My friend Dave who lives in Nelson sent us an invitation to his 70th birthday party. I replied that Graciela and I would love to come and half jokingly said we could sail there!
After checking tide tables and watching weather forecasts it was looking promising for a Cook Strait crossing on Wednesday 9th: southerly dying out in the morning followed by light northerlies with a full moon. High tide Wellington 6 am. We’d have to leave Chaffers at 3am.
I set up the boat on Monday with full tank of diesel (plus two extra 10 litre containers), topped up fresh water, new LPG bottle, secured the dinghy on the foredeck, and set up the safety equipment; danbuoy, life ring light, grab bag, jack lines, etc.
We packed all our gear on Tuesday and after dinner at home we boarded Halo for the night with the alarm for 2.50 am. I got up briefly at midnight and had a look at the amazing blood red lunar eclipse.
At 0300 hrs on Wednesday we cast off from the berth after calling Maritime Radio with a trip report and Wellington Harbour Radio (Beacon Hill) to advise our intentions. The weather was dead calm with the full moon creating a weird almost daylight effect. We hoisted the mainsail, optimistically rigged the No. 3 jib, and motor sailed out of Wellington Harbour.
We rounded Barrett Reef Buoy at 0520 hrs and set course for Sinclair Head towards the slowly setting moon with “Ernesto” our trusty Simrad auto-tiller taking the helm.
We passed Sinclair Head at 0512 hrs and entered the infamous Karori Rip. Even though there was only 2-5 kts of wind it was still a bit lumpy – but nothing compared to other times we’ve been there. We were motoring along at 5.5 kts through the water plus 2 kts of current giving us 7.5 kts SOG.
By 6am the sun was rising creating a beautiful light behind us.
Once the sun was up it turned into a glorious day as we motor-sailed across a calm Cook Strait.
Graciela prepared a yummy cooked breakfast before we passed between Awash Rock and The Brothers. We rounded Cape Koamaru at 0830 hrs speeding along at up to 10 kts SOG with the out-going tide.
We then sailed across the northern entrance of Queen Charlotte Sound to arrive at Cape Jackson which we transited at 0930 hrs. We put the fishing line out ever hopeful of catching a nice kahawai for supper.
We continued on across the top of Pelorus Sound towards the Chetwode Islands and then rounded Clay Point at 1237 hrs.
As we entered Admiralty Bay we slowed down to 4.5 kts SOG as the tide turned against us. We were greeted by six very large dolphins (descendants of Pelorus Jack?) who played with us for a while.
We eventually arrived at D’Urville Island and tied Halo up on one of the moorings in front of the Catherine Cove lodge at 1335 hrs. With the boat no longer moving it suddenly got very hot – 28 degrees inside the cabin. Time for a celebratory cold beer.
As the forecast is for a strong SE to start at about midnight we decided to spend the night in one of the cabins at the lodge to wait for the storm to blow over.
In the afternoon we moved Halo onto an alternative mooring which we were told would be better sheltered from the SE wind.
We then enjoyed a great fish dinner in the lodge prepared by our our hostess, Catherine. She apologised that the cod had just been caught today and was a bit too fresh!
Halo Log Book 