Return to Whangarei

Well, it seems Murphy has been watching again! We had high expectations of a favourable wind for the 43 mile passage to Whangarei Heads but for the whole distance we had a maximum of 6 knots of wind and that for only a short time. As well as that as we got closer to Whangarei the wind went ahead of us, neither of which condition was forecast. So, it was a relatively boring passage with the engine droning on for 8 hours! However, it was a pleasant day, albeit with a large leftover swell from the east. We came straight up the harbour to Marsden Cove Marina where we took on fuel after our circumnavigation of the Hauraki Gulf. It was pleasing to see that we only took about 150 litres so the old engine is fairly economical. We spent the night in the marina as the tide wasn't conducive to coming up to the Town Basin and had an early night.

The next day we had a slow start and then about 1130 left Marsden Cove and negotiated the entrance without hitting the bottom this time. We put the sails up as there was a light following wind and so this, combined with the flood tide gave us a respectable 4.5 knots over the ground. We had her goosewinged - that is the main with preventer out on one side and the Genoa on the other. We should have poled the Genoa out but for the fairly short time involved felt it wasn't strictly necessary. We gybed around Onerahi and soon after sailed past the Norsand slipway hoping that someone would notice this display of intricate seamanship! However, there was so little wind by that time that our forward motion was almost solely due to the failing floodtide so there wasn't anything to get too excited about. Then there is a left hand 90 degree bend to negotiate off Kissing Point. We crept around the bend and then decided it was time to furl the Genoa but the furling drum stuck and we couldn't wrap it up. So we hastily anchored and wrestled with it for a while until we dropped the sail on deck as an alternative to getting rid of it. Then we motored the short distance left to the Town Basin and we tied up on the courtesy berth right outside the marina office - very handy for the showers and washing!

We stayed there overnight and enjoyed the luxury of being able to walk ashore and get anything we wanted. Kranskys for example!! Hamish and Sara had been storing Gina's car and very kindly Hamish came to the marina to pick us up to collect the car. We had dinner with them and then drove back to the boat pleasantly exhausted.

The next afternoon at 1530 we left the marina as we were due to haul out on the top of the tide at 1600 at Norsand. Jim took the boat back down the river (about 20 mins.) and Gina drove the car down. The slipping and hauling went without incident and we are now positioned almost back in our old spot. Quite a case of deja vue although it's unlikely we'll drag the anchor here! It's been good to catch up with fellow cruisers we have met before as well as everyone in the boatyard. There's David and Mary on "Giselle" who have sailed from the UK and have decided to refit the boat here. We met them at Urquarts Bay a couple of months ago when they came alongside in their dinghy attracted by our Scottish flag. Mary is Scottish with a very recognisable accent!! And Tim (who is South African) on his catamaran "Camissa". He is having a very extensive refit done after having sailed here through the Carribean and across the Pacific. You can see a record of his voyage on his website www.sailcamissa.com

We are now well entrenched in the boatyard regime again and getting our heads around sanding and painting! There is unfortunately work to be done on the watermaker too which is disappointing after 2 visits to Opua recently but better to get it fixed here rather than worrying about its performance back in the water. But no doubt it will all get done in time for our departure north in about 7 week's time.

We'll let you know how the work is progressing.

Cheers again

J & J (G)