Jump to content

and we are off.


Recommended Posts

Wow, Castle Point has internet :thumbup: 
I guess we are now fully fledged members of the Castle Point Shelter group.
I also had no idea people lived out here. They must be Keen, or nuts or both.
Nup not gusting 36, it is gusting to a dead cold easy 40. Good thing we haven't seen the 55 that has been forecast by windplanner.
We anchored in the Bay of Castle Point off the beach.Wind is also off the beach and kind of nice there is nothing behind us if the anchor fails. But it is quite literally howling and the Sea is white. Anchor is holding, but wow there is a load on the chain. Yes I have a snubber and I have all 95M of chain out and the thing looks strait as an arrow.
I thought the wind was supposed to start dropping, but it has intensified. Obviously it wasn't shown the script.
OK, just went from Howl to scream. Stuff!!!! :wtf:
So the idea was that we were going to shuffle around the Land close to it so the wind goes over top of us. But the Weather in the Strait is all changed. We were supposed to get a light Southerly, but this Westerly has shunted it out to sea. I didn't like the idea of punching into 16 to 20 of Strait Weather for 100miles, so we reckon we will wait this out and then Sunday it is supposed tp be fairly calm and we can tiki tour our way home. So close but so far still.
Oh but wait, We just had Blue Fin Tuna for tea. Yep you read it right.Blue Fin. Dang that stuff is nice. An elderly couple caught it as they were rounding Portland in the big blow last night and get this, they were surfing waves at 7.5Kts in an H28. An old woodern girl with a wooden tiller. Keen.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, spot on KM :thumbup:
 

Well I discovered there is a way to solve being scared of something. It's very simple. You have a situation that is even more scary and the earlier one kind of doesn't seem so bad. ;-)
Well we just had one of those moments.
I have never ever seen wind so strong that everything dissapears.The bay behind us looks like it is in Fog, but it is spray. Our Boat, all 22tonne of it was layed right over almost on it's side. The anchor was dragging. I tried motoring into the wind, but just could not hold her and I though well how long am I going to have to do this for? So Dawn got on the wheel and I directed her over the chain and I winched it in poor winch got a work out. I was half drowned by freezing waves that were coming right over the Bow and our Bow is a long way up. But the Beach was only maybe 600 to 800m away and the seas were that big already by the time they got to me. We then motored around looking for any little nook that could give us some respite and then we decided the only thing for it was to continue on and hopefully the wind would die. Then we got a call over the VHF from a fisherman on shore and he directed me to around the back of the lighthouse. Too shallow for us to go in through the gap. It is still blowing it's socks off, but at least we don't have a big sea.

Link to post
Share on other sites

We are on the outside of "The Reef" more toward the Lighthouse. Too shallow inside the cove for us apparently.
Originally we were anchored in "The Bay" at around the 4M line.
Up rather early this morning due to calm conditions but a terrible Ground Swell. But I ain't complaining ;-)

Link to post
Share on other sites

quite a lesson for us casual  sailors 

 

on the difference 

 

between the easy route north from auckland 

 

and the difficult southern

 

looks like headwinds stop at cape palliser 7pm tonight

 

and tail winds start 7pm sunday night

Link to post
Share on other sites

HOME!!!!!
Weeeeell almost. Killing time outside Tory entrance, waiting for the Tide change at around 8AM. It's 5:50 at the mo. I used the Live ships AIS thingy on my laptop as a poor mans radar. Actually it's not so poor. Told me far more than the Radar ever would have. We had one really annoying Trawler working out in the Strait and you never knew where he was going to pop up next. The fog came back and that made it a lot hairier for us. You kept wondering what may be in front of you that is not on the AIS. We had a very light wind .....on the nose....all the way and a Southerly wave set from behind us....all the way. There is now a fog pooring out of the Tory entrance. Just had a Cruise ship enter and now a Ferry, but they're swallowed up in the fog real quick. Can't wait to get in the entrance and make the 2hr trip to the mooring at Waikawa.
The entire trip has been a marathon for us. I think the hardest part was rounding Palliser and thinking, so close yet so far. From the set off of Christmas Eve, we have had 2 or maybe 3 really nice days. We have been able to sail with the motor off for just 2hrs. The rest of the trip, it has either been on the nose or no wind at all. or holding up in some bay somewhere waiting for the weather to play nicely. Unbelievable. Take note of that and I suggest never ask me to crew for you. There just seems to be something about me and the weather when we sail.

 

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...