1st May - First solo passage

I arrived back in Auckland on Easter Sunday.  Nik has stayed in Perth as was not keen to do the passage to Noumea.  The boat was a mess when I arrived as there had been some further works being carried out while I had been away and these were continuing.  I had decided to depart Auckland on the 24^th April and so the final couple of days became a frenzy of activity to get everything finished.  As it was the boat was good to go by mid afternoon on the 23^rd which gave me time to shop for fresh food before departing.

In order to depart New Zealand I had to have a decent forecast and also to check out of a designated port of entry which for me was going to be Whangerei or Opua.  Only at these ports could I complete the necessary customs and immigration formalities.  Looking at the weather there was no real chance of departing for at least a week however there were small windows which would allow me to relocate to Whangerei or Opua.  Then I could wait for the weather window and be ready to check out when the time came.

Next day at 0600 I slipped the lines from the Westhaven berth and headed into Auckland harbour in a grey morning.  The forecast was not great but good enough to get me north.  This was my first solo sail and the rough plan was to head north to Whangerei where I would stop and wait for a suitable weather window which looked like it could be in around a weeks time.  

Once I cleared the main harbour I set sail, turned off the engine and headed north.  The wind was on the starboard beam and blowing around 20kts so it made for fairly brisk sailing.  Once the sails were set and we were settled and on course there was not a lot for me to do apart from keep a watch around the boat and on the navigation screens however there was very little traffic around given the ordinary weather conditions.  I spent the time equally on deck and below trying to get used to the motion. 

Around midday I started to consider my arrival time in Whangerei.  It was going to be around nightfall which meant anchoring in the dark which is not a good idea especially if it is an unknown anchorage.  I made the decision to push on another 60Nm or so to reach the Bay of Islands.  It meant an overnight sail but  would put me further north and in familiar territory. 

Nightfall came just after the entrance to Whangerei as we cleared Bream Head.  The darkness was absolute – there was no moon and the stars were completely obscured by the low cloud.  The boat just kept ploughing on.  I tried to get some rest during the night as we had about 10 hrs still to run.  One of my major concerns regarding solo sailing was how to get rest.  I know the theoretical duration is 15mins of sleep at a time but I tried that at first but it did not feel right.  In the end I managed about 2hrs in 30min segments coming up on deck in between to check for any vessels. 

The rest of the sail was rather boisterous but uneventful.  We passed Cape Brett at around 03:00am and turned westward into the Bay of Islands heading for a sheltered but wide anchorage I had been to before.  It was another 2hrs before I arrived at Robertson Island and got the anchor down by which time I was shattered and gladly collapsed into my bunk.

The Route from Auckland to Bay of Isalnds

I awoke about 5hrs later.  We were safe and secure at anchor.  I had sailed 130NM at an average speed of around 6kts and at some point we hit 8kts.  Generally the sail had been pretty good although I still needed to resolve the sleep issue for any longer passages.  I had also been disorientated which upon further consideration was due to the sea sickness patches called Scopolamine that I was using.  Reading up on the side effects I recognized the confusion, disorientation, hallucinations and other symptoms which I had experienced through the night.  As a result I will not be using them again. 

I sat at anchor from Friday until Wednesday.  The weather was terrible - severe rain and very windy.  Its was a pretty miserable few days and you start to question what the hell you are doing.  On the Wednesday I left and headed into the marina as I had to go in to check out anyway and there was some further work on two of the deck hatches to be carried out as they were still leaking. 

So am now sitting in the marina.  I have booked my clearance Wednesday the 7^th May.  This may or may not move depending on how the forecast firms up.

Current forecast for planned departure date