Beleive it or not the cruising and boating life if terribly busy. Hence my lack of blogs posted.
Once Kilkea II was back in the water it has been fun with a few boat jobs thrown in. There is always something to fix or take a look at in case it is in need of fixing and then have to fix something that was not broken in the first place. Anyway all fixes are done to this date.
We had a fun couple of weeks with the Volvo yachts arriving in |Auckland on their round the world race. We watched most of them arrive with Team New Zealand Camper arriving only 90 seconds behind Telefonica after 6300 miles of racing from China. We spent two days in Auckland with John and Pam (Passages) downtown enjoying all the fun things to do with the race generating a week long party. Next Saturday for the inport race we viewed it from the Royal New Zealand Yacht squadran club right by the bridge with great views of the race out the windows and on the deck to the live tv coverage inside with a cold beer in hand. Great fun and fun people. The next day was windy and wet and we watched the boat leave from the hill above the marina. It was a tough start with winds up and above 60 knots. One boat had to return as it broke a bulk head and then restart 24 hours after the rest. On its second start she had to shelter behind one of the island in the Haurki Gulf as the winds were in excess orf 60k and this is a boat heading for Brazil through the southern oceans!! As I write this another of the boats (Sanya) has had to turn back to NZ and Camper has broken something in the boat and has slowed down. This race is more about survival than anything and the crew must be terribly fit both physically and mentally. It has given all of us yachties a lot to talk of as we understand a little of what they are experiencing.
The car when up for sale the last week here and we sold her for pretty much what we paid for it a year and a half ago so pretty good value. That was on Wednesday and we untied from the dock and said farwell to Gulf Harbour and set sail for Kawau island for a couple of nights then to Marsden Marine to check out of the country with customs/immigration tomorrow morning. Then it is off for the big blue and our crossing to Australia. We hope to make Brisbane in 8 days and right now the weather window looks ok so we are hopefull. Always when you leave on a major passage we have butterflies and concerns but know that once underway things settle down. Next posting from Australia.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
March already?
The best thing about a road trip is to come home. We were both pleased to be able to just stay in one place and eat home cooked food and sleep in our own bed. Now we started on the list of boat projects which for a change are not that long but always take five times longer than you expect. The main job was to redo the bonding system which required a new copper strap and then connecting about twelve or so ground wires to it. A few days for that one! Then looking at the topsides on Kilkea II we were shamed into doing a complete wax job as the sun and lack of ozone down here contributes to tremendous wear and dulling on all the fiberglass and paint and probably to us as well. A few more days work.
There were a few more small things up to the 11th of Feb when Henry and Elaine arrived for a weeks visit. Henry is Marians nephew who is a doctor in norther Ireland and Elaine is a O.R. nurse, who are looking ahead and are thinking of this type of lifestyle. We had a wonderful week with them sailing around Waiheke Island then over to Coromandal, on the peninsula of the same name where we celebrated Valentines day, then back to Waiheke and up to Kawau Island before returning back to Gulf Harbour. Elaine enjoyed driving the boat and hand steered most all the time and seemed to enjoy the challenge while Henry sat back and enjoyed the view. We had some great meals on the BBQ and lots of help in the galley. Elaine even managed to catch her first fish. Their time with us went too fast but they had a plane to catch so we drove them to Auckland airport for their awful 36 hour flight back to Ireland. We went back to the boat and relaxed for a couple of days before getting into more projects which seem to keep cropping up. Identifying the problem is not hard but finding the parts sometime is an adventure. One was the BBQ which was not working too good so upon checking it out we found we needed a new burner and reflector plate. Finding it is helped by the Internet but it still take time and then we have to find the place that is supposed to have the parts! In this case it wasn't that hard as the first place we went they had what we needed! Boy that was a first. Actually that day we had a few firsts as we acquired new curtain hooks, a new thermostat for the water heater and something else that eludes me right now.
On the 25th we drove over to the west coast to visit Jean and Peter and did a great walk up on the cliffs overlooking the ocean, which in Canada would have rails and warning all around, with drops hundreds of feet to the surf below. That was enough so had lunch then felt we ate too much so went for another walk up to a waterfall. Peter is great to walk through the forest as he knows all about the fauna and bird life. We had a great day.
On Wednesday the 29th we hauled Kilkea out of the water for five days. We had the bottom cleaned, sanded and painted with new antifouling paint and had the propeller painted with a product down here called prospeed which we have used before and find to be excellent for keeping the nasties off the prop. We stayed living on board while out of the water which creates more challenges being fifteen feet up to the boat. The yard here is very good and they even had a stairway up to the transom so no ladders this time. On Saturday the weather turned nasty and the guys in the yard put extra supports on the boat and even had us tie our halyard from the top of the mast to a very large cement block a forklift brought over. It sure blew and the boat she sure shuddered and we did not sleep that well at all. Next day being a Sunday we decided to get away from the boat so drove up to Whangarai to visit s/v Dignity and Steve and Helen. Their catamaran was just back in the water with two new engines installed so were very happy to have that done and all was working well. We had a good lunch and then went for a long walk up to Whangarai water fall which was really good and then Steve and I did a side walk up the hill overlooking the city. The girls missed that part and went straight back to the boat for a glass of wine or two. The beer tasted very good when we got back. It was great to see them again and hope they will get down to Auckland to visit us before we all leave for the South Pacific islands or for us to Australia and beyond. Monday we relaunched Kilkea II with a clean bottom and the hull all waxed and glistening.
Now we are mostly all ready to go with just a few more want to do things on our list. The Volvo yachts that are racing around the world are arriving here at the end of the week and Auckland is planning a big week long party for them. We will spend some time enjoying that. Then it will be time to sell our car and them make our way north to Opua to await a weather window for our sail over to Brisbane. That is 1200 miles and should take us seven or eight days if we have reasonable winds.
There were a few more small things up to the 11th of Feb when Henry and Elaine arrived for a weeks visit. Henry is Marians nephew who is a doctor in norther Ireland and Elaine is a O.R. nurse, who are looking ahead and are thinking of this type of lifestyle. We had a wonderful week with them sailing around Waiheke Island then over to Coromandal, on the peninsula of the same name where we celebrated Valentines day, then back to Waiheke and up to Kawau Island before returning back to Gulf Harbour. Elaine enjoyed driving the boat and hand steered most all the time and seemed to enjoy the challenge while Henry sat back and enjoyed the view. We had some great meals on the BBQ and lots of help in the galley. Elaine even managed to catch her first fish. Their time with us went too fast but they had a plane to catch so we drove them to Auckland airport for their awful 36 hour flight back to Ireland. We went back to the boat and relaxed for a couple of days before getting into more projects which seem to keep cropping up. Identifying the problem is not hard but finding the parts sometime is an adventure. One was the BBQ which was not working too good so upon checking it out we found we needed a new burner and reflector plate. Finding it is helped by the Internet but it still take time and then we have to find the place that is supposed to have the parts! In this case it wasn't that hard as the first place we went they had what we needed! Boy that was a first. Actually that day we had a few firsts as we acquired new curtain hooks, a new thermostat for the water heater and something else that eludes me right now.
On the 25th we drove over to the west coast to visit Jean and Peter and did a great walk up on the cliffs overlooking the ocean, which in Canada would have rails and warning all around, with drops hundreds of feet to the surf below. That was enough so had lunch then felt we ate too much so went for another walk up to a waterfall. Peter is great to walk through the forest as he knows all about the fauna and bird life. We had a great day.
On Wednesday the 29th we hauled Kilkea out of the water for five days. We had the bottom cleaned, sanded and painted with new antifouling paint and had the propeller painted with a product down here called prospeed which we have used before and find to be excellent for keeping the nasties off the prop. We stayed living on board while out of the water which creates more challenges being fifteen feet up to the boat. The yard here is very good and they even had a stairway up to the transom so no ladders this time. On Saturday the weather turned nasty and the guys in the yard put extra supports on the boat and even had us tie our halyard from the top of the mast to a very large cement block a forklift brought over. It sure blew and the boat she sure shuddered and we did not sleep that well at all. Next day being a Sunday we decided to get away from the boat so drove up to Whangarai to visit s/v Dignity and Steve and Helen. Their catamaran was just back in the water with two new engines installed so were very happy to have that done and all was working well. We had a good lunch and then went for a long walk up to Whangarai water fall which was really good and then Steve and I did a side walk up the hill overlooking the city. The girls missed that part and went straight back to the boat for a glass of wine or two. The beer tasted very good when we got back. It was great to see them again and hope they will get down to Auckland to visit us before we all leave for the South Pacific islands or for us to Australia and beyond. Monday we relaunched Kilkea II with a clean bottom and the hull all waxed and glistening.
Now we are mostly all ready to go with just a few more want to do things on our list. The Volvo yachts that are racing around the world are arriving here at the end of the week and Auckland is planning a big week long party for them. We will spend some time enjoying that. Then it will be time to sell our car and them make our way north to Opua to await a weather window for our sail over to Brisbane. That is 1200 miles and should take us seven or eight days if we have reasonable winds.
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