By sunset Saturday night, thirty boats were anchored at Whangamumu.  None of them anchored on top of me, or anyone else.  I was surprised and impressed.

        When I went on deck in the evening, voices and laughter could be heard from other boats, but no one was making much noise.  I played music on the cockpit speakers, but I did so quietly.

        Some of the boats had obviously been in the Coastal Classic and came around to Whangamumu to shorten the distance back to Auckland.  The two  in the picture above were underway at dawn.

        I knew that the later I waited, the more likely I’d have some wind, but there was also the likelihood that there never was going to be much wind that day and I like to get going, so I raised anchor at 0830.

        The water in Whangamumu is clearer than at Opua.  From the dinghy I had been able to see the keel and the full length of the rudder, which were clean except for slime.

        When I go forward to raise the anchor, I take a bucket with a line attached and a brush in case the anchor chain comes up dirty.  I dropped the bucket over the side to fill and startled a three foot long fish that became a white flash.  I also startled myself.

        I powered across glassy water all the way back to Opua.

        One of the boats I passed was VODOFONE, the 60’ tri I had seen approaching Cape Brett on Friday.

        Despite light winds the last half of the race, she finished in 7 hours 13 minutes, only a half hour outside ALFA ROMEO’s course record. 

        I got no wind and was back on my mooring by 1300.

        These three photos are all in full color and were taken a few minutes apart from THE HAWKE OF TUONELA at anchor Saturday night.