enough to chat on the VHF radio any time we wanted to instead of waiting for scheduled SSB radio skeds. Also made things fun one morning when we were really close and the boys were tweaking the sails to get the most out of the boats and racing each other. Also the number of other boats we saw, reminded us to keep a diligent watch at all times for other boats so we would not have any unwanted "bumps" in the night.
We are planning to spend a couple of weeks around the Bay of Islands visiting with cruising friends and Kiwi friends that we made last year. Then we will head down to Auckland by the beginning of December to be closer to the America's Cup action. Last year we arrived almost a month later and spent the Christmas holidays up here in the Bay of Islands, which are like the San Juan Island in the Northwest with a more pastoral feel. It's spring here with summer officially starting on December 22 and so Christmas in New Zealand tends to be more of a beach/BBQ holiday time rather than one centered around snow and being in front of a blazing fire. A bit like the American Fourth of July holiday meets Santa Claus. Last year we had a great time experiencing the full flavor of a Kiwi Christmas. Lots of boats, it was not uncommon for there to be 130 boats in the bigger bays each evening, but everyone tends to move around during the days so things are constantly changing. Kiwi's, we have discovered are not afraid to anchor multiple times in one day. Lots of people set up camp with big multi-colored tents on the various islands and whole tent cities seem to appear almost overnight. As we never saw big boats anchored off these camps, we were not sure how all the gear gets out there except perhaps in multiple trips in small boats. Will have to ask around to see how it is all done. But it was great to be a part of it and to see so many people out enjoying the natural environment. This year will be a bit different as we will probably be in the Auckland area. But we are sure it will be fun however it turns out.
Well hope this finds everyone well. Happy American Thanksgiving to all.
Cheers - Suzette and Paul