The idea was to set out on a sailboat from Auckland, New Zealand sometime late April. Going north. Tahiti, Hawaii and final destination Seattle in Washington State. But that was 14 days ago and guess what? Still in New Zealand. First we had some repairs to do, minor, nothing big, replacing a bilge pump, tying up some nuts and bolts, that type of stuff. Then we had to do some provisioning. Five-pound bags of oats and rice, bags of raisins, cans of chickpeas, black beans, crushed tomatoes. The list goes on. Spices, chili and curry powder, black pepper, garam masala, cayenne pepper, too many to list. Curries are Captain Dan’s favorite food. He just doesn’t know that yet.
Between all that we did take the boat out to the service dock where through hydraulics the boat was raised out of the water and got a thorough bottom cleaning. As of sometime in 2018 New Zealand requires a boat to be antifouled every six months, or bottom cleaned every 30 days. Since Auckland was not our last destination in New Zealand we had to comply in able to move to another marina.
The weather was the next factor. We’re sailing Dan’s 35-foot sailboat and obviously wind is an integral part of that activity. And preferable winds coming from the right directions. They were not. We sat in the marina drinking wine awaiting sunshine and wind. And when we finally did see a little bit of an indication of weather turning we promptly headed north out of Auckland towards the Bay of Islands. Perhaps a little too hasty as the weather didn’t actually go all the way we wanted, but we were pumped, needed to go.
A rather uncomfortable 30 hours took us to a marina near Keri Keri in the Bay of Islands. We each got perhaps three hours of sleep. Black and blue limbs along the way from bumping into things while getting my sea legs. No seasickness. Not that I was expecting it, but it is one of those things that can hit you. A beautiful moon, one day from being full, illuminated the sea around us quite nicely for most of the night. For hours, standing in the cockpit holding on for dear life, I marveled about the boat’s behavior in the swell and waves. She rode the waves, pounded into them and slid through them with such grace and confidence that in turn gave me confidence in her. A very seaworthy boat, one for the long haul.
The boat’s name is ‘my dream, named by Dan Hartman her owner and captain. It was his dream to sail a boat from Seattle to the south pacific. He bought her about five years ago and outfitted her for the journey. He then sailed her with two crew from Seattle to San Diego and from there solo to Tonga north of New Zealand, Stops along the way included the Marquesas and Tahiti. A kiwi named Gavin joined him there for the final leg to Auckland. The boat was built in the early 1980s in Taiwan. Great shipyards in that area of the world. Designed by Bob Perry, a famous naval architect. She is a double-ender, meaning that the bow looks rather similar to the stern. Kind of like a canoe. And although originally introduced as the Flying Dutchman 35, the design became better known as the Baba 35 and consequently the name Flying Dutchman was dropped. The number 35 stands for 35 foot, the length of the boat. She is cutter rigged, meaning she is designed to carry three sails. The mainsail, the one connected to the mast, the genoa, or genny, the one attached to the front of the boat and then the staysail somewhere in the middle. It’s a rather small sail that nobody really cares about and is often forgotten, a prime candidate to suffer from the middle child syndrome. But on occasion it is raised. And with the three sails up the boat looks really pretty.
If anyone is to look on a chart or a map it is quite apparent that Keri Keri is not actually on the way to Tahiti. Far from it. But in Keri Keri we meet Bob, a retired radio guy who has worked all over the world for organizations like the United Nations and the Red Cross. Afghanistan and Libya are just two of his postings. At one time radio was a big deal, but the internet and satellite hookups have taken a big chunk out of that profession. Bob told me that at the start of his career it was all radio, but when he retired ten years ago 80% of what he did was computer related. In his retirement he’s an enthusiastic ham radio operator. Are these people still around with the internet and such? Apparently yes. There actually is a huge community of ham radio operators out there. Dan had to get his license to be able to have an SSB (short sideband) radio on board. Or rather to be allowed to operate one on specific channels. Bob installed a tracking device, a GPS unit and an antenna on board of my dream so ham radio operators around the world can track our progress. He then invited us over to his house where we had a very nice lunch prepared by Barbara, his Canadian wife. I think she was from Windsor Ontario, trained as a nurse and worked for the International Red Cross. At one of her postings she met Bob. Her first posting as a nurse was actually in Burns Lake, BC. After lunch we all drove to Keri Keri where they had some errands to run. Dan and I spent the time walking through town and using the internet at the library. We also had a look at the oldest stone building in New Zealand just down the road established by missionaries in the early 1800s. Bob and Barbara dropped us at the marina where we said our goodbyes.
The next morning we walked a trail from the marina to Paihia. Took us about two hours to get to town. Most of the trail was along the water’s edge. Through forest, along the highway, through people’s backyards and right across a campground. A gorgeous day and an almost continuous view to die for. I have been to New Zealand a few times before, but never have made it this far up the North Island. This Bay of Islands is a jewel in the crown, no doubt about it. But I do understand that the annual rainfall is very high and Dan and I were lucking out. Paihia is your typical little tourist town where every second house seems to be converted into tourist accommodation. We did find a very nice and inexpensive Thai restaurant along the waterfront street with Carlsberg on draft and Guinness in the bottle. After lunch we continued our walk to the Countdown, a grocery store, for some more shopping. A taxi back to the marina, a far more direct route than the way we came, took us no more than fifteen minutes.
The day of departure finally arrived. Up at seven, shower, internet, spent our last New Zealand dollars in the marina’s convenient store and at nine o’clock we had cleared customs. To the fuel dock. Filled up with diesel and gasoline and had our waste tank pumped out. Almost! Tank station was out of commission. Two guys working on it with not a clue when it would be open for business again. Back to our spot in the marina where at noon one of the workers showed up with a portable pump station. First time he ever used it he said. Could have fooled me. But Dan and I made it work. By 12:30 we motored out of the marina. Next stop Tahiti.
