One Crowded Hour

Resolution Bay, (Lat 41 06S, Lon 174 13E), AT ANCHOR 
Marlborough Sounds 

Tuesday 4 February 2020 

The magic weather continued through last night with the wind strengthening, as predicted, throughout the day. One reef in the main became two, the working jib got smaller as we continued to reef, till finally we were doing 8-9 knots before a 30+ knot nor wester across Tasman Bay. 

Tasman Bay leads into Cooks Strait, but before we’d gone that far, it was a right hand turn into Queen Charlotte Sound and the Marlborough Sounds, within which a myriad of bays, inlets and islands are contained. 
It was around this time that “brisk” became “hairy”. The cruising guide mentioned something about “funnelling wind”, the further you made it into the narrowing waters of the Sounds, and on this point they were spot on.  
Once upon a time we would have looked at the white caps, the rising columns of spray-drift, plus of course the screaming of the rigging and thought … “gee that’s strong”. Now, we have a brand new wind instrument at the top of the mast which not only tells us where the wind is coming from, but also its strength. 

All I can say is that I’m pleased the wind was largely coming from behind, and on the sides. Because gusts of 40-50 knots can be born reasonably well aboard Chimere, just by reducing sail. And it was on this point that, for a time, we struggled. Making for some intense moments, requiring coordinated input from all on board; to which everyone rose admirably! 
After 10 days of perfect weather, a wonderful, uneventful crossing of the Tasman, this most certainly was Chimere’s “finest hour”. Or, as it turned out, more like 3-4 hours, with wind and spray-surges hitting us continually, as we made our way further down the Sounds till we came to rest at anchor in Resolution Bay.  

When I say “rest” … well, whilst we are confident that with 60 metres of chain out, we aren’t going anywhere, the repeated gusts of wind from the nearby hills of up to 45 knots, has had us dangling on the chain like a kite on a string. Sometimes from the hills on our left, then sometimes from the hills on our right. And between the gusts, there was an eerie stillness and calm that fell over the boat that was somewhat spooky. Then it poured with rain, which did a wonderful job of cleaning the decks. 

A massive feeling of relief and satisfaction overcame us all, following the dropping of the anchor in this wonderfully sheltered bay. Amidst the mayhem, we received a call from NZ Customs on John’s phone inquiring about our plans to drop anchor before proceeding directly to the Picton wharf for clearance. Something which they obviously had issues with. From our perspective, we wanted to avoid a night-time arrival in (unfamiliar) Picton, through the narrow Sounds, with winds gusting 40-50 knots. I essentially presented it as a “risk and safety” issue, which met with general acceptance on the other end of the phone; the conversation being between John and the official because I was on the helm, and after all, kiwi-John speaks the local dialect.  
As a compromise, we will be up at 5:30am tomorrow and away by 6:00am, with a hope of reaching Picton by 8:30am for Customs and Quarantine clearance. 

For now, we are just happy to relax, soak in the vibe and unwind. (sometime, we’ll have to show you the pictures and video) 
Jim did a beautiful spag bol for dinner, and now that I think of food, I remember that during our time of testing this afternoon – sails thrashing and lines flailing all over the place – Jorge called to Jodi in the galley below … “how is the bakery going?”. Soon after two loaves of bread appeared full of grated cheese, sliced meat and other tasty green things, for all to share. Magnifico!! 

Smooth seas fair breeze and one crowed hour

Rob Latimer