Donna
12 May 2017
Almost six weeks ago we flung the boat in the water. Gotta go. Gotta get moving. Gotta catch one of them weather windows. Ten days to get our "clears" done then first window to crack even slightly open and we'd be off.
Right.
Ten days turned into four weeks and windows came and went. Morning walks around the Whangarei Haetae Loop, got dragged out to try and shorten the days. Patience was required for both the "clears" and ironically, the windows.
Some folks squeezed through some slightly open windows. Some made it. Some got trashed and some turned back.
Right now we're glad we've got the Popemobile as Donna is flouncing past right now. All bluster and torrential tears. Probably in a bit of a huff as she's now an ex cyclone, but still swirling her skirts enough to be putting 40 knots through the anchorage.
She's also got a pal; Ella
I think Ella has been on the bevvie as she's wandering around up north, staggering from island to island, all a-dither and not sure if she'll go west or follow Donna down here and see what she's up to.
The end results is 70 or 80 cruisers all twiddling their thumbs, all becoming weather experts and many watching their tourist visas expire. I suspect a few have already cleared out and are hiding out in the islands.
Big Brother, Yachting NZ the RYA equivalent down here manage and support a law that says every New Zealand registered boat leaving New Zealand waters has to have a category 1 offshore certificate.
Cheque books out, new bright orange storm sails hoisted and lanyards tied to the mandatory 4 buckets (what the heck do you do with four buckets? One for each foot I guess) is order of the day. The certification is only valid for a month (??) So there's a scramble to get extensions as everyone has been waiting so long.
Makes you proud to be British where you can still go to sea in an old tin bath without some faceless government Johnny poking his or her nose into your affairs.
Which reminds me; I must send my annual donation to the RNLI. Somebody's got to rescue these muppets!!