Riada 2011 christmas cruise....merry christmas wbf

[Hwyl]

Waiting for the pixcel collection

[John B]

Struggling a bit with slow uploads and my Hp/ compaq repeating exactly the same issues as the first one and periodically losing its screen...
Cape Brett on the way up the coast..



We stayed overnight in deep water cove and next day into the BOI.. greeted by an old friend in Albert passage ( a very narrow pass ) out sailing in his old int moth..



broody kind of weather for nye

[John B]

The next day we headed off the 20 miles or so for the cavalli Islands...very light and hot now..



hooked up that second Steve I was talking about .. no pics except my new tld25 and rod showing they were up to it although on full brake and fizzing



And into horseshoe bay for foursies and the night .. almost a roadstead with 12 knots or so across the deck.



oooo yeah...nice place.

[John B]

The Cavallis... what a place.. not big but just so sweet.

[John B]

The stripper has been doing sterling duty again this year as you see previous photo.. lurking on the beach and a bit of adventuring as well.






Plus a bit of relaxed time as well..

[John B]

and not so relaxed

[snow(Alan H)]

and not so relaxed

Jesus thats radical - you need to talk to Colin Pawson, he has put his Townson dinghy on steroids. Two of these rigs & the stripper would need a crew of three....

;

[Steveh]

Well, it's about time you posted some picies there John. You're obviously having far too much of a good time. The stripper is cranking, you need to up the anti and get her out in a good 25 knt breeze she'd be fair humming.

Is that cave in the Cavalli's?

[Lew Barrett]

Snowing here today but this thread reminds me why we like it. Lovely place you have there, gentlemen.

[Chip-skiff]

and not so relaxed

That's the Stripper photo I've been waiting for since you got her in the water: tearing along at a good clip! How many knots, y'reckon?

Keep the photos coming— balm to the heart in winter.

[Phil Y]

You got a stripper on board? Cool.

[John B]

The boys 'camped' ashore last night.. ie stayed in a tent with no cooking etc and then took off in the stripper this am for a sail across to the next destination in the BOI. We anchored in between a couple of the islands in about ooo 12 to 15 and I sailed it single handed two rigs up. A bit of an ignominious start when it took charge and I took off at 10 knots or so for the beach.. but after a steep learning curve I got a bit of a handle on it. It needs full stack out on a reach powered up and sings along flat wake no problemo. When the breeze came up I just broad reached back and forth across the bay working down to leeward and then beached it, dropped the rigs out and put one back in for the sail back up to windward where the boats were anchored... a lot of fun but really hard to handle with quite a few near misses when the wind dropped. No can out but a bit of a swamp/ broachy thingy thing went on for a while there. Never mind....the cramp ,the general ache in these ole bones was worth it.

The weather is settled now for a week or so and we're just late starting and bay to bay within the islands for a few days or so.

The cave is in one of the eastern ( outlying) rocks off the cavallis Steve.

[John B]

Whangaroa was OK.... always a dramatic looking place but we dipped in there from the cavallis when the weather threatened so it was only really nice for a day in there..

Soren larsen...





and then off motor sailing back from there the 30 .. 35 miles back to the BOI



weird fish on the way red snapper



Toms 2 ft long snapper from a few days before. Great fight on the light soft bait gear



and the sweetest little schooner Ludique arriving in Russell for the tall ships/ classic race.

[snow(Alan H)]

[QUOTE=John B;2841659]Whangaroa was OK.... always a dramatic looking place but we dipped in there from the cavallis when the weather threatened so it was only really nice for a day in there..

Soren larsen...



Great pic John - all thats missing is Hongi Hika paddling out to greet them.........

[Thad]

Lovely to look at all this when the achey shacky of my bones has only been skating on rough ice today being smothered under a foot of snow, so there may be no more skating. Thanks.

[Steveh]

Keeping an eye out for this little puppy John. Heading up to Kawau on the 20th to grid Ngatira for a scrub and touch up antifoul. Thought this cyclone might hamper proceedings but now looks like it's going to peter out as have most of the other nasties.

[Deacon Blues]

JB, the Soren Larsen was parked under the Dukes Nose for the night. We were anchored just across the other side of the bay and took similar pix.

The previous day, we were heading out through the heads for a tiki-tour, against a wallowing swell bumped up by out-going tide, when the SL came in..... at the same time as a pod of 4 or 5 Orcas ..... it got a bit crowded and very lumpy and we had a bit on for a while, so sadly no decent photos.

[Hwyl]

Enjoying this

[StevenBauer]

Enjoying this

Me, too. Quite the contrast between John's great shots and the foot of snow today's Northeaster dumed on us.


Steven

[purri]

The "strange fish" is a nannygai.

[John B]

Or a red snapper here in new zild. Parked next to one of the queens of the charter fleet tonight Gareth.. those 70 ft van de stadt boats ( I forget the name of the class).Gloria .
Yeah Steve .. watching that ex TC vania but expecting hoping it'll wash out as you say.

Robin .. we had orca in Whangaroa one morning and one of the boats rang the orca lady. The day after in Paihia pickin up passengers we had the same pod arrive . the tourist boat behaviour was absolutely obscene I have to say . Big boats .. they harrased , corralled and hounded those poor things beyond belief.Just disgusting.

We ended up cruising around the bay and stopping and they arrived on us again.. great to see them hunting the stingray . one juvenile beached herself and had to be given a shove off .
Anyway , enough of the distasteful side of boating in the BOI.. we just had a fantastic day starting with breakfast on the spit by ourselves. Gregs( Salumeria fontana) spicy sicilian sausages with sweet chilli sauce on bread and line honours rum an orange yahhhhh. Sailed the stripper today as a sloop and a schooner ( which is a first.) a little bit of helm change from perfect to slightly more weather helm but a hell of a lot easier to sail due to the bigger rig having more gooseneck height.

[John B]

A few random tall ships race pics.. not many good uns I'm afraid .

onshore,



the hungi being prepared at 8.30 am



preparations on board Riada


( I had my Phoenix shirt out but quite frankly.. it was a bit grubby and smelly so it had a lie down instead)

Ludique again



a hot rodded Spencer



umm

[John B]

Shortly after our start ( which was 10 minutes behind the classics fleet)



The big spencer schooner



The LFH leeboard ketch Tern



Imagine my glee when I read the sailing instructions ... No spinnakers, no specialsed downwind sails, sails must be hanked yadayada mizzen staysails may be flown hahahahahahaha.

[John B]

Coming up to the ninepin.. second boat around




Russell boat club





and in the money


second boat across the line whole fleet and line honours ours.. boat in front started 10 minutes before us .

heh.

[Stiletto]

Congratulations, Well done!

[snow(Alan H)]

Yahoo - good boy. No doubt the cannon was used to announce the win? Liking the "Don Johnson' look

[P.L.Lenihan]

Congrats indeed John!!! Yippee!!!! Oh ,and just saying, that verdi gris around the cannons' mouth makes her look like she hasn't been fired all too often. Goin' deaf from the thunder are we?


Cheers!


Peter

[dhic001]

Well done John and family. Do we need to watch you closely at Mahurangi?
Daniel

[Deacon Blues]

JB - We were out there too. I took pix of Scout, Aorere and Vim up the head of the fleet over towards the black rocks in very light airs..

I saw the sea breeze come in and a dark hulled two master on the other side of the bay caught it dirst and took off - I assume that was you guys????

[Steveh]

Nice one John, congrats. Looks like champaign racing and a Mark Foy start to boot.

Might I interest you in another Friday race in the CYA regatta coming up? Still waiting on the gaff jaws to be cast but hoping they will be done for the racing.

[snow(Alan H)]

Steve, as a trophy winning skipper JB's day fee will have gone up, in fact your position down the back could be under review......... I have some knee pads you can borrow as its been a while since you were forward of the mast.

[Steveh]

Thanks for that Alan, I'll take it into consideration. Perhaps some super glue on the helm might do the trick to ensure I stay put in the brains trust compartment.

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

Beyoootiful. As I view the frozen field behind our house.

[John B]

Hello again guys thanks for the regards.. yeah that was us Robin .. sneaking a jump on the fleet and getting a very lucky break on the local knowledge guys and breaking through big time.a bit of a laugh really.

Well.. what since?.. the ex cyclone put the whim whams up the boats we were cruising with , and fair enough... Contour has engine starting issues. So we left the BOI( I was a bit sick of those gold sand beaches and clear water anyway) and boosted around to mimiwhangata to run shotgun down the coast. The usual big seas off Brett and a rolly night at Mimi. We sailed down the coast 30 miles or so and they made the decision to go home .. we split off for Great Barrier and just had a fantastic sail with a quick tiki tour of the Mokihinau's on the way.
Fush? got so much damn fush we're giving it away.. more albacore ( small compared to lee's units) endless small kingfish ( 500 mm or so...released)
Shark? mako are out of fashion .. its bronze whalers now.

At Mimi , Suzie was sitting in the water off the boarding ladder on Destination and got a feeling ( so to speak) looked around and there was a 2.5 metre bronze whaler 2 ft away. It stuck around a couple of hours and later was under the stripper and had a sniff at an oar. Yesterday here at Barrier we had a 3 m one within about 2 or 3 m of Kirsty on the paddleboard.



bucket if I'm going in.


Tonight we hunkered down in kaiarararararara bay in fitzroy........I caught a wee yellowtail on the sabiki set and set that out and hooked a 1 m Kingfish of about 18 or 20 lbs. I love that rod and reel.. its the best christmas present I ever gave myself.

[Deacon Blues]

JB, Check out the CYA website. I have incontovertible proof of your sailing prowess.

http://classicyacht.org.nz/forum/vie...php?f=4&t=1070

It wasn't a dream!!!

[Deacon Blues]

a hot rodded Spencer



umm

[/IMG]

That's Sagitta, built early 1980's - as far as i know -

[Zane Lewis]

Hi John,
Still out there on the coast somewhere??
Great to see someone enjoying it and sharinig it.
Given the rather hot and damp weather have you every considered a run up the Whangarei harbour and tie up in the basin for a night, eat at Revia's or the Blue lagoon etc walk to the supermarket etc.

NB it's a 2 hour run up the harbour and most of the deep water anchorages are on the northern side which may become a problem is if goes SE except "the nook" in Parua Bay.

See you at Scotts landing

Zane

[John B]

Only ever been there by car Zane.
The weather has turned .. we sat out some really quite nasty stuff for a couple of days and then had one beautiful clear day in the broken islands. Currently in whangaparapara hiding from 30 and 40 knots and the maps say its rain and nasty stuff for the next 4 days.. a bit of a window tomorrow to leave barrier( which I think we'll do.)
The wind in kaiarara bay was pretty character forming.. once we'd weened out the tossers and pillocks who anchored short amongst anchored long boats we settled in.One laughable 'discussion' with a launch which anchored in our scope( wind was forecast to back 90 degrees) I very politely told him that I thought he was too close for overnight and he came at me like a pekinese with a tick on its bum. I think that guy needs to get out of boating and buy a nice caravan.He eventually moved and moved another 3 times in the squalls.. had he not he was matchwood on an adjacent wharf. The gusts off the hills were , er, feral. Literally we'd be sitting in 5 knots side on and 40 or 50 would come roaring down the bay rolling spray and mini waterspouts, hit the boat and shove it sideways at half and knot or more at up to 10 degrees heel until rounded up by the scope. A few of those and we all became confident in the boats around us but a sleepless night and second anchor ready to go if needed.

[Zane Lewis]

ouch, rough night.
Been talking to Dad, he's got my sister and someone else crewing to come over from Whitianga. looks like they will wait until Monday / Tuesday. Short burst to the Merc's for a night, then Port Charles if it stays South and East,
He been offered a commerical boats mooring in Whangaparapara or up to smoke house.
Where is Kaiarar Bay on Barrier?
Do I keep an eye out for you over here? Close to the supermarket and wholesalers.

I've got my row boat going but am now having to up grade the oars as the splines down the back of the blades are braking down and starting to flex too much so no training these last 2 weeks.

Zane

[snow(Alan H)]

Lock the hatch tonight.........

[John B]

Kaiarara bay is the next one to the south from fitzroy/ forestry.. big open one you'd walk to the kauri dams from Zane.
Yeah that was funny hearing about that Alan, we started getting texts asking us if we were out of barrier because it was' in lockdown'. We never heard a word of it and I see in the news tonight they've been found all safe.

We left Whangaparapara at 8.30 this morning in a gale warning for the outer gulf. Instead of 40 odd knots that was blowing yesterday it was down to 30 35. 1 reef 4 rolls in the jib , no mizzen ... it did blow solid 30 plus for a while and the seas were 2 to 3 metres with a few oh s*&^ high ones through Colville. Typical gulf/ Colville though, south easterly swell with a north easterly chop on top changing to a southerly from the firth. nasty stuff with a short fetch between swells/ waves so quite bucket ride for a while....Just forward of the beam for a course for AKl, the stripper did 9 behind us for a while but we sat on solid 8 to 8.5 for ages. moderated down to 20 for a couple of hours and the last 1 and a half hours 15! Great sail, 5 1/2 hours to Rangi light ..no sick kids and all of us kitted up jackets and harnesses for moving. Kirsty made bread from one of those pre made dough bulletts and we had PB on fresh bread for lunch plus cold black coffee made from coke and a tot.
Loved it. Hate being home early but its looking mean and wet for another couple of days and we were developing cabin fever... ah well thats the way it goes. I'll upload some pics tomorrow.

A Sticky! thats nice of you Scot .. thanks for that.

[J P]

Sounds like quite a ride across the channel.
Thanks for the great thread John. These are always a treat.

[Steveh]

Better yesterday than today John. Gusting 45 with 3 metre swell and that would probably mean 4 metre across Colville.

Didn't want to mention anything about the man hunt on Barrier. Going from past trips away you've had you would be looking pretty ferral yourself by now and just per chance you were out in the stripper frothing at the mouth after an altercation with a tosser stink potter the swat team would have been down on you like a Fastline tick control on a Pekinese's bum! so best you didn't know anything and just hunkered down down below Riada.



Mahurangi regatta is definitely looking ordinary at this point. I'd say numbers will be down and racing will be confined to inside the harbour and not round Saddle Island. The show always goes on though.

[John B]

It was a good sail JP.

That was a real possibilty Stevey...my children pretend I belong to someone else,I might even have to get the razor out today. We definitely had a few 4's yesterday but not for long and on the beam.. lovely stuff but no... we wouldn't be doing it today.
I didn't have any altercations at all this year and its been a couple since the Abbawankers got me going. No this guy was a pillock or newbie or stressed/ worried and he went all attitude on me when I very politely told him.. suggested even that we'd not be safe anchored so close overnight given the conditions . We all had a great laugh at the guys manner.
photo wise we'd had the tall ships/classic and afterwards there was a snotty day or two to get out of the way weather wise before getting back to the usual..


ah yes.. anchored in 3 m of water on a sunny day.. good book and and staying on til 7 at night before hopping aound the point 10 minutes for an overnight anchorage

[John B]

It was relentless, more sun, another bay , foursies on Riada or Contour or Destination or the beach



Got the boys all set up and sent them on a mission in the stripper to the next bay a couple of miles away before we followed in the big boats..



which is when the sea breeze came in and JB sailed the thing single handed in 12 or 15 and gave the ab a big workout. I have 2 abs now but no photos of the great event because everyone ( including me) was screaming when the boat took charge and bolted at the beach at 10 knots on that which most people would call 'the plane' .Yes ,now I realise that sailing it single handed two rigs up in a breeze truly is fantasy island..

[John B]

One memorable morning , the tide was right or close to it for breakfast on the spit. The other boats were still getting up but we were on a mission.



out with the foursies blanket, the $25 gas cooker and frypan, and some line honours rum and orange juice...







We managed an hour there perhaps... a great way to start the day.

[Steveh]

Doing it in style... As always. Green with envy (when I look at all the NICE shots) Wouldn't fancy heading back from Barrier on Ngatira in a gale warning. Shudder at the thought.

[snow(Alan H)]

Even the inner habour was getting a pasting this morning. The Devonport Yott Club + the Sea Scout Hall were a little wet

;

;

Its nice to live near the sea - but not in the sea.......

[John B]

Yerrrsss.... I do believe we have made a good call.

Currently trying to catch up on a months worth of threads but I'm struggling. Poor coverage , other things to do and the lemon Hewlet and Packard laptop have meant I've only been able to read a couple of threads and post directly to this un. There's been a mass pardoning by the looks.Wow. I can't find the Paul bought a gunmetal Corvette thread.Mr Lemonhands's thread is so big I'm scared to open it.

If I was to spray CRC on the laptop hinges , would that make my screen work every time? cos giving it a good twist/ rack only gives an intermittent result.

[snow(Alan H)]

South bound motorway closed due to flooding + a 3.51m tide