Saturday 12th November
Thursday we sailed to Motuihe Island to get shelter from the strong easterly that was coming. We anchored as close to the cliffs as we could. Five of the six other boats in the bay had left by nightfall. The wind steadily increased. By Friday morning the radio was reporting 40kt winds gusting to 50kts (100km/h). Imagine was close enough to the cliffs to be sheltered from most of the wind. All we could do is chill out, read and play card games.
By Saturday morning the wind had moved northerly and had started to calm down. Cindy and Andrew went ashore to walk around the island. Cindy saw here first Tuatara (native lizard) Returning to Imagine we had lunch and set off to find somewhere new.
A fender had fallen into the chain well. As we hauled anchor the chain stacked up on top of the fender, then jammed. Which ripped the chain guide out of the deck.
As that happened the engine oil pressure alarm went off. With a bit of difficulty Andrew dropped the anchor again. Climbing into the engine bay Andrew could see there was oil leaking from the engine. A seal has blown on the turbo. We only had a small amount of spare oil onboard, but it was enough to run the motor long enough to haul anchor and get out of the bay.
We set the sails to head back to Whangaparaoa Peninsula where we could get repairs. We had to tack back and forth against the northerly wind till we were in line with the Peninsula then we could make one big run to shelter. As we started the the last run we had to cross the shipping channel and of course there was a cargo boat coming down the channel.
On this angle and speed we would cross just behind the cargo boat, but the wind had different ideas. Suddenly the wind dropped, then returned as a stong westerly. This turned parallel with the cargo boat and meant we now had to tack against the wind again to get where we wanted to go. We had a good sail but it was challenging at times!
One great thing today was being greeted by a pod of dolphins.
We made it to a bay on the Peninsula just before nightfall and dropped the sails and anchor together, all manually (no motor, no power for anchor winch).
Thursday we sailed to Motuihe Island to get shelter from the strong easterly that was coming. We anchored as close to the cliffs as we could. Five of the six other boats in the bay had left by nightfall. The wind steadily increased. By Friday morning the radio was reporting 40kt winds gusting to 50kts (100km/h). Imagine was close enough to the cliffs to be sheltered from most of the wind. All we could do is chill out, read and play card games.
By Saturday morning the wind had moved northerly and had started to calm down. Cindy and Andrew went ashore to walk around the island. Cindy saw here first Tuatara (native lizard) Returning to Imagine we had lunch and set off to find somewhere new.
A fender had fallen into the chain well. As we hauled anchor the chain stacked up on top of the fender, then jammed. Which ripped the chain guide out of the deck.
As that happened the engine oil pressure alarm went off. With a bit of difficulty Andrew dropped the anchor again. Climbing into the engine bay Andrew could see there was oil leaking from the engine. A seal has blown on the turbo. We only had a small amount of spare oil onboard, but it was enough to run the motor long enough to haul anchor and get out of the bay.
We set the sails to head back to Whangaparaoa Peninsula where we could get repairs. We had to tack back and forth against the northerly wind till we were in line with the Peninsula then we could make one big run to shelter. As we started the the last run we had to cross the shipping channel and of course there was a cargo boat coming down the channel.
On this angle and speed we would cross just behind the cargo boat, but the wind had different ideas. Suddenly the wind dropped, then returned as a stong westerly. This turned parallel with the cargo boat and meant we now had to tack against the wind again to get where we wanted to go. We had a good sail but it was challenging at times!
One great thing today was being greeted by a pod of dolphins.
We made it to a bay on the Peninsula just before nightfall and dropped the sails and anchor together, all manually (no motor, no power for anchor winch).
Glad you guys are safe. Looking forward to following more of your adventures.
Wow! I am looking forward to all the adventures (maybe minus anchor chain trouble hahaha). Looks amazing!
B.