Green Light From The Authorities

Mana Marina (near Wellington)

Monday 20 April 2020

After nearly four weeks of “lockdown” … the much anticipated COVID-19 announcement by the New Zealand Prime Minister occurred today.  And as reported earlier this evening …

“Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced the level 4 lockdown will continue for one more week with it coming to an end at 11.59pm on Monday April 27. We will then be at level 3 for at least two weeks.”

The following website tries to explain the difference between Level 4 and Level 3 …

https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-system/covid-19-alert-system/

Under Level 3, people are still being encouraged to limit travel to “essential only”, and remain at home as much as possible.  Just in case you’re interested … on a wider
level …

… early learning centres and schools for children in years 1-10 will be allowed to re-open

… weddings, funerals and tangihanga of up to 10 people will be allowed … but no eating or drinking, and records need to be kept of the people who attended.

… public venues will also remain closed, which include museums, cinemas, food courts, gyms, pools, amusement parks, playgrounds and farmers’ markets.

… people must work from home, unless that is not possible and businesses can open premises, but cannot physically interact with customers.

… healthcare services use virtual, non-contact consultations where possible.

… inter-regional travel is highly limited, eg for essential workers, with limited exemptions for others.

As a “foreigner”, I’m allowed a few small travel concessions, even under the current Level 4 restrictions, where it involves connecting with an international flight – to get out of here – I’m sure it’s nothing personal. 

But still, it was comforting to receive a prompt response from the Wellington Harbourmaster, plus confirmation from the Officer in Charge of the Wellington Police Maritime Unit, supporting my request to relocate Chimere from Mana to Chaffers sometime this week.  And I don’t think I’m breaching any confidences by including their responses here:

WELLINGTON HARBOURMASTER RESPONSE

I support your request to move from Mana Marina to Seaview [sp: Chaffers] Marina within the next week with the following conditions:

·       Ensure suitable weather
·       Have adequate assistance on board to make the journey safety and with local knowledge
·       Lodge and close a trip report with Maritime Radio (VHF Ch16)
·       Contact Wellington Harbour radio on vhf ch 14 before entering the harbour and monitor ch14 within the harbour.
·       When you do depart please email that and your eta to all those in this email list.

The NZ Police are in control of movement restrictions at this time so I am supporting your request and passing this to the Maritime Police unit for approval.

Have a safe trip

Regards

SENIOR SARGENT/COASTAL MASTER, OFFICER IN CHARGE WELLINGTON POLICE MARITIME UNIT

Yes I have no problem with this request.

Thanks

So, there you go. 

All my seagulls lined up, with the necessary authority in place to set sail at a time of my choosing.  Naturally, the  travel restrictions imposed by the Mana and Chaffer Marinas will be flexible enough to accommodate written authorisation from those higher up the tree.

My crew for the day, (which I’m scheduling for Wednesday) will be my cousin Keith and Adam; Keith’s extremely helpful friend and boat-service-guy, who was able to locate the permanent berth for me in the first place.  I’ll certainly be able to meet the … “local knowledge” condition with them on board.  I think it was Keith who also suggested, half-jokingly, that we could stop off on the way and dive for a few crays … he knows “some spots”.   Nice idea, but not this time.

Much an’ all as I wanted to continue working on the Chimere Operations Manual, other tasks drew me away today.  There was the peeling and stewing of a bag of apples … bought 4 weeks ago and just a little past their prime.  I had some with ice-cream tonight and they’ve certainly been put to good use now.

In tidying  up, one uncompleted task that has been simmering away in the background since we left Westernport – exactly three months ago this Saturday – is the nav-table stool.  Regular readers will recall that during a quiet time while sailing across the Tasman, I took a saw and hammer to the floor under the nav-table.  The objective being to make more room for my legs, knees and feet (they’re all joined together); in what is ordinarily, a very pokey spot. 

While I was re-modelling the floor, crew member Jim Dunn was assigned the task of resurrecting the stool, using remnants from an old leather seat cushion.  And at the same time, raising the seat up about 6 inches.  

Jim came very close to finishing his assigned duty … all it really needed were a few more calm days at sea. On leaving Chimere in Picton, Jim bequeathed the unfinished seat to a member of the next crew … and so that’s pretty much where it’s sat ever since – in pieces.

But not anymore!!  After an hour or two of concerted sewing, sawing and screwing, plus the incorporation of some “found objects”, the seat is now positioned back where it belongs. The whole combination making the nav table far more comfortable, to be sure.   

Another big task accomplished today was the transfer of the small dinghy off the stern davits, onto the foredeck.  Now, it can be lashed down and covered with tarps, for the nine months it’s expected to sit in the Wellington marina.  The dinghy hanging out the back also makes Chimere longer where it can easily be damaged.  Not that I’m planning on backing into anything … but there’s always the chance that others might run into me.

Having the dinghy in the water, if only briefly, also gave me a chance to bridge the short gap between Chimere and the base of the starboard piles.  This enabled be to attach doubled-up bow and stern lines.  These will be of assistance when get around to undocking, by enabling us to warp the boat a metre or so to the right by hand, before starting the backing-out manoeuvre. 

Due to Chimere’s long keel and turn of the propeller, reversing Chimere in a straight line, for any great distance, is difficult at the best of times.  But with our (delicate) wooden ladder attached to the left side, any extra space we can crib, by pulling ourselves to the right, is a worthwhile investment.

Whilst I didn’t get to work on the Operations Manual, I did take a few extra photos and yesterday I wrote that I thought I’d taken more than 60 photos of different things on board.  Well, I did a quick count tonight and the figure is closer to 190 – plus I know there’s more needed!

Smooth seas, fair breeze and green light from the authorities

Rob Latimer