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...

Day 5 - Bay of Islands

Big day today, had to get hold of Abram and Helen, who we planned to pickup from Opua, and spend the night with.  Cellphone coverage was so poor, and we were killing time during the day until we heard from them.  We stocked up on water and supplies, and although the weather was quite unsettled, there was still plenty of sun. By 11 we were ready to sail, but squalls with building wind meant motoring over to Urapukupuku was the best plan. A few showers later, we arrived, Abram knows the bay of islands well, and we agreed on picking them up from a bay on the mainland closest to Uruapukupuku Island, as that was where we planned to sail from the following day.  Picked them up ok, then back to Urapukupuku for the night, and hanging out with the other trailer sailer crew, on Dreadnought, a Merlin 20ft. A long night of not a lot of sleep, but great evening and morning sun.