Safely in New Zealand

After our first day of motoring the wind kicked in and we were able to sail. The wind gradually increased until we had 20/25 knots on Tuesday. It wasn't too rough and the boat was flying, in one 6 hour period we covered 50 miles which is very good for us. Unfortunately, the winds continued to increase due to a squash zone. This is not something we had heard about before but now fully understand having felt the effects of one. Basically, there was a high over NZ which was higher than forecast and the low which developed over Fiji was lower and became a tropical cyclone. Due to the big difference between the 2 there was a zone of high winds in the middle and that is what we were stuck in. The winds increased to 30/35 knots and the seas built to about 5 metres. It was not pleasant as we were sailing into it but when the waves were big we had to sail to the sea and not the wind in order to protect the boat.

We were worried about our mast as it developed a vertical crack on the way to Tonga. Fortunately, it is not structural and we got here with it still standing. We did have a number of breakages, first the engine compartment door broke so we had to duct tape the door shut. Secondly, the spinnaker pole attachment broke and was flailing around at the front of the mast. We both had to go forward and lash it down which was a very wet job with waves completely covering us. Next, one of the bolts on our davits which holds the dinghy snapped. We were worried we would lose the dinghy but luckily we managed to find another bolt and mend it. Besides this we lost our fishing gaff over the side and our anchor has damaged the wood on the anchor platform. It sounds bad but we got off lightly compared to some people. Most boats found leaks they didn't know they had and many ripped sails.

Some of our friends were further north and were in the middle of the cyclone. They had winds of 45 knots and big seas. A Kiwi boat was rolled and the crew were airlifted to safety after abandoning the boat. Friends of our on Adventure Bound were very brave and sailed back into the storm to help the crew. It has really set them back and they have still not arrived (since writing this they have come in sefely).

We only had one very bad day and after that the wind decreased back down to 25 knots which felt really light after the 35 knots! We kept the boat sailing well and arrived in Opua Friday evening. The trip took us 5 1/2 days which is good for a 780 mile trip.

We have all been so glad to arrive safely and have spent the first few days on a real adrenaline high. After that fatigue set in and we are still recovering. Everyone at the marina is incredibly helpful and we have been starting our long list of chores. There was also a rally for cruisers with lots of events and seminars the two weeks after we arrived so we have been attending those.

As we arrived in Opua, the first people we met were a couple called Richard and Dawn who are friends with our friends Chris and Dave off CD. They have very kindly loaned us a car which makes getting things done so much quicker. Hopefully we can keep the car until we leave Opua in December and go cruising around the Bay of Islands.