Otago Harbour

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Sun 20 Dec 2020 03:42

Noon positions: 45 47.77 S  170 43.04 E
At anchor off Otakou
Wind: SW F4  Sea: calm  Swell: nil
Weather: overcast, cool
Day’s run: 94 nm

Light winds persisted for much of yesterday requiring more use of the engine than I would ordinarily like. However, at midnight the southerly change arrived though it was significantly stronger than the forecast fifteen knots. By 0030 we were snugged down to two reefs and a partly furled jib under which we remained for the rest of the night. At 0205 we tacked when Sylph was 22 miles NE of Otago Harbour and settled on a W’ly heading which would bring us into the lee of Mount Cargill, the headland in which lies the entrance to Otago Harbour. At 0600 we found ourselves approaching the entrance to a small bay, Waikouati Bay. It looked like it might provide some shelter from the southerly so we continued inside where we tacked in its smoother waters. We considered momentarily anchoring there for a few hours for some rest but once we had tacked and were again outside of its shelter, we found that conditions had moderated considerably, allowing us to set full sail and make more or less directly for the entrance to Otago Harbour.

In the early forenoon we put in a couple of more short tacks to lay the harbour entrance and at 1007 entered into its sheltered waters. >From there we motored a short distance to come to anchor in four meters of water off the village of Otakou on Harrington Point, the southern arm of the inlet which is Otago Harbour, there to await a fair tide to take us the rest of the way into Dunedin. At 1700 this evening we will weigh and continue with the flooding tide to cover the remaining ten miles to Dunedin where we will go alongside the Otago Sailing Club.

All is well.