SloopJohnB 323 Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Both have marinas, at Napier the club has visitors berths, knot sure of the depth and across the water there's berthing along the wharf with the fishing boats and tourer cat. The channel was dredged about 2 years ago when the club did the extension to the marina and put in a travel lift. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Got all the RNI boats into Napier. No depth problems. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 The entrance to Gisborne can be confusing in th edark, all the lights backlit by the city. Link to post Share on other sites
rigger 47 Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Been a few years but both Napier and Gisbourne were good to us. Would recommend Napier, great facilities at the club. Link to post Share on other sites
Jon 360 Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Napier is dredged to 3.6m I believe But looking at the forecast get as far up the coast as possible (eg Gisborne) by Monday night then its looking like leave there in light rain either Wed evening or Thursday morning (will still be a swell)will give you a good run to the cape with the wind on the quarter and good weather across the Bay Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Sounds like a rough nite. Had a big knock down. Both knackered. 12kt NE now so nicer weather at least. Off Castle Pt I think. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 A few hours ago - Just passed turnagain, very ruff, slow going, hope we have enuff fuel. Last word on their weather was 12kts NE. Good breeze but in about the worst direction for them, bugger. Anyone know where 'turnagian' is? Link to post Share on other sites
MarkMT 68 Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Turnagain http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-40.4916,176.6173&spn=0.01,0.01&t=m&q=-40.4916,176.6173 Link to post Share on other sites
SloopJohnB 323 Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Knotme, that's a bit embarrassing even MarkMT from Lake Zurich, Illinois knows where it is. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Tied up in Napier. All well but buggered. Boat doing well. Davo 45 that was out there with them, unbeknown to Mr and Mrs Wheels, followed them in and sounds like in worse shape even with 6 aboard. Been battling seriously nasty seas. I think Team Wheels are finding they are a lot tuffer then they have been giving themselves credit for Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Wow what can I say. I was ready to give this game up, thinking I was just a wooss and useless and boat handling. Maybe I am still, but it was awesome to hear the stories of 6 or so guys this morning, all fairly experienced, on a Davidson 45 being thrashed as well and eveything that they went through we were going through and we had near identical comments. Like, "Hey I think our GPS has frozen because the boat Icon hasn't moved". I would like to say thanks heaps to all the grerat friends texting us and supporting us. Many that really can make a big difference. I guess I will always find it harder than most just due to my mental health. I am still trying to calm down today and am a nervous wreck still. Another leg still to go and I am completely lost as to when to go. I know it is going to be hell out there again. May see what cost and availability of a berth here in Napier is and wait till we get better weather windows. Now sure yet. Anyway, we left the sounds at around 6am Friday. Surprisingly another yacht was way out in front iof us heading north and I thought he might be going up the West coast. Tide at that point was against us and there were still some big southerly swells in the strait, so I chose to go wide of Cape Jackson and head down the middle. The wind slowly picked up, forcast was 10kt variable and strengthening to 15kt northerly and 25kt in the afternoon. The sea state was confused with 2m southerly swell and 1m northerly swell and biulding. I was expecting to be across by then and indeed we were. We were racing at 8kts through the water at times and we passed Wellington heads at around 3pm. We made Cape Palliser as the sun was setting and turned the corner. Man some humungous swells were roaring onto that coast. The looked stunning and deadly. We headed out off the coast and I noted a set of sails way out on the Horizon. They were heading north also. But heading out was not helping. The wind was pulling around and taking us further away instead of taking us north and it was far ruffer, so I came back to about 5miles from the land and sat just out on the shelf contours. We had 20 kts dead on the nose and had to bring in the sails and just motor. But it was horrendous. Short and steep and we were being thrown up and nose down into the next like a wall and was slowing us to a few kts of speed. Dawn was doing just great. She came up from below and said, "the bilge warning light is on". That's ok, it is just the leaking fresh water tank and I turned the bilge pump off. I went below and noted it was not the correct bilge. I lifted the floor to be greeted with water right at the floor level. All three forward bilges were flooded. DON'T PANIC ALAN. I didn't, but it is not a nice thing to be greeted by. What happened was that we had pushed so hard, the forward pump which evacuates to the anchor locker and I had turned off, was flooded by the anchor locker being flooded by us pushing so hard. That over flowed to the next bilge that had a bit of grit stuck int he thing and it was spinning, but not moving water. The next was brand new and was not working at all, darn it. So in with another pump and got it all sucked dry in the end. The next issue was being thumped hard in the night by a big wave. That slammed the anchor hard into the 12mm SST bail over it and broke it clean off the weld. A few hrs later, I heard the clatter of the chain feeding out. I ran forward and grabbed the chain and stopped it. I am not really sure how I did and it was probably dangerous in hind sight, but the bitter end slamming under the deck was not what I wanted to have happen.I had thoughts of it tearing a hole through the foredeck. Plus 30m of chain and anchor was streaming behind us. I had mananged to throw the enigne out of gear as I left the helm. I then had to man handle 30m of 10mm chain and anchor back on to the winch and the bow roller and haul it in and lock it off there. The morning came and I was completely demoralized at having made only 40Nm. I said to Dawn maybe we should turn back, but I also new the weather behind was going to extrmem and I didn't fancy that either. She encouraged me to continue. We tried tacking way out and back in, but found the difference we had traveled was the same if we just motored in a straight line anyway. I was getting exhausted. Every time I tacked, i had to try hauling the head sail in and around the damn inner stay I despise and it kept jamming up on me. Then we had what I can only think was a freak wave. Just not huge as they can be, but this thing just tossed us up in the air and we fell sideways and everything went everywhere. What a mess below. I wasn't looking forward to the evening again. And as I was tacking the headsail caught up on the spreader and tore a hole. Thankfully it held together, but everytime I tacked, it would catch. I was gasping for breath trying to pull lines in the end. Just exhausted. Through the night I was listening to the sounds in rigging etc, and I was hearing faintly over the wind and sea noise, the radio playing faintly. Just enough to hear some tunes and hum along. After some time, I thought, hang about, Dawn pulled the stick out of the thing, so it wasn't playing our music. So I thought it must be picking up a radio signal, which is why it sounded a bit staticey and poor. It wasn't till I came in later that I realised the radio was off. WTF??? It happend to me several times and in the early hrs in the morning, I thought at I heard static and sometimes faint voices on the VHF, only to see the thing still flicking away on search. Yikes. Eventually we rounded Cape Kidnappers. Still a long haul to Napier, but it was soo good seeing those lights. We entered the Marina at 5am and tied up to the town wall. I don't know if I am supposed to be here and who to ask, but no one has said anything so far and I figured somebody would tell us eventually. So big clean up today, a bit a sleep and relaxing. Next weather window for Auckland is worrying me. I just don't want to go into that kind of stuff again for so long. Easterlies and big ones for days and so the seas will be huge, followed by a huge tropical storm next weekend. I am really not sure what to do at the mo. But Dawn said lets not think about it till later in the week and see what happens, we need rest and to calm the neres down. . Good advice. She did just great by the way. I am very proud of how she handled things and how she helped. Awesome stuff from her. Link to post Share on other sites
SloopJohnB 323 Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Great you got to Napier safely. I am still up in Gisborne but will be back in the Bay tomorrow. If you still tied up on Tuesday I can drop in after work for chat and a beer. Link to post Share on other sites
Atom Ant 0 Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Well done so far to the Wheels's! Sounds like you guys had a hard ride! Glad you made it into Napier safe and sound. Don't underestimate your ability dude, but far better that than overestimate your abilities! Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Big ups to you guys for your epic Leg 1 adventure. Enjoy your well earned rest. I'd be waiting for the next reasonably sustained weather window before heading off again. Life's too short to be spending it crashing off waves for hours on end. Link to post Share on other sites
Grinna 2 Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Congrats Wheels. Sounds like you guys took a few lumps, but came through OK and have learnt lessons for the next leg. The Wairarapa is reknown as a lumpy stretch of water, but at least that bit is behind you now. I wouldn't say all your troubles are behind you, but the next leg is a little less daunting. You could even join up with the soap dodgers off East Cape protesting the geological surveys of the seabed Glad to hear you're both OK and there's really only minor damage. You're doing awesomely. Next thing you'll be entering the 2 handed round north island race. Link to post Share on other sites
smithy09 50 Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Jeeze! What a trip Wheels. Glad you guys made it safely. Link to post Share on other sites
Farrari 4 Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Inspirational stuff Wheels. For someone who is only just contemplating coastal sailing it is really interesting to hear the real world stories and understand the stamina/mental strength required for such adventures. I am glad you and Dawn are all Ok. Link to post Share on other sites
rigger 47 Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Keep at it Wheels, Take some rest and head out wehn the weather looks better. A few years back we ended up putting into Napier after getting thrashed heading south, we had to turn back and run up the coast to Napier, waited for a short while and gave it another crack, was much better. Everyone was muttering about Cape Turnagain.... You got past it in one hit. Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Pope 243 Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Good on you both, as already said the Wairarapa coast can be a nasty piece of the world, shortly the warm feeling of achievement will start to filter through. Dibs up to Dawn she reads it well, rest relax and take your time, it is haste that undoes the best laid plans. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.