Christmas down the west coast of New Zealand
08 January 2005 | Nelson, South Island, New Zealand

We are in Nelson after what turned out to be a very easy run down the west coast of the North Island. We waited more than three weeks in Whangaroa at the top of the North Island, checking the weather every few days only to find gale-force southwest winds and 3-5 meter swells from the southwest - not particularly appetizing for our slightly east of south course. We finally saw some decent weather approaching on Christmas Eve and decided to leave on "Boxing Day" -the day after Christmas. But we woke Christmas morning to the news that the Sydney-Hobart race committee, 1,200 miles to the west of us, had issued a weather warning to the competitors calling for southwest winds of 45 knots and seas to 5 meters. We had a three to four day run down to Nelson and five days before that weather would reach us if it didn't speed up. We decided we'd better take whatever time we could and not wait the extra day. So we stowed the boat, said goodbye to the friends we had made in Whangaroa, and set sail about 1100 on Christmas morning, hoping to beat that weather to Nelson. Being underway at least meant I missed my family a bit less than I would have otherwise on Christmas!
We had a mixed bag of light and variable winds, and a mixture of motoring and sailing to keep our speed over 7 knots so we'd arrive in Nelson before the storm. We got in about 12 hours before the front swept through New Zealand, interestingly enough with storm-force northeast winds. Though that would have been behind us, we were quite happy to be safely snugged into a marina berth before it got here. As it turns out, if we'd waited to leave on Boxing Day, we would have been in some pretty strong winds.
We arrived to the news of the tsunami and several e-mails from worried friends. We did not notice anything at sea, but the New Zealand weather authorities measured several waves of about two feet in Jackson Bay, 300 miles south of Nelson. That the wave was measurable here at all, some 5,000 miles away and on the opposite side of Australia from the epicenter, attests to its power. We have had news from most of our friends cruising Thailand, and they all survived unscathed though with hair-raising stories. Luckily it was not the season for boats to be cruising Indonesia. About half the cruising boats in Sri Lanka were destroyed, according to second-hand reports we have received. All of our friends are utterly numbed by the devastation ashore, hardly able to find words to describe it. Whatever misfortunes the cruisers may have suffered pales in significance to what these countries have lost, and to the incredible task of rebuilding that now faces them. The tsunami serves to remind us that the awesome forces of nature still have power over our species.
Nelson is a small town of 50,000 that caters to the South Island tourist trade. Nestled along the banks of a small river that winds its way around 2,500-foot high, wooded ridges, the ten-square block city center bustles with pedestrian traffic (which has right away over the cars), and hanging baskets of colorful flowers line the narrow streets. We arrived to find the annual jazz festival in full swing, and got to enjoy the Saturday fruit, veggie, and crafts market yesterday, just in time to provision for the next six weeks or so away from civilization. Pouring rain made the market pretty soggy. In fact, since we arrived twelve days ago in "the sunniest place in New Zealand," we have had two days of sunshine. Everyone assures us that this has so far been the worst summer in memory and promises it will change soon. And it does look as if we have a good weather window to get down to the fjords, so we will be leaving Nelson today.
Our next leg takes us 400 miles to the southwest down the west coast to the 13 fjords projecting like long fingers up to 30 miles into the Southern Alps on the southwest corner of the South Island. Friends have described this cruising area as a "mini-Chile" with thundering waterfalls, precipitous peaks, and wind and rain-scoured chasms. Plus Southern Ocean winds and up to 7.5 meters of rain per year in places! We're looking forward to seeing for ourselves. After the fjords, we'll spend some time in Stewart Island off the bottom of the South Island, a gentler environment with many of New Zealand's nearly extinct native birds still in residence.
We will not be checking e-mail again until we arrive in Dunedin, hopefully in early March, so don't worry if your correspondence goes unanswered for a bit. We're out there doing what we enjoy most, and we'll share it with you when we can.
Fair winds and safe anchorages,
Beth and Evans