A hideous night sail

 Tuesday evening the weather turned against us.



We are heading straight towards that dirty piece of orange ...





The sky filled with ominous black clouds, rain and wind squalls back to back.  We experienced multiple booming thunderstorms and lightning strikes that lit up the whole night sky. It was a rough night with squally gusts of wind reaching speeds of over 50 knots at times.  The bimini took a real hiding in the severe winds and the odd rogue wave came over the port stern quarter and spilled into the cockpit giving it a good flush out.  We have almost zero visibility.  The radar is switched off as it continually beeps due to the severity of the rain.  We are keeping a constant lookout.

The report we read today on Stuff is there were over 2000 lightning strikes in the Taranaki area overnight.  We were in the middle of this!

Everywhere on deck is soaking wet, the seas have taken on a dark, oily look which is never a good sign and we have big rolling following seas.  Now and again, during a squall, all you can see is the white foam off the waves being whipped about by the winds.

The crew have had a restless and uncomfortable time in their bunks.  The two forward cabins are directly under the mast and rigging and the noise of the boat and gear straining under load is quite disturbing.  The most comfortable place on board currently is actually sitting/sleeping on the cabin sole.

About 4.30am we noticed the dinghy on deck had shifted and tipped up a little on its side.  Even though the dinghy is well tied on with 2 wire strops plus a strap, with the constant jerking/pounding motion it has come off its placement points and is now to one side of the deck.  Waiting till daylight and calmer seas to set it right.

We are all doing well, no sea sickness, couple of bruises.  This is real North Atlantic sailing! Currently just passing the Maui oil rigs and we will soon be setting a course straight towards Queen Charlotte Sounds.  We are sailing in between two fronts so we are going all out to be in a safe anchorage before the southerly comes through later tomorrow.




It's a rough ride today!









Wearing all the safety gear!










Maui off the Taranaki coast









Exploration ships










A perfect storm!






Comments

  1. Unknown31 March 2021 at 18:04

    So glad to hear you are now in sight of land and safety. I hope you are now over the worse

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown1 April 2021 at 09:28

    Wow wow wow. Tense reading so must have been very tense experiencing! Well done guys. You are doing an amazing job.
    Looking forward to hearing the next installment x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lisa1 April 2021 at 10:28

    Sooooo good you’ve made it to the Sounds 🥰. Incredible how the sea can be so wild in such a quick time!!! Enjoy your anchorage and rest be fore you head down the east coast ♥️

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mark D2 April 2021 at 15:29

    Sounds like you had the same conditions we experienced off Taranaki.... wish we had your iron constitutions tho’...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Akaroa to Port Chalmers

Image
 7.35am anchors away, blue skies and sunshine but as we motored out to the entrance of Akaroa Harbour we could see a band of dreaded sea fog approaching.  An overnight sail of 158 nm to Port Chalmers. The fog drifted in and out all day, one moment brilliant blue sunshine, the next grey, damp air surrounded us. Very light northerly breeze, genoa up and motoring. Calm seas, easy conditions for us. Plenty of albatross about. So ungainly trying to take off. The boys had no joy fishing but we did have pods of dolphin swimming with us for a while. Big chunks of kelp floating in the sea - need to watch we don't catch it in the propeller. Spot the dolphin!  5.30pm bloody miserable conditions! Fog like pea soup. Grey. Damp. Cold. Zero visibility.  It's going to be a long night. Expected dawn arrival in Port Chalmers.
Read more

Never a dull moment onboard Mimu

Image
  Oh my goodness ... hot flush ... what a rock star ... check out those abs! Ready for the tropics. The crew thought Skipper was adjusting the halyard but Commodore had other ideas! Los tres amigoes! Alan, our legendary, skilled helmsman hit the fastest speed this trip - 8.9 knots. 4pm coming into Whangaroa Harbour. New Zealand's best kept secret! Stunning, superb, amazing, fantabulous, exhilarating, other-worldly - this is a place to put on your bucket list. Waitupipi Bay, our anchorage for the night.  The scenery looks like something  straight out of Jurassic Park.   Sometimes you just have to borrow a pic from the internet to really showcase something special.  This is how Whangaroa Harbour actually looks.  The landscape is just incredible.  It's from another world. Don is in the galley cooking up a storm.  Crew lazing on deck after bubbles and nibbles.  An end to a perfect day!  But wait, there's more  ...  there's a TV on board (James Bond style - it magically rise
Read more

Overnighter to Stewart Island

Image
  Breakfast in the calm waters of Port Chalmers before we hit the big swells! 24 hours to go. Morning smoothies in a big swell! 2 hour watches through the night, 2 crew on at one time, PFD's and tethers so we don't lose anyone. 4 hours sleep. Looking for lights on the horizon in the pitch black of darkness. Stunning night sky tonight. A tricky landfall in the predawn light.  Motored into Oban but too exposed so headed off around the island to Golden Bay, anchor down at 8.20am. Breakfast then we all hit the sack for some much needed shut eye. An ominous sunrise coming into Oban. New crew Georgie and Guy joining us for a week of cruising and exploring Stewart Island. 7 of us onboard.
Read more