On_Board_559_Decembe.. - Mana Cruising Club

and turned hard a-starboard. The ship sweptby without another grunt and was gone. Itwas a close run thing. The only other gruntcame from me caused by my damagedshoulder objecting to the violent spinning ofthe wheel.At the entrance, where Tory Channel joinsCook Strait, the southerly wind was stillblowing strongly, the incoming tide wasrunning at 4kts against us and sea conditionswere very rough. Because it was so darkI fortunately could not see the breakingwater all around us in the channel, nor thesurf on the rocks close by, but the boat wascertainly being knocked about and we had tohold on tight. With the radar and the chartplotter giving me clues as to our positionand keeping the transit lights, which werepositioned to guide shipping, in line asternas a back bearing, I steamed slowly out intothe open sea making 2kts over the ground.Once clear of the outlying rock reefs I setcourse for Cape Campbell 25 nm (nauticalmiles) south.Saturday 2nd April 2011: By the time wewere abeam of Cape Campbell at 0130 thesoutherly had eased and the northeaster hadstarted to make itself felt. As it freshened wemade better speed but while the long 2mswell and the south wind-generated seas stillrolled in from the south the new waves cameat us from astern (the north) making theseas confused and very rough. The motion ofthe boat became erratic and hard to predict.During this period Alan was twice thrownacross the cabin bruising two ribs. I washaving difficulty holding on at all with onlythe one hand available, the other being nearuseless and in a sling. Twice I was catapultedacross the cabin looking, as Alan said, verysurprised. The only safe place below was thesaloon berth held in by the lee cloth (actuallythe ironing board doing double duty) andwedged in with pillows. When on watchit was also reasonably safe in the cockpit,strapped into the watch keeper’s seat.During the day we felt in touch with the sealife around us. Six beautiful baby seals hadno trouble keeping up with us and joyfullytreating us as another playmate. Eight milesseemed a long way for a baby seals to beaway from home, but there they were divingthrough the waves right alongside Avanti.Ulric StreetPlimmertonPhone (04) 233 6164Fax (04) 233 6165We thought they were Hector dolphins butthe lack of a dorsal fin changed our minds.The rocky Kaikoura coast was hazy on thehorizon and I was worried that they had toswim all the way back there to sleep beforenightfall.I maintained our course eight miles off thecoast, south down the 100 meter depth line,which usually gives the best sea conditions.As we approached Kaikoura Peninsula the seaconditions began to ease. It got worse againas we passed over the deep trenches south ofthe Peninsula, where the whales live. Off PortRobinson at 1730 conditions eased again andlife was again more cheerful. The expectedstrong north running current, which was toour advantage when sailing north in January,had run out of steam and we experienced nomore than half a knot in either direction asthe tide changed.I did a big curve into Pegasus Bay to stayout of deep water, and to obtain shelter fromBanks Peninsula which reduced the fetch ofwaves from the south.Once more it was dark when we were offBanks Peninsula but Le Bons did not enticeus in for a snooze. The wind had died sowe continued on round this great sweepingsemi-circle of massive cliffs to Akaroa Heads.Sunday 3rd April 2011: Alan and I weretired. It was still very dark as we enteredAkaroa Harbour. Alan was on watch so whenI had checked the navigation he took the shipall the way up Akaroa Harbour to AkaroaTownship, while I completed my snooze. Weanchored at 0500 (5am), using radar, echosounder and chart plotter, in a cosy bay nearthe village, well sheltered from a possiblecontinuation of the northerly wind.Sleep and near total silence pervadedAvanti. At 1000 (10am) hunger woke thecrew with tantalizing thoughts of bacon andeggs, lashings of coffee and boyz (boysenberry)jam on toast; and that is just how we startedthis half of our day. That put new heart andvigour into travel-weary sailors. I knew thatbad weather was headed our way and wemust get secured to a good mooring and notremain at anchor. Gales were forecast for allNew Zealand areas. Several times I have beenin Akaroa in a gale and knew just how severeconditions can get. I contacted Brian Littleand made inquiries regarding a mooring.K P MARINEBrian is a yachting friend in Akaroa of manyyears, a stalwart of the Akaroa Cruising Club(ACC), owner of yacht “Transition” and TheAkaroa Garage. He immediately offered theClub mooring for which I was very relievedand grateful. On receipt of this good newswe weighed anchor and steamed across thebay to the yacht club and picked up themooring, which was only 100m off their finejetty. The mooring pendant was hard to liftaboard, probably because the bottom sectionwas buried in the mud on the seabed, but itwas all in good order and I felt secure for thesoutherly gale force winds I expected over thenext five days.We dinghied over to the Club house whenthe Sunday racing was over and membershad foregathered at the bar. We were madewelcome as always by Brian Little and JohnMilligan. John Milligan, an Akaroa friendfor many years, who was the instigatorof the “John Stevenson Cruising Room”development, showed us the clothes washingfacilities which consisted of washer, dryerand sink, plus a nice new shower roomand loo – which just suited our scruffy lot.They had started developing this “JohnStevenson” room into a facility for visitingcruising yachties and cruising members. Theintention was to upgrade the paintwork,table and chairs, book exchange and teamaking facilities. The new loo and showerroom had been completed and worked well.Tuesday 5th April 2011: Fresh vegetables,fruit and bread had all been consumed andthe southerly was freshening which made itunwise to dinghy across to the town wharfto re-victual. The best action was to land atthe sheltered ACC wharf, only 100m awayand walk the kilometre and a half round thebay to do the shopping. Getting the dinghylowered into the water from the davits andthe outboard motor attached was a goodtest of our seamanship in the strengtheningwind and waves. The other important taskwas to entrust the Cruising Room laundrywith our washing. With haversacks on ourbacks we marched off to town and were ableto fullfill the long promised delights, not offresh bread, but of Akaroa fish and chips –the best in the South Island - followed by abig yummy boyz flavoured ice cream. Thenable to concentrate on provisioning we13