Be like the water …

Aboard Chimere, Chaffers Marina, Wellington

Friday 21 May 2021

The wind howled for the first half of the day, maybe longer, with waves breaking over the small breakwater a short distance off the bow.

But there was no clean-hull diver, or marine surveyor, on account of a range of issues, but the revised plan is that they will turn up on Monday. 

Changing plans and the need to rearrange our activities to suit, reminded me of the famous Bruce Lee mantra, … or was it Yoda? … to … “be like the water”.  In any case, the idea is to be flexible, changeable … adaptable … “like water in a stream hitting a rock … my young Padawan … flow around, not through”. Deep eh?!

One thing we definitely can’t change is the weather.  And whilst our departure from Wellington is still a few days off, the long-term forecast for next week (up the east coast of the North Island) was looking really favourable, two days ago.  Then yesterday it took a turn for the worse, as a large weather pattern to the north, packing winds of 50 knots or so, looked like heading south.   Now it appears the large Low Pressure system might be dissipating later next week, meaning that instead of possibly stopping at Gisborne after 2 days and around 240 miles, (to avoid the worst of the weather) we might be able to continue on directly to Tauranga a further 2 days on from that.

As I said, our departure is still a few day’s out, and almost anything can happen in that time, but we are definitely planning to be ready to untie the lines early Tuesday morning – and yes, with 5 people on board, because it looks like Kate will be joining us.

Speaking of Kate, she was back on board this arvo, scrubbing the aft end of the teak toe rail and sharing sailing war stories over lunch.

One small issue, in having decided to be ready for departure on Tuesday, is that the cog from the sheet winch, which I’d dropped into an engineering business yesterday for repair, was originally meant to be ready on Tuesday. And that was really pushing the manager Ken, particularly for a small job that was just lobbed on him out of the blue.  My thought now was … “I wonder if Ken could have the repaired cog ready on Monday?”  … his possible response reminding me of the popular old poster and message of a bunch of laughing people with the phrase  … “YOU WANT IT WHEN?”

Anyway, there was only one way to find out … make the call.  After a chat with the secretary Donna, and a long period on hold, I got the news that … “we’ll try and get it done Monday”   Now, assuming the cog is all good to go on Monday, I just have the simple task of getting it from the factory an hour’s drive north of town to here; which now seems like a small issue. 

As an absolute fall-back position, I just happen to have a very large spare winch under the floor in one of the cabins, which I could install in the cockpit as a temporary measure, with the repaired cog posted north to Tauranga for pick up in a week’s time.  But … based on the tone of Donna’s voice, and Ken’s friendly, helpful manner (which I sensed when we met yesterday) I’m feeling confident things will work out.   

Phil returned to complete the servicing of the engine and generator, with his meticulous and thorough attention to detail fixing a couple of issues – in the generator engine water cooling department – that were bound to become a problem soon enough; potentially saving us a lot of headaches, not to mention money.    

As a “mission critical” task, it was a great relief to know that the two main engines have had a service!

By 5:00pm, the wind had almost been turned off, or at least turned down to maybe a 1 or a 2 … and it was time for John and I to head off to dinner with my cousin Keith and his wife Christine.  We ended up at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant and after a great evening found our way back to the boat – that’s John and I – after first stopping by the local New World supermarket for some essential supplies – including Tim Tam biscuits.

By now it was around 11:00pm – not the ideal time to start writing the day’s Ship’s Log, so I’m guessing tonight’s epistle is a few words short of the average.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the Yacht Tracker is now working.  The link is HERE …  which can be found at the top of the Home Page.

Now that we are on board and have the VHF radio turned on, there’s another way you can locate us, even track our movements, and that’s on the website … www.marinetraffic.com   Once you go to the website, just search “Chimere” (top right corner of the page) and select the Australian vessel (AU)  

I’ve just looked up at our new saloon clock, and it really is late when today has become tomorrow.  It’s past my bedtime.

Smooth seas, fair breeze and be like the water

Rob Latimer