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.