Back to the Bay of Islands

Here’s another mind over matter issue with which The First Mate must live – or maybe it is more a physics issue which, if that’s the case, means there is no hope for her. The fact is that she likes her body upright. She does not like it swinging around, off balance or in anyway askew. She does not like taking a corner on 2 wheels in a car. She does not like to even watch the Indy 500. She does not like roller coasters. The thought of riding one makes her palms sweat besides the fact that it takes very little wayward movement to make her nauseous. Thus, it requires little imagination to figure out how she is on a sailboat. She likes it level which is not how a sailboat sails. She does not like being at more than a 10° angle on a heeling boat. Her body can build itself up to taking on 15°, but more than that causes a stomach-churning, acid-burning angst. Unreasonable she knows. Paranoid she may be. All 18 tons of Avante with its very heavy 9-foot lead keel is not going to fall over in the water. She knows that, but tell an acrophobic to climb a ladder or an arachnophobic to hold a spider. Neither is going to happen. In other words, she is not The Captain’s dream of a sailing partner, but it’s what he’s got.

Thursday, April 25th – It’s 55nm back to Tutukaka from Port Fitzroy here on Great Barrier Island. That equates to about 8 hours of sailing. Raising anchor at 0830, we are on our way. While still in the shelter of Kaiaraara Bay, we start to raise the main but are foiled by the flukey winds coming over the ridge. Forget that idea. We move out into the more open area of Port Fitzroy, and with the wind flowing unhampered, we raise the main sail. After we go through the passage into Port Abercrombie, the jib is put out, but the winds remain flukey as they swirl through the cuts in the hillsides. Uncomfortable at the helm, The First Mate gladly hands the wheel over to The Captain. After we leave Port Abercrombie and get away from all land mass, the winds steady out at about 15 kts. Autopilot is enabled, and we enjoy a comfortable sail all morning and by noon are passing the Mokohinau Islands. Winds have begun to drop, and by 1230, they are down to 8 – 10 kts. With our speed slowing as a result, we realize that, at this rate, it could be dark when we arrive at the rock-strewn, narrow entrance into Tutukaka. This will never do.

.

.

And The First Mate? Wedged into a corner of the cockpit, gritting her teeth, but alert to spring into action if needed, she endures. As if it’s not enough to just watch the water rush by the gunnels, she can’t resist an occasional glance at the inclinometer which confirms what her body already knows. Well over 20° of incline, closing on 30° more often than not, this is not her kind of sailing, but seeing him so involved, so happy, she cannot protest. With The Captain at the helm, she knows the boat is sailing just fine. She may not like it, but she knows.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

It is not far to our next anchorage, but we do not want to tow the dinghy. Now with our brand new dinghy davits, it is a breeze to lift the motor up and onto its holder on the side rail of Avante. Protected from the wind at the aft end of the boat, raising the dinghy to the top of the davits is quick and easy. Even The Captain grudgingly admits that, in these winds and bouncing around on the unsettled water, this stowing of dinghy on the new davits was far easier than the struggle it would have been to get the dinghy onto the bow of the boat.

The wind is blowing down the coast and sailing north into it, we have to tack well out to sea. Just at dusk, we drop anchor in Whangamumu, the site of an old whaling station. We have been here many times where ashore the old ruins of the whaling operation can be explored, and there are several interesting hikes up and around the area. This will be one of our last anchorages before we return to the marina to get ready to go to New Caledonia. We hope to spend a day or two here. Unfortunately, the weather turns. With intermittent, chilly rain, we hunker down on the boat for Sunday.

Monday, April 29th – Cape Brett lies between us and the Bay of Islands. The weather forecast predicts fairly strong winds today, and we will be heading right into them as we round the cape. But tomorrow should be worse, and we want to get back to the marina to say good bye to friends who are heading off to Fiji. It’s the kind of day that no sailor really wants to be out in if she can help it. It’s cold and wet out in the cockpit. Dressed in warm layers with rain gear handy, we motor out and turn north. With the wind pretty close to our nose, we are forced into motoring around the cape. Once around, we raise the jib and sail to Albert Channel. When we get within the shelter of the islands, the seas settle down, and though still cold, at least it is not raining. It’s only a short distance now to Opunga Cove where we plan to anchor, but with dark clouds looming in, we know we are in a race to beat the rain. Winds are supposed to be good for us to be anchored in the cove for tonight, but right now, it is better for us to anchor in Pippi Bay across from the cove. Just as we are getting set to anchor, that threatened rain finally catches us. Wiping drops from our eyes, we complete the anchoring, check that all is secure and head below out of the wet. Later in the afternoon, with the anticipated wind shift, we move over to Opunga Cove for a quiet night’s sleep.

.

After lunch, we walk over to the dock where s/v Whistler is berthed. Margie and Monty are also leaving tomorrow. To Fiji they are going as are a lot of other boats, but they also plan to show up in New Caledonia in October. It’s a sad thing to be parting from so many friends, but reassuring to know we’ll be meeting some of them again “down the ocean road”, as The First Mate likes to say.

.

.

.

Thursday, May 16th – A busy two weeks whizzes by with final details for departure. During this period, The Captain makes a quick trip back to the States and flying alone, he is able to use milage. The First Mate just shudders when she sees his itinerary which detours through Australia and includes an horrendous 15-hour flight, the longest even he has ever been on a plane.

Upon his return, we start looking for that sometimes elusive weather window to sail to New Caledonia. To our delight, a rather long one opens. We’re gearing up to leave by Tuesday, May 21st, but as we get closer to that date, with the forecast becoming more dependable, it looks like Saturday, May 18th will work. Can we be ready? Yes, all that needs to be done is to have a diver scrape the barnacles off the bottom. That is scheduled for Friday afternoon. Can we check out with Customs on a Saturday? Yes, at this time of year with so many boats waiting for weather windows and queuing up to leave, they will schedule us for a 9:00 check out this Saturday morning. We’ll be under way by 10:30.

Good to go, and so we go! 900nm to Nouméa, Nouvelle Calédonie.