Summer plans

Well, the boat is almost ready, never ending little bits to do, to improve it, but axles should be back on the trailer next week, and I've been thinking and discussing what to do over summer.  I'm not going to be out every weekend this summer, if its good surfing, I'm dropping everything and going.  I'll leave the boat for the onshore crappy days!

• The NZ trailer yacht nationals are coming up on 9th November, so all going to plan, should be able to head down to Rotorua/Lake Rotuiti for the weekend, to meet some other Farr 6000 owners, and refine sailing technique for these boats. 
• Sail up to Kawau - a possibility on a long weekend with favorable weather. Would really like to install a Raymarine ST1000 autopilot when doing long legs of sailing, time permitting. It is a 30 nautical mile journey each way.
•  New years - Bay of Islands - trailer up to Opua, and week long cruise around Bay of islands, Cavalli passage, Whangaroa, and around hole in the rock at Cape Brett, and down to Whangamumu harbour, weather permitting. Stopping to Opua for supplies.

This summer, I will be GPS logging my speed, and have a speed sensor setup so I can track our sailing speed and progress.
My boat has a hull speed of 5.85 knots, so in ideal conditions, Kawau in 5 hours is possible. It could also take 8 hours !!  The Farr is a semi-displacement design, which straddles the line as far as light wind performance and stronger wind planing. It can be forced to go over hull speed, and I've heard up to 10 knots (22km/h)  driven hard is possible. More likely is a mix of reaching @ 6 knots and upwind of 4 knots in most conditions. When there is too much sail up, the beamy Farr can start dragging, and can be crawling @ 3 knots when sailed on its ear !  With the lighter outboard, I'm expecting Goldie to sail a bit cleaner, with less turbulence from the stern, very noticeable with four onboard.