Goats at Stafford Bay

Poppy passing No 4 outward

Stafford Bay

Sue photographing shag nests

Goat on the cliff

Family of goats on the foreshore

I took a couple of days leave and we went aboard on the Tuesday evening. We sailed on Wednesday morning at 1100 with a plan to go to Homestead Bay, Port Ligar. The wind was fresh from the NW so we looked into Stafford Bay to see what it was like. We were surprised to find how sheltered it was. The bush was lovely with Nikaus and ferns, and there were fish, and shags, and a pair of Paradise ducks. In the mornings and evenings goats came down to fossick on the beach. We stayed three nights. Great Escape visited us on the Friday. We came in on the Saturday about 1230.

Shags nesting

Gurnard 45cms

Hopeful

Jellyfish after dark

One out of the box

The days are lengthening

Sunset Take-In Bay

At last a beautiful day coincided with the weekend. We sailed immediately after work on Friday and saved the light to Raetihi. There was a slight sea, wind over the last of the tide. We decided to push on to Take-In Bay and picked up the buoy in the dark no problem. Saturday was a day out of the box. In the morning we went around the back of Kaiaho Point in search of fish. The fishing wasn't really on, but we had a nice time looking for them and exploring Mills Bay and Clarke Island. Returned to Take-In Bay and at sunset the magic happened with fish jumping all around us and two big gannets circling and plunging. At night above, the Milky Way and a sky full of bright stars. Sunday we anticipated fog and high water was at 1009, so that was a potentially going to be a challenge. As it happened the day dawned with 8/8 low cloud and quite mild, so it was clear. We berthed shortly after 10am.

Gannets

Unsettled weather

Sunday afternoon

We sailed on the Saturday morning on a whim really. Not a very promising forecast at all, but nothing dangerous. However, we did have the Sounds to ourselves! While the wind was NW we hung out in Ferndale and on Sunday when the sun left Ferndale (3pm) we moved over to Take-In Bay where we had sun for another hour and a half. A long-awaited front came through at sunset making for a spectacular end to the day.

Misty start to Monday

Weird the way the good weather has been synchronised with Wednesdays and the bad weather with Saturdays for about the last eight weeks. This time there was a ridge lined up for Monday. Woke to thick fog which lifted to about 100 metres above sea level with two miles visibility underneath it. All fast in the berth by 10.30.

Living in a lava lamp

Says it all, really

QBW18

The Kenepuru at sunset

Despite an unpromising forecast we decided to go out anyway, at 10 am on the Saturday. It turned into quite a nice day. We steamed as far north as Yncyca Bay on a recce. At this time of year, and in the SE'ly weather, it was a bit bleak. We approached the PMW buoy and recorded a waypoint for our return some summer evening. Then we beat a retreat to Take-In Bay. The picture shows how the weather dominated the weekend, but we had a nice time regardless. Sue caught a 26cm Spotty. 

We did a Man Overboard exercise and managed to get our bucket-and-fender casualty back aboard in quick time. We did a Williamson turn and that worked well, bringing us right back onto our reciprocal course and on track. The MOB feature on the Raymarine is not that good. I'm not sure, even after reading the manual, that it is working the way it should. Quite the worst feature is the way it automatically changes the range such that you can't see any land. I found it disorientating, and retaining your orientation and a heightened situational awareness is what a good MOB is all about. Our procedure now is simply to always start a track which means we can at any time exactly retrace our steps. 

Passing traffic in the Havelock Channel

We did some handle-down running to test the gearbox repairs and it passed with flying colours. The hottest part of the casing after an hour of full power was 70°C. The shifts to ahead and astern were instantaneous and smooth.

We came in near the top of the tide on the Monday around lunchtime. All in all, a satisfying long weekend.

Making smoke

Gardner spares 5-mins video

L. Gardner and Sons ceased production of new engines in the early 1990s. They could no longer meet the emission regulations. A plume of grey smoke from the stack of a fishing boat is an evocative sight, but less acceptable in the present day. A number of spinoffs emerged when the factory closed. One of those is Gardner Spares and you can get just about any part within a few days at a reasonable price. So saying, Orion hardly smokes at all. If we've been trolling and then we wind in and wind on for home she'll smoke for a while, but it soon clears; any engine does that.

Winding on after idling

The light plume of smoke from Orion's stack looks a little blue in the photo but that's just the hues of the scene. The colour is actually light grey. I don't have to top up the oil between oil changes which are 200 hours or one year apart whichever comes sooner. That may change as the years go by, but just now she has only 1000 hours on the clock since the re-build; she's barely run-in.

Unsettled May

Lows pushing up from the south

Big savings on fuel this month. A chance to get all those wee jobs done. Like tidying up the engine room after the gearbox repairs and servicing the poo tank. This will give way to a long settled spell we hope. We'll have to see if June and July produce more weekends when we can get out and about. 

Everyone has their favourite weather app but the one that produces the most consistently reliable results for us is MarineWeather. 

Cuzzy lunch

Bill Stevenson

Mary Stevenson

Bill and Mary were on board for lunch. Passing through Picton on the ferry facilitated a two-night stay and a visit to the boat. Looks like Poppy loves Mary, but it's really Bill who loves Poppy.

Easter 2018

Bex and Ryan, damage control party

With a strong team, nothing is scary or too much trouble. In the picture above Orion's crew fix up the clears after a strong gust carried them away. In the same gust Foxy Lady, anchored nearby with a charter party on board, was laid on her ear.

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We sailed Friday at 10.00 for Port Ligar. Busy Easter, so we picked up the buoy in Māori Bay. Saturday found us pinned down by a strong NW'er with occasional very strong gusts, one of which layed Foxy Lady down nearly on her beam ends and which carried away our clears. A damage control party got to work and quickly made good.

On Saturday afternoon we got underway and headed down the western side of Forsyth Island around Bird Island past Warwick Bay to Allen Strait. We passed through the swirling water of the strait to look into Annies Bay but there was a short period 1-metre swell coming in from Cook Strait, and two boats already occupying the mooring. We came back through Allen Strait and headed back to Ketu Bay nodding into a fresh breeze and a moderate sea and were treated to a warm and sunny evening and a quiet night.

Sunday we went out late morning and fished off Goat Point, and Ninepin Rock. We spotted seals swimming in convoy and leaping, an unusual sight. Fishing in the Te Kakaho Channel Ryan netted a fat kahawai, and everyone had two on at some point but our gear was too light to net them. In the afternoon we headed north and anchored in a familiar spot in Chance Bay.

On Monday morning Bex steered us up the channel which is getting quite familiar to her now. Back alongside in Havelock for lunch. Distance steamed 100 nm.

Clang Boom Steam

Henry and Joe

Gregory Engineering have been on board servicing the gearbox. It's great to have such capable guys working on the boat. This is a period of maintenance in the run-up to Easter. Let's hope we get good weather and we can go and get it all wet and salty again.

Henry with the test rig

On the Tuesday after Easter Henry and Joe came back and set up a test rig. The oil pump stood up fine, doing its thing. But dismantling the selector valve revealed a broken spring that could explain the symptoms: a long delay, and harsh engagement.

Selector valve exploded view

Henry sourced a spring and shims from Pacific Driveline in Australia and Zane and Joe came down Friday 27 to bolt it all up and test it. Yay! No more delay. Smooth engagement too, though we'll need to steam at full power for a couple of hours to get things nice and hot to finally prove that one fixed. Well done guys, we're impressed. 

A lick of paint

Orion laying Havelock 2018

Every wooden fishing boat ever built has been repaired here and there using steel fastenings. Fishermen need to get back to work, they can't waste time going shopping for bronze bolts and spikes. So rust streaks are part of life. Here is Orion newly painted. Stephen did the bulwarks, Sue did the topsides, and Sue so neatly cut-in the blue on the belting. It'll last until the next storm!