Notes about NZ

We continue to gather reasons for being glad we are here. The other day the weather report said that winds off the coast had reached 70 kts! When we were in Nuku'alofa we met another boat, Wandering Star, and the other day we heard that they had left there for here and had been out for two weeks. We haven't heard of their arrival yet.

The landscape here is very green. There are pines and other evergreens, but there are also tree ferns 20 feet tall with 8 in. trunks as well as clumps of bamboo. The other day we took a bus to Kawakawa to visit a vintage railway operation. After seeing their rolling stock and steam locomotive I walked along the abandoned grade to the south and it felt just like WA west of the mountains. It is late Spring here so there are many flowers.

During the summer of 2001 I circumnavigated Vancouver Island in WR, a trip of 50 days. In a small bay on the west coast of the island I met a couple on a boat similar to WR named Heidi. We parted ways and they proceeded down the west coast to Panama, the Galapagos, and the South Pacific. During the intervening years we have been reading their accounts via e-mails similar to these. So day before yesterday I was looking at boats in the distance, spotted one similar to WR, and with the binocs saw that it was Heidi. We connected and they came to dinner last evening. The world is not as large as we sometimes think.

Today we left our slip for a mooring out in the bay, which will be much cheaper than the slip. A number of boats near us are ones we met many months ago. The boat just within speaking distance is Calliope, the boat that was just ahead of us when Tom and I crossed from Mexico, and a little further away is a junk rigged British boat being single-handed that we met in Hiva Oa.

Tomorrow we are being given a ride to shore where we will catch a bus to Auckland. We will stay there a few days and then fly to San Francisco, where we will arrive on the same day that we departed NZ and at an earlier hour than our departure. This will be the last installment from us until our return here in early Feb.

Kit and Susan

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WR is in New Zealand

Our apologies for leaving you while in mid passage at the end of our last episode. The wind continued light but we stopped motoring because of our finite amount of fuel. We tried sailing but could hardly make any distance toward NZ. Then on the seventh day the wind shifted to the N at 5 - 6 kts. We decided to try the spinnaker. We flew that for 3 hours and made 4 kts in that light wind. It was great - we were even headed in the right direction. Then the wind increased: 28 kts from the E. The spinnaker came down and for the next 30 hours we rocketed S. At dawn on the 9th day there was NZ. As we entered the beautiful Bay of Islands we radioed the authorities advising them of our arrival, inflated fenders, rigged docklines, and set up the anchor. As Susan has said, the hills in this area look like the best of Marin and Sonoma counties. They are green and we understand that they never turn brown.

We are currently in a slip at the marina at Opua, and it has been interesting comparing notes with other boats that have come from Tonga. Some boats had winds over 40 kts on the nose. Two NZ boats took two weeks for the passage. One boat with two little kids aboard encountered winds over 60 kts; they were worried that they might not make it. Tied across the dock from us is Sanuk, the boat that rescued Tandem. They told us that the Tongan authorities were not interested in a report from them about the rescue, but that the authorities had wanted to fine them since they had been cleared to depart Tonga when Tandem got into trouble.

Opua is a tiny town with one restaurant and one small grocery store. There are boats everywhere and many shops to serve boaters. Our mainsail is now at the sail loft being repaired. We also need to have our stern pulpit repaired after it was struck by another boat while we were moored in Bora Bora. Our brightwork needs sanding and varnishing, but we will do that after we return in Feb. There are abandoned RR rails here and we have heard of a functioning steam locomotive at a nearby town. So, clearly, NZ is not without interest.

We are preparing to leave for a trip home for two months. We'll spend four days in Auckland and fly to S.F. the evening of Dec. 6. We'll cross the dateline, arriving the morning of Dec. 6! We look forward to spending the holidays with family and friends.

Kit and Susan

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WR leaves Tonga

As we worked our way S through the Hapai Group our last stop there was at Kalafesia. The anchorage was small - about ten boats, and we all had a potluck on the beach. One of the boats there was Tandem, a Tayana 48, from Wash. D C. We had met the couple aboard in Bora Bora and we chatted with them again at the potluck. We left the next day for Nuku'alofa while Tandem planned to come later. At about this time Bob McDavitt, the NZ weather guru announced that now is the time to head for NZ. As we entered Nuku there was a veritable parade of boats headed out and S. We couldn't join them since we had to wait several days for Paul, our new crew member, to join us. We also had to take on provisions, water, and fuel and to go through the check out process with the authorities.

So one day we wake up to terrific winds - 40 kts, and WR is flailing away at anchor. Late that afternoon we hear Nuku radio broadcast that an EPIRB has been activated, that it belongs to Tandem, and they are about 25 miles to the N. Next we hear an Orion aircraft of the NZ Air Force conducting the search. A British sailboat, Sunouk, with 3 men aboard, set out from Nuku to go to the aid of Tandem. We heard the conversations between the Orion and Sunouk as well as their words to Tandem on VHF 16. Sunouk went out in appalling conditions: they were heeled to 45d under no sails, had winds up to 50 kts, and encountered 10 meter waves. Tandem had been dismasted and some rigging was caught in their prop so they couldn't motor. They were towed in to Nuku the next day by Sunouk. Tonga had no boat available suitable for the job. The last we heard everyone was well and the folks on Tandem are looking for a way to ship her to NZ for repair.

After dealing with all our chores and against this backdrop and without any blessing from a weather guru Paul and I raised anchor at noon Nov. 2 and headed S for NZ, 1100 miles away. Susan remained behind to fly to Auckland on Nov. 5. For the first two days we were on a close reach with winds to 24 kts, rough seas, and spray raking the boat and slamming into the dodger. Below it sounded like we were sailing over boulders. The third day the winds decreased and the sailing was quite pleasant. Today, the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth days we have been motoring in seas that undulate like the surface of a waterbed under 3 kt winds. Last night we crossed from the W hemisphere to the E and we are now at 27d 30'S, so we are about halfway there. We have been advised of possible strong weather ahead, but we might welcome that to having to motor. We are looking forward to arriving in NZ.

Kit (and Susan)

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