Well, so much for plans for getting down to Auckland this week! Mary and Finn were aboard this afternoon and rushed up at the feeling and sounds of a car crash as another sailboat plowed into Whisper as we sat at anchor. A 40 - 45' day charter sailboat had hit our bow, pivoted around us, and smashed down our starboard side.

At first glance it looks ugly, but it could have been so much worse that I am counting us lucky. The impact ripped off the bow roller and the starboard chock, and then the boat slid down Whisper's starboard side badly tearing up the teak toe rail, bending the bow pulpit and several stanchions, and then inexplicably shearing off the first couple of inches of the genoa track. I returned to find a badly shaken Mary; the culprit had anchored nearby so I never saw the condition of the "other guy".

I bolted the bow roller back on so that we could get the anchor back up and have determined everything else is basically cosmetic. We will work with the local boat yard to get estimates of time and cost for repairs to the deck and the toe rail. The genoa track would be a major project, and this may have to wait for another day.

Exploring Auckland is going to be delayed a bit.