Cook Strait Crossing Lochmara to Wgtn – 18 April 2021

Crew: Geoff, Graciela, Eduardo, Sandra.

Metservice Cook Coastal Forecast: Northerly 15 but variable 10 knots west of Turakirae Head. Becoming northerly 15 knots everywhere this afternoon rising to 25 knots this evening. Sea becoming rough. Long period southerly swell 1 metre at times.

Eduardo and Sandra came over to Picton on the Interislander on Saturday to join us for the Cook Strait Crossing. They arrived at 1930 hrs and we collected them from the water taxi wharf adjoining the ferry terminal and immediately set off to Lochmara Bay.

Meeting Eduardo and Sandra at the Picton ferry terminal pick-up wharf

In the pitch black night we gingerly motored our way out of Picton harbour with Eduardo on helm and Geoff keeping a close eye on the chart plotter.

As we approached Lochmara we called the lodge on Ch. 63 to request a mooring. They kindly suggested we could tie up at their small jetty as long as we were out by 9 am. Seemed like a good plan.

That evening we enjoyed a late supper prepared by Graciela. Geoff got out the uke after dinner and we had fun working our way through the Pete Seeger songbook. We all slept well in the calm evening.

Sunday 19th April

The day broke with a beautiful sunrise which turned into a lovely sunny day. Perfect for the crossing. Geoff had planned the trip for Halo to be leaving Tory Channel at 1330 hrs (one hour after tide starts turning east).

With boat preparation completed and safety briefing for the new crew done, we called Maritime Radio on Ch 16 to log our TR (trip report) and left Lochmara at 1030 hrs.

Queen Charlotte Sound and Tory Channel were dead calm so we motor sailed our way towards the Tory Channel entrance keeping clear of the ferries and spotting the occasional seal. After a quick lunch we made the ‘All Ships‘ call on channels 16 and 18 to announce our intention to pass through Tory Channel entrance and we were off. As we passed by West Head at 1337 hrs we noticed Halo was doing 5.5 kts STW (speed thru water) and 7.5 kts SOG (speed over ground) which indicated about 2 kts of tidal current in our favour.

Leaving Tory Channel entering Cook Strait

Once we were clear of the channel we hoisted the No. 3 Jib and with about 13 kts of NW wind we were able to turn off the engine and sail on wind power. We noticed a couple of Albatross trying to take off at one stage and a number of Cape Petrels swirling around us. The wind wasn’t consistent. Sometimes NW and then NE so we had to use the engine a bit in the quiet patches to ensure we didn’t arrive too late into Wellington. Met Service was predicting winds up to 25 kts in the evening around Wellington.

We were steering mainly by GPS tracking combined with the compass bearing. At one stage Eduardo noticed that our compass bearing and the GPS track was out by about ten degrees. This happened at about 1500 hrs when we were passing over the Cook Strait submarine power cables. Could this cause such a significant deviation? Needs further research. The rest of the time the compass and GPS tracking were aligned OK.

We passed by Karori Rock at about 1615 hrs. The Karori Rip was reasonably choppy but the southerly swell was less than 1 metre. We had relatively smooth sailing doing about 8 kts SOG thanks to about 3 kts of current behind us. So far so good. However, after we passed Sinclair Head the wind increased to 20 kts gusting 25 kts from the N with very choppy seas. In an abundance of caution we put two reefs in the main and with Eduardo on helm and assistance from the engine, we forged on ahead.

Considering the wind strength and the setting sun we decided not to take the short cut through Chaffers Passage but to continue on to Barrett Reef Buoy which we passed at 1737 hrs. We then dropped the jib and motored into Wellington Heads with the wind on the nose with the last of the incoming tide and some big waves crashing over the bow. It was getting pretty cold by now and we appreciated the arctic jackets we had put on earlier.

Passing Steeple Rock and Point Halswell we soon were approaching Lambton Harbour with wonderful views of the city lights of Wellington. By 1900 hrs we were safely back in our berth at Chaffers Marina and called Maritime Radio to close the TR. Another successful Cook Strait crossing completed!