Crew: Geoff, Murray, Jamie, John.
Forecast: PW – NW 8 kts increasing to 13 kts. MetService: N 10 kts.
The Plan
The plan is to sail across Cook Strait in company with Grenadier and Tamerlane to be in Waikawa for the Women’s Regatta the next week. After monitoring the forecasts over the past few days Phil, Bill and I agreed that Thursday would be our best weather window for the crossing. To catch the correct tides our plan was to depart Wellington on Thursday at 0330 hrs which would have us arriving at Sinclair head (the beginning of the Karori Rip) one hour before high water Wellington.
In the meantime I had to finish the boat preparations.
Wednesday 4th
John and Jamie joined me on Halo at 8 pm on Wednesday night. We finished packing the boat, did our safety briefing, set our alarms for 0300 hrs, and settled in for an early sleep.
Thursday 5th
Murray arrived at Chaffers Marina at 0300 hrs just after our alarms woke us up. After final boat checks I called Maritime Radio on ch. 16 to log our trip report as well as calling Wellington Harbour Radio on ch. 14 to inform them we would be night sailing out of the harbour.
We cast off at 0330 hrs out into the harbour in the pitch black night, lit up only by the city lights.
We hoisted our mainsail and small no. 3 jib and soon caught up with Tamerlane and Grenadier. The 10 kts northerly behind us pushed gently out into the Wellington Heads.
The sea was calm with minimal southerly swell but we decided against taking the short cut through Chaffers Passage at nighttime. We took the safer route in the main shipping lane around Barrett Reef Buoy.
Clearing Palmer Head and keeping a lookout to avoid the cray pots, we turned west towards Sinclair Head. The wind was a nice 15 kts on the beam giving us good 6.5 kts boat speed. Jamie was doing a great job on helm.
The sun was just starting to rise behind us as we entered the ‘washing machine’ of the Karori rip.
Avoiding the usual Interislander and Bluebridge ferries we settled in to a fast sail across Cook Strait together with Grenadier and Tamerlane.
John had his camera out and captured some lovely images.
As we neared Tory Channel we found we had to steer the boat about 20 degrees to the left of the entrance to offset the tide dragging us northwards.
After calling “all ships” on ch. 18 and ch. 16 to announce our intention, we transited the unusually calm entrance and proceeded to motor up Tory Channel.
We rafted up with Grenadier at the Ngaruru Bay club mooring at 1000 hrs. Murray jumped ship on to Tamerlane to get a ride to Picton to meet his ferry back to Wellington.
Jamie, John and I launched the dinghy and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon in the beautiful bay. John impressed us by swimming all the way to the beach!
Tamerlane returned from Picton and the three boats rafted up for the evening. Bill joined us on Halo for dinner. We enjoyed a wonderful pre-prepared Beef Bourguignon. Thank you Graciela!
Total distance 39 NMi. Average speed 5.45 kts.
Halo Log Book 