Crew for the day were Louise, Nick, Lucas, Chelsea, Graciela and Geoff. The forecast promised a northerly of 10 knots, swinging southerly and freshening to about 15 knots around midday — which turned out to be pretty accurate.
After rigging the No. 3 jib and getting everyone sorted with life jackets, we slipped lines from Chaffers Marina at 1110 hrs.
It was a beautiful calm day on the harbour, with barely enough wind to fill the sails, as we motor-sailed out of Lambton Harbour with Graciela on the helm.
Things improved nicely by the time we reached Pt Jerningham, with the southerly filling in to a steady 10 knots. Lucas took over on the helm and we enjoyed a pleasant beam reach up the harbour toward Somes Island — always a great way to sail.
We rounded the rocks off Mokopuna Island at about 1210 hrs and dropped the sails.
We were expecting to meet up with Rob and Denise on Expresso, but they hadn’t arrived yet. Another boat, Extrapet from Lowry Bay Club, was already on the club mooring. They kindly offered for us to raft up, but advised they’d be heading off fairly soon. With that in mind, we decided to anchor a little closer inshore while we waited for Expresso.
We dropped the anchor in around 6 metres of water and were just checking our holding when Ika Rere, the electric East–West ferry, appeared rather close for comfort! The skipper politely let us know that anchoring within 50 metres of the yellow buoys was a no-go area. Apparently that’s because Somes Island gets its fresh water from a bore into the Waiwhetu Aquifer beneath the harbour — something we all learned that day!
Anchor quickly up again, we motored back to the mooring and rafted up with Extrapet. Lunch followed — a very enjoyable one at that, thanks to Louise.
Not long after, Extrapet cast off and Expresso arrived to pick up the mooring (being the bigger boat). We rafted up alongside and settled in nicely.
Next job was inflating the dinghy and heading ashore.
The new wharf is excellent, with an easy boarding area and a handy spot to leave the dinghy.
We had a great walk around the island as far as the lighthouse, learning a bit about the history and soaking up some lovely harbour views.
Back on board Halo, it was time for a well-earned cup of tea before thinking about the trip home. We said our goodbyes to the crew of Expresso, cast off, hoisted the sails and headed around the eastern side of Somes Island.
Nick took the helm for the return sail and did a great job as we sailed close-hauled on the layline back toward Lambton Harbour with a good 15 kts breeze to keep things interesting.
We berthed Halo back at Chaffers Marina at 0547 hrs, wrapping up a thoroughly enjoyable day on the water.
Halo Log Book 