Aboard Chimere, Chaffers Marina, Wellington
Saturday 22 May 2021
The day dawned chilly but bathed in sunshine as the morning rowers took advantage of the millpond-like conditions on the bay. It really was still, with the rise in temperature allowing John and I to continue with our painting activities.
The really exciting event today – not the painting of the deck, or the sanding of the toe rail – was the arrival of our old university flatmate Matt Brosnahan, who had come up on the morning flight from Christchurch to spend a couple of days aboard.
Back in the day … 40 years ago actually or around 14,600 days … John, Matt and I, plus friends Sean and Herb (Brian) spent a couple of years flatting together down at Lincoln University (20km outside Christchurch) and we have kept in touch ever since.
As readers of this Ship’s Log from last year will remember, Matt joined John and me (along with Aussie friends Sean, Sandy and Samantha) on the voyage from Picton down to Lyttleton Harbour (Christchurch) and Akaroa; near to where Matt and his wife Philomena live. If you haven’t seen it, Dean produced a video of the trip which can be viewed HERE
It was great to see Matt again, and we quickly slipped back into the familiar-friend routine … catching up on each others news and recalling times and events of the past. As they say … “the older we get the better we were …”
I’ll include a photo of the three of us together, plus a few from 40 years ago, just for fun. AS you can see, we’ve hardly aged a bit … well at least I haven’t … don’t know about the other two?!
Matt quickly slipped into his old gear and attached himself to some sandpaper, before later wandering up to the supermarket as the first step in taking care of lunch for us all.
Kate joined us again and resumed her position scrubbing, then lightly sanding the teak work. Then, a bit later we were joined by two of Kate’s sailing and work friends Sandra and Shelene, who got in on the action. Thank you for your help ladies!
Mid afternoon saw the Rigger, Josh, step aboard, primarily to check the tension on the stays, all the fittings on the mast and point out any issues he could see. I didn’t expect there would be any problems, given the rig is not even 18 months old and we had it checked on arrival in Picton last year, but after 12 months sitting unused I just wanted to be sure.
In further weather news, tomorrow will continue to be fine – which is great for our painting – but Monday is expected to be very “average”, to use a common sailing understatement. Tuesday, our planned day of departure, looks like it is improving, with the rest of the week considered “reasonable” – NOT ideal, but manageable.
Well, I suppose time will tell. But if we get out past the Wellington Harbour Heads and the weather doesn’t suit taking a left turn up the coast in comfort … or a reasonable degree of comfort … we can always take a right and park in a quiet Marlborough Sound anchorage for a night or two, just across Cooks Strait.
Smooth seas, fair breeze and nostalgia time again
Rob Latimer
NZ2020 