Mana Marina (near Wellington)
Friday 3 April 2020
The big news today is that I started the motor, untied the mooring lines and went for a “voyage”.
It was a very short voyage. Probably too short even for the GPS tracker to even pick it up … but here I am neatly tucked up in a real marina berth, just like I was back home in Westernport.
The move was something of an inevitability really, as my “temporary” situation had tipped over into more of a “permanent” situation, with the berth at the Cruising Club’s seawall being a kind gesture, well beyond the courtesy three days.
I finalized the berth arrangements with the marina manager yesterday, and it looks like I’ll be able to stay here for at least the next 3 weeks – the remaining term of the current national “lock-down” – and possibly even longer. The yacht that normally lives in this spot is currently down at Picton, and like everything else, is locked down.
It sounds like a pretty simple procedure … moving a boat just 75 metres from there to here … but as they say, “it’s quite deceptive really” … and I can’t say the word “deceptive” without being reminded of the short comedy cartoon featuring a beached whale and a duck … if you haven’t seen it, and I’m sure there’s still a few … then here it is … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVHZwI8pcA
Anyway, despite the lockdown, I was able to recruit three authorized “helpers”, who each naturally kept the required distance, and didn’t come aboard … to assist with the mooring lines – leaving and arriving – in the form of Tara, the marina accounts and administration manager, her husband and their friend.
I made the move relatively early in the day … at least early for me of late … before the wind got up, because maneuvering a boat in confined waters, and particularly Chimere with her high sides and NO bow thruster, can lead to [expensive] unintended consequences. Getting into the new berth wasn’t a problem, despite it being just slightly wider than Chimere, the big problem lay in the fishing boat called “Tradition” that was sitting just a few metres off my bow.
You might have seen how those cruise ships come and go from a wharf … they basically rotate their fore and aft motors to firstly drive sideways from the wharf, then rotate on their own length.
Well Chimere can’t do that.
If we had a “bow thruster”, we could come close, but instead we use what’s called spring lines. These are essentially mooring lines that you either attach from the front, or the back of the boat, to a cleat or bollard on shore.
When used correctly, spring lines can push your STERN away from the wharf, when you drive onto them … or, alternatively push your BOW away from the wharf, when you back onto them.
I suppose you had to be there … but after a time … or a couple of times anyway … I was able to back Chimere a sufficient distance off the wharf (without hitting the wall behind me, or the row of boats off to the side) to then enable me to drive forward without hitting the fishing boat or wiping out the dinghy hanging off my stern davits.
Again, fortunately, there was little, to no, wind. Throw a breeze into the equation … other than one that is conveniently blowing you off the wharf … and I think I’d still be tied up at the wharf.
As for the new address? It really is the end of the Row … with only a narrow entrance channel between me and the rock wall off my starboard side.
One nifty thing is that a homemade, very solid step ladder, belonging to the yacht that normally sits here, just happened to be positioned exactly where my port side gate ended up coming to rest, once we’d tied up all the mooring lines – sweet as bro! Although, once I’d plugged in my shore power, I’m not sure I’ll be using the ladder very much … maybe to get some exercise … but I have pretty much everything I need onboard.
In other news … around sunset, I looked up from my laptop and noticed the sky looked pretty outside. So I couldn’t resist nicking up on deck to take a photo. One thing the photo doesn’t show is that with the wind now blowing from a south-ish kind of direction, it’s a bit chilly outside. It’s nice and warm down inside, but it does make you wonder how much colder it might get in a month or so?!
Smooth seas, fair breeze and same postcode – different address
Rob Latimer
NZ2020 