Crew: Geoff, John, Tunch.
Day 1 – Nelson to Ship Cove
We cast off from our berth at Nelson Marina at 0810 hrs. After stopping at the fuel jetty we motor sailed through The Cut and headed north up Tasman Bay in company with Annie.
Another beautiful Nelson day!
The LINZ Tide Table indicated French Pass would start flowing NE at 1453 hrs. I allowed 6.5 hrs to cover the 35 miles at an average speed of 5.5 kts.
The wind came up as we passed Pepin Island. We made good speed with the no. 3 jib and full main.
As we neared French Pass the wind died again and we dropped the jib. I did the ‘All ships’ call on ch. 16. Closely followed by Annie we transited the pass at 1450 hrs. Our timing was good with negligible current flowing and no problems with the whirlpools.
Still no wind as we entered Admiralty Bay. Tunch put the fishing line out while John had fun photographing the birds.
After rounding Clay Point, we had about 1 kt of tide pushing us along as we passed Chetwode Islands and Cape Lambert. We transited Cape Jackson passage at 1850 hrs just behind Rattler.
We pulled in to Ship Cove at 2000 hrs. Annie was already tied up to the club mooring so we rafted up with them. Rattler was over the 12 mt limit for the buoy so they anchored in the bay.
It was low tide and we saw plenty of big mussels on the rocks. Tunch launched the dinghy to have a look. He was soon back with his catch and we fired up the BBQ to cook up the mussels for dinner.
We invited the Annie and Rattler crews over and all enjoyed a pleasant evening of mussels, wine and conversation.
Nelson to Ship Cove – 57 miles, 12 hours.
Day 2 – Ship Cove to Wellington
The day was looking perfect for our Cook Strait crossing. The forecast was for 10 kt northerlies increasing to 20 kts in the afternoon. If we get away early we would follow the currents across the strait with the plan to reach Wellington by high tide at 1300 hrs.
Beautiful calm morning. We did our trip report to Maritime Radio and cast off at 0620 hrs towards Cape Koamaru into the rising sun.
We rounded the cape in company with Annie and passed between The Brothers Islands and Awash Rock at 0800 hrs. The tide was pushing us along at around 7 kts SOG. Very light winds so we dropped the jib.
Once we got past The Brothers the northerly came up and we were off!
As we neared Cape Terawhiti the wind was gusting over 20 kts. Safely secured with my tether attached to the Jack Line I went up front to put a reef in the mainsail.
We were entertained by a pod of beautiful dolphins swimming with us for ages!
The Karori Rip was fun but manageable as we bounced along the waves.
We rounded Palmer Head at 1200 hrs and the wind increased to 23 kts on the nose. We dropped the jib and motor sailed up Chaffers Passage and round Point Dorset to enter windy Wellington Harbour.
After we passed Point Halswell we hoisted the sails again for a triumphant sail past Evans Bay and Oriental Bay.
We docked Halo back in her berth at Chaffers Marina at 1347 hrs. Almost seven weeks since we first left Wellington on 6th Dec. It’s been a wonderful summer.
Ship Cove to Wellington – 55 miles, 8 hours
Halo Log Book 