Anniversary Day

In keeping with maritime tradition we set sail to celebrate Auckland Anniversary Day 2008 on Monday 28th January. Newcomer Micah joined us on board though unfortunately Emma was too hungover to make a further addition to our growing crew list. We met from 8.30 to 9.00 at Ice It for a 15% surcharge coffee then Frenchie and Ben brought the boat to shore with the rising tide while Sam and Micah sorted out fuel and ice. Becci and Eve did something but it probably wasn't very productive as they lack menergy.

We managed to survive the tug boats race past us as we headed out towards Motuihe past a packed North Head. The outboard was cut once we were clear of the traffic and our faithful spinnaker followed soon afterwards. We hauled ass downwind for a good hour before dropping the kite for some reason.

We passed Islington Bay on our way to Motuihe despite Ben claiming its equidistance (skippers note: if we´d gone inside of Brownś island we may have been closer to equidistant, however given our collision last time we decided to avoid Musick point and head for where the wind was) from Devonport and Becci and Micah could hold on for a swim at our destination so they hoped overboard for a tinkle. Forgetting our fabulous new ladder, both eventually hoisted themselves into William Shatner's Pants for a bit of a tug but eventually joined the rest of the crew back onboard via the ladder.

Motuihe turned out to be a poor destination for the day (skippers note: we actually didn´t go into the intended bay, but stayed on the outskirts, why I do not remember, but we´ll blame the ladies lack of preposterone - next time we´ll get it right!). The bay was unsheltered and the weather decided to pack it in while we were there. I think everybody managed a swim but I could be mistaken. Yummy manwiches, pasta salad and roasted chicken were consumed for lunch before heading back home to Devonport in a worsening sea.

The swells and wind really picked up but Ben donned his expensive jacket so we was right. We dropped the main, and Sam, tired its dirty yellowness, threw the sail cover into the ocean never to be seen again. The main was removed to protect it from New Zealand's extreme UV spectrum and the outboard was cranked hard all the way home. Around 6.00pm we hit shore, unloaded and moored. Unfortunately the weather had dampened the spirit somewhat and we were certainly not too energetic for normal sports by that point but good times were had, indeed they were.

Ladder installation

Saturday 26th January, Frenchie and Sam met up at midday and bought a four step 2+2 stainless steel ladder for installation on the transom. It took two hours of painstaking hard work to screw four large stainless steel bolts through the fiberglass in unimaginably uncomfortable positions. Our original plans did not work out exactly as we had imagined by out ingenuity allowed us to result in a professional finish, ready for Anniversary Day swimming.

New Years trip to Waiheke

Monday 31st December 2007 Frenchie, Sam and Ben set out for the boat at 9.00am. Ben and Sam rowed out and ran her aground for loading of New Year essentials while Frenchie moved his car. We motored out of the bay, raised the main and unfurled the genoa soon afterwards. The wind picked up as we passed North Head and we cut the engine. We were soon overtaken by a Russian Navy ship, which Ben and Frenchie took pictures of for about half an hour yielding the two photos below. Heading towards the gap between Browns Island and Musick Point, Ben wired a switch up to the new navigation lights and had Frenchie on the bow checking them. All of a sudden Frenchie shouted "Rock!" and we stopped suddenly as we slammed into West Bastion Reef about half a metre below the surface. We quickly dropped the sails and reversed off the rocks with the outboard. We then headed around Browns Island, no damage done.

The wind dropped off a bit and we motored for a while and Frenchie produced some manwhiches. Sam jumped into the dinghy to give it a good bailing, which aided our speed before we cut the motor for a swim. Frenchie delighted us with the usual swimming drama by making a big kufufle out of getting back onboard.

Around 3.00pm we cranked the outboard and headed straight for Otakawhe Bay where we arrived at 4.50pm. We ran aground, unloaded and moored ready for New Years celebrations.

New Years afternoon we beached the boat, scraped the old name off and removed all signs of the previous and new name. Ben then asked forgiveness from Poseidon and Frenchie did his business on the bow. The Tui in the Hand vinyl decal was then applied and our newly named ship was remoored.

Wednesday 2nd January 2008 we departed Otakawhe Bay around 10.15am into a calm sea. We all cranked our first Tui's in our hands since the renaming and set forth towards Devonport. An uneventful bus massively enjoyable time was had cruising home. We managed to avoid all hidden reefs by following other boats between Browns Island and Halfmoon Bay and made such good time that we decided to detour past the harbour bridge before arriving at the mooring at 5ish. Success!