Where the road runs out... be the Dolphin Christ

Back in the land of Oz last night - and back to work/reality today.  All through the past few days since my Dolphin encounter on Saturday, I've had the words of this song running through my head... and I found it this afternoon, on Jason Garoncy's Blog:

http://jasongoroncy.com/2010/02/19/be-the-sailors-friend-be-the-dolphin-christ/

I can remember singing this in Aotearoa at a Baptist Assembly in Dunedin... beautiful song.

Where the road runs out by Colin Gibson

Where the road runs out and the signposts end,
where we come to the edge of today,
be the God of Abraham for us;
send us out upon our way.

Lord, you were our beginning,
the faith that gave us birth.
We look to you, our ending,
our hope for heaven and earth.

When the coast is left and we journey on
to the rim of the sky and the sea,
be the sailor’s friend, be the dolphin Christ;
lead us on to eternity.

When the clouds are low and the wind is strong,
when tomorrow’s storm draws near,
be the spirit bird hov’ring overhead
who will take away our fear.

Jason's front page also had this challenging artwork depicting the Last Supper  by Raoef Mamedov... I find it equally captivating and challenging.Raoef Mamedov's 'The Last Supper.' 

Our youngest son, Jonathan, was welcomed into membership at Mitcham Baptist last Sunday - a proud day for us as he continues his journey of discipleship.  We have never seen him as 'suffering' from Down's Syndrom and celebrate with him his many abilities.  He is and continues to be much more than 'a person with a disability.'  He is Jonathan - literally 'beloved of God.'

One commentator has written of Mamedov's work of art:

Sure, many people have interpreted this iconic image, but none made quite like this. Using models with Down's Syndrome, Raoef Mamedov forces us to question what our ideas of 'normal' are and whether to perceive people with the condition as 'sufferers.

I get by with a little help from my friends...

Saturday 18th April



Dawn on Saturday promised fair winds and a good day for sailing.  
I'd climbed the hill Friday afternoon to check the forecast - westerly 15 knots turning SW 20 knots in the afternoon.  Looked good to go.

I was the third boat to leave, and I weighed anchor soon after 0730 with a light westerly ghosting us though the heads.  Some strong katabatic winds around the high cliffs on the way to Cape Brett saw me first reef the main, then wind some turns in the Genoa as the wind continued to increase and turn northerly.  By the time I ranged off Piercy island it was blowing a full 20-25 kts and the seas were quite lumpy. 

Kalai seemed to relish the on the wind sailing, comfortably handling the conditions, but I was a little anxious as to what I might find around the point on a lee shore.

Sure enough the wind continued to increase and I listened again to the forecast ( If I'd heard it before I left i might not have!) Now they were issuing a strong winds advisory with 25-30 knots gusting 35, shifting to SW 25 kts after midday.

I had little choice but to continue - there, surprisingly, were no other boats out enjoying the autumnal breezes - not even any of the tourist vessels in sight...

A little apprehensive now, even though Kalai was still unperturbed I suddenly was startled by the loud "woosh" of a fast moving object a few feet away... first one and then a whole pod of dolphins swooped into my flank to reassure me that everything was OK - this was ideal weather for a bit of fun and play.  For the next hour or more we laughed and chatted as they swam alongside, literally within touching distance at times.  One in particular three times swam up close and then I swear winked at me as he barrel-rolled alongside the cockpit.  In twos and threes they sped upwind and would come hurtling back surfing in perfect symmetry as they shot under my bow.  

I was reefed down and doing 6-7 kts and they were doing several magnitudes faster, effortlessly and with amazing grace.

Absolutely marvellous - and what a gift of companionship and encouragement!.

I couldn't help but think back to Resurrection Sunday a couple of weeks back when my colleague Lynton sketched a dolphin at play as he told stories of the dolphin rescuing and saving people and of how the dolphin had come to be been seen since earliest times as a symbol of the Christ. The one who saves, the one who draws alongside, the one who guides us safely home.

Enough said!


Watch them here...

http://youtu.be/yd5qYss-QKA

From Rock 'n Roll to Paradise Revisited

Thursday 16th - Friday 17th April

Well, there was perhaps a good reason for the paucity of vessels in my general vicinity - we rocked and rolled all night as a gentle northwester pushed enough of a swell through the channel to disturb somnolence.  Well, I thought, sometime in the faint luminescence of pre-dawn, seeing as how I am awake I may as well get up and go for a constitutional row in Karuna. So I did.  Around the point to Awaawaroa bay - which I might add was calm as a millpond and obviously would have been a better bet last night!

Headed out north in a decent westerly only for it to gradually fade throughout the morning until I ended up motoring the last hour from Piercy Island into my favourite harbour, Whangamumu.  

What a gorgeous place it is, full of interesting little beaches, caves and coves.  I decided to stay for a couple of nights - an especially relaxing prospect with no phone coverage or even VHF reception.

I also reflected on my recent , or rather Kalai's recent need for a "high maintenance" regime. I had come away on this trip a little on edge about what would work (or not!) and found myself continually thinking about what needed fixing or some upkeep.  I needed to stop and just appreciate the gift she is to me and the provision of what is, in effect a quiet retreat space. 

I think sometimes we can see ourselves that way too - always worried about what needs to be done or wondering am I measuring up.  Sometimes we just need to know we are loved and appreciated!

So I did!   Spent Friday rowing, relaxing and reflecting...

Kalai second from the left... in Paradise

Sailed, swum, scraped

Wednesday 15th April

Early Wednesday 15th at 0740 I farewelled Opua for a mini-cruise down the coast, destination Whangamumu. Motoring past Webb on Gannet (his photo on the right) I headed north.  The promised SW was building so it wasn't a day to stretch too far.  The backside  of Moturua was my goal.

A nice reach out toward Cape Wiki Wiki and then in to the narrow entrance to Waiwhapuku (Army) Bay. A couple of cruise party boats were in the main bay so I kept on going to Otupohu bay - an idyllic setting with only room for one or two vessels in the narrow mouth.














































Rowed ashore to explore and found a grassy park-like domain, complete with fancy composting toilet, tank and even the kitchen sink plumbed in! Marvelous spot for camping.  The composting toilet was an engineering marvel - and no smell!

 I seemed like that Kalai had been for the best part of this past week a 'work in progress,' with lots of little jobs and maintenance - much like the way we often see ourselves!  Today was no exception as I felt that she was a little sluggish and slow under motor particularly and may have some passengers.

So I checked the water temp - a balmy 17.4 deg and decided it was most definitely wetsuit territory.  Armed with long handled brush, scraper, mask and flippers I set about remedying the underwater situation.


Sure enough there were oysters, coral and barnacles hitching rides on the hull and shaft/prop. So, with the ubiquitous seabird watching on I cleared the freeloaders with an exhausting series of breath-holding dives below, Disappointing especially to find hard growth on the prop shaft and prop itself - it seems like the 'magic' prop-speed coating had failed in the re-application last year.

At least Sal the Seagull appeared to enjoy the performance - or maybe it was a smirk at the welcome warm shower after some severe gyrations removing the winter weight  4/3 mm wetsuit that had appeared to have shrunk over recent years... maybe I've lost some flexibility necessary to adroitly manage the removal of the aforementioned abomination of tightness?



This final shot is one of the vistas from this part of the BoI (looking due north)- and one of the reasons "I love this place!"

Blustery day... jobs list depleted and a promise

The beans are ground and the stove top is bubbling... must be espresso time!

The beef curry left over from last night seemed to have improved with age - most satisfactory.  I even managed a quiet glass in the cockpit, albeit with thermals and a padded jacket and watched the sunset... complete with the visually spectacular 'no-flood' promise for tomorrow etched across the eastern horizon.


I thought of Ps 104 which I had read this morning...

You blanketed earth with ocean,
    covered the mountains with deep waters;
You set boundaries between earth and sea;
    never again will earth be flooded...

Lord, you have made so many things!
    How wisely you made them all!
    The earth is filled with your creatures.
25 There is the ocean, large and wide,
    where countless creatures live,
    large and small alike.
26 The ships sail on it...

Well, hopefully this ship will sail on it tomorrow!  The plan is to set off early tomorrow and see where the mood and the wind take me.

Sorry - a small delay while I retrieve the Whittakers dark chocolate to accompany the aromatic Tanzanian coffee.
By the time I showered, breakfasted and caught up with the news online it was almost time for morning coffee -  a quick coat of Toplac white on the oar blades and it was definitely flat-white time. Still, series of blustery squalls made painting between showers a challenge. Just got finished and had to race to put the lengthy oars under cover to dry - easier said than done at over 2.3m long!

Chatted to a bloke along the pier who has just arrived up with his young family in his immaculate and classic Cavalier 32 "Betelgeuse" - http://bluewaterboats.org/cavalier-32/ all the way from Nelson, if you please.  They had to wait out Cyclone Pam in Auckland and had another 10 day delay further south while strong northerlies persisted.  His plan was to sail back down the west coast but the delays have meant he is out of time and has arranged to put the boat on a mooring up here for the winter. Sensible move, I reckon.


Spent the afternoon finishing off some other jobs, filled the water tanks and a final 10 litres of fuel which filled the tank nicely - just enough diesel now to be able to motor to Auckland and back if one so desired!  While waiting to fill my small container I chatted to the skipper of the Fullers Cape Brett Cruise Cat - he apologised for the delay as he finished putting the last of the 800 litres of fuel (400 per tank).  I said "How much do you use each trip?"  "Oh, about 800 litres" he said.  I suggested he might need a reasonable payload of paying passengers to make it worthwhile for the Dark Side (aka Fullers/Great Sights monopoly).  He replied that they had had nearly a full contingent of 197 (at  $102 pp you do the maths!).  Anyway, turned out that they hadn't made it out there yesterday as 40 kts of SW meant that half the passengers were chundering and the crew was going crook at him as they bounced from wave to wave 'cause they were having to clean up!

Well, hopefully it will be a little less willing later this week and I can make it around to Whangamumu... we shall see.

Batteries, Buses, Birthdays and Ballunatix!

Batteries:

To the right is the last known sighting of the troublesome former 'house' battery... the bad news was that it tested as "Bad-Replace" after just four years of thrashing... the good news was that a direct like-for-like replacement was slightly cheaper than the purchase price in 2011.

It was nice to know that I wouldn't have to run the engine to keep the lights working after 9pm!

Buses:

So it was that midday on Saturday I shouldered my backpack and climbed the Opua hill to meet the Naked Bus once more. Destination was Whangaparaoa and a reunion with three of my old mates from Youth Group days.  The view from the bus stop is well worth the climb and even the 3.5 hr trip south didn't seem too bad.

Lorraine met me at the Albany terminus and we headed further down the highway to pick up Mike from his veterans soccer game (which, btw, they managed to let slip by conceding two goals in the last two minutes!)

Back to Whangaparaoa and down to Tindalls beach for an early evening dip - more than a little bracing in mid-April with, somewhat surprisingly,  no other partakers of the waters. It was, as they say, nice once you were 'in.'

Back to the Enrights for a feed and a relaxed evening of rugby-watching.

Busman's holiday:

Up early Sunday as Pastor Mike, bless his cotton socks, had dobbed me to speak at his local place of work(See below)




So I ended up attending two services and delivering two electives between the hours of 0830 and 1230 - spoke about the experiences of working as a Sports Chaplain with the Storm and it seemed to be appreciated. Bit tiring though!

Birthdays and Ballunatix:

Thirty nine years ago, four young lads formed a slightly silly and infinitely crazy musical/satire/fun quartet known as the Ballunatix.  Notorious at Easter Camps and even appearing on radio and TV at one stage we formed a lifelong bond as mates.  

Sunday lunchtime  Steve, Paul, Mike and I gathered to celebrate the 39th anniversary of our founding, and managed to incorporate Mike's 59th birthday with cake, ice cream and boysenberries to boot!

It was great to see each other again - we'd all had our share of ups and downs, health and family-wise but we laughed long and hard, reminisced and even lit some ancient fire-crackers Mike found in the pockets of one of our signature gabardine coats.

We resolved to not wait another 20 years to meet again and the invitation is for Melbourne in February for the next one of us to attain 59 years - c'est moi!  These are special friends and we seemed to be able just to pick up where we had left off years previous...

Back on the night bus and strolling down Opua hill late that night I thought - WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND!

PS - Below is Karuna with new seat extension... which works well! Just need to fit some inspection hatches - I don't like having 'sealed' compartments that may leak and fill up...

Sailing log and Karuna refinements

The chart shows the track from yesterday - the tacks are outward bound into the light Northerly.

A showery day today with a few more jobs ticked off between the fronts including:

• A messy epoxy job affixing the red gum strips, smuggled into the country, to the keel of Karuna.  Neatened up the seat extension and sealed with epoxy.
• Two strolls down to the fuel dock resulted in 20 more litres of diesel in the tank (I reckon two more trips will fill it).  Easier than trying to manoeuvre into the fuel dock and tie up on my own.
• A few other bits and pieces replacing a couple of clips and re-organising some storage.
• A visit to JB Marine and a chat to James about a couple of issues still to be resolved, including the possibility of a new house battery (which died again tonight - all of sudden dropping from 12.5v to 10.5v with just a few led lights on...).  The good news is he has one in stock and it is slightly less in price than the existing 4 yr old battery with its purchase price in situ!
• I'll need to fit the 80 amp circuit breaker  I brought over in January tomorrow to see if I can get power back to the anchor windless - raising the 35lb anchor in 15m of water yesterday by hand was almost enough to 'pop the phu-phu valve.'

Around dusk the wind finally dropped away (it had been blowing 25+ out in the gulf) and I jumped in Karuna for a spin down the channel. Finally getting sorted this rowing caper with long (15 feet) of oar width.  Does take some forethought in tight spaces!  Stroked down to the mooring and chatted with Webb before another shower sent me scurrying back to Kalai for a reprise of the Moroccan chicken cooked last night (tasted even better tonight!)

I had thought about visiting the OCC tonight but decided to have a quiet night - coffee and dark Whittaker's chocolate adding to the ambiance...

James is down in the morning in and then I'm off up the Opua hill at midday to catch the Naked Bus to Albany where I'll be met by Lorraine and spend the weekend at the Enrights where  the Ballunatix are reuniting Sunday for the first time in 20 years.  Should be fun!  Back on the bus Sunday 5:25 pm which should get me back in Opua in time to see Storm v Dragons at the OCC 9pm...

Next week is looking wet initially but a big high pressure system is forming out west that should bring some cracker weather from late Tuesday through the rest of the week.  Webb and I are planning a mini-cruise to either Whangamumu or Whangaroa depending on where the wind and whim take us!

Below is Karuna en route from Dargeville to Ngunguru on Tuesday - we had to stop for a spot of lunch outside Whangarei - Barrington is guarding the strategically parallel-parked Peugeot...

Sailed, rescued, rowed...

After a day of paying bills and sorting out 'stuff'  yesterday, it was time to go sailing today... so I did!

First there was the obligatory trip to the Chandlery to pick up some essential items, including a new pack of "Coastal" flares.  It turns out that the old pack had expired in 2007(!).  It seems a little wasteful having to spend $300 every three years, but I guess in the end it is no different than insurance premiums.  A little more epoxy to finish the additions to Karuna and an obligatory coffee at Di's cafe and I was 'out of here.'

Engine started smoothly and an outgoing tide pushed me down the estuary.  A little grey smoke but much smoother than previously means that it looks like the engine repairs have been effective.

6-8 knots of NW meant that two or three tacks saw Tapeka point close to starboard as I headed to the old favourite Roberton island for a late lunch.  Kalai even saw 6.2 kts a couple of times in less than 10 knots of breeze with Karuna in tow. She does sail well to windward! The new Genoa and re-cut main gave some very efficient 'slots' for effortless progress.

Anchored several hundred metres offshore in 12m of water - plenty of 'rode' to ensure a good holding.  A relaxed lunch was disturbed by a loud noise forward and I poked my nose out the hatch to be greeted by the sight of a 45 foot sloop trying to mate with my bow - What the?  Racing forward I had to first release my anchor rope which, 'naturally' was wrapped around "The Bozo's" rudder, then quickly grabbed his Genoa sheet while all the time trying to fend off this large vessel being blown against my hull.  I managed to secure the line to my stern davit and looked up to see a father and son frantically rowing their inflatable to the rescue - I reckon if the boat hadn't have t-boned me the next stop was Opunga Cove!  They wouldn't have caught up with her.

After the excitement I rowed ashore and lo and behold my alterations had worked on Karuna - I can now row her without resembling a contortionist!  Amazing what a differences a few more inches makes.  Walked up the hill to the lookout (in bare feet - having forgotten shoes in the excitement.)

Headed back at 1600 hrs with a dying NW breeze meant that I switched the motor on off Russell for the last few kms.  Looks like the house battery is on its way out - fully charged it now drops very quickly.

Arrived back in dock with no hassles as the last light faded around 1900 hrs...

Great day - great sail - great to motor with no alarms sounding!

Post Resurrection Perambulations...

Almost finished packing now and with an ETD of just before midnight on Easter Monday I'm ready to catch an early night before a busy few days...

Easter Services have gone well this year with some reflective and very creative input from a number of good people, including my Associate Julie who, like me has been struggling feeling a bit viral and below par.  Must be time for a break!

Meanwhile, my Mistress Kalai has been enduring the ministrations of mechanics as she has had some major engine repairs these past couple of months.  Turns out that she has had some complicated corrosions in nefarious locations due to lack of TLC (Turning Le Crank). So... new manifold, mixer elbow,  fuel pump, injectors and a head plane should mean she now purrs like a kitten - or at least gets me in and out of the marina!  Obviously I need to pay her more regular attention, but the tyranny of distance and the need to work are complicating factors.  Sounds like the boys at JB Marine are willing to fire her up regularly to obviate the need for additional and expensive surgeries.

So, I arrive in Auckland early (0515hrs) Tuesday, shuttle into town and hop on board the Intercity bus to Whanagarei.  B & R are meeting me there with car and trailer and we'll head across to Dargaville in order to pick up Kalai's new little sister - Karuna.  It turns out that 'Kalai' is in fact a Tamil name meaning "divine virtues" which I think is eminently appropriate in this circumstance!  

The name 'Karuna' means "tender" - which is also not a bad name for this little beauty...(the trailer is not included!)



Meanwhile, I have been preparing for this newest arrival  by the manufacture of some efficient means of propulsion by way of some 'Gaco' design Turbo oars.  It remains to be seen whether these will survive the car/plane/bus/car sandwich, but they are hopefully well enough put-together, packed and padded.  I've managed to get everything else into a small 8kg backpack this time - should mean the carrying of oars and bag is do-able, even for an ageing Rev!

So, it's Storm v Warriers at 5 pm then off to Tullamarine for the red-eye to Aotearoa.