Port William, Stewart Island
Tuesday 3 March 2020
As planned, we got away from Lord’s River early, catching the light, off shore wind, before the forecasted all-out gale arrived around lunchtime
Our speed was good, and it was a comfortable ride, with a slight tilt to the starboard side. Our arrival at Port William around 12 noon, after maybe 5-hours of sailing, could not have been timed better. The final approach into the sheltered bay was slowed somewhat, as gusts climbed from 20 to 25, then 30 knots. This was in the confines of the bay. Out off the point, the white caps dominated, with thin lines of blue water showing between the spray – the rest was pretty much white.
After finding a good, sheltered anchorage, we had lunch and there was even time for a brief snooze, before John and I went fishing. This we did by first launching the small dinghy off the stern, hindered by the steady 25-30 knot wind and the rising chop that seemed to see us coming.
Once across the bay, and while preparing all the fishing bits and pieces … our baiting of the first hooks was interrupted by James on the radio … “Chimere to fishing party, Chimere to fishing party … looks like we are dragging back on the anchor, we’ve started the engine and the depth is down to 2.7 metres: Over”
Nothing like a message like that to re-focus the attention. Away from fishing and onto other, more important things … like “saving the ship”. Looking from our side of the bay, it certainly looked like we’d drifted back, as the steady wind and piercing gusts kept doing its thing
“Roger that James, we’re coming back immediately”, I replied, already pulling the rope to start the otboard.
Once back on board, Matt continued slowly motoring forward. The depth progressively climbing. On the bow, James and I started the process of carefully winding in the chain using the electric winch, making sure the chain was properly “flaked” into the well, in order to avoid jamming.
The anchor came close to the surface, and apart from an abundance of weed – which is always bad for securing a good “hold – the anchor had also caught a large piece of bent aluminium off the seafloor. Possibly part of something long discarded or lost overboard – but from our perspective, certainly something that would prevent us staying put in a blow.
The anchor above the waves and clear of “obstacles”, our hand signals to the helm gave instructions to motor forward … to the far side of the bay. It was here that we had been fishing. And as it turned, it was also a much better place to drop the anchor, on sand, in around 9 metres of water.
Always wanting to learn from such things, in retrospect, our original choice of anchorage wasn’t such a bad option. In fact, it was here that a large fishing boat dropped her pick later in the afternoon. I think we were just a bit unlucky with this one. One thing it did show, however, was that “Team Chimere” could overcome a challenge and pull together when needed.
Soon after settling in to our new side of the bay, John and I went back to fishing from the small dinghy, while onboard, it was a time to relax, play cards and prepare dinner – of fish.
Our (second) catch, after an hour or so, was a total of five fish, including four blue cod, which John gutted and filleted with his usual flair.
Along with fish, dinner also included baked vegetables … followed by an apricot pudding from the oven PLUS ice-cream (that’s my kind of sailing)
With the full tide now covering the nearby rocks, and a brief gap in the passing rain squalls, John and I headed back on the water after dinner, to fish from the dinghy.
We might have stayed out a bit too long, because we returned rather wet and cold and although it was not quite dark, everyone on board seemed to think it was already time to go to bed … which, except for Linda, they had done.
As for the fishing, we caught two more (larger) blue cod, plus a 2-3 foot shark. There was also another large orange octopus, which I wasn’t going to mention, but it kind-of transitioned from a “mistaken catch”, which we threw back after extracting the 8-once sinker it had swallowed, along with two hooks (all taken out expertly by John without doing any damage) … to a regular fiasco. Involving John calling out in an ever increasing-pitched voice … “get away, get back in the water … go, go …” as he flicked and pocked it as best he could.
From my side of the dinghy, it was clear that this animal had its heart, along with most of its tentacles and more and more of its body … inside the dinghy. John, standing by this time, had different ideas, as he kept poking and poking, while backing away as best he could, all the while trying to avoid it’s many sucker-filled arms.
By now I had the motor started and as the speed increased, we assumed the animal would finally get the hint and swim away, but not so. In the end, we were nearly back to Chimere and almost up and plaining, before it finally decided to go home; an octopus with serious thrill issues!
As for tomorrow? It was set to be a long day, as we’d finally made the decision to set sail for Fiordland as the weather was starting to tilt in our favour.
Smooth seas, fair breeze and race to beat the gale
Rob Latimer
PS I’m still looking for extra crew to assist with the 8-day voyage, from Milford Sound to Wellington, starting on 14 March. If you or a friend want to join us, please sing out ASAP. Email me on the satphone at … msm1@clientsatmail.com.au and latimerfamily4@gmail.com but remember, no file attachments)
NZ2020 