Sailed, Docked, Aotea bound...

Friday, October 31st

A beautiful cool morning with a faint mist on the surrounding hills as at 0730 we motored gently out of the dock en route to southern destinations.













A brief hello and goodbye to Gannet and Webb on the mooring before we motored smoothly down the channel towards Tapeka Pt. Turning east we continued to motor past Roberton island and towards Cape Brett where a faint westerly started to fill in.

We motored past a huge flock of frantic sea-birds (Fluttering Shearwaters?), several thousand strong, as they dived and swooped below the surface to feed, surface, re-group and dive again.

Rounding Piercy Island we raised Herbie the Gennaker and headed south in a strengthening breeze.  Speed rose to over 8 knots at times before the gennaker became overpowered and we swapped to the new 135% Genoa.  


On past previously possible destinations of Whangamumu, Bland Bay and Whangaruru we ripped along in a consistent 15+ kt westerly at 6.5-7.5kts.

A quick call to Dylan at Tutakaka marina booked a berth for the night and by 1645 we were dousing sails and lining up the markers for the narrow passage into the harbour. 50.5 nautical miles (94 kms) at an average of 10.1 kph (5.5kts) was a record for us - a great days sailing!

Tying up at C16 we rang Barry and Ruby in Ngunguru to invite them over for dinner - they were just on their way out for the "Fish and Chips" meal with friends and promised to drop over afterwards.

A fine Pinot Noir with "Poor Knights" pizza selection from the local cafe went down well.  

B & R arrived around around 2100 hrs for a Peppermint tea and chat - they both looked well and we had to shoo them out at 2230 so we could get some sleep!