Even terug naar Tonga voor de laatste foto’s:

We gaan met de Rafiki’s en Tim met een boot een eindje naar het zuiden varen om te zwemmen met de Humpbackwhales. De vrouw(tjes) voeden in deze wateren hun jongen op vóór ze naar Antartica gaan.

Deze foto’s zijn door Adam gemaakt. We zwommen met een moeder en haar kalf. Ze werd begeleidt door twee escorts. Dat zijn mannetjes, die haar beschermen. Toen één van de twee mannen vertrok, nam hij op dramatische manier afscheid door zes keer omhoog te springen en zich op zijn rug te gooien. Het is een absoluut onvergetelijke ervaring!

Dit leuke beeld staat op de bar van Mango café.

We moeten een flink eind varen voor we in de stad zijn, aangezien we aan de andere kant van de baai liggen.

In het kleine haventje, waar we met Klontje aanleggen, ligt een bootje op de bodem. Soms parkeren ze er een andere boven.

We gaan in de Bounty Bar naar de Rugbywedstrijden kijken. Het gaat gepaard met traditionele Bloody Mary’s, die Laurence (eigenaar) voor ons heeft gemaakt met echte uitgeperste tomaten. De voorraadboot had namelijk geen tomatensap meegenomen.

Er groeit weer volop Croton in de tuinen.

De kerk komt uit en de mensen hebben hun ceremoniele kleding aan.

We volgen een Breakfast Seminar over de weer condities tussen hier en Nieuw Zeeland
Kunst aan de muur. Zouden ze werkelijk vroeger hun zeilen hebben gewoven?

Er bestaat veel belangstelling voor het seminar en nu na afloop zijn er nog maar een paar dinghies over.

We are safely tied up on the quarantine dock in Whangarei.
It was a journey with plenty challenges, but we enjoyed it from start to
finish.
With two it would have been too tough, with three it was a joy.
For Hanneke and myself it marks the end of a three and a half year period and the
journey of a lifetime.
Cheers!

Wind: SSW 4 Bf.
Bar. 1021

We’re running the engine from 10 o’clock this morning and expect to arrive in Whangarei just after midnight.

position @ 14.10.15 0.00 local time: 34:21.84′ S and 173:09.27′ E
Wind: NW 5
SOG: 6.0 knots
Barometer: 1022

Still 130 Nm to go.
Wind is expected to back west and later even south, i.e. on the nose.
Expect arrival Whangarei early morning on Thursday.

Hmmmm, mixed feelings here. We had such a lovely day Pim

Heading 130 T
SOG 4.6 knots
Barometer 1024 hPa
Wind W 4

Not quite the expected NW 25 knots (yet), but that’s just fine. We don’t want to rush with a chance that we still would arrive just after dark on Wednesday, but are taking things easy and planning for arrival early Thursday morning.

Everybody who knows me, knows about my rather tense relationship with
electricity. In combination with the maritime environment it actually
becomes (pause for the f-word) voodoo.
The wind veered south just before 3 am so Nelly Rose went on a heading for
Australia. That doesn’t figure in any of our immediate plans for the near
future, so – as it was changeover time for the watch anyway – Tim woke me up
and we decided to tack! For the first time at least since Panama, probably
since Colombia and maybe even further back Nelly Rose was sailing  on
starboard tack (for my Dutch friends and relatives: over bakboord).
The wind was dying however and at 4 am I was left with no choice but to use
our last volts and amps in the engine battery for what was supposedly the
last time we could start the engine. That in itself was enough to cause
ample anxiety, but on top of that it meant handsteering the boat. So,
dressed up in all my layers of Musto clothing that had already been
retrieved from the furthest corners of our storage capabilities over the
last few weeks, I sat down behind the large wheel and started handsteering
with my feet (that allows me to keep my hands stuck deep down in my pockets.
As one steers the boat there is not a great deal more to do than to focus on
the desired heading on the compass and to keep the needle there. If I allow
my mind to wander too much, so will the boat, so there is just enough going
on up there to keep me from falling asleep. That would really set the boat
wandering. The one thought that really persistently kept coming back was my
curiosity about the residual charge left in the engine battery. I was hoping
to see more than 12.5 V as I felt that would give me a reasonable shot at
one more start of our Yanmar diesel engine, that really never needs more
than a half turn on the crank to spring into life. It wouldn’t go away, so
finally I gave in to the urge to go down and have look. If I tighten the
screw on the wheel when NR is reasonably stable pointing in the right
direction it fixes it so, that I can just about dash down and do what I have
to do (no number two) and make it back up before she has decided to go on a
reverse course. So, I fixed the course, dashed down, looked at the voltage
meter and saw 13.2 V for the engine battery. It had been charged! Whether
the cure is permanent is highly questionable, but it has lasted long enough
to give me the certainty of that hither elusive extra start.
A check of the voltage on the house batteries showed that they too were
being charged, so I quickly engaged the autopilot. Freedom!
I immediately sat down to write to share my delight and also switched on the
refrigerator with the thought of a celebratory cold beer tonight. However
I’ve switched it off already, as the readings on the voltage meter seem to
indicate a recurring fault. I’m only getting 12.9 V there and on a float
charge that should still be just above 13 V, but heck, we can start our
engine once more and run the autopilot on this charge and later on the solar
panels for as long as that lasts. Probably no more handsteering today. Yeah.

Crashing and bangingIn case you’re wondering why this blog is suddenly in English, that is because of our third crew member Tim. He is American and therefore it is easier for his folks back home. We are delighted to have Tim with us. This is not an easy trip. Right at this moment we’re crashing and banging hard to windward in 30 knot winds and that is not counting the gusts. We knew this was in store for us, but it came a bit earlier than expected. No problem, as long as it doesn’t last longer than forecast.

So, this morning at six the three of us were on deck to once again put in the third reef. I mentioned in my previous blog that we have Volvo Ocean Racing sailor Gerd Jan Poortman to thank for the fact that we have a third reef. Gerd Jan would probably love these conditions, jumping from wave top to wave top. People like him are real sailors. We are just travellers. It is on days like today, that we respect the difference. It is thanks to the third reef that we can now maintain our course. The last time Hanneke and I had similar wind and sailing conditions, was in the Gulf of Biscay, when we had the reef in the sail, but no line in it to use it. This time we came better prepared.

Anyway, this is all part of the final leg to New Zealand. We knew we had it coming and if all is well it will last only until tonight. After that the winds are mainly light and we will be running with the wind. A more gentlemanly course. Thanks to the time gained by staying on course today we just might make it to Whangarei before the next front, otherwise the sting will be in the tail. 

Just a short word to let you all know that we’re in fine fettle. Nelly Roseis however really in need for a real maintenance stop, the last one being

well over a year (in Trinidad in August 2014) and a good 8.500 miles ago. I

can’t wait to get everything, really everything, stuff, pillows, floorboards

and all, off the boat so that we’ll have access to all the places with

wiring and tubing and what have you. Also the sails need to go to a North

loft to get a proper service.

Yesterday Tim, our third crew member on this tough passage, discovered a

nasty tear in the main sail, just above the second reef. As we knew the wind

was getting stronger and darkness approaching, we decided not to attempt a

repair just yet, but to put in the third reef for the first time on our trip

and leave the repair for one of the next days when the wind is expected to

drop and with it the swell. That turned out to be a good decision or a lucky

call, whichever way you may want to look at it. We knew we were in for more

wind, but is was really a quite a bit more with a regular 25 knots and gusts

up to 30 knots. Going pretty much to windward, that is a lot of wind, giving

you – at speeds over 8 knots – 35 knots over the deck. I don’t know if our

repairs could have stood up to such a drubbing, but I do know it would have

made for a hell of an uncomfortable sail. Now everything was just fine and

we could all sleep reasonably well. The luxury of a third crew member makes

a great difference in that department as well. Anyway, that third reef, that

we had sown in by North at a suggestion of rather experienced round the

world sailor and ex-Cadet Gerd Jan Poortman, came in handy just when we

needed it. Sailing courses off the wind, you can get away most of the time

with the second reef, but battling to windward is a different story. It

really is avoided by most cruisers as much as possible.

Our electrical situation is reasonably satisfactory, although we’re under

full cloud cover today. Not, or hardly, using any power is of course a great

help. We did run the refrigerator for most of yesterday and through the

night, but decided to switch it off again this morning. It should have done

enough to cool our beers though. Hanneke is allowing us a beer every day, to

make sure we drink enough liquids, as we are rationing the water (at two

litres per person per day; a rather healthy ration that does however include

personal hygiene). Now don’t let anybody get it into their heads to start

warning about the dehydrating effects of alcohol and carbonated drinks. The

trouble list on board got just one item longer. The toilet is blocked. I

know who did it, but will attempt to repair it nonetheless. Love is a

strange thing. I deserve that extra beer. 

All is well.
House batteries are fully charged, but we rexain cautious using electricity as we xay yet experience cloudy days.
No change on engine starting front. Probably one go only. We’ll use that if need be to get around next waypoint.

Nelly Rose is sheer joy to sail, but sleeping in the v-berth (Pim) is a bit of a dance and will continue to be so for the next 4 days.
The warmest regards don’t suffer under the ambient temperature. Thermal underwear is back in service after many years of storage.
Pim

It’s happening again. Nowhere near as dramatic as the problems with the rigging on the way to the Marquesas, but our this time our comfort is seriously impaired as the black box that regulates the charging of our batteries has died. We now only have power from our solar panels and because of our increasing latitude and possible cloud cover that means that we have had to shut down all electricity consumption except for our AIS. Are we ever grateful for the Hydrovane. Don’t leave home without one.With a bit of luck we will have enough juice to log in on our Mailasail twice a day. First to send our position report and second to receive XetBob’s instructions about our course. We would love to receive mails, will only respond through updates of our blog daily as our computer set up uses way too much power.

The most annoying aspect of all this is, that we will probably only be able to start up our engine once more unless we manage to charge the engine battery from solar. We will only attempt that once we have a better understanding of the situation.

We have plenty food and enough water and Nelly Rose is sailing like a dream. All will be well that ends well.