I’m writing this sitting in my bunk while Crikey Dick sits at anchor in Putiki Bay on the southern side of Waiheke Island and my brother Jonathan is out in the cockpit fishing. After being stuck in the marina all yesterday with truly awful weather, today the weather cleared about mid-morning. First order of business was to replace the dinghy we lost on Monday, which was straightforward, if a little painful financially. We got out of the marina a little after 1pm, with a forecast of 15 knots from the north, easing to 10 knots and showers. Well, we had no rain but lots of wind, definitely above 15 knots for most of the afternoon. We hoisted the #2 headsail for the first time and had a great sail of maybe three and a half hours with Jonathan on the helm. I had forgotten to throw the appropriate switch in the cabin so the speedo wasn’t working, but I suspect we were doing about 5 knots for much of the way.
We took just two tacks to get out of the harbour and scooted past the northern end of Brown’s Is and south of Motuihe, in the process being overtaken by a large Elliot. We had a little difficulty figuring out which bay was which (not thinking to turn the chart-plotter on!), but headed for what we thought was Rocky Bay, where we could see a lot of boats moored. It wasn’t till quite a bit later that we figured out we were actually in Putiki Bay. We managed to get the dinghy line tangled in the outboard prop while anchoring but eventually got that cleared ok and after tidying things up went ashore in the dinghy, making use of the little 2hp outboard for the first time. There are quite a few houses near the beach, and lots of miscellaneous elderly yachts pulled up on the grass – Lasers, a Starling, P class, Viking, Paper Tiger, Windrush, even an old Hartley 14. It’s an idyllic spot. There is a vineyard on the hill to our east and the local yacht club had a race going on for an hour or so. When we got back to the boat we broke out the Watties – baked beans and meatballs and spagetti and bacon – NZ classics! – and fired up the little stove in the cabin. Wonderful. Have taken some photos, but will save them for when we’re back to civilisation and I can use a high speed connection to upload them.
Sincere thanks to all who have stayed in touch by email.