5/11/09

15:15 

I turned the  engine off at 13:15 and we sailed for a while poled out.  It was a great relief to shut down the noisy beast.  Unfortunately, the wind  wasn’t really strong enough and boat speed kept dropping to 5 knots so reluctantly at three pm I turned it on again.   I want to get in  Friday  before too late and our ETA was suddenly  2 am Saturday morning.  It’s now gone back

to Friday afternoon and there’s a chance we’ll catch customs before they close, otherwise it’s a night on the quarantine dock.   New weather information indicates the current  NW wind will continue for a while before backing SW, so it doesn’t look like we have to worry about the strong South Easterlies.  Things will get very lively later on the weekend but we’ll be in long before it happens.

6/11/09

03:30  

90 miles to go.  We’re just off North Cape, still motor sailing.  We could have sailed without the help of the engine these last few hours, but there comes a point when you just want to get in.  Clear skies have been replaced with rain squalls, just to remind us that we’re in New Zealand, not the driest place in the world.  It’s 12 Degrees C and really feels cold.

05:00

Wind has gone SW and we’re sailing again.  Will still get in late afternoon.

09:00

Wind went South Force 3 so after 3 ¼ hours we’re motoring again.  At least the rain has cleared and the sun has returned.

09:30

We were just buzzed by an Orion Patrol plane.  They wanted info about us.  We are not on their Advance Arrival list even though I sent the form before we left. There are a couple of other inbound yachts in sight. 

Now the engine alternator is not charging the batteries properly. It might be a fan belt slipping but it’s too hot to work on at the moment. It’s a good thing we have three independent ways of battery charging; at least one of them is usually working.

12:00

24 Hour run was 183 miles.   We sailed for only 5 hours.  24 miles to go.

18:00

We arrived on the quarantine dock at 16:00.  Customs appeared within minutes—the same guys that checked us in us last year-- and it was all completed very efficiently.  They claimed to remember us as we remembered them.  Sort of.

We have a berth in the marina which has expanded from last year, and a WiFi connection, so all is well.  We will chill here for a few days, and then slowly work our way to Whangarei, to arrive around the 17/18^th.  There is some  maintenance work to be done before the boat is hauled on the 30th. This blog will be a bit sporadic for a while.