We anchored at around 2.30 about half way into Islington Bay and 75m off the east coastline. About 15m of chain and rope was dropped, which was probably way to much but we didn’t seem to drag at all. Eve and Becci were keen to crank some pasta salad and set up a make-shift table out of the main hatch cover. There was a mix of sunshine and light cloud cover, but a nice warm day overall.
Lunch consisted of Eve’s pasta salad followed by a cheese board of Port Cheddar, Blue Brie and budget crackers. Everybody then went overboard for a swim, where we found the bay to be much shallower than expected and also very muddy. A chart would be a good investment. Eve suggested that she take the camera for a swim but couldn’t prove to Sam that she could keep a hand out of the water for more than a few seconds, so no photos were taken. Sam cut his foot on some crap on the seabed and got back on board. He was then taunted until he jumped back in. Ben had made a rope ladder too for only $13.00 but it turned out to still be very difficult to get back on board. We also found another rope ladder with alloy rungs, which came with the boat. Unfortunately, it was better than Ben’s ladder. We will find a use for it soon though. Another cool thing on the day was that we brought Eve’s Mum’s Solar Radio, which we cranked Radio Hauraki from.
Ben and Sam rigged the spinnaker so that it would be ready for a quick hoist and lifted the anchor. The boat started to drift dangerously close to shore and when the outboard was cranked, the painter fowled the prop and stalled the engine. Ben hopped overboard quicksmart and untangled the painter as we headed for shore and jumped aboard just in time to run her aground. Ben, followed by Sam were then back in the water to give the old heave ho, while Becci cranked the outboard full ahead. Simple Image rode off with no trouble at all and Sam and Ben jumped back aboard. All this happened much to quick for the camera to join in.
We departed Islington bay around 5.00pm under sail and tacked our way out for almost an hour. The wind was against us sailing back into Auckland and we managed an average speed of one boat length in 5.2 seconds (2.56 Knots). Under motor and sail we cranked out one boat length in 3.5 seconds (3.81 Knots). Becci took the helm for much of a home stretch until it started to get a bit chilly. Ben manned it out while Sam actioned the high tech wet weather jacket.
We moored around 8.30 and with the boat all ship-shape, headed to shore for Pizzahut.
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