SAILING OFF

We had stayed too long in Auckland. Losing our dinghy air pump was that drop. At least my gypsy-nomadic self started to vibrate with eager to leave for something new. A few days later we set sail for Whangarei, with a plan to stop over at Great Barrier Island. That means going north. Homewards. It sure felt good, and as we raised our foresail I even I felt confident about leaving and sailing and anchoring and all that. Luckily, after counting up our total of sailing days since I came down here, things got a little more real. 6 daytrips in and out of our Marina, two succsessfull atempts to anchor up, in well marked anchor/mooring areas and some bedtime sail litterature seemed to be all our experience. And yes, thinking of it, that boat still felt enourmus to handle, but yet so little when reaching the occean. In any case, with small, cozy butterflies stuck somewhere in our stomaches, we slowly headed upwind towards the open sea and Great Barrier Island.

It sure was a fine day, but slow winds turned into no wind. So when night fell, we could still see Auckland in the far horizon as we anchored up in a calm and beautiful bay at one of the many islands along the coast. A real slow-mo day, but that being our first night outside auckland, and with memorable pancakes for dinner things felt great.

We went of that morning with really nice winds, clear blue sky and perfect sailing conditions. Even though we were slowed down by a calm period, just as the winds turned around coming from east, we were now coming up past our destinations neighbouring island; Little Great Barrier. The sun was setting and a large pod of dolphins came up alongside our boat. It was our welcome surprise before letting of the anchor in one of many spectacular bays of this island.

That night the winds shifted again, and we got some waves in during night. This resulted in some paranoic dreaming and sleepwalking, but nothing more than usual.

So far everything had been going smooth. I was at a high and could not think of any better way to travel. At least it's getting close to driving a moped.

Earlybirds and breakfast at 6.30. Sails up at 7, heading for Whangarei. Our plan was simple; enjoy winds, basic sunbathing, testing of different sail combinations and reach Whangarei at sunset.

Again we got stuck in a no-wind period at mid day. This one lasted on for hours, and we drifted around trying out all we had of spinnakers and sail configurations, but there was no wind.

As it was getting darker we realized Whangarei was out of todays reach. We fired our good old Yanmar 18 HP and bubbled on for one of the nearby Islands. Night was coming fast and the steep sea bottom around the island made it impossible to anchor as the winds picked up again. We decided that faith had set us out facing our first night-sailing experience. The winds picked up even more and we were doing 6 knots and closing in rapidly. One surprise oiltanker, some extra large waves when entering more shallow waters, a little fumbling in the dark trying to see the red and green lights of the narrow approach to Whangarei, pluss one or two now forgotten issues more, and we were lowering anchor in a quiet little bay, just a couple of miles from our final destination, just as the clock struck midnight..

Had a peacfull night with no outbirsts of paranoia and motored in to Whangarei the next morning, all the way up this idiotically long and narrow river.