Thursday 24th November
We fixed the vang then went ashore to explore. While walking past the old homestead we saw someone painting the window frames. Aaron and Susan were doing maintenance on the homestead that had been closed all through Covid. Maybe it will reopen this summer as the island’s information centre and selling ice creams and coffees.
They live on their boat anchored in another bay while working on the homestead. We had seen their boat (Wind Shift) a few weeks ago at Motuihe.
With high winds and rain the last two days we have stayed here with reasonable shelter. This meant movies, books, massages and lots of card games.

Monday 21st November
We have spent a few days at Arkles Bay, walking the beach and going to the shops. The weather is going to change again as another storm approaches, so we set sail for Motutapu and a more sheltered bay.
We started with 8kts of wind, hardly enough to move us. With full main and 140% headsail we reached 4.5kts , but it wasn’t long before the wind started moving us off course. We took down the headsail and were able to get back on course with the main swung right out. Approaching the shipping channel Andrew saw the 12kts of wind dropped to 6.
Suddenly it hit us like a freight train. The wind swung around to Starboard and went from 6kts to 28knots in a matter of seconds. The main did an accidental jibe in the high wind. Luckily the boom brake was on and slowed the boom down, but wasn’t on hard enough to stop it. The violent swing of the boom snapped the 6mm bolt on the vang pulley.
The high wind on the full main pointed Imagine towards a cargo boat. Andrew pointed Imagine into the wind and we centered the main, then turned her back downwind away from the cargo boat. With Imagine running almost directly downwind we ran at 6kts till the wind finally dropped back to 10kts.
By this time we were rounding the point of Motutapu we turned on the motor and headed to Home bay where we have anchored for the night.
Note to self, don’t leave sausages outside defrosting when there are hungry seagulls around!

Thursday 17th November
The oil leak is fixed and engine running smooth again. Sunday back at Tindalls beach we all went ashore for dinner at Darren and Chrissy’s. It was a good catch up evening and Andrew’s dad was also there. The next day Andrew repaired the chain guide, whilst Sue and Cindy read their books. A trip to the supermarket to restock the boat gave us some exercise. The exercise was to counteract the ice cream we bought.
Once again the wind changed direction, so we hauled anchor and headed off around the peninsula to Arkles bay with Cindy at the helm.

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).

Wednesday 9th November
We have spent the past few days chilling out and doing more maintenance. Cindy spent time on the back deck working on her overall tan. Andrew went up the mast to install the phone booster antenna. We did a little shopping and caught up with family. Some friends, Elo, Dani and Greg invited the three of us around for dinner.
We have now moved to Rakino to show Cindy more of Auckland’s islands and to get away from the high winds coming.

Thursday 3rd November
We have spent the past two days reminiscing about when Cindy was last onboard sailing Vanuatu and to Brisbane. Yesterday we went ashore and walked one of the tracks on the island.
Every day we try to get one maintenace job done. Today’s job was to replace a D-Shackle on the stay sail furler. Andrew had seen it had broken when up the mast doing his regular checks of the rigging.
Andrew and Cindy are back into their routine of massaging each other on an evening to try to get rid of some of the aches and pains.

Tuesday 1st November
Today started at 12.30am with the airline website showing Cindy’s flight was on time. Andrew who had been staying near the airport went to pick her up. He arrived at 1am to find the flight was delayed. Cindy eventually appeared at 3.30am.
They returned to Chris’s (Sue’s sister) and slept till 9.30 am. They picked up some groceries on their way to Imagine. After lunch we hauled anchor and we headed off to Kauwau Island for a few days.

Saturday 22nd October
We have been busy but haven’t done a lot. We have been down south to see dad and sister. Back on the boat it’s been more repairs as the ordered parts start arriving. Fixing doors, pumps, mainsail car, toilet roll holder, the list goes on.
We met Sally, a lady that may join us as crew in the future. It’s just over a week untill Cindy joins us for a month. Cindy is an American that has sailed with us pre COVID and loved us so much she is coming back for more!

Wednesday 12th October
Yesterday we went ashore and had coffee and lunch with Chrissy (sisterinlaw) and Chris (Sue’s sister) drove up from Papatoetoe to join us for lunch and to give us a wonderful welcome home package.
The part had arrived for Fred (the auto pilot), so this morning Andrew took Fred apart. Inserting new steel pins into the clutch mechanism, the surgery went well. A couple of short tests shows the patient has recovered to full working order.

Monday 10th October
We have made our way down the coast stopping at Whangarei for the night. Yesterday we stopped at Kauwau island as it had the most sheltered bays from the north easterly winds and swell. This morning we had a pod of three dolphins come in the bay and swim alongside of Imagine.
This afternoon we set sail for Whangaparaoa, just a short trip away. We knew the swell and wind would get into Tindells beach but it all dies down tomorrow for a couple of days.