[Boat in distress of Gt Barrier]

To answer questions from guest, no we did not anchor in Kaiarara bay. We have for a few years.  We anchored there many years ago in our old boat and got gusts of over 55. Causing damage to our wind turbine and solar panels. We went into the bay on the Saturday morning , the little bay on the right after the mussel farm., when the wind started to get up.  But decided it would be too dangerous to anchor there as it would funnel down valley. We when into the third bay along from two island bay. In shallow water. With no fetch it didn’t cause any extra stress on anchor and chain. Was only nerve wracking the Sunday as worried we might drag  was ok after a day of strong gusts and a few tides we figured we were well dug for that wind direction. The problem was when the wind changed. We would had still been sheltered in that bay from SW and a boat stayed there when the 50 knots came from that direction. The issue was the NE change had us in 2.8 metres a Lee shore if no idea how long it was going to blow from that quarter. If we had hung on for another 20mins we would have been fine. We didn’t want to take that risk.  We stayed in our sheltered bay from Saturday morning till 1 am Tuesday morning. Not issues at all. Only a chaffed tee shirt that was wrapped around the snubber.

[Boat in distress of Gt Barrier]

We were sheltering from the cyclone at Barrier. Arriving there on the Friday. We have sheltered from a couple of cyclones and storms at barrier over the years. We have learnt not anchor in Kaiarara Bay ( we were saw triple 8 on the Saturday morn) or kiwiriki bay. These bays as well as very strong gusts funnelling down the valleys, also can have a lot of water flow potentially carrying fallen trees etc. Think back to the damage of the June 13 storm that destroyed the Kauri dam and flooded Barrier. All the logs in Forrestry Bay and Kiwiriki Bay you still see today are from that storm. The rain and wind started blowing on Saturday afternoon, registering over 50 knots. We were getting short gusts hitting the boat. A lot of water smoking across the bay.Sunday morning channel isl and mokos were getting peak wind gusts of over 60 sometimes 70. We were getting a few nasty gusts , I was on edge all day due to what would happen if we dragged anchor, I felt safe just anxious how a re anchoring attempt may play out. Sunday morning over radio a person from mainland in Kaiarara bay radioed to say a yacht was dragging anchor and they were on the tri helping them. Barrier radio said it was too dangerous to send help. Person radioed again 10 minutes later to say yacht had dug in itself just before mussel farm . Later on a yacht radioed up asking if anyone knew a better bay to anchor in, not sure what bay they were in. They contacted barrier radio later saying they had anchored further in the bay in shallow water and their anchor was holding. During the night gusts were steady with a couple waking us keeping an ear out for anchor alarm in case it sounded we were dragging.We held fast. Monday morning sar radioed and asked if they could use barrier radio freq instead of 16. They had located a vessel and gave a position. We had our radio on all night but must have been asleep, so we’re not aware of any distress calls. I plotted the position on the chart and yacht was heading to mokohineau’s.They said it was all locked up and no sign of anyone. They were asked if someone was going to go down on the wire to check if anyone was on board. No description was given of the vessel so I assumed it must have been a moored boat had broken free. During that night channel and mok’s had consistent 80 knots. I saw 86 knots at channel around 2am. The cell tower was down when we got up in morning so don’t know if it got any higher. Helicopter advised sea was over 7 metres. They had a chat and decided it was  too dangerous to go check so they headed home as running low on fuel. A few hours later a yacht in kiwiriki ( two isl bay) radioed as had an issue with the down button of there capston and was wanting to know about a mooring at Fitzroy. Was just a precaution as they were safe but would need to move once the cyclone eye had passed. A guy from Nagle cove farm offered his mooring to them or anyone that may need it. Cell tower was down until about 11.30am. We checked nowcasting peak speeds of 80 knots. A few hours later the same guy from nagle cove called up again, to ask about the yacht he had radioed up about at 2.30am Had contacted barrier radio and barrier police. He was worried as could see no one was in control of the boat as it headed out port Abercrombie. He had flashed  a big spotlight on it and said it had a light on half way up mast. He also said it was blowing 60 knots at Nagle Cove. Sar helicopter was heard on radio about an hour later looking around hen and chickens couldn’t find the boat. Ray can remember Barrier radio calling triple8 at some stage, there was no response. Unfortunately he can’t remember the time. Monday afternoon the barometer started to steadily drop although 80 knots at channel and 75 at Moks it was relatively calm, not many gusts in our bay. Our next focus was what to prepare for going through the eye. Predict wind models had one model showing it going to NE at midnight this wasn’t great for us in our protected bay. so hoped it would be the other 4 models. Wind got up again at dark typical but this time gusts had changed we have no doubt we were getting over 55 knots hit us, as have had these wind speeds at anchor before. We don’t have any instruments below deck on our new boat and weren’t going out in the driving rain to check. Ray watched a movie and I went to bed, barometer about 973. About midnight barometer got to 969. Wind changed to that dreaded NE. We up anchor and by the time we leave bay wind was in SW and light. Moved to Smokehouse bay and had a wonderful sleep. Although it took a while to get used to no movement on the boat. The cell tower went down again and didn’t come up again until late arvo. We then read the news that a distress beacon had been activated and one person rescued. The picture in the paper revealed it was triple8. We know the owner of triple 8 and went on the boat when he first brought it showing us his electric motors. Batteries and generator in the pontoons. I only went down one of the pontoons at the time so not sure if batteries and generator was in both sides. We found a piece of foam/ carbon in Stony bay, opposite Kaiarara bay the other day. It looked like it was just on the waterline. We feel for the owner and are so glad he is ok. It must have been a harrowing two days at the mercy of the wind and sea with no means of getting the boat under control. There was a lot of rain and wind before the actual centre of the cyclone came through. Anyone sailing from Saturday morning onwards would have encountered very strong winds. We choose to go to Barrier as there would have been no room at the marina’s where we were as everyone was back in their berths. The other boats sheltering at barrier seem to be unscathed. I didn’t read some of this thread regarding boatie etc. Maybe water loving person would be better for those people that get worked up other what media say rather than worrying about more important things that happen in life. This is my account of those three days as I remember it. If anyone wants to make any corrections or say scathing things regarding decisions we made, I would like to meet them. You don’t come across prefect non error making people everyday.