Sailing to Ward Island 7 Jan 2024

Crew: Geoff, Louise, Lucas, Chelsea, Murray.
Forecast: Variable 5 kts, Southerly 10 kts developing late morning and late afternoon.

A stunning Wellington day for sailing so I invited niece Louise and family to join me for a trip to Ward Island. I coordinated with Phil on Grenadier for a raft-up at the club mooring. Murray joined the crew and after donning life jackets and extra layers of sunscreen we cast off from Chaffers at 1053 hrs. We hoisted the no. 2 jib with full main and started motor sailing out of Lambton Harbour towing the dinghy behind us.

As we passed the entrance to Evans Bay we started to get some SE breeze and were able to turn off the engine. The wind then veered to a nice 10kts southerly after we passed Pt Halswell giving us a pleasant beam-reach sail across Wellington Harbour at around 5.5 kts. No sign of Grenadier yet so I called Phil and he confirmed he was now tied up at the mooring and was waiting for us with mooring lines at the ready.

We arrived at Ward Island and after dropping the sails we slowly motored up to raft up next to Grenadier at 1200 hrs. We secured our bow and stern lines and spring lines.

We invited Phil over to join us for convivial lunch and coffee.

And then it was expedition time! Louise and Murray jumped into Grenadier’s dinghy and I rowed over to the island in Halo’s dinghy with Chelsea and Lucas.

Louise, Lucas, Chelsea and I enjoyed a refreshing swim followed by a walk along the beach to the southern end of the island. We had to be careful not to get too close to the nesting seagulls. Found a rather smelly dead seal on the rocks. Kids had fun collecting shells. Chelsea found a big live mussel.

Then it was back in the dinghys and back to the boats.

We cast off our lines from Grenadier at 1415 hrs and headed back.

Once we were out of the shelter of Ward Island the southerly was 12-15 kts and we had a fun sail back home at 6 kts with Murray on helm, me on sail trim, and Louise, Lucas and Chelsea holding on tight 🙂