Crew: Eduardo, Dean, Geoff.
Cook Strait Forecast: Variable 10 kts moderate sea, 1mt southerly swell.
Yay, we’re off to the Sounds again! The Waikawa Women’s Regatta is on this weekend and a fleet of Wellington boats are planning to join the fun. After some rather rough weather the previous week, Tuesday was presenting a good weather window for our Cook Strait crossing.
Our route plan:
8 Sept – HW Wellington 13:56 hrs
Leave Wellington to arrive at Sinclair Head 1 hour before HW Wellington.
1100 hrs – Leave Chaffers Marina
1300 hrs – Arrive Sinclair Head (2 hrs)
1630 hrs – Arrive Tory Channel (3.5 hrs)
1730 hrs – Arrive Ngaruru Bay (1 hr)
After preparing Halo for off-shore sailing; life raft, dan buoy, jack lines, dinghy, diesel and water tanks filled, route plan made, etc. etc., we called Maritime Radio on ch. 16 to log our Trip Report and cast off at 1100 hrs. We motor sailed out following Tamerlane in flat calm condituons:
Expresso came over from Seaview and joined the fleet as we rounded Pt. Halswell. Grenadier had left earlier and were well ahead. Zigzag also joined the fleet.
After carefully navigating through Chaffers Passage we turned right to enter Cook Strait and into the deep blue sea. Wonderful!
At 1300 hrs we passed Sinclait Head and entered the Karori Rip which proved to be unusually mild. With a lght northerly breeze we hoisted our no. 3 jib. Our speed over ground (SOG) increased to over 8 kts as we were pushed along by the tidal current.
As we neared the entrance to Tory Channel the Bluebridge ferries very nicely steamed around us. Livia on our starboard side and Connemara on our port side.
At the entrance to Tory Channel each of the boats did our “All ships” call and cruised through without incident.
We then motored up the channel into the setting sun before arriving into Ngaruru Bay at 1800 hrs and closing our TR with Maritime Radio.
All four boats rafted up on the club mooring and we settled in for a relaxing evening.
On Halo, dinner was a delicious Beef Bourguignon that Graciela had pre-prepared for us, togther with a nice Chilean cabernet sauvignon to celebrate another successful Cook Strait crossing.
Sail Tracker Replay: https://windshift.org.nz/?s=yb5EeIDRcGTJb2Hq5l6n31cMWfQkx0r_uX9wTHIwTGo
You must be logged in to post a comment.