Making the most of the bad weather

Date: 1/05/15 Position: Patterson's Inlet, Stewart Island

The last day that we had reasonable weather, we had a good walk from Oban to Horseshoe Point enjoying all the scenic qualities this peninsula walk offered. As the low cloud hung overhead the offshore islands could be seen in different shades of grey depending on their distance from us. Below us several fishing boats motored in and out on their way to Halfmoon Bay and small flocks of Gold Finches dipped and dived along in front of us. While we walked the weather stayed dry for us, but on returning to Oban the penetrating drizzle begun and the temperature started to plummet. From then on the weather just continued to deteriorate.

For the last five days we have been tucked away in an anchorage known as Sailor's Rest trying to hide from the constant storms and gales that have passed over us one after the other with winds between 35-50 knots. Sailor's Rest is recommended as the most protected all weather anchorage in Patterson's Inlet but with all things it has its limitations and is not as protected as it is made out to be. With a low lying hill to windward in south westerlies it meant that Ambler was totally reliant on its anchor set to the south west in shallow water. It was also too far to take a shore line to windward and this would have closed access to any other boats entering.

The wind has howled constantly in the rigging above us and Ambler has surged back and forth between her anchor and the stern line as blasts of wind have buffeted her about. The cause of all this bad weather is a result of several intense low pressure systems passing over us in a domino effect bringing with them frequent rain squalls. Just when we thought the wind was dying off and the conditions were calming down we realised it was only a lull before the next gale started ramping up.

Since the weather hasn't been conducive to kayaking or walking or even leaving the boat unattended in the strong wind conditions we have made the most of the weather by working our way through a growing list of boat maintenance jobs. One task in particular that we've been chipping away at for days is working on insulating any exposed areas of fibre glass in lockers, berths or in the cabin. This entails measuring and cutting pieces from our enormous roll of insulating material and using contact adhesive to glue it in place. It's been a good thing there's been a breeze about with all the fumes from the glue! In some areas we have double insulated with a second layer of insulating fabric. It's not until you come so far south that you realise how wet and drippy with condensation exposed fibre glass becomes which leads to things getting attacked with mildew.

Other jobs that have been ticked off are mounting a rope storage pouch in the cockpit to store the excess main sheet in, which always seemed to get tangled with everything. Stitching a bag together to store our collapsible crayfish pot in, sorting through our stores of onions and potatoes to separate the good from the bad and restocking our food containers in the galley from our long term supplies stowed under bunks, floorboards and any other space that could be found to put them securely before we left Tassie. Some bigger projects have been to work on assembling and installing the wind vane self steering system which has been in parts until now but which when installed will save energy as we won't need to use the auto pilot. An ongoing job in preparation for our arrival in Chile later this year has been to coordinate our scanned images of Chilean charts.

All is busy on board. Kathy and Wayne

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