Goldie has been sold..!

No more sailing for a while, our last couple of sails have seen Eileen a little green, as she has not been using the sea sickness tablets (Kwells) I bought in the UK.
As good a time as any to wind up what has been a epic couple of summers.  Its been a steep learning curve, and after much tweaking, and refinement, Goldie was sailing brilliantly, with easy to find upwind speed (5.2 knots ) hard on the wind, and easy 7 knots downwind surfing. We've both enjoyed sailing, but there was always some sort of drama every time we went out, minor or major like breaking the boom !
Goldie has a new owner, and I believe she's residing in the Whangarei trailer compound in Parua bay.
I've gone back to my surfing for a while, which is a little less time consuming (a little :-) )

Easter weekend sail

I was determined to get out this weekend, as we had to take the boat out of Half moon bay compound for the winter anyway, and 4 days was a good weather window. We trailered the boat up to Whangaporoa and launched from Gulf harbour. Well the forecast was looking bad, Saturday was very stormy and squally, with 30-40 knots. We had to delay by one day, but we got out over easter in conditions that had most boaties staying home. We had squalls of 25 - 35 knots, and 15-20 knots in between, for some great sailing. 

Worst ramp design ever..

New ramp, and new challenges! Terrible design of ramp with big concrete posts along the ramp jetty.. just right for damaging your boat. Turns out this ramp is pretty shallow (even on half tide), so getting the boat in far enough was a challenge compared to Half moon bay, as my trailer has bunks, so it requires floating off. My boat sits a little high on its bunks on the alumnium trailer, compared to a steel trailer, and although the draft is only 45cm, to get it floated off, you need more like 50cm of water. Bit of the car in the water, and several attempts got it off, using my not patented technique of reverse fast and jam on the brakes to slip and shift the boat off. 3rd time lucky, but the dock rope that Eileen was supposed to be holding on to got caught on the trailer, and on pulling the trailer out of the water, the boat got dragged back onto the ramp, ripping off the anchor cleat. Much shouting and blaming followed, but eventually we got out of the launch area (which is a square area surrounded by sharp volcanic rocks on 3 sides) , which is fairly unhelpful if your boat drifts :-( .

We had an eventful sail out, reefing while motoring out, with a strong 20 knots downwind reach initially, then a big reach up to Kawau island. We prepared for bad weather, with one reef, and the storm jib up (yes all 3.4m of it!)  Half way across this stretch of water, we got our first squall, with a bit of rain, and plenty of wind.  We were accompanied by two keelers, one slow one, which didn't seem to go upwind very well or fast, and one with full main getting ahead of us. When the squall hit, everyone was battling, with both keelers going sideways more than forwards during the squall, heeling wildly but Goldie was managable, due to our choice of reefing and with a bit of main luffing on the front edge. We were honking upwind though the squall !
The wind dropped once we got in the lee of one of the islands, then tacked once we got close to Kawau.  Sun came out, and we motored into safe harbour, at School house bay, finding a close anchor next to the dock. Anchoring proved to be more of a challenge than normal due to having no cleat to tie off the anchor rode, but we managed. Tired and ready for dinner at 6pm..  Eileen kicked into gear and made us dinner.. she's a star! One of the boats we sailed up with cruised by and commented on the fun sail up, he was watching us and our yellow boat all the way up..! Had a quiet night in School house bay, and some fishing in the morning, which was looking like shaping up to another windy one.

We relaxed on the boat, with the intention of going ashore and exploring. After lunch we got the dinghy ready, and rowed ashore. We wandered aroound and missed most of the rain, and squally fron that came through, while we watched from our high viewpoint on the island. Another night on the boat, and woke in the morning to a flat calm anchorage in the morning.   We made tracks early, with the forecast still looking ominous for the remainder of the weekend.

Schoolhouse bay in the morning

We were first out of the bay in the morning, with sun, and 15 knots from the west, making our sail a reach back across to the mainland. Encountered another squall, but was minor compared to the other day. I've uploaded a video of a small part of our sail back, I think you can see the squall in the distance..


The wind built through the morning, and eventually was strong enough once we rounded the point to head into Gulf harbour, we decided to shelter and drop the sails, and motor the last bit. 25 knots on the nose, and half an hour later, we were negotiating the ramp, with the wind swinging SW, which is a terrible direction for the ramp, with no shelter, and blowing you straight onto rocks or into the many concrete pillars along the jetty. Only one chance to get it right...With much luck and perfect timing of killing the motor and racing to the bow, and vaulting onto the jetty, I caught the boat and stopped its momentum. I felt like all our previous 'easy' launchings and landings at Half moon bay had prepared us just for this moment. With much relief we were back.

Day tripping with Kirsty and Paul + Maiya

Yet another day trip, this time we booked in Kirsty and Paul, who live out in Titirangi, so they are a fair way from the Hauraki gulf.  We didn't know how well 3 year old Maiya would manage a day out on the boat, but it turned out we didn't need to worry!
Fishing was best thing to do on the still morning, and with plenty of time to kill, we beached the boat at Motuihe for lunch, and killed some time.  The wind still hadn't turned up at 2, so we went out on the boat again, to try a different spot, and got the paddleboard out, and did some tow surfing ! I had to demonstrate how you do it, but then Kirsty was keen as to give it a go too.  Great fun. 

Soon after, the wind showed up, and we set sail in good 12-13 knots, and had a comfortable sail back to Half moon bay.  We cruised up the estuary, with a couple of J24's (24 foot One design racing keelers), and was very suprised that they couldn't keep up with Goldie, upwind! We couldn't point quite as high, in fact I reckon they were pinching a bit, but we put in only one extra tack, and they continued to lose ground to us until we dropped our sails.  Very satisfying.

 

 

"I want lots of snapper !"

 

 

 

"Daddy, I don't want the snapper, urgh take it away!"

 

Goldie, out of the water for winter

 

 

 

Day tripping - Rakino with Jess and Chris

Early start today, 8.30am, but no wind yet... Chris was keen, brought fishing gear, a wetsuit, dive belt, and spear gun in anticipation!
Motored out to the Motuihe channel, and fished for a while, then with promise of a light northerly, set sail for Rakino.  Reaching at 4.5 knots, we got there for a late lunch, and anchored in 18m of water, for some fishing. Chris went diving with his spear gun on the nearby islet reef.
We caught a heap of fish, including a couple of legal size snapper, almost a John Dory, and a bunch of smaller snapper, one on every drop of the lure!

We left Rakino late in the afternoon, 4pm, and set sail, in very light conditions (5-8 knots), no whitecaps, and once we lined up with Browns island, set the spinnaker, and ran all the way home, under spinnaker, all the way up Tamaki estuary, only dropping the spinnaker at the ramp. Epic day..

 

My friends on the helm, me on the bow...

 

The huge spinnaker run home

 

 

Snapper for a late dinner !

Day tripping - with old friend Mel



Pretty good day for fishing behind Motuhe, caught quite a few snapper with my slow jig jitterbug and squid bait!

New boom, new reefing setup..

The girls sailing the boat for me..

Coming up the Tamaki estuary in 12-14 knots, we totally smoked the other keelers which were lazily motoring up the channel, even though we were sailing upwind, and tacking.  Hit 6 knots reaching..Goldie was going well with perfect trim.. there were a couple of J24 boats following us up to Half moon bay, but they could not touch us for upwind or speed!

Back on the water - Day tripping - With my sister !

Chose the windiest day of the weekend, as that's when my sis could come out, did a Motuihe round trip, and stopped for some fishing at lunch, caught not much.  Sarah supplied a great healthy lunch !

Had a epic sail back. We prepared while still in the sheltered bay, and two reefs and storm jib got setup.  First time testing the new boom and reefing setup after we broke the old one.  The boom took a few weeks to get sorted, with new fittings, an internal 4:1 outhaul, and 2 reefing cheek blocks, and cleats at mast end of the boom.

Test reef on land.

Checking the length of the reefing line

 

Added the second reef line, ready to go. 7.5m of spectra used !

Added some flat s/s saddles which I carefully bent and twisted to enable them to be rivetted flat onto the boom.
They keep the reef lines in place.

We charged the channel, and Goldie was pointing super high upwind, with 25 knots of SW on the nose, and short waves washing over the bow of the boat ! Had a bit of water inside as the front hatch was not secure, but Goldie handled it really well, and was shooting upwind. made it back to the ramp in good time, even though the wind abated a little and we were slightly underpowered in the late arvo. A great day.

Day tripping - Jess and Chris - ending in disaster

Set out early today with fishing gear, and no plan of where we were going, but we ended up on the corner of Waiheke in a nice little bay for lunch, thanks to Jess and her awesome salad making skills (Wise Cicada health cafe lost a great salad maker !).   Hot day, great for a swim.


We left Waiheke at 3pm, and with the first reef in, we did a downwinder from Waiheke.  The wind was real strong compared to our sheltered bay, and we ended up doing 7 knots plus, before needing to do a ill planned jibe to avoid a reef, at which point the boom came across, and boom! the boom snapped, almost taking off Jess's head.

We continued sailing, but retrieved the sections of boom, and removed the mainsail, and chucked it all in the cabin to sort out at the jetty. Bit disappointing, but the booms on the F6's seem prone to failure, especially when carrying the spinnaker pole on them too.

Long uncomfortable motor home, and another job to do on the boat...  at least it didn't happen when we were on holiday...

Day 7 & 8 - Bay of Islands

Sailed with Dreadnought up to Kerikeri

Dreadnought, a Merlin 20ft Alan Wright design

We started the day super lazy, on a super sunny day, in the peaceful bay.  The boys on Dreadnaught took a while to stir, but after frying up  their standard eggs on toast, we all decided to do the upwind leg towards Kerikeri. The forecast was for up to 20 knots, so we setup a reef in the main, while still anchored. We motored out together, and set sail. Both boats were closely matched on the first reach, but the wind soon picked up, and as we hardened up on the wind, Goldie took off again, while Dreadnought (Merlin 20ft) languished behind us. 

Soon we had to make a decision, downwind past Motuarohia island or the more challenging tack up through the channel with Moturoa island on our starboard side. The wind cranked up in the passage, and we went high, serious short chop making for hard work, with the nose launching in the air and slamming down again, and sometimes ploughing through. looking back behind us, we saw Dreadnought struggling also, quite a sight as they bashed through the short swell coming though while all four of them were on the rail to get the boat upright. After 30 mins we made it through the passage and upwind, by this stage we were almost one kilometre upwind of Dreadnought, almost losing sight of them. We watched anxiously as they made it through th passage very close to the rocks, then reached off, and we saw them take down the sails and put up their storm jib, running for cover. 

We persisted for another hour, but eventually, the wind was blowing very hard, and with only one reef and the normal jib, unable to go forward and reef further safely in the seriously rough conditions, we turned  off the wind and reached into shelter of the island. Even behind the headland, the gusts were proving challenging as I brought down the sails.  We anchored in amongst a lot of foul ground, and rested, and had lunch and a snorkle, exploring the reefs nearby.  In the afternoon we saw the tallships sailing out from Opua, as we used the storm jib and motor to surf our way down back to safe harbour in Opua.  We hit 9+ knots surfing the incoming tide with the motor ! 

Absolutely exhausted and worn out, we headed back to the Opua pier and refilled water, and bumped into another Farr 6000 owner and his wife who raved about how good their boat was, having owned it for 12 years ! We anchored for the evening in Opua behind a little island, and has a peaceful night. 

 In the morning, I was awoken by splashing outside, and a blazing sunrise, and decided to try a bit of fishing using softbait.  Caught a few little fish, first time ever, on my $15 Kathmandu rod ! Woke Eileen, and she came out, and wanted to have a go too (in her Pjs!) .  After a slow start to the day, we had breakfast and prepared to go back to the ramp to trailer the boat home. A super hot sunny day had me sweating while we packed everything away for the 270km drive home.

Day 6 - Bay of Islands

Late to rise, but no hurry, as it sunny, and no wind, today is the day for sailing up to Cape Brett, and around the hole in the rock. We left the bay following Dreadnought, and we all put up our sails together, for the sail up the coast. Very little wind, so I switched us to the genoa, and setup everything for light wind.  We had a 2-5 knot northerly to start with, maybe the occasional 8 knots, and glassy patches on the water.  Amazingly calm conditions.
Photo

We followed Dreadnought for a while, but they seemed to want to sail out to sea, so eventually we tacked onto our own course.  We kept in contact by radio, which was pretty fun. My boat excelled in the light stuff, and after a while, we lost sight of Dreadnought. Helen made lunch on the way, and we took turns sailing and eating. Super light wind stuff, with glassy water..

We made it around the hole in the rock, in a light swell, at which point, Abram got sick, due to the heat from the sun, and the motion of the boat motoring. Best thing to do? Set the spinnaker, and that smooths out the motion of the boat downwind.  We all got a bit hot, and decided to take turns jumping off the back of the boat, and getting a tow from the boat, while under spinnaker. Awesome fun...
We made it back to Urapukupuku island, and that point we dropped Abram and Helen off, one night on the boat all together was ok, but 4 on my little boat is too much.
Quiet night on the boat (yeah!), another super sunny day expected to follow...