Windy Wellington

Date: 22/06/15 Position: Seaview Marina, Wellington Harbour

We have said farewell to the South Island of NZ and welcome the wonders that the North Island has to offer. Which so far has been gale force winds from the south, sea breaking over the marina pontoons, chilly winds and rain showers!!! Life at the moment seems to be just one gale after another. Ha ha, the joys of winter cruising in the roaring forties.

We waited for two days for the northerly gale to blow over us while we sheltered quite comfortably in Hitua Bay. On Saturday afternoon we poked our nose out of our bay and motored down the Tory Channel to Deep Bay in the cold, drizzly rain that the light southerly change had brought with it. As we entered Deep Bay a flock of about thirty sooty cormorants took umbrage at our proximity and took off in mass from a private jetty, flying in stagged formation across our bow. Shortly after this a lone cormorant poked his head out of the water near the jetty and looked around bewildered as if to say "Where did everyone go?"

Sunday morning brought a cloudless blue sky with much appreciated sunshine. We left Deep Bay about mid morning on the high tide and motored out of Tory Channel into Cook Strait. The hills surrounding Wellington stood out clearly across the fairly calm green waters of the Strait. Looking over our shoulder to the south west the giant snow capped peaks of the Kaikoura Range stood solid and grand. It felt great to be out on open water again and it was not long before we had our first visit from an albatross and cape petrel.

Once clear of the land there was enough breeze behind us from the west to unfurl the headsail and turn off the engine. As the wind steadied at 15 knots we poled the headsail to take better advantage of the breeze. We chose not to hoist the mainsail as the wind was forecasted to continually strengthen up to 30 knots by the evening. The sail across was fantastic averaging around 7 knots and sometimes reaching 9 knots when the current was with us.

The hardest part came when we reached the leads to the entrance channel into Wellington Harbour. The wind was funnelling out of the channel at around 35 knots and several inter islander ferries were entering and exiting whilst we were trying to tack our way to windward with a heavily reefed main and staysail. There was a fair bit of salt spray flying around! Once we reached the more open waters of the harbour the wind dropped away to 20 knots. By this stage it was dark and the lights of Wellington glittered all around us.

We reached Seaview Marina around 1830 and Alan the kind CEO drove down and directed us to a berth. Some of the friendly marina residents suggested we turn the boat around to have the bow facing out and with their help we managed this maneuver. It's always good to listen to local advice and just as well we did because at 3am the southerly hit with a bam. We are on the outer pontoon and the waves developed across the fetch of bay where they are currently removing pile moorings and are whacking into us and over the pontoon. The weather has been wild all day with wind gusting around 45 knots with salt spray being whipped up from the surface and over Ambler. The dodger has proved itself once more as a valuable asset but this time whilst being tied up at the marina! The rain has been horizontal, the wind ferocious and the local mariners friendly and helpful. The guy next to us has given us a loan of a small fan heater because our heater is untenable in these winds because the down draughts have extinguished the flames a few times in similar conditions. It's time to fit a balanced flue system.

These strong winds are expected to ease by tomorrow night. We'll rug up and catch the bus into Wellington tomorrow.

All is well but feels like we at sea whilst tied up at the marina.
Kathy and Wayne

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