Opua: a morning sail
Opua: a morning sail
Whangamumu was rolly last night. Not severe, but enough to rattle the tea kettle on the stove top and wake me a few times.
I got up at 0600 and found the wind blowing from the northwest, which was exactly opposite to the direction predicted. I made coffee, but raised anchor before I drank it. I had my first cup as we powered out the entrance for our first leg north in the Pacific Ocean for six miles around Cape Brett.
Outside the ring of hills surrounding the harbor, the wind came from the southeast, but was 15 to 18 knots. It did not seem likely that I would experiment further with the gennaker furling gear. With the wind on the beam THE HAWKE OF TUONELA makes seven knots under jib alone. I unfurled the sail and we sped north, taking some spray over the bow and an occasional 3’ wave on deck. One partly on me.
I took the tiller back from the tiller pilot to steer through the gap between Cape Brett and Piercy Island, where currents are compressed and the wind swirls and downdrafts.
Clear of Cape Brett, I gybed the jib and, in smoother water, set the main for the ten mile leg west and then west-southwest.
Life is abundant around Cape Brett. Gannets, penguins, cormorants: known as ‘shags’ in New Zealand; terns; and dolphin, several of which kept us company for a while.
Near the rocky ledge north of Russell, I passed the day-trip boats heading out as I was heading in.
From there the course is south for five miles to Opua. I dropped and furled the main, and continued under jib, knowing that the wind would be fluky.
We sailed until the last mile, when I furled the jib and turned on the engine, having to wait while the ferry boat crossed in front of me.
I had known by the tide tables, feel and the instruments, that the tide was running out strongly as we neared the mooring. I usually put the engine into neutral and glide up to the mooring as though I were under sail. With wind and current both against us, today we quickly came to a dead stop when I shifted to neutral, and I had to power until the pick-up stick was alongside the bow. I ran forward and caught it, but then had to get it to a cleat before it was pulled from my hands or I was pulled overboard. From that point I inched in the pennant to the main mooring line. We were finally safely secured at 1130, having sailed 22.9 miles according to the GPS to get from one side of the mountain to the other.
In the Bay I had thought of turning on music to listen on the cockpit speakers but then realized that THE HAWKE OF TUONELA was making her own music as she cut through the water. To paraphrase THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA: listen to the music of the hull.
Friday, September 28, 2007