Tsunami

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last week you would have seen the news of the earthquake near Samoa and the subsequent tsunami. Thank you all for your concerned phone calls (I think someone rang) and I can assure you all that we survived it and are both still alive and well and spending the kids inheritance as fast as we can.

It was, however, an interesting experience and in spite of the pathetic TV news coverage of it in NZ, we did actually get quite a large wave at Tutukaka.

The radio had been reporting the earthquake and tsunami all morning, forecasting that it would hit East Cape and Gisborne first at about 9.45am, arriving at Auckland about 10.30am. In actual fact, nothing happened at East Cape and they ended up canceling the warning around 10.30am. A few minutes later they reactivated the warning and said it would arrive at Auckland around midday.

At 12.05pm the tide level in Tutukaka dropped about a meter over a five minute period and then a few minutes later a rush of water hit the entrance to the marina and the tide level rose a meter in a few minutes. The best way to describe it was that it was like being on the Mississippi River in a raging flood with the tide coming in at close to 15 knots. This was followed a few minutes later with the tide going out just as quickly as it had come in. This happened at about half hourly intervals throughout the afternoon. There is a video clip of the tide going out on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWIhOcrzFqw.

I had managed to get some quite good film of it all on the camcorder and rang TV One to see if they were interested in it and they sent a cameraman up from Whangarei to get it from me. He arrived about 3pm and was interviewing me on the jetty when all of a sudden there was a wall of white water racing in the entrance and all hell broke loose. A dinghy and 40hp outboard on the boat next to us was completely swamped and disappeared under the water and then one of the mooring piles along from us was broken off at seabed level and a 45 foot yacht on it was rolled over onto its side and was lucky not to have sunk. This was about the seventh surge since it all started and was by far the biggest one being at least a meter high. I hadn't really thought about it much before but I now know that a tsunami isn't just a moving wave on top of the water but the complete volume of water from the seabed up all moving at about 15 knots. Luckily it was low tide when it happened otherwise the damage would have been considerably worse. The surges gradually got smaller and weaker but were still occuring on a small scale the following morning.

Unfortunately I haven't got any still photos of it but I'm not sure they would have really given an idea of what it was like anyway.

So that was the week's excitement. The weather has been cold, wet and windy for the last couple of weeks so there hasn't been any fishing or much of anything happening for that matter.

We're looking forward to getting to Brisbane and some warmth and sun next week.

September already!

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun? It only seems like yesterday that Doreen did the June update. In fact it's so long ago I can't really remember what we've been doing since then so I'll stick to the few bits I can remember.

There have been several fairly major projects under way since the last report, some of them finished, some still work in progress. The one finished project is the conversion of the starboard quarter berth area into a utility room with storage for all the food and most of the utensils.

As the photo shows, we've built a cupboard with sliding doors and a few shelves. It doesn't look much but it was actually quite a challenging job but one that has made a huge difference to our comfort on the boat.

The other major project of mine has been laying a new floor after the damage caused by replacing the fuel tanks. This job is still ongoing but starting to look as if it will turn out quite well.


The new floor is oak veneer over tongue and groove pine planks and is quite difficult to get cut out neatly given that there are no right angle corners or straight lines on a boat. Nothing that filler can't hide though.

The last project and probably the biggest and hardest one has fallen fairly and squarely into Doreen's lap and that is the recovering of all the squabs throughout the boat. It would be a big enough challenge doing it in a house where there's plenty of room let alone trying to do it on the saloon table! Having said that, the parts that have been finished are looking really good and when the whole boat has been done it will look fantastic.



The photo at right is obviously the forward cabin and those of you that have seen the boat or remembered from previous photos will note that I have rebuilt the port side bunk. Before, it was about 300mm higher and extended over the 'thwartships (crossways) squab. Now there is a large storage area under the bunk and all (well, most) of my tools are stored there.

The saloon squabs are still WIP but are starting to shape up nicely.




And the final project was the delivery trip I did last week bringing our neighbour's new boat up here from Picton. Our friends Nigel and Fred (Winifred) recently sold their yacht Holo Malano (see Easter blog and trip to Great Barrier) and bought a 58 foot motor launch which was based in Picton. The Tutukaka Thinking Mans Drinking Club (Dad's Army) was appointed to bring the new boat back to Tutukaka and duly set off by road for Wellington at 3.15am Tuesday week ago. The trip down was reasonably uneventful and we arrived at the Ferry Terminal at about 4pm (co-incidently, about the same time as the normal nightly meetings start) and so set up temporary clubrooms under the overpass and prepared for the Cook Strait crossing due to leave at 6.25pm. The crossing got away on time and was reasonably smooth and comfortable and we finally got to the boat at 9.30pm.

Wednesday we went into Blenheim and bought food and liquid refreshments for the trip before going back to the boat for an afternoon nap. The weather was fine but very cold and noticeably colder than up north.

Dave, Bev and Kelly visited us in the evening for a few quiet drinks before we all (minus Kelly) headed into town for dinner at the local curry house. As it turned out Kelly and her boyfriend live in a flat not more than a hundred meters from where the boat was moored.



Sorry about the photo Dave, it looks like you may have drunk something that didn't agree with you but unfortunately it was the only one I took.

Thursday, the weather forecast wasn't great so we delayed our departure a day and went for a short shakedown cruise along Queen Charlotte Sound before another afternoon nap.

Friday, the forecast wasn't too bad so we set off at 8.30am for the 690 nm trip to Tutukaka.

Rather than bore everyone with the full details of the trip I'll stick to a brief summary.

Departed Picton Friday 8.30am - arrived Napier Saturday 9.45am. Refuelled at Napier (1100 litres)
Departed Napier Sunday 9.00am - arrived and anchored Tolaga Bay 10.00pm
Departed Tolaga Bay Monday 3.30am - arrived and anchored Cape Runaway 7.00pm
Departed Cape Runaway Tuesday 4.30am - arrived Whitianga 4.30pm. Refuelled at Whitianga (1100 litres) and anchored overnight at Great Mercury Island about 20 miles from Whitianga.
Departed Great Mercury Wednesday 4.30am - arrived Tutukaka 4.00pm.

Seaforth II

The weather throughout the trip ranged from crap (5m swells between Napier and East Cape) to perfect (flat calm across the Bay of Plenty). For the interest of anyone who cares, we used about 2700 litres of diesel and averaged about 9.5 knots over the whole journey. Oh, and in case anyone does actually care, we stopped for a fish on the Ranfurly Banks (about 12 nm off East Cape) and I caught two Kingfish.


And that brings us up to the present time, snugly in our berth at Tutukaka wondering what to do next. The squabs and the flooring projects need to be finished before we go summer cruising as does the painting of the back of the boat and the relocating of the boarding platform. We also would like to fit in a trip to Oz but at the moment it's raining and it all seems too hard so I might just take my book up to forward cabin and have a nap.

JUNE REPORT

I thought I had better hurry up and make a posting for June seeing it will soon be time to do one for July.

It has been quite a busy time since Easter and we have managed to get a lot done on the boat making the changes that need to change and fixing whatever needs fixing.

The biggest job was the diesel tank replacement. There were 2 tanks which carried far more fuel than we would ever need and they both had leaks starting. It was not worth trying to weld up old tanks so they had to come out which meant ripping up the galley floor but luckily the people doing the job managed to cut the tanks out to avoid having to take the whole galley out. We replace them with one new tank which will more than adequately do.
The first picture is looking right into the bilges with the galley floor all taken out and the old tanks gone. The steps from the cockpit are also gone so we had to climb in and out of the boat like monkeys getting a handhold and foothold where we could. The boat was in quite a mess for a while but we managed to cook, eat and sleep all right so there was no need to look for accommodation elsewhere. It seemed to drag on a bit because we had to wait for the new tank to be made and for the people doing the job to fit us in when they could.
The second picture shows the new tank arriving (mind the herb garden!)
Needless to say, this was all an unwanted expense and inconvenience but it is all done now and there are no more horrible diesel smells emanating from the bilge. It seems to go through everything!
Another bonus is that the new floor in the galley is much better - it is level and does no squeak and a cabinet was made slightly narrower when put back which meant a door could open properly at last.
While all this was going on the people who supplied us with and installed a new radar (over a year ago) finally got around to coming out and finding why it didn't work properly - turned out to be faulty cable running down from the unit on the mizzen mast. It was out of the guarantee period date but they accepted the responsibility about that.

After discovering there was no plug for the new tank ( and consequently having one more last diesel smell in the bilge when we tried putting some diesel in for the first time) we managed to procure one - the next challenge was getting the motor started again with the need to bleed the new fuel lines but that was not too much of a drama and it was good to hear it functioning again - music the ears, in fact.
We almost slipped the ropes and took off to Whangaroa just to enjoy the boat for a week or two and catch up with Erin and Ivan but there were too many appointments and social obligations coming up that we did not miss. Besides, the weather was going through a cool snap so we stayed put.
It is just as well we didn't go away because John discovered that a wound on his leg was inflamed and not healing. This happened while he was out fishing on Ken's boat "Aquadash" a while back when he was hurrying to help someone land a good-sized fish. The doc. prescribed antibiotics to get rid of the infection but it has become ulcerated so it could take some time getting better. He is visiting the doc. every two or three days now.


John's latest project is turning the quarter-berth off the galley into a sort of utility/pantry room. The fridge and freezer were already there and as you can see there are some nice new cupboards. Not finished yet - the top shelf needs railing and all needs varnishing.
We should have done this ages ago it is so much easier finding things now.
The plastic container is where we hide the washing up until it gets full or we feel like doing it.
I hate doing it when I am feeling settled after dinner or there is something good on T.V.

John has finished in the forward cabin now after making the toilet enclosure and lowering the bunk on the left side to make it even with the right - so much better and more inviting as a bedroom. He also fixed the wooded areas and I took all the old dark green front-runner down (felt "wallpaper" fabric - used to line the hull for insulation and looks) and replaced it with a fresh new lighter colour. The left squab had to be re-cut and rather than fix up the old red covers we have decided to make new blue covers as per the fabric sample in the photo.

I think that is about it for now.
The winter has not made us suffer so far - it is easy to keep the boat warm while we have the use of electricity and the sun is still warming. I rather like the fine clear winter days.

May Update

Well it's May already and another year is almost half gone. The time seems to race past the older one gets!

Quite a lot has happened since the last update which I seem to remember finished with us getting ready to go away with our friends on their 50 foot launch Holo Malana, shown on the left anchored in Mansion House Bay on Kawau Island where we spent a few days. But more of that later.



We left Tutukaka early on the morning of Good Friday and headed off for Great Barrier expecting a good sail but as is so often the case on this coast, the wind was right on the nose, the sea quite snotty and we ended up motoring the whole 52 miles. Seven and a half hours later we arrived just as the sea flattened out, the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day. And that's pretty much how it stayed the whole 10 days we were away. We spent a few days in Fitzroy harbour at the northern end of the island fishing, eating, drinking and sleeping (all in about equal quantities) before we got sick of all the excitement and motored down to Tryphena, about 15 miles down towards the bottom end of the island.

The fishing was pretty good at Fitzroy, we caught quite a few snapper and Doreen took the prize for the best fish...a nice sized John Dory. She had actually hooked a small undersize snapper (about 10cm.) and the John Dory thought it looked like a tasty morsel wriggling round on the end of the line and came along and took it hook, line and snapper!

For anyone who hasn't been there and is even remotely interested, Great Barrier Island is about 20 miles from top to bottom, 5 miles across and is a typical volcanic island ie. hilly and covered in native forest. The permanent population is around 700 people living mainly in Fitzroy in the north, Claris in the middle and Tryphena in the south. It's situated about 25 miles off the coast midway between Auckland and Whangarei.

Anyway, back to the story. We were lucky enough to be able to use a friend's mooring right by the wharf in Tryphena so had a good safe spot and felt comfortable leaving the boat and going ashore for extended periods. One day we borrowed a friend's car and drove the length of the island stopping in for a couple of hours at an old school friend of Doreen's who has a farm right on the water's edge half way down the island. That night was my birthday (thank you all for your cards, phone calls and emails) and we all went ashore and had dinner in one of the two restaurants in the area.

After a few days at Tryphena we got restless again and hauled up the anchor and motored down to Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf. We anchored in Mansion House Bay right opposite Governor Grey's house (The Mansion) where we spent a couple of very pleasant days going ashore for short walks (the men) and long walks (the women).

The picture on left shows Doreen and our friends coming back to the boat after a walk ashore.

By now we were running out of space to put all the empty bottles. An average morning while we were away saw about five empty wine bottles and one rum bottle needing to be disposed of plus our friends had to go back to work so we reluctantly up-anchored and sailed back up the coast to Tutukaka, about 8 hours away.


While we were away our boat builder had been on our boat and removed the two fuel tanks that needed replacing so we arrived back to find a temporary floor with a big hole under it! They ended up having to cut the tanks up to get them out otherwise they would have had to do some serious damage to the galley and navigation area and rather than replace them as they were we've had one big tank made that will be easily accessed in the event it ever needs attention. At the moment the new tank has been built and we're just waiting for the boat builder to come back and fit it in.

After the beautiful weather we had at Easter, the last couple of weeks have been awful with strong winds and a lot of rain and right now a major low pressure area the size of Australia with a centre of 960 hps is due to descend on us. Should be fun!

Until next time...............

And Now It's April

Like a thief in the night, March came and went and we're now a quarter of the way through the year.

March had it's ups and downs, with Doreen's birthday (only 12 months to the pension) being an up and more work and money to be spent on the boat (sorry children) being one of he downs. In between, the great summer weather we've been having this year continued and the NZ cricket team maintained their tradition of being totally useless. Aside from all that it's just been another month in the lives of a couple of aging babyboomers.

The problem with the boat is mildly serious with very slow leaks in both fuel tanks needing to be fixed. Problem is the tanks were put in the boat before it was fitted out and the galley, navigation area, battery compartments and companionway steps have all been built in over the top of them. A bit like the old song about the thighbone being connected to the hipbone really. Anyway, to cut a long tale of woe short, the tanks need to be taken out and either repaired or (more likely) replaced with new ones. I shall leave you, dear reader, to envisage the task ahead.

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On a brighter note, we went out to The Poor Knights (not to be confused with our daughter and son-in-law, The Rich Knights) Islands on a friend's launch last Sunday and as the other Knights will know, it was well worth the trip. The islands are a wildlife sanctuary about 12 miles off the coast of Tutukaka and a well known dive location which draws visitors from around the world. Fishing is not allowed there and consequently the water is teeming with fish (mainly snapper) that are quite tame and almost eat out of your hand. The island scenery is quite spectacular and well worth a visit. The islands are obviously the result of some violent volcanic activity a long time ago and are full of caves, some of which are big enough to take a boat into.

And that's about all the news for March.

This coming Friday (Easter Friday) we're taking off for a week with friends on their boat for a bit of a break at Great Barrier Island. Should be a lot of fun.

So until May.........

March Already

The unimaginative title reflects the fact that not a lot of interest has been happening here since the last post in February. There aren't even any photos to put on but I guess there's nothing to say a blog has to include photos.

What's happened on the good ship Irrepressible since the last post? Well, there has actually been quite a bit of progress on a few long running projects.

To start with, the forward cabin bathroom is finally finished after many months of on again, off again work. Even if I say so myself, I think it's turned out really well and has transformed that area of the boat. The final step was to install a holding tank (for the uninitiated, a holding tank is a tank that untreated sewage goes into until you're in an area where you can legally dispose of it). It's not that we actually intend to use it (they're revolting things that end up smelling like, well, sewage I guess), but more and more the authorities are requiring them to be fitted as a pre-requisite to entering a marina. So, we're now legal even if we don't use it.

Another project that I finished recently was refurbishing the aft bathroom. Previously the shower drained into the engine bilge before being pumped over the side resulting in a smelly bilge in hot weather so I built a new shower sump under the shower floor which now pumps directly into the sea. Much better. I also removed the toilet, fitted a new set of gaskets and seals, painted the bathroom and put it all back together. So now we have two nice shiny, sweet smelling bahrooms.

While all this has been going on, Doreen has been remaking all the squabs (upholstery) in the saloon. While they were all in very good condition, the design of them made sitting on them quite uncomfortable so they have all been pulled apart, the foam inners all recut and reshaped, the material recut to fit and then sewn back up again. Quite a major job in the confined space of a yacht but the end result is much more comfortable seating.

In between all the work I went away for a few days on a friend's boat, up to the Cape Brett area for a few days fishing, plus the usual weekly (when the weather is good) day fishing trips.

Doreen, as you might have guessed is fully occupied with her family research and frequently away visiting rellies or scouring libraries and museums. Yesterday was her birthday and I drove her down to Warkworth and left her at the museum / genealogy centre there while I carried on down to Auckland where I spent the day browsing chandleries! All in all, a very pleasant day.

The tenants who have been in the Blenheim house since we moved onto the boat moved out at the weekend and we've just heard today that new tenants have signed up for the next 12 months and move in next week. From that you may infer that our plans are to stay on the boat for at least another year. Hopefully by then the property market will have picked up a bit and we'll probably consider selling the property and buying something up here close to Tutukaka.

And that pretty much covers the news for the last couple of months. It doesn't sound like much when condensed into a few paragraphs but we do seem to be quite busy most of the time.

Till next time..................

FEBRUARY ALREADY

How the time flies when you are having fun.
We had a quiet Christmas here at the marina at Tutukaka and on Boxing Day headed North with another couple on their boat who berth opposite us. We didn't go far - spent the night at anchor in Whangaruru Bay.
Next day we started off early to travel to Whangaroa Harbour but developed engine overheating problems so sailed to nearby Whangamumu Harbour and the boys had to get dirty in the engine room. At first there appeared to be nothing wrong but eventually found that seaweed had got into a bend in the water intake area. The joys of boating !
It was not all bad. We girls fished and we were treated by a pod of dolphins coming into the bay and making a spectacular show-off display of themselves. There was stil just time to get to Whangaroa so we went for it and got into the West Arm at around 7pm.
We had a very pleasant time up there. A lot of boats from "E-Street" (our wharf finger) at Tutukaka Marina arrived, not really planned that way but it was good to see the New Year in with the people we know. Everyone gathered on "Divine Decadence" - the huge yacht that is tied up at the end of "E-Street" usually. They had people with dive gear aboard so there was no shortage of scallops, mussells etc.

We came back for a few weeks because I had an exhibition at the Matapouri Hall (next bay north of here) that I wanted to go to which was done by a friend who belongs to the Geneoalogy and History Societies. Really well done and I met some of my fellow Clements descendants that she grew up with and who live around about. On the right is one of them - my second cousin Jeanette who showed her old family photos at that table which were mostly about timber milling in the area in the early 1900's.

John had to attend a Marina Management Trust Meeting (yes, he got elected onto it) which was a week after that. By then others were also coming home to Tutukaka.




In the meantime a couple of Australian friends Bob and Sandra Sutton arrived back in NZ after having had to return to Australia so that Bob could have an operation. A friend of theirs, Jim, flew out from Australia to join them. After a week at Great Barrier they called into Tutukaka on their way to the Bay of Islands but only stayed a night because we decided to go north with them after insisting that they see the Whangaroa Harbour before sailing back to Australia. They thought it looked like Jurassic Park and enjoyed the fishing - they are very keen fishermen. We went back to the Bay of Islands with them and put the anchor down at a different bay each night. We spent one day ashore at Russell where we had lunch at the Duke of Marlborough Hotel (very old).
Erin and Ivan caught up with us and we all enjoyed a very pleasant evening on board their yacht "Masada" (bigger than the 'Queen Mary' !) with the guitar and ukelele singing everything from Waltzing Mathilda to How Great Thou Art.
We left them all the next day because the weather forecast was not great and we wanted to get back before rather than after the bad spell.
Suttons are now waiting for the right weather across the Tasman Sea to sail back to Australia and will clear Customs at Opua.


The Suttons yacht "Ray of Sunshine" with Jim at the wheel and Bob in the red shirt in
Whangaroa.



So now the boats of "E-Street" are all settled back in their usual berths and life is getting back to normal. Ken has managed to erect the hard-top to his boat that he has been making for some time now so the "Tutukaka Thinking Mens' Drinking Club" can sort it all out in some shade.
Here is John and Ken arranging the agenda before the others arrive.