Crew: Geoff, Graciela, Jim.
Forecast: Light northerly early turning to southerly increasing to 20 kts later. Wellington HW 0932 hrs 1.7 m.
We needed to deliver Halo across to Queen Charlotte Sound in preparation for our family holiday next week. Jim, who lives in Nelson, was visiting Wellington so we offered him to join us for the crossing. On Thursday afternoon Jim came down to Chaffers and I did a full safety briefing with him on Halo.
The northerlies had been blowing all week but Friday was looking to be a decent weather window. To cross Cook Strait we sail mainly towards the north-west so a southerly gives us a nice tail wind together with the outgoing tide and a following southerly swell.
The Plan:
Leave Wellington to arrive at Sinclair Head 1 hour before HW Wellington.
0630 hrs – Leave Chaffers Marina
0830 hrs – Arrive Sinclair Head (2 hrs)
1200 hrs – Arrive Tory Channel (3.5 hrs)
1500 hrs – Arrive Picton (3 hrs)
We’re Off!
It was an early start on Friday. A clear calm start to the day with no wind at all in the marina. Jim entertained us with a lovely rendition of “Oh what a beautiful morning” as we walked down to the boat.
We had to carefully shoo this baby seal out of the way before we could board Halo!
We rigged the no. 3 jib, did our Trip Report with Maritime Radio, and cast off at 0630 hrs.
With Graciela on helm we hoisted the mainsail and motor sailed towards Pt Halswell in the light 6 kts northerly.
We hoisted the jib and turned south towards Steeple Rock while enjoying our first cup of tea 🙂
I saw on Predictwind that the southerly was already blowing 23 kts at Cape Campbell so we cautiously put a reef in the mainsail in anticipation.
Jim took a turn on helm and we dropped the jib to navigate through Chaffers Passage and past the infamous Barrett Reef. Still very calm conditions.
Once we were clear of the rocks and the multiple craypot buoys south of Palmer Head, we turned right into 10 kts of westerly on the nose. Mmm not ideal.
With the jib hoisted we did a few zigzags as we beat our our way past Island Bay. We were making slow progress so we dropped the headsail and continued motor sailing.
The wind eventually backed to a southerly as we passed Sinclair Head at 0840 hrs and entered the Karori rip. It suddenly got cold and jackets were donned. The ”washing machine’ was relatively benign. We hoisted the jib and turned off the motor.
We noticed another yacht trailing behind us. On the AIS we saw that it was Amelie, a 41 foot Centurion.
Once we cleared the rip, the southerly increased to 20 kts. The sun came out again as we had a beautiful sail on a broad reach across Cook Strait getting great speeds with the following tide.
Jim did some bird spotting. Saw some fluttering shearwaters and then this huge albatross joined us briefly. Beautiful bird.
As we neared the entrance to Tory Channel I did the ‘All Ships’ calls on VHF ch 16 and 18. We then dropped the jib and transited the channel at 1150 hrs.
Once we were in the protected waters of Tory Channel we enjoyed a welcome lunch of sandwiches with bacon and egg pie. The wind was all over the place so we left the jib down and motor sailed our way down Queen Charlotte Sound.
Arrived Picton at 1450 hrs. Ten minutes ahead of schedule. Mark, the marina manager, kindly helped us with our lines as we berthed at Jetty 3.
After packing up the boat Jim retrieved his car from the Picton car park to drive home to Nelson. Graciela and I said our goodbyes to Halo and hung around in town before catching the Interislander ferry back to Wellington.
A great Cook Strait Crossing!
Total distance 50 Nautical Miles – Time 8 hrs 27 min – Avg speed 5.92 kts
Halo Log Book 