Nightshift- North Island Burger King Tour

After 4 or 5 days of rain and N/E winds I decided it was time to try again. Two months was slipping away fast and I wanted to have time up my sleeve at the top end of the island in case [had to wait for a suitable forecast to go down the West Coast. We left with an identical forecast to the previous time. N/E 15 knots poor visibility and showers, but this time it really was N/E 15 knots, The sea was about two metres of E swell but smooth as the wind was right on the nose. So I decided it was time to use some of Nightshift’s long range diesel capacity. We motored into the wind using the main as a dampner. Once again we went out 35nm from Portland Island and paralleled the coast. The weather got worse and the rain heavier. A pattern of squalls with increased winds for 15 minutes then heavy rain for 20-30 minutes continued to sweep over us. Visibility at times was down to 100m but as we were outside the shipping lanes it wasn’t too bad, just the odd trawler during the nights.

After a couple of days we were approaching East Cape. I had planned to stay outside the Ranfurly Bank, but as we were turning the corner we could cut half a day off the passage by going inside, normally I wouldn’t have been in any hurry but the rain was starting to make things unpleasant.

We went inside the bank about 8nm off East Cape. We couldn’t see the cape in driving rain but the sea was very lumpy on this corner, The swells became steep and bigger for the next 50 miles or so until we were well into the Bay of Plenty when the sea settled down to the regular 2 metre easterly swell. Coming closer in to shore had problems other than rougher seas, we were back amongst the big ships. Just on dusk on our third night at sea somewhere north of Cape Runaway had an unpleasant moment. I was on watch and I was not looking forward to the night, the sheets of driving rain made visibility anywhere from a few miles down to l00metres. I was doing mental calculations on how much time I would have to react if a ship came out of the gloom 500m away doing 20 knots, Right on cue a squall lifted briefly and a large white passenger liner appeared directly abeam of me about 300metres away heading in the opposite direction at about 20 knots. I consoled myself that he had probably seen my radar ret1ector and could see me even if I couldn’t see him. Not long after this the rain cleared briefly and I saw the first land since Portland Island. White Island was spectacular shrouded by cloud and producing its own billowing white smoke. I was just about to wake Rachel up to have a look when the rain closed in again and it disappeared. I was very pleased to hand over the watch to Rachel and get out of the rain. It was her turn to look for big ships and my turn to hide under the blankets. About this time I was starting to ask myself what I was doing here. Everything was damp after days of rain, (Nightshift doesn’t leak at all but water came in on wet weather gear, etc.) We were exhausted with sleeping and cooking difficulties in the easterly swell. The stress of not being able to see large ships didn’t add much to the enjoyment of the voyage.

When I next came on watch about O200hrs the rain had got harder and my second hand Musto jacket had decided that 4 days of rain was about its limit and the water started to come through in a variety of places. At least it wasn’t cold. Rachel informed me that she had also had a large ship appear about 500m off her beam going the opposite way. About 0300hrs we arrived about 5nm off Tauranga, the prospect of entering a new port cheered me up considerably, the previous days of discomfort and hard work were instantly forgotten and I hardly even noticed the driving rain. I hoved to at this point as I did not want to enter a strange port at night. Rachel came on watch at O500hrs and I collapsed into bed until she woke me about O700hrs, as there was enough light to enter Tauranga. Interestingly when I checked the GPS, hoved to in this manner, Nightshift had only moved 2 cables in all that time.

Tauranga was a spectacular harbour even in the driving rain. We called up the new Tauranga Bridge Marina on the VHF and got a berth. The office girl warned that it was a tidal marina. I had visions of Nightshift lying on her side in the mud at low tide until she explained that a current flowed through the marina. As it was near slack water, berthing was no problem.

Then it was into a taxi and off to find Burger King We were told that it had been pouring for 10 days straight in Tauranga when we arrived. We had to go to six shops to find a golf umbrella and most had already been sold. Tauranga was great fun even in the rain:

the marina is well placed close to both Tauranga amd Mt Manganui. We soaked in the hot pools and ate at restaurants etc. We caught up with two friends in Tauranga who previously owned Nightshift. They are interesting people. Both are experienced sailors and also big ship skippers. Ken is currently working on a cable laying vessel and his partner Jennifer now has a shore job certifying ships are loaded safely (or something like that). Ken used to drive the Spirit of NZ and had a photo of Nightshift rafted up next to her, looking a bit like a tender. It was interesting to talk radar reflectors and visibility. Both advised us that in heavy rain the rain gives a radar return and large ships turn down the sensitivity, which would likely filter out our small reflector. They said that add to that the fact that most vessels run with a minimum crew and the radar may not be looked at that often, it is unlikely we would be seen in those conditions. Ken said that he regularly has to make evasive manoeuvres to avoid ships that haven’t seen the large ship he works in. He advised that unless going overseas the coastal ones can be avoided as they all run a computerised navigation software designed to reduce time and fuel. Basically they draw a straight line 5nni of coastal hazards and follow these lines so exactly that they have to keep avoiding other ships on the identical course.

We stayed in Tauranga about 5 days. On the one fine day we had I decided to do a little maintenance on the boat. I was working on deck fixing the seal in the hatch when I slipped with a stanley knife resulting in a huge gash in my thigh. So it was off to hospital to get stitchedup. This was particularly embarrassing, as I had given Rachel a speech before we left about being extra careful to avoid accidents. At least I went to hospital in style as Ken and Jennifer had loaned us their Mercedes as transport. Eventually I got stitched up by a Pakistani trainee doctor, suffice to say that next time I’m going to take a suture kit and do it myself.

Eventually we got a forecast other than N/E and rain, (it was E and rain), but at least this was a better direction. We left in weather similar to what we arrived in, squalls and a lumpy E swell. We had good wind on the beam and made a quick passage, under working job and double reefed main, to slipper Island in the Bay of Plenty in about 20knots of E wind. This was to be our sail combination for 80% of the trip.

The Slipper Island anchorage gave protection from wind but not sea so out with the flopper stopper, which worked superbly and a good nights sleep was had. The next day was one of the five or so fine days we had. It was a beautiful sail with wind aft of the beam getting up to 30 knots through the Colville Channel, but lovely and sunny. Once through the Colville channel the wind dropped and we had a quiet night in the very attractive cove at the N/W end of Mercury Island, with about 10 other boats. The next day was a bit cloudier but still no rain. Once again the wind was favourable for a quick passage to Whangaparapara on Great Barrier Island. This was a sheltered anchorage in all but SSE, as the forecast was 25knot N/W turning S/W. I set two anchors which turned out to be just as well. The night was quiet and the next morning the water was like a millpond, but the rain was back, We crossed the harbour in the dinghy to the road on the other side and went for an all day bush walk to some natural hot pools. The pools were lovely in spite of the muddy tramp into them because of all the rain. We were lucky to meet some other yachties who had walked in from the other side, which was closer, and they kindly offered us a lift back to Whangaparapara in their hire car, which saved us a two hour return hike in the pouring rain.

On our return Whangaparapara was a very different scene. The wind had changed to SSE and was funneling straight up the fiord like harbour at 30-35knots. Nightshift was proposing around in a steep 1-2 metre breaking wind chop. I was not looking forward to the ride in the inflatable, we eventually arrived at the yacht very wet and we were lucky not to be flipped on several occasions.