We might have gone further, but a fresh NW breeze turned into the best part of a gale. So we parked up in Stafford Bay in company with two small sailboats rafted up on the other buoy. Stafford offers excellent shelter in NW winds. Fishing was slow and our one good specimen was a cod, so he had to go back; the season opens on December 20th. Two reported maritime incidents, both a result of the strong winds and rough seas, endorsed our decision. However, holiday Monday especially was a beautiful day. On the way in, for old time sake, we dropped in to Putanui west to wait for the tide. We berthed at Havelock in the late afternoon having steamed just 32 miles. The trip had a nice feel to it; relaxed and satisfying.
We were on the buoy at Raetihi when Sue spotted splashing over towards Schnapper Point. We got underway immediately and found a pod of Dusky dolphins fishing. We followed them at a respectful distance as they made their way down the sound.
We sailed Friday evening and were in Maori Bay for the night. Saturday morning we set off for Hallam Cove in bright weather and a south-east breeze. A seal was there to greet us, fishing in the fairway while a duck watched. Fishing was slow until we got some mussels for bait. A squid took my fancy squid lure, sadly he was wormy so we couldn't eat him. The breeze went south-west Sunday for the trip home. Barge traffic in Hikapu Reach. We slowed up and let them pass us. All fast on H8 a bit before 5pm.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
