SPLASHED!!!

Yep, ORCINIUS got to feel the water for a day over the weekend. Bob and Ann from SV Charisma drove down from Opua on Friday afternoon to help with getting Orcinius' bottom wet. As it turned out, the yard had hauled a 17 meter fishing vessel from Tonga that morning and could not quite get her off the trailer until Saturday. The Charisma gang only figured for one night but were very gracious about spending two and to help with the launch. And, so that the whole world knows, I still owe them for the extra day of rental car fees because I forgot to pay them as I promised.

Anytime a boat is out of the water for an extended period of time and it gets put back in there is always a little excitement in the process, and not the giggly kind. So here we are on the trailer at 7pm on Saturday. We are gradually let down the ramp to the water and when the saildirves are 100% submerged and the water just touching the hull at that point it was time to start the engines. Ok, starboard engine first. Turn the key and not even a click. Oh shit. I had just helped a guy the day before chase down his weak batteries and the day before that the engine mechanic was over and we fired up both engines while on the hard stand. So what the hell could it be? OK, lets try for the port engine. Yep, she fired right up. OK, not a problem, I throw the parallel switch to engage and try to kick the starboard engine again. Now I hear a little chatter from the starting relay. Good sign. Bob chases down my jumper cables and I jumper between the starting battery and the electronics battery. Now she fires up and she is really trying to push the amps into the quite dead battery. Good deal both engines are purring like kittens. Give the high sign to the launch crew and they proceed to let the trailer slide back into the water. We are off and sliding backwards. Ok now it is time to engage the transmission on both engines - - - NOTHING! Time for another OH SHIT!

As we drift away from the trailer, the light breeze is pushing us towards the beach about 100 yards away. I take a quick check to see if the dual helm engagement control's breakers have tripped, NOT, that would have been the simple quick fix. Bob is checking the bilges for any leaks. Next, don't drift onto the mud bank or I will never get a nice shower that night. I deploy the anchor in about 20 feet of water. We are holding. I tell Bob and Ann, It is time for a drink because I am not going to work on these bleepety bleepety engines without one. It is now 8pm, we mix them up and take a hammer or two then I dive into the starboard engine hole. After about five minutes I realize the engine mechanic had connected two wires wrong and that is why the battery was dead, it drained it in a short time. But why no transmission? Oh those same wires were supposed to connect to a relay that provides power to the dual helm controls. Whala! I bypass the relay and have Bob put the shifter into forward then reverse. Starboard temporarily fixed. Still need to replace the relay so it doesn't drain the battery. That would be a job for another day. On to the port engine.

I don't have the same problem. Has to be something else. We try engaging the control in both forward and reverse and I hear and see the dual helm control functioning for both directions. Now I crawl behind the engine where the saildirve transmission is to see what could be wrong. Another whala.... someone forgot to connect the linkage to the gear shifter. Five more minutes and I have both engines running and both transmissions working. Crawl out of the port engine hole and finish off my drink. Can't have another until we side tie to a 16 meter power cat called Tabby Cat.

It is about 9pm when we are secure and I can crawl across Tabby and head for the shower. Bob and Ann begin dinner while I clean up.

So, while I have been down her in NZ working on the boat since the first of October I have made a skype call to my lovely wife on a very regular basis. Darn near every day and only missed the ones where the data ran out. Well while I was in the engine holes and Bob was helping me I had Ann connect with Lisa so she was assured I was thinking of her. I had just filled up my Vodaphone Brick (Broadband) with 3 gigabytes of data time. By the time the engines and tansmissions were working the two of them had eaten up a third of my data. They managed to catch up on six months of not seeing each other. I at least had three minutes to say goodbye to her. We ate our dinner and were off to bed around midnight.

After breakfast, coffee and a bathroom break we pull away from Tabby Cat. The wind is dead calm. Perfect for what we have to do which is hoist all the sails and configure them for proper furling. We head downstream towards Marsden Cove and run up the engines at varying RPMs to check the speed over water at each set revolution. At the helm we are not getting any depth, radar or other data. Reset the chartplotter, still nothing. We really need the depth so we can slide in and out of the channel while hoisting the sail without fear of grounding. First I check out the mast connection cable connections; perfect. I scratch my head for a bit and go to the inside helm where I have radar but no depth. I crawl under the inside helm and find a cat 5 cable that has become unplugged. Plug it in and as the saying goes in Kiwi Land SweeetAs. Try the autopilot, nothing, oh well I can work on that back at the dock.

We take our time raising the main sail and adjusting the boom to the right angle to roll it onto the mandril. This process takes several ups and downs of the main but we finally get the angle right and we calibrate our angle mark on the mast. Put the main away and hoist the Screecher, a large head sail similar to a spinnaker but one that rolls up on its luff line. I had Willis sails make me a new Genoa (head sail), shorten the screecher so it stopped at the fractional halyard and replace the luff tape on the main. The workmanship and service was excellent. They were also kind enough to hold them in their loft in Kerikeri until I was ready about a week ago. The screecher was folded so we had to raise it all the way up and then were able to furl it onto its luff rope. She looks good with the great big Orca Wale on her. We furl it up and then go for the new Genoa. We unfurl the genoa and make sure everything was good and then put it away. While we continue to motor out towards Marsden I take a shot at the autopilot.

This takes two people and sometimes a gobetween or radios. We used the go between which was Ann. I think she likes the between part. Anyway, with meter in had and on the proper terminals going from the autopilot computer to the hydralic pump, having Bob engage and make a heading change at the helm, I came to the conclusion that the terminals at the pump were corroded. The solenoid engaged but the pump wasn't running. Cut the wires loose and made up new connections and the autopilot was good to go. Ann made up some sandwiches and we had lunch with a beer out by Marsden. The breeze had freshened a bit so we unfurled the screecher and off we went up river. It was so light we engaged one of the engines just to keep us moving in the right direction. Bob's comment was that he could really get used to the autopilot but didn't know how to make room for it on his Tayana 37.

It is mid afternoon so back at the dock we side tie back up to Tabby Cat. Bob and Ann need to head back up to Opua to turn in their rental car and get some final provisions to head out of Opua for the Bay of Islands on their way down to Whangarei. I bid them farewell and with hugs and kisses we say our goodbyes until we meet again. Now I wait for the guys to show back up with the trailer to haul me out. High tide is at 8 pm so they figure we can start around 6:30. The trailer is in the water at 5:30 waiting for a little more depth. At around 6pm I untie Orcinius from Tabby and head over to the trailer. The breeze has freshened to about 10-15 of crosswind so it makes for a little challenge to get her lined up and guiding onto the trailer. After three attemps I am in place on feel myself stop against the styrophome cussions. I keep some throttle on and adjusted to counter the wind. Twenty minutes goes by and we are now far enough up the styrophome that we can start the haul. As Tim starts the hydraulic winch I throttle up a little more and before you know it, it was time to shut the engines down.

Fortyfive minutes later, Orcinius was back on her hardstand, plugged into power and we were all sitting in the outside salon having a beer. Fraser, Hellen (the yard owners) and their two girls show up and we chatted when Lisa skypes me. We say our hellos and goodbyes and the day was done about 8 pm.

The list of things we found and have fixed or will be fixed before I leave. Port Zinc mounting bolt leaking, port engine oil leak (fixed), thru hull leak port engine (fixed), replace relays for dual helm (completed), Radar (fixed), tachometer for port engine (mechanic will fix), autopilot (fixed), recalibrate boom vang measurement (completed), replace some short shackles on mast turning blocks (when I return), calibrate the wind instrument (completed), check all grounding terminals, (today).

All in all, it was a very productive weekend. Cheers to all for now and Orcinius will be ready for our continued journey when we return in March.