Two glorious days... with family and friends

 Saturday Sep 12th

Ali, Amy and Ash Day!

Sunday Sep 13th

Barrington, Raewyn and Steve...

Sailing log

0815 Tue 8th Sep

Reversed quietly out of the berth into a clear morning with gentle southerlies.  I wanted to give the engine a good run so motored through to Tapeka Pt. and headed east toward Roberton Island.

A gentle SW breeze accompanied morning coffee and I coasted under Genoa toward Paroa Bay.  I can remember coming in here last summer with about 50 other boats present... this time it was blessedly clear.  Except of course for the multi-million dollar homes dotted across the foreshore!

Rowed ashore and explored the rocks around the point - some great rock pools and caves.  A quiet afternoon seemed to be called for with little breeze for any decent sailing so read, slept and pottered around cleaning and lubricating some of the stainless fittings.  I've come to observe that a boat's life is a lot like mine.  A gradual and constant state of entropy ensures a constant need for care and maintenance! It does seem like that those components which are regularly used and exercised seem to stay in better condition...

The 'Tucker Thompson' motored in late afternoon with what looked like a crew of adolescent boys (confirmed by the mandatory squealing-accompanied swim the next morning!)

A quiet night with almost no movement, even though the bay is open to the north it is sheltered by the intervening row of islands.

Only one of the shore mansions was lit that night - as was every tree illuminated on the large property!

Wed 9th Sept

Next morning was still calm and a morning row with post-coffee was welcomed and as a light northerly kicked in I tacked NE toward Urupukapuka, undecided where lunch was to be held.  Tucker Thomson came motoring past to anchor in Paradise Bay, so that decided the destination as I continued around the point to the next bay, Entico.

 A post-priandal stroll meant a short row into the delightful bay - divided as it is in three sections and delightfully calm tucked under the lee of the north side.


The whole island is part of the Ipipiri Island song project  and this island in particular has been pest free since 2009, though as I found out, it is an ongoing mission.

 I walked up the North side track and followed the route to Akeake bay - a bay I had not been to before tucked in to the north side and a delightful spot.


That grassy slope of luxurious kaikoura took some work - especially coming back up!  I bet the gnarly old Pohutakawa sentential at the top of the hill could tell some tales...












 On the way back I caught up with one of the DOC workers on patrol with his trust foxy cross terrier.  High viz coat and a muzzle meant this was a working dog and sure enough, he was a trained 'ratter'.  Turns out part of the mission to re-stock the bird life involves making sure incursions by 'rats who swim' are ferreted out quickly.  The terriers are part of the watchful brief and a necessary one.  Just this year a large Norway rat was caught near the dam - it took the team 3 months to get him in a trap.  They DNA'd him and found that he had come from offshore - probably a visiting boat.  These rats can tread water for up to three days and swim several kilometres - including from the mainland.

It was great to see some grey teal and reef herons around the foreshore and DOC are deliberately reintroducing species that formally inhabited this area - many of which are sourced from Tiritiri which has been pest free for some time now.Spotless crake and Saddlebacks are two more of the pairings reintroduced along with fern birds and some Kokako pairs.  There is a great walk along the foreshore and low bushland that takes you to the dam.

Post lunch and weighing anchor into a strengthening northerly meant a magnificent reach/run all the way back up the harbour to the Opua wharf, finally dousing the mainsail off the marina attenuator.

Managed to catch a glimpse of the repaired green clad 'Westwind' on her mooring - well done Carol and Paul!

Sailed at last!

Two delightful days spent with the very slippery Kalai around the Bay - lots of stories to tell and will post more photos tomorrow.  

Back in the marina with rain due in the morning:(

Weekend is looking promising, though...

R Tucker Thompson gliding in to join me in Paroa bay

The thin yellow line...

It may not look far as the Tui flies, but to me the yellow line represents four days of satisfying work as Kalai made the short trip this afternoon from Doug's Boatyard back home to the Marina - albeit in a slightly more roundabout fashion than my track indicates...

Last jobs today included replacing the sacrificial zinc anode on the prop shaft (to counteract electrolysis) and final coats of anti foul on the rudder stock repair.  Should be good for another 18 - 24 mths.  Yeehah!

Made friends with Carol and Paul over the past few days as they laboured to repair an ageing plywood ketch, 'Westwind'.  Carol's husband (and Paul's Dad) is on his "last legs" according to them and is has not been able to maintain his pride and joy for a number of years.  They have spent nearly two months grinding out rot, glassing and repairing seams etc etc.  A labour of love (for husband and Dad) in order to get the boat at least presentable enough to sell.  Paul estimates they have taken 1.5 tons of gear off the 45ft ketch already (with more to come) and she rides 4cm higher in the water!  A timely reminder about the need for regular maintenance, I reckon.  Also a reminder of how much pleasure my Mum and Dad gained from their early years of retirement when they bought 'Roaring Mac' (a Noelex 25) - and anchored her one summer in the same bay (English Bay) as where 'Westwind' is due to return tomorrow.  

I hope that I'll know when the time is right to relinquish the dream of sailing and not hang on for too long... but for now I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to experience the beauty of God's creation in this marvellous cruising ground.  

In the meantime water tanks are full, Karuna dinghy is loaded and up early tomorrow and sailing, Lord willing,  for two days (before the next front arrives!)  

Progress can be followed at http://my.yb.tl/davidson31kalai/

Grace and work(s)...

Today's insight from Buechner seemed appropriate given the experience of the ups and downs of the past two days...

Thursday 3rd September

Up early Thursday to haul out at the unique and picturesque 'Doug's Boatyard' on a clear and beautiful Spring morning.  A big Spring tide of 2.7m was due at 1050hrs so haul-out was timed for 0900 on a rising flood.  A delay meant hanging on a mooring while Doug hauled the "Miss Brett" launch for a quick inspection - time for a coffee and to enjoy the environs.  Doug's is located in Walls Bay just far enough north-west of the Opua wharf to grant it's occupiers a sense of peaceful isolation from the hustle and bustle of the main Opua port.  400m of sonic distance means that even the ubiquitous and regular vehicular ferries fade into the distant background buzz of port life.

All go again at 1100hrs as I manoeuvred Kalai judiciously into the waiting cradle while Doug zipped back and forth in the work boat adjusting cradles and supports to ensure my mistress was firmly planted when the long tow uphill began. He's a little genius, is Doug, and manages to perfectly centre our acutely angled keel on the wooden blocks as a surprisingly clean yacht emerged from the tide.

My efforts in regular scraping and brushing these past couple of visits seemed to have paid dividends as the underwater hull is nowhere near as foul as I anticipated - especially given the accelerated marine growth of a warm summer past.

A quick water blast, a bit of scraping work and my anticipated wet-sand was abandoned as unnecessary this time.  By 1400hrs I was applying the first coat of new anti foul and the unseasonably warm day (19deg) meant that by 1700hrs I had two coats completed and the old girl was looking mighty fine!

Living aboard at Doug's is like going back in time - these historic boatyards are becoming dinosaurs as the corporate players lock up the marine maintenance business with their slick corporate efficiency and claimed expertise.  I like the unhurried pace and old-fashioned nature of this operation - and like to support Doug, who has had more than his fair share of opponents these past dozen years or more...





Time for celebratory drink then a quick shower, the last helping of beef curry (still good) before trundling off to the OCC to watch the late night hammering of the Broncos by the Mighty Storm!

Friday 4th September

A leisurely start due to the late hour of retirement... walked over to JB's and picked up Victor (who was feeling a little lonely and neglected)... promise of rain due to arrive in the afternoon meant pressing on with the other tasks...

But, as it happens, there is always a joker in the pack where boat maintenance is

concerned.  The good news was the cutlass bearing was still in reasonable shape (holding the prop-shaft in place) but in checking the rudder bearings I noticed some play in the bottom support/skeg. The copper(?)boot fitting on the skeg had loosened and would need to be re-anchored ('play' in a rudder support is not a good thing...)  James came over and we tried to suss out how this 'boot' was attached - it was not immediately obvious and fixings may well be buried under several layers of filler/paint.  Nothing for it but to scrape away the layers and find a solution.  After some head-scratching we resolved to add some layers of fibreglass to the base and re-anchor the blighter. 

By now the drizzle was persistent and I spent the afternoon scraping and sanding tucked under the stern while the run-off coursed down the rudder and wetted the 'need to be dry' section... Hopefully this front passes through overnight and the day is fine enough to get the repairs done - otherwise I might be high and dry a little longer than anticipated. 

Doug is due back Monday to splash me back in - I may or may not be ready by then...

The good news is the weather is due to improve next week as a high pressure system slowly moves across.  I'm hanging out for some sailing time - as has been famously said: "A yacht in a harbour may be safe, but that is not what yachts are built for..."

Time to hit the sack as the thunder booms around the bay and the barometer continues to fall!

This is the day...

Great quote from Frederick...

Frederick Buechner

19 hrs · 

Quote of the Day: Today

It is a moment of light surrounded on all sides by darkness and oblivion. In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another just like it and there will never be another just like it again. It is the point to which all your yesterdays have been leading since the hour of your birth. It is the point from which all your tomorrows will proceed until the hour of your death. If you were aware of how precious it is, you could hardly live through it. Unless you are aware of how precious it is, you can hardly be said to be living at all.

"This is the day which the Lord has made," says Psalm 118. "Let us rejoice and be glad in it" (v. 24). Or weep and be sad in it for that matter. The point is to see it for what it is, because it will be gone before you know it. If you waste it, it is your life that you're wasting. If you look the other way, it may be the moment you've been waiting for always that you're missing.

All other days have either disappeared into darkness and oblivion or not yet emerged from it. Today is the only day there is.

Sitting here tonight after a busy day ticking off the maintenance tasks that are always present... Kalai is in good shape after a pretty cold and wet couple of months.  Looks like I had the best of the early winter late June - it's been crap over here ever since!

• Rode Victor around to Doug's to arrange haul-out (Thursday 0900)
• replaced the two grotty fenders that needed renewal and re-inflated two others...
• obligatory morning coffee at Di's...
• picked up the little outboard from JB's after the miracle worker Peter located the fault that was causing it to flood - corrosion around the needle in the carb (not a stuck float as previously thought). An hours labour later and it goes like a bomb on Karuna.  Tootled up the estuary to Doug's boatyard and back.  Didn't miss a beat.  Excellent!  Little boat and little motor all set for Samuel!!!
• Spent the afternoon dodging showers and fitting the dinghy wheels - really needed longer arms or extra hands!  Lower back especially did not appreciate the long periods of crouching, reaching and fiddling.  Had to hand cut 8 stainless bolts to size - fortunately the little cordless grinder was a ripper for this. First though, fix the vise, free the caulk in the sealant tube, find centre on the dinghy stern, dodge more showers...
• Fitted dinghy on the rack and returned Victor to his loft at JB's
• Met up with Marie and Julie again ( Owner and builder of an impressive 25m Aluminium hulled yacht 
• 'Blazing Shadz' and an interesting character) at the OCC (Opua Crusing Club) tonight - but managed to escape Ces and the Darts night... opted for a shower and a quiet night.  The beef curry was definitely improved re-heated.  Even have enough for another night.
• Next couple of days will be a little more rigorous with scraping, sanding and re-painting (probably while dodging more showers).  This week has been deja vue: I'm re-living the several low pressure systems I managed to 'enjoy' in Melbourne lat last week... glory days!  Another front due tonight with 35kt westerlies.  Hopefully a little less at Doug's in the morning... Then 36 hours of relative calm before the next front noon Friday. 
• However, next week promises some improved prospects... and I'll be back in the water with a clean bum!