Whew, I finally have a few minutes to restart the blog! Alex and I flew into Christchurch on Wed., a week and a half ago, and immediately began preparations for departure.
Rusalka was in pretty good nick after being left for 10 weeks (Alex had thoroughly cleaned and bedded her down before returning to Hobart on Christmas Day). Despite the murky water (probably due to all the industrial activity in the port), there wasn’t much growth on the hull other than around the bowthruster, which came off with a bit of a scrub with a broom.
Lumpy growth around the bowthruster
After a few carloads of provisions were stowed, we refueled by jerry cans (no fuel docks in Lyttelton) and were on our way on Saturday.
It was a calm trip up the east coast of the South Island and by the following afternoon we were approaching Tory Channel, the entrance to the Marlborough Sounds.
Things got a bit exciting when Alex went to furl the mainsail before entering the channel and the button that activates the furler motor (the green button marked "IN") didn’t work, but he managed (with a lot of grunt work) to manually wind in the sail.
We then raced through Tory Channel on 4kts of current adding to our speed and settled down for a peaceful night’s sleep in Whatamango Bay.
The next morning we stopped in Waikawa to refuel and to try to diagnose the furler problem. Fortunately Alex was able to narrow it down to a likely faulty switch and was able to source a replacement in Auckland. We spent the night on a mooring in Kaipakirikiri Bay (very pretty except for the red algal bloom that stopped me from having a swim).
The next day we went into the Picton Marina to pick up the replacement part and to fit it. This involved hoisting up the steering pedestal covering (with all the wires attached) using a rope over the boom and then fiddling in a small space, at an odd angle, with little visibility to replace the switch (typical boat repair manoeuvre really!)
On Thursday we were ready to set off again and so we left the beautiful Queen Charlotte Sound, rounded Cape Jackson and made for Port Ligar. The next morning we got up at 5:45am in order to make the last of the flood tide through French Pass and arrived in Nelson mid-afternoon.
Our first night here we were treated to a full lunar eclipse with a blood moon – a good omen I hope!
To open a picture
Comments powered by CComment