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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