Christmas 2016

Friday morning was beaut

Billy on the wheel leaving Havelock

Mike and Billy at Portage

Portage looking down the Kenepuru

Mike settled for the night

Orion from the Kenepuru Road

Mike and Poppy

Grape Escape
Christmas morning

Grape Escape comes alongside

(with whitebait patties for our breakfast)

Back in Havelock for Christmas dins

Ferndale, Portage and Te Mahia

Nightingale

Nightingale departing Havelock

Very exciting! Dion has bought Nightingale after a long period of negotiation, and with friend Sarah is taking her to Tuna Bay, Tennyson Inlet. This is a new lease on life for this grand old boat, so full of character. We shall enjoy to visit them there some time over the summer.

Sticky moment

It doesn't look it in this photograph, but the wind was NW 25 knots with frequent gusts of 35 knots. Nightingale stuck on soft mud on the eastern side of the entrance but was towed off by Pelorus Image, seen here standing by as Nightingale gets lined up for the channel. 

They spent the night in Maori Bay. It was a wild night with strong gusts and that strange swirling thing it does. We were relieved when next morning Dion texted us "Just coming into Tennyson, sun's out for arrival". 

Sue's birthday cruise

Windy sky in the Kenepuru

Bex and Ryan were going to come, but the earthquake closed the road through Kaikoura. It would have been a long drive via Nelson. The isobars were a tad close together for a serious fishing trip, so we spent a windy afternoon at Raetihi and then woke to an idyllic Sunday morning, the day of Sue's birthday. Pottered back late morning and into the early afternoon. The first hot day in a long while. We were warned of driftwood everywhere after the flood, and while there was some it was not so much. There is a very large piece lodged on the bank east of the Johnson transit marks.

Very HW Havelock

Pat Copp took this picture. The super moon created king tides, plus floodwater after an extraordinary weather event brought the water level up to within an inch of the top. See the colour of the water too. At the bridge over the Wairau the river was bank to bank and flowing strongly. Crystal was on board Lucy on the night of the quake and said it felt as if a giant was shaking the boat.

Havelock Channel

The blue pin marks the position of a large tree with several big branches that has grounded on the bank. It maybe this tree is stuck forever until it eventually rots. If it's ever missing then it has floated off somewhere and could be a real hazard to navigation. We were keeping a very good lookout for timber as we transited the channel on the weekend. Bob tells us it takes four days for the driftwood to clear after a big event. We saw some, but it was mostly small debris floating in long ribbons along lines of tide. 

Testing Christmas tech

Christmas tech

We believe that thorough preparation and rigorous testing lead to successful missions. So here we are testing our Christmas tech in heavy rain and failing light.

Welcome visit

Richard, Maree, and Janice Rowley

No trip out, but a night's stay on board and a chance to recover their equilibrium after a friend's funeral. Haste ye back in summer.

Holiday traffic

Cullen Point inward

Sometimes boats are just like cars. We're stuck behind the slow moving cruiser, three fizz boats shot past us, one got ahead of the cruiser and two got stuck behind. Labour Day mayhem in the Havelock Channel.

Long Bay, Kenepuru

On a more tranquil note, here we are in Long Bay. We spent Labour Weekend loafing about, very busy doing nothing. On the Monday we went exploring up the top of the Kenepuru on the other side of Portage. It's very pretty up there, and less visited. But then Long Bay is nice, too. Note the boom, we now have a derrick for launching and recovering the dinghy.

Moutapu Bay

Passing Grape Escape in the Havelock Channel

We pinched the one nice night, the Friday, of an otherwise wet weekend. Here we are on the Saturday morning, passing No. 1 buoy inward and Grape Escape is outward on a short cruise with a shipload of friends. The sun doesn't always have to be shining, who would miss these softer tones in light rain?

Stocks under pressure

Big illuminated sign at the slipway

There'll be mixed opinion, of course. But the scallops are closed for the year. It will be interesting to see the effect this has on the trailer park and the campsite. I have an opinion, of course. I think that rather than close it for a year and then open it again, you might do better to say divers only. Divers don't disturb the sea bed the way dredges do. Fewer people are prepared to go to the trouble of buying the gear and learning to scuba dive than will buy a dredge and throw it off the back of the boat. Just a thought.

Big tides

The creek at Havelock marina

Saturday high water was predicted at 3.1 metres and low water at 0.4 metres. A high barometer 1030 mb likely pushed the water down that bit more. Sunday was more again with a range of 3 metres. On the flood tide, when the sill is covered that's when we know we have enough water to transit the channel.

Dolphins up Kenepuru Sound

Dolphins at Raetihi

They were like a band of marauders, we couldn't count them there were so many. They came heaping it down from St Omer to where we were moored at Raetihi, hung around for a while fishing, and after about fifteen minutes they were off. Made Poppy's day! The video below (1 minute) kind of captures the moment without the feeling of awe and peace that comes with a visitation from marine mammals.

Winter projects

Brass fiddle in main cabin

Eberspächer 4kW

Heating control in main cabin

New freezer compressor and bits

New sounds and bilge pumps rewired

The diesel heater was installed by Phil Martin, along with some other electrical work. Phil's standard of work is excellent and we would recommend him to anybody. Thank you Phil!

The freezer repair was done by John Dey. John went through the system from end to end, paying attention to every small detail. He made a number of changes and the system now runs efficiently again. Thank you John.

Now all that remains is for the light to return to the southern hemisphere and for us to load some friends and go and get it all wet!

QBW16

Fog lifting in Mahau Sound

Sue on the wheel

Poppy drying off after an unscheduled swim

Water taxi taking Bex ashore

Autumn

Early morning fog

It's pretty quiet around here now. A few diehards still make it down to their boats at the weekends. The main interest is the fog which rolls down the Pelorus River valley and hangs around until the sun gets up and burns it off. Poppy had a friend on gangway duty with her today.

Gangway duty

The weather has been a bit muddly and has curtailed trips out. But we've been using the time to do maintenance and renewal. Phil Martin fitted a diesel heater (4kW Eberspacher) and John Dey is going through the main freezer system, making it a bit more reliable: new compressor, fitting a receiver, changing the flexible hose for copper.

Raetihi

Raetihi in autumn

Rudds and Rowles and Poppy row to shore at Raetihi Lodge, Double Bay, Kenepuru. It's sheltered, and the buoy is positioned in deep water well out from the shore. Raetihi Lodge was closed, but we enjoyed landing at the splendid jetty. Fish were driven into the bay in the evening, about one hour after low water.

Back in Havelock, we were just tying up and Lionel Jeffcoat was there watching Orion berth. He came on board and we had a good long talk about wood and boats and other stuff. If you don't know, Lionel is one of the legendary boatbuilders; he has built some fifty-odd boats in his lifetime, some of them not unlike Orion. He was interested to see Harold's workmanship, and was impressed. And all this in the same month as we met with Harold and talked about the yard at Paremata and the boats his father, he, and his brothers built there.

We've fitted a diesel heater (Eberspacher 4kw) and that's going to extend the season right into winter. For just a few litres of diesel a day it pumps warm air into the fore and main cabins, and the warm air rises up the staircase into the wheelhouse reducing condensation.

Easter

Easter at Havelock

Big tides and the Pelorus River in flood meant timber floating everywhere. That, and a hundred and twenty odd trailers in the car parks caused us to stay in the harbour and do some painting. Looking pretty smart right now. Monday we moved onto the fueller and took 376 litres, so now we're topped right up the better to prevent condensation with the warm days and cool nights. Alison Rudduck stayed aboard a couple of nights, enjoying the slow pace of life aboard Orion.

Week-long cruise

We steamed 144 miles around the Sounds in a week, starting from Havelock and visiting: Ketu Bay, Goat Point, Maori Bay in Port Ligar, Waterfall Bay, Orchard Bay, Richmond Reef, Waitata Bay, passing close by Maud Island, Tawhitinui Island, Penzance, World's End, Duncan Bay, Te Rawa Lodge in Wilson Bay, Chance Bay, Raetihi Lodge in Kenepuru Sound, and on the last night Putanui West and North buoys as we dodged the weather. We caught kingfish, blue cod, gurnard, garfish, and a ray. We saw penguins, gannets, terns, and a seal. All systems worked well except the big freezer, but eight bags of ice almost made it to the end of the trip. Great mission!

Duffers Reef

Ryan and Bex letting go of work

Waitangi weekend we all took a day's leave on the Friday, to make it a four-day weekend. We didn't know we were going as far as Duffers Reef, but we were planning to catch fish. Poppy seems to be saying, "Poor deluded creatures".

We venture forth

At Richmond Reef too many are juveniles

Too many kingfish turn out to be barracuda

Next day we continue north

Duffers Reef

Although it looks like a nice day in the photograph, it was by then - early on the Saturday morning - SE 4 rising 6 with a gale warning in place. There's a big fetch up the side of Forsyth Island. We hung about for twenty minutes and pulled the pin. We spent some time fishing Post Office Point in the lee of the southerly, but with limited success. That night we sheltered in Waitata Bay.

Next day - the Sunday - the forecast was SE 25 knots easing, and by the time Caleb and Bex had made everyone breakfast the wind had eased a lot. We set forth once again for Duffers Reef and Goat Point.

Goat Point on the Sunday

Working close in with 10 to 25 metres depth

Sue with a decent sized Blue Cod

Scarlet Wrasse (we think)

Perch (going back)

Tired but happy

Fortunately...

somebody knows how to fillet

Just too much excitement

Duffers Reef and Goat Point

A south-easterly air flow maintained throughout the weekend, temperatures were pleasant around 21 degrees. Nights we anchored in Ketu, Waitata, and Chance Bays. We also anchored in Richmond Bay for lunch on the Friday and Wynans Bay for breakfast on the Saturday and Richmond Bay again on the way South. We steamed 107 nautical miles and consumed around 200 litres of diesel, 800 litres of water, less than one bottle of gas, and six bags of ice. Not to mention quite a few bottles of cider and wine and a lot of food.