Nordlys Update
NORDLYS
David and Annette Ridout
Sun 9 May 2004 07:00
UPDATE FROM NEW
ZEALAND
10th May
2004
There is not a lot to report from the good ship
Nordlys. We are coming to the end of a very pleasant three week stay in
the heart of Auckland. This period has been split up by a few
days out on Waiheke island and on the Coromandel Peninsular. John Sharp, a
sailing friend from Jersey, organised himself to pass through Auckland
while going from Los Angeles to Singapore on a business trip and managed
three days with us so it was a very good excuse to head out of the marina.
An excellent evening in the company of Tim and Ginny Le Couteur who live on
Waiheke was followed by a pleasant sail the 22 miles to the Coromandel.
The Aucklanders really are very lucky to have so many excellent anchorages
and such pleasant empty countryside within a days sail.
Annette will remember her time ashore as she
suddenly started a most interesting dance while going through a fence. She
had failed to notice that the second strand down was fitted with
insulators. Her inner thigh was receiving a series of thought producing
electric shocks. Luckily it was not wet and she was wearing rubber soled
shoes so her dancing was not too erratic!
Final fitting out has been done. We are now
the proud owners of two solar panels which Nordlys is not at all sure she likes
the idea of 'wearing'. They will be fitted after the trip up to Tonga and
if they manage to cut down our generating time with the engine they will be very
popular. Even though we go to bed early the nearly twelve hours of
darkness in the tropics causes a fair amount of precious amps to be used.
Also I have to admit the computer uses a surprising amount of 'juice'. Nordlys
came with two compasses and our usual one being set for the northern
hemisphere was becoming very jerky due to the local angle of dip.
Originally when I had them serviced the engineer asked if I wanted one set for
the southern hemisphere. This was in 1996. Being superstitious I
said no. This cost me not a few dollars as adjusting it now was a
necessary but expensive business.
Jago and Claire arrived yesterday from
Singapore. They look fit, lean and tanned and are very full of their time
in Vietnam. This country being very much the favourite out of Laos,
Thailand and Cambodia which they also visited. Tomorrow they will set
about planning their New Zealand tour and we will set off for Opua which is a
hundred miles north of Auckland. The forecast for the next few days says
we will be getting northerly winds!
I will write again in about two weeks when god
willing we will be in Tonga. Until then all the best to our
readers.
David and
Annette