I stayed in Westhaven Marina for the weekend and Tiggy joined me on board. We spent time in Ponsonby at a Pride festival, ate at Kawloon Poon and Shaky Isles and met up with Brendon, Emily and their new (2 weeks ago) baby. It was a fantastic weekend, and it really hurt when Tig’s left for Sydney on Monday.
My melancholy spurred me into action on Tuesday, but 25 knot winds on the nose sent me scurrying for a quiet anchorage in Kauti Point Bay. Waiheke island looks like a great spot to kayak round as the east and north coast has plenty of empty bays to (sly) camp in.
The next morning I made for the open ocean, passed Great Barrier and sailed into the next day towards Cape Runaway. I passed inside the Great Mercury Islands with Freddy blasting out in tribute.
Island where there were signs of volcanic activity but it was too rough to stop. I was heading into a second night without stopping but the wind was on the nose gusting at 25 knots so I decided to get an anchorage and a nights sleep so I headed for a tight little anchorage at Cape Runaway. All in all I had sailed 182 nm (about 330km).
I left there today at lunch time having worked out the tides for East Cape. As it turned out I had 28 knots of wind from behind, and flew through the bumpy bits at 6 knots with half a jib up 1 hours before slack water.
It was amazing how quickly things settled down once in the lee of the land. From 27kn winds and 3m confused seas to 12kn and a smooth 1/2 m swell within 10 minutes – heavenly…
Sirens' Song 