This combination maintained our speed, but we were rolling a bit more. At least it was better than going to windward. About an hour later the wind picked up further, apparently Maui A platform had 40 knots but we were still sailing in the low to mid thirties.

Finally the tide turned and the swell shape improved considerably, but the wind remained strong. We could now see the islands off the coast near Port Taranaki. The largest of which is called Sugarloaf.

I called the manager of the small Port Taranaki Marina and he told me which berth to use.

We got one surprise as we sat in the cockpit I saw a buoy slide past only about 1 metre to port, it had about 5 metres of floating line and then a second smaller buoy. I immediately had visions of Nightshift snagged on a line, which normally catches H28's in the notch between the bottom of the rudder and the keel. With the sea that was running it was not a pleasant mental image - Nightshift streaming from the buoy stern to the breaking swell.

It made us very paranoid for a while; we took turns at scanning the sea ahead constantly. We saw several other pairs of similar buoys but none as close as the first one. They were difficult to see until almost on top of them.

As we got within about 4 miles of Port Taranaki the wind increased a bit more, I was not sure if it was a genuine increase or perhaps the S/W wind was compressing a bit as it curved around the base of Mt Taranaki.

I got rid of the head sail altogether, intending to sail in just under main, but the wind was screaming by now and we were over sailed with just the double reefed main.

We were both a bit tired and with only a few miles to go it was very tempting to try and cope with the sail we had up. But we were over sailed, with the current downwind course our last turn would take us partially into wind so our apparent wind would increase considerably.

With a deep sigh we turned Nightshift into wind and I spent the next very wet 10 minutes tucking in and tying off the third reef in the main. When we turned downwind again I was immediately glad I had gone to the effort.

Nightshift was now sailing comfortably about five and a half knots under just the triple reefed main, she no longer felt over-pressed.

The last mile or so to the harbour entrance still had the same wind, but the S/W swell was now blocked by the land and outlying islands leaving only lots of whitecaps.

We disconnected George and Rachel sailed through the harbour entrance while I got the motor started. Just as we sailed in a keen man in a Laser yacht set off from a sheltered corner of the harbour. Hardy types these New Plymouth sailors but when he got away from the lee of some buildings he promptly turned upside down.

I watched his enthusiastic efforts to right the yacht with the wind doing its best to blow him back over each time he got it upright. As much as I enjoy watching small yachts, I thought I had better get back to the problem in hand. There was no sea in the harbour but the winds were still a steady 30 knots, gusting well above.

The marina manager had told me to use the end berth on the New Plymouth side of the marina, and I had a mental image of the berth from last time we were in this port, but they had rebuilt the marina. I was expecting to go alongside a walkway, but when I got closer I realised I had to maneuver between two poles and berth stern or bow to a walkway.

To compound problems there was a rocky shore only 3 boat lengths to leeward. As luck would have it the wind was blowing on the same angle as the Marina berth so I opted to reverse in as even though H28's don't like to steer in reverse they will stream downwind from the prop in sufficient wind.

I first tried to stop the yacht near the berth, it took about 2/3 throttle just to hold our position and we have a 20-hp motor with a large 3-blade prop. Nightshift started to slide sideways a bit towards the berth and I thought I'd be clever and slide sideways into the berth between the pole at the front and the walkway at the rear. Naturally it didn't work, after sliding sideways the wind gusted and blew the bow about 10degrees more downwind and I was now resting on the pole mid way along the port rubbing rail.

Rachel was standing on the port side near the cockpit holding a line ready to jump off and make us secure. I told her to drop the line and fend of the pole as the wind was now trying to spin us across the wind pivoting on the pole.

Rach placed the line on the side deck inside the lee cloths but Murphy's law was working well today. As she went forward to fend off the pole the wind put in a bit of extra effort. It picked up the line off the side deck and promptly cast it into the water. Where the prop was churning at 2/3 revs in reverse, it promptly pulled the line into the prop.

About this time Rach spotted what was happening and grabbed the line and started hauling it back on board. Before I had time to put Nightshift in neutral the motor started to labour, almost stalled but then luck was with us, the prop cut through the rope.

If Rach hadn't pulled it tight about then it would have wound a lot of rope on and stopped the motor, but when she pulled it from her end it enabled the prop to cut it.

I put Nightshift in neutral and the wind quickly blew us downwind of the pole, it was time to revert to the original plan. When down wind of the berth I again stopped her with reverse but with rope around the prop, (we later unwound about 1.5metres of rope from the prop) it took more revs to back her against the wind.

This time without me trying to be clever it worked fine backing straight into wind with Nightshift weather cocking from the prop and the wind luckily in line with the berth. Rach stepped off the stern with what was left of the stern mooring line, onto the walkway to find that there was nothing to tie the rope to. Murphy was still making things a challenge for us.

I had another mooring line attached to the starboard stern cleat. I put Nightshift in neutral and stepped off onto the walkway. The first problem was that the walkway was moving up and down so much that even standing was difficult. I wobbled across to the nearest pole and quickly took a turn around it and secured it with a couple of half hitches.

Nightshift was finally secure, streaming from her stern quarter with the one line on the pole. After some searching we discovered that down near the water line there was the mounts for mooring rings that had not yet been installed. I was however able to put the mooring lines through the hole and 20 minutes later Nightshift was snug in her berth, bouncing around with springs and lines holding her away from the marina. I could now see why they had gone away from the berthing alongside the walkway idea.

After the usual "arriving in Port tidy up" we ran the gauntlet of the bucking marina and wandered up the hill to the nearby camping ground, as the New Plymouth marina doesn't have facilities.

Feeling better after a very enjoyable hot shower we got a taxi to the New Plymouth Burger King for a late tea (my favourite food).

When we got back to Nightshift we flopped into bed and slept like logs until morning.

Since we were last in New Plymouth they had built a nice walkway around the coast leading from the Port into town, a very pleasant 20-minute stroll to the town centre. It also has an impressive new sculpture called the "wind wand" that bends with the wind, like a big floppy yacht mast with a ball at the top.

We spent the next four days shopping, seeing movies and eating at Burger King. When the first mate finally decided that I had eaten enough double whopper burgers we decided it was time to cruise on.