First a summary of the past year, distances travelled and some statistic facts:
Total sailing route 8800nm, 7500nm done in 62 days sailing.
It gives 122nm on average per day, resulting in an average speed of just over 5 knots.
Best day; 185nm witch gives good 7knop average (with half a knot counter current excluded). Worst days-4nm, we drifted backwards ...
During the year we used the engine more than 500 hours and used 1000lit of diesel - gives 2,0 l / h- Excellent!
The rest of the year, 240 sailing days, were divided into 40 overnight ports, and it gives 6 nights per port.
We have spent 18kg gas, spread over the time give it a weekly consumption of just 0.5 kg per week. Today we have 2x6kg and it keeps us running for almost 6 months.

November through mid-January could be described as a period full of activity, both with boat work and meeting friends. Five weeks of intensive work with the boat balanced by five weeks of visiting friends. The technical content of craftwork will be presented later in a separate "technical log.
The next period, February to March, sailing around North Island on our own, which we completed in Whangarei to fly out of NZ for a trip halfway around the globe.
In connection with our three-month residence permit expire in early February; we had to apply for an extension. If we are looking only for another three months, it appeared that we need not bother with the chest X-ray and associated costs. We already had been thinking of leavening NZ, flying out for a few months, so we let the simpler extension determine when we would leave NZ. It turned out to be April 4. We added a stay of three weeks in San Francisco and then on to Sweden, returning NZ at the end of July.
Suddenly we had a schedule!

November / December: Mostly in Opua.
Almost every night when we were on the hard and painted the bottom, we were invited to other boats for dinner, a very pleasant and practical arrangement. Some probably due to Annikas computer assistance, but mostly because our friends probably thought we should not need to cook in a disorganised boat on the hard. We could, in other words, work late, have a shower and then sit at an already spread table. What a service! Thanks to all of you.
We where back in the water after a week on the hard. It is a blessing when all boat systems are possible to use in a normal way again. A few days later we had the mast back in place.
Just in time for the mast, Ingela and Björn from Gothenburg came to visit on their 50-anniversary trip around the Earth. They sail a Forgus 37 "The Dream" and it was probably interesting for them to see how a Forgus 37 looks after the adventure Lindisfarne been carrying out since the departure from Gothenburg. We got the impression that they thought the boat looked like "normal". That tells something about the boat's quality and maybe our maintenance ...
Ingela and Björn visited us a few days earlier when we were in the marina and we did then a trip by car to Russell, the city that in ancient times was the meeting place for whalers, pirates and gold miners. Lawlessness in Russell is said to have been the main reason why local people, mainly Maori asked the British for help to restore some kind of order, which some time later contributed to the Treaty between all Maori chieftains and the English, the so-called Waitangi Treaty, which is one of the cornerstones of the State of New Zealand creation. The Treaty was signed in Waitangi, just north of Opua, across the water from Russell, so we are really on historic ground here in the Bay of Island.
With the mast in place, we had again a pleasant dinner in the cockpit with Ingela and Björn, who brought delicious meat and wine from Paihia, our nearest urban area. It is touching, how nice it is to have friends who give priority to meet us here on the other side of the globe.
After this, we had a few hectic days before Åsa and Jan-Erik, our first sailing guests would come.
We managed to short the life line and manufacturing two stainless steel pipes (in the place for the shorted life line) for the new solar panels, before it was time to walk up to the main road and meet the bus from Auckland.
But first we launched the new dingy with aluminium bottom. Our old Quicksilver dingy lay on the pontoon and looked sad with its many orange patches, a memory after a very close-up leopard seal in Antarctica. It was sad to carry it to the container after 10 intense years in which it served us excellent and passed three "escapes". Two times in high sea west of Portugal, -02 and -05, and a wild rush in 50 knot of wind north of Ålesund (Norway), where we almost did not catch up before it came into shallow water and rocks. The new dinghy is a little longer and a little heavier, a little "mini-rib", so it may spend more time on deck than the old one.
Åsa and Jan-Erik came by bus from Auckland December 9, where they left the rental car which had taken them around the South and North Island for more than a month.
Now it was sailing in the Bay of Island on the agenda. Our guests first went shopping to Paihia with our car buddies, and after lunch we left for the surrounding archipelago.
Because of our dark and wet arrival in NZ, more than a month earlier, and our intensive weeks working with the boat, we had not seen a glimpse of the archipelago, so it was as much pleasant news for us as to our guests. We were warned about the amount of boats during the high season, and were very surprised, often being alone in nice anchorages. High season begins apparently not until after Christmas!
It’s really difficult having Christmas in the middle of the summer heat. Did you know that it is tradition to eat cherries for Christmas? They are early fruit at that time, and of course there is a tremendous price. It is the same everywhere, supply and demand govern.
After a few days of fine sailing, nice anchoring and tough walking on the hilly islands we met Lorna with Vivi and Bo from Malmö (Sweden) who have had their boat, an Amal, here in NZ for several years. They suggested that Åsa and Jan-Erik would move over to Lorna when Agneta and Anders (our next guests) came. Said and done, three days later, December 18, they moved and we got a few hours to clear the boat before it was time to once again go up to the bus.
Agneta and Anders came more or less directly from the Galapagos, where they had made an 11-day cruise with disembarkation on virtually all the islands, and had some day’s conversion that made the first evening short. The following day we borrowed friends' car and all four went to Paihia shopping for four-five days of sailing. Back in Lindisfarne, we only had to stow before sailing out in the archipelago. Lorna was at anchor at Honeymoon bay (Motuarohia) about 10 miles out into the Bay of Island and looked for us at the AIS. A bit tricky it is when someone calls on VHF and tells us that we have a slow speed ... But it is a fantastic system.
Just in time for the sun downer we arrived, and all eight were gathered in the large cockpit of Lorna for some glasses of wine.
Åsa and Jan-Erik had found themselves well in Lorna with their own cabin with its own bathroom, etc. ... 55 feet is slightly larger than 37 ...

Top Hiking, with captivating view over large parts of the Bay of Island, the next day in anticipation of the wind rotation for sailing north to Whangaroa Harbour. Harbour means either a port or a large natural protected "port”, that in reality is a protected archipelago. In Swedish, it will be a little weird because we have "Harbours" almost everywhere along our coasts.
Whangaroa Harbour is a fantastic protected archipelago with barely 100m wide inlet from the sea and with lots of anchorages. It’s actually possible to anchor anywhere because the depth rarely exceeds 15 m. It is just the wind you need to take into account for a comfortable anchoring.
One area that should naturally attracts boats during the season, but it is a bit north of the Bay of Island and further north there is really only one good sheltered anchorage, so it is probably normal for Auckland residents to be satisfied with the Bay of Island and leave this place uncrowded.
We arrived in Whangaroa at noon 22 of December after a nice close haul from Bay of Island and an anchorage overnight in Whangahie, a protected idyllic cove a few miles south of Whangaroa. We did a nice hike up the grass hills in Whangahie, a bit like Brösarps hills in Skåne (Sweden), with captivating views over the countryside with all the Christmas trees, covered with red flowers before we raised the anchor. But it was set in a sunken large tree. It was possible to raise the anchor a few meters from the bottom, because the tree followed by a bit, partly standing on the bottom. The windlass could not lift the tree to the surface. By freefalling the anchor to the bottom a few times we managed to get the anchor to change the location in the tree and then coax it off. A bit strange, you are usually able to get the things that stuck to the surface, fix the foul and then lower the anchor free. The depth where not more than 8m - 25 feet, so we had of course been able to dive, but it is not something you want, especially with an anchor stuck in partly lifted branches where you can get hurt.
After motoring behind rocks and islands along a long beach with summer houses, the coast changed character and became steep and rocky.
The gap into the Whangaroa is not easy to find without GPS or local knowledge. The pilot describes this right verbose. But in calm weather, it is of course easy. The actual opening is visible only in a short distance, and then only in the right bearing.
In strong onshore condition the pilot warns for berthing and describes several accidents as a result of attempts under such conditions. The only thing we needed to consider was the tide. The inland water has a considerable surface making the tidal current very strong. Now we had two knots with us in nip, so it was quite undramatic.
We began our stay here with anchoring outside the village, went for a walk, check out the store, which was said to contain the necessary elements ("the essentials" consisted mainly of souvenirs), and finally, we visited the local pub before we moved to a nice anchorage at Milford Island where we stayed the whole next day in rain. On Christmas Eve, we moved to the village again to throw garbage and top up water. Because the sea is a little "muddy" we did not run the water maker if it was not absolutely necessary (unnecessary pre-filter consumption). Before we got to any water in the marina another boat owner told us about the "waterbouy". Our English is not bad, but now it was still. What was the man telling us? Was a guy who was particularly dedicated for water better than the tubing on the pontoon? Finally, we understood that it was a buoy (not a boy) with a hose from a spring in the mountains and it was anchored in the vicinity of our previous anchoring. We went over to the buoy and discovered that the well’s name was "Viagra Falls" some hopes were put upon that, Christmas Eve and all...
Perfect water direct from the source of hundreds of meters from the beach. It was just to moor at the buoy, take the hose and open the tap. Coarse hose and great pressure made the filling very quick. With the hose back in place, we made a short motor trip to the next beautiful bay, surrounded with high mountains and a little waterfall. A dingy excursion to pick oysters fixed the appetizer before dinner. We are not used to eat oysters, so we steam cooked them first. Very Good, but we were a little worried, both Viagra and oysters...
Christmas Eve was probably a bit unusual for Anders and Agneta who are used to have children and now grandchildren around them. Here we had no real "celebration" at all, only a normal weekend anchorage in a beautiful bay with high mountains around.
On Christmas Day we left Whangaroa and sailed south. East of the Bay of Island, we decided to continue south and explore the coast down to Auckland. After a good look at the "Hole in the Rock" at Cape Brett Bay of Islands' southern corner, we continued a few miles to Whangamumu. A nice bay where long ago there was a Whaling station.
Once again a walk on the nice nature trails before dinner. The following day we sailed along the coast to Tutukaka. A double cove with a marina in one cove and a good anchorage in the other. We anchored and took the dingy ashore. NZ is a mountainous country and the road between the two bays did not follow the beach, on the contrary, went on a huge detour up the mountain and after that we definitely deserved a great beer when we came to the marina village. Several hotels, shops and restaurants were in the area in addition to the purely boat related companies. Unfortunately, the walk back to the boat was as long and hilly!
One is very exposed to wind and sea when sailing along the coast. To the east the nearest land is South America. So there is nothing called protection from the swell to think about when the easterlies blows. We felt a little disturbed when we woke up to a southeast, as we were heading south towards Whangarei for the next stage. After breakfast the wind decreased. It obviously was some kind of fast-front passage. The swell disappeared and a weak west wind began to blow. It was a little rainy journey and partly we needed support from the engine. We anchor in the bay outside the long entrance to Whangarei waiting for the tide. At two o’clock the tide turned and we could under a clear sun and north-easterly wind sail almost all the 15 nm to the marina. It’s quite shallow in parts of the final miles and really deep sailboats should not enter other than around high tide.
We got the only vacant slip in "Town Basin", the innermost marina, just in front of Revas restaurant. The plan was to do the town and then continue sailing to Auckland. But the weather decided differently. The following day was wet and the wind had turned to the South, headwind if you are on the way to Auckland. After some discussions we decided to explore North Island by car and leave Lindisfarne in Whangarei for a few days. We walked to the tourist information, which in all NZ extremely well organized with lots of free brochures. We booked some B&B and a car for three days. A test drive in the afternoon took us to Whangarei events, waterfall and Kaoripark, before we the following morning, 30th January, started for Rotoroa (500 km to the south), Centre for geothermal activity. We got a first look at the bubbling mud in the city park before it was time to check in at the motel. In Rotoroa and its surroundings all overnight facilities seems include a whirlpool with geothermal water, so before dinner we had a whirlpool with bubbling water. One has to practice bubbling before the New Year!
Up early to get to the real thermal park in time for the Geyser. Ten o'clock the Geyser was to "exhibit". We were a little confused about how they could set the time that precisely and only once a day. Probably they started by means of "artificial means", and indeed, just before ten they inserted some soap, a well-known way to bring a sleeping geyser alive.
After a few minutes of squirt, a dozen feet in the air, the whole show was over, but ok - we got some nice pictures.
The Geothermal Park is well worth a visit even if you don’t have a special interest in geology.
Before lunch we left for Tauranga and then further on to Coromandel where we should stay in Coromandel Town, a small historic village and have our New Year dinner. There were many miles to be driven and the roads become as we approach Coromandel peninsula narrow and full of curves. In the end we had to take a shortcut from the east coast of the peninsula over the mountains to the west coast and the Coromandel Town, not to miss the timing for New Years Dinner! The shortcut was just one mil long, but was a narrow, curved, steep dirt road. We arrived in time and after a quick shower it was time for the restaurant. We had an excellent dinner with some green Coromandel mussels as an appetizer, a main course of duck, both accompanied by two good NZ wines.
Back at the motel, we only had to wait for twelve o'clock, a toast and suddenly remember that we only had one day remaining, together with Agneta and Anders.

January:
Now, we had got us used to the narrow and curvy Coromandel roads so the timetable for the onward journey to Auckland was more relaxed than yesterday afternoon... We had time for a stop and admire all waders at Miranda, a famous bird room in the bottom of the shallow bay, Frith of Thames, which restricts the Coromandel to the west.
Arriving in Auckland, we were able to quickly locate the backpacker hotel and after having stowed the backpacks we walked down to the port, the marinas and the old America Cup harbour. After a baguette lunch we began to look for a café. We found our Canadian friends in their power boat New Page, which was berthed in the Viaduct Marian.
A better cafe is hard to find!
A very nice reunion and an excellent coffee!
Back at the hotel, joined by Åsa and Jan-Erik who just completed their stay Opua and established themselves for a few days in Auckland, before it was time for the next stage (Bangkok) on their long journey. We put the four together; Agneta and Anders would also fly to Bangkok after a bit of touring in Auckland. A sad moment of goodbye and then we drove back to Whangarei.
On the way back to Lindisfarne we stopped in Gulf Harbour marina north of Auckland and had dinner in Cat Coquette with our Danish friends Lone and Steffen. That’s why we did not come back to our boat until ten o’clock, quite exhausted after more than 1400km in three days, but clearly richer in experiences and nice contacts with friends.
Now we suddenly were alone in the boat after nearly three weeks of intensive interaction with friends. It is nice to win back the boat, but sad when you realize that our friends had left for the other side of the globe. After one week we were ready to sail to Auckland, picking up the last set of guests, our Växjö friends. We spend that week finishing the installation of our new solar panels and made some other useful things, i.e. got Björns PSAtest taken, (supposed to be taken every 6-month to check that the operation in November -07 has worked OK).
And it had - zero value again - and everyone is happy.
Thursday the 8th we left the pontoon. In order to time the tide it was a late. We left and were at the mouth of Taurikura bay just as the sun sat around 9. The next day we had a nice sailing in shifting summer winds down to Kawau Island where we anchored and stayed three days in order not to be too early to Auckland.
The first evening we had a sun downer together with Renate and Dieter in Lindisfarne. We had met them and their Simi, a Vindö 50, earlier that day. We knew them since our time in Opua where we were at the same pontoon, and of course we were visiting them in Simi the next evening. The third night we were invited to Elisabeth and Warren in a NZ boat that had some Scandinavian contacts. Friends in Dröbakk, Norway, in connection with Elisabeth having had some lecture there. With only two on board, there accurse much more spontaneous contacts with the surrounding boats, and then preferably boats where there also are two in the crew. It seems that many crew on board means that you have an invisible barrier against the environment.
Monday the 12th we sailed on to Auckland, but landed in the Gulf Harbour marina and had lunch with Lone and Steffen, before we in the late afternoon left for Rangitoto, a volcano island just east of Auckland, where we anchored for the night just before darkness. Next morning we tacked into Auckland harbour and moored in West Haven Marina at two o’clock. In the marina was Sandy, Andy and Emma with their HR49 Imagine, making the boat ready for the market and their final return home to the U.S. The afternoon was spent with much talk about our mutual memories and their new future back in the U.S. They had intended to stay in NZ, but after a few months in NZ decided that San Francisco was after all a better place. We finalized the afternoon with a trip with their nice BMW to New World, one of the major food stores in NZ.
The following day we had Kjell in Lindisfarne, our main deliverer of Seldén, Rutgerson and Andersén stuff to the boat, among other things (coffee and chats), regulate our previous deliveries to Opua. Kjell is also the Swedish Ocean Sailing Club's representative in Auckland and came sailing to NZ ten years ago from Sweden.
In the evening Rita and Bo came from Sweden via Singapore and Sidney. They are boat related friends, and we have met them some years ago because they have a Forgus 37, Borita, stationed in Blekinge in the south of Sweden. We made a new trip to New World to stock up for a week of sailing in Auckland Archipelago. We left the slip after lunch. Back on Rangitoto, the closest anchorage to Auckland, with a bay that easily holds over 30 boats and is easy to get to, even in darkness. A nice walk on the volcanic island, which has come together with neighbouring island at the outbreak of the volcano 800 years ago and formed this large protected anchorage.
Friday came with a great wind for the Great Barrier in the northeast. 20 knots of tailwind and a clear sky made the day a perfect sailing experience. More than 40 miles later we reached Port Fitzroy and its little inland sea with two inlets, which completely closes out swell and contains several nice anchorages good for different wind direction. After some hesitation, we decided for the most south-westerly bay, Wairahi, which we thought to be best protected for the predicted increasing Southeast.
We had a quiet night and following morning we made a short trip out to the islands on the west side to visit a Gannet colony. We found a sheltered cove on the east side of a small island east of the colony, where we anchored and took the dinghy to the colony. A though hike across the island because we could not dinghy around to the windward side with four people in the dingy. Björn took the dingy around so guests could get back in the following swell without walking the steep hills.
There where two large colonies and it were fascinating to see the Gannets hanging in the wind before they decided to land and look after their chicks. Back in the boat we decided this was a safe anchorage for the night. Two ropes ashore in wind direction and the anchor to the east. The island, Rangiahua, behind us was low enough not generate any katabatic winds but high enough to give protection. During the day, we had a few boats around us, but it was only day anchoring. The afternoon drew them into the calm protected bays in Port Fitzroy and we had our bay to ourselves. In the afternoon the next day we went back into Port Fitzroy to get a new anchorage, but the main reason for moving was the forecast speaking of increasing wind.
Kiwiriki bay became our next protected anchorage with good holding and the possibility of walking ashore. Walking sounds simple, but for two reasons it is rarely possible. First and foremost the vegetation is so dense that it seldom is possible to reach the beach if there are any paths or roads. When it looks ok, it is mostly private land. We have not kept statistics, but it is probably only at every third anchorage that we have been able to walk.
Almost as bad as in Patagonia, but there it was only terrain and vegetation which put an end to the excursions, not private land.
Our ambition was to sail back to the mainland in time for Bo and Ritas continuing of their journey, but the wind was persistent westerly and quite fresh, so we had time to try several coves in Port Fitzroy. The actual village of Fitzroy had a visit where the little shop provided us with some frozen pieces of meat. Rita and Bo had schedule a meeting with friends in Auckland on Thursday 22, so when still on Monday we saw no wind change before Thursday we had to investigate alternative solutions.
There are both ferries and flights between Auckland and Great Barrier, but it turned out that the ferry was full... Perhaps it was more sailors in the same situation, there where actually a hundred boats scattered in the bays around the Barrier, which also didn’t want to get home by sail due to the strong wind. The solution was a flight out on Wednesday morning. The 21st in the morning we left Rita and Bo, with their baggage, on the dock in Fitzroy, where they had booked a taxi to the airport.
We sailed to Whangarei in a nice south-east wind which took us almost all the way to Urquhart bay outside Whangarei.
It is funny with these names we know from Scotland. We anchored in Urquhart bay in Loch Ness in 2000!
It was quite late so we had no opportunity to continue up to Whangarei as the tide just turned to counter current as we anchored in Urquhart bay. We had a nice evening with sunset over the country side and a pleasant walk in the natural area the next morning while waiting for the tide to be in the right direction. Around twelve o'clock we pulled the anchor and sailed up the river to Whangarei, which by now felt almost like home. Again we got a good place at the pontoon and went the next day with a bus to Opua to retrieve all the stuff we left there to make room for our guests in the bow cabin.
Pelle, who has Doyle sail loft in Whangerei was racing in Opua and needed to get his car back to Whangarei, which suited us perfectly. So we filled the car with all boat stuff from the garage where it had been since before we hauled out and did the antifouling. Back in Whangerei, where we left the car at Pele’s and Sharron’s house with all the stuff minus our bikes which we used to ride down to Lindisfarne in the marina.
Sharron, Pelle’s wife, is responsible for marina office. Very nice and useful friends...
The weekend was mostly internet and work with our website. The week continued with more boat work, i.e., we installed our Balmar 612, the new regulator to the alternator. We managed to squeeze in time for biking and other activities for exercise. Finally, after some measuring and price discussions with the companies involved, fibreglass, stainless steel and finally the canvas guy, we decided to order the manufacturing of a hard dodger and a new bimini. The dodger will be produced when we are in Sweden.

February:
Suddenly a week was gone and we where planning to sail around the North Island before leaving for US and Sweden in April. It was really high time to cast off. On Tuesday the 3rd we sailed to Urquhart’s bay again where we anchored for the night. The wind was almost non-existent on Wednesday so we remained, took a long walk and wrote a lot. The gribfile for Thursday promised wind from southwest and we got a nice sail up to the Bay of Island where we anchored in the bay Otaio just as darkness fell.
We had difficulties to decide whether the east or west coast was to be preferred for the trip south to south island. As usual, the wind forecast helped us with the decision.
Friday offered a nice southwest and we continued up to Whangaroa harbour where we anchored in Owhatanga bay with a lot of katabatic winds. Saturday we spend on anchor with no trace of. But, on Sunday morning, there was suddenly a good weather window for a trip around the northern tip down to Nelson on the north coast of South Island. No time to lose, anchor away and a quick take of.
The prospects for the North Cape were ok, apart from the timing of the tide. We just did not have time to wait until the next high tide and sailed on despite counter current around the cape. So far we have almost always managed to have a favourable tide in important places, but now it was Counter current in capital letters. We had 3-4 knots and almost no wind the worst part.
Once on the West Coast the power released and we got the "normal" ocean currents around half a knot with or against depending on the tide. The trip took almost four days and we arrived in Nelson early on Thursday morning, after 530nm in a light breeze and overcastted skies.
In Nelson Marina we found Mary and Scott in their powerboat Egret, where we had dinner on Thursday evening. They had gone around the North Cape some hours earlier than us, and had perfect conditions right down to Nelson. Timing is essential and thanks to those hours they had following current and gained lots of miles.
Sightseeing in Nelson, which is a very nice town with lots of small cafes, good bread and generally a more comprehensive range of non-English-inspired.
For Friday evening, both we and “the Egret’s” where invited to New Page, who also had arrived in Nelson. A nice long evening with lot to talk about what have happened since we last met. Kimberly, Joan and Rodgers daughter, had just started school in Nelson and had of course a lot of local conditions to tell us about. Schooling in a small town was the main reason they left Auckland for Nelson, plus the fact that winter climate in Nelson is the driest (statistics!) in New Zealand.
Our neighbouring boat on the pontoons was a copy of a Dutch canal sailboat, and the owner had built it from a model, which his Holland born wife had bought in Holland. Eleven years of work and just launched! A very nice couple who, when they saw our empty gas bottle on the quarterdeck, asked if they could take it and fill it, just like that ... Although they had a car, it is still a pleasant surprise when nearly strangers are so spontaneously friendly. Two hours later, we had just over 6 kilograms of new propane. Gas is cheap, and so is diesel. We paid three NZ $ per kg of propane and around one NZ $ per litre of diesel. Buying diesel to boat in transit you don’t pay the 12% GST (VAT), so it comes out well below half of what we pay in Europe.
Annika helped our friendly neighbours with some computer problems (unusual huh ...) and in the evening we where treated with a delicious meal thanks to that. Three days in Nelson and we had not used our own galley yet! On Sunday, we visited a wine and food festival together with Mary and Scott, so even that day there where nothing cooked for dinner in the galley.
Monday the 16th where forecasted for good sailing, so it was stocking up and then dinner (prepared in our own galley!) before we went over to Egret and had a goodbye session. Mary and Scott would fly to Opua and retrieve their car early the following morning.
Early in bed, but still we had a slow start the next morning. Joan and Rodger came to say auf wiedersehen.
We left Nelson shortly before lunch in a weak northwesterlies and the following tide. It was a slow sailing and ultimately the engine had to help us to the first possible anchorage, Wairangi bay, where we anchored inside mussel farm and behind two small protective islands. Following morning we tacked to northeast with the timetable to have slack water at French pass between South Island and Dúerville Island, a sound that only should be passed during slack, especially if it is spring and some swell. 5-6 knots of current and standing waves are common under those conditions.
We had a nice sailing with almost no swell the 20 miles to the pass. We were a little early so we anchored in a nice sheltered cove, just south of the pass. After a calm crossing of the pass, we sailed on towards the northeast into Marlborough Sound and anchored in the bay Katu with lines tied ashore.
Really sheltered anchorages are not available in the fjords, and in addition, they are capable of quite strong katabatic winds that are a little difficult to assess from where they will come. We had good protection against the coming wind, but the high mountains lead the wind around, so we got some wind on the starboard side. We moved the windward shore rope to the bow, then the boat could adapt to wind direction and the windward shore rope helped anchor to hold Lindisfarne up against the wind, a technique we used many times in Patagonia.
We stayed three days, one day because of rain and the next day because there was a dirt road that we could walk miles and miles. In addition, we waited for wind to change, it is hopeless to have headwind in fjords with strong katabatic winds. How to adjust the sail area when average wind is around 10 knots and gusts around 30 knots? Clearly easier with following wind. We see many sailboats that simply are driving around in the fjords with no sails up.
On the 21 we changed fjord. Sounds simple, but the capes that stand out into the Cook Straight are very exposed to strong currents and it is difficult to get a decent speed around this parts. Moreover the high mountains play a significant role in the wind direction and strength! Approaching the cape with strong wind from the sea, but just after the cape the wind is gone, although still just as open to the sea and the previous wind direction!
In addition, the sea state becomes violent because of the current. The sea state makes the boat jumping up and down with flapping sails, so even if there are some wind, it’s impossible to sail and make progress. We are lucky to have an engine that is easily started!
Once in the next fjord the water was smoother, but the katabatic winds stronger. But it was partly to remember Patagonia we sailed down here, and we worked hard and finally tacked into a beautiful bay in Tawa bay where we completely alone anchored for the night. Katabatic winds from several directions made two lines ashore quite necessary. Just before dark we moved the port rope further to windward to be able to attach it to the bow, because the gusts from that direction tended to become stronger than the other directions. This is what happened:
Björn untied one shoreline (100m floating rope) and began to wade in the water along the beach, when the second shore line, which was attached to a fern tree, came off the tree and Lindisfarne and Annika slowly drifted out to the anchor. The rope on the dinghy was attached to the second shore rope which dragged down the tree, and the dingy went out on the water together with Lindisfarne
No great drama, but Bjorn who was wading in shallow water along the beach with the rope had no means to hold the boat, but Annika was ejecting the entire line until it was possible to get a new hold ashore. Then it was only to pull the floating line onboard, Annika row the dingy ashore with the second shoreline and finally found a new hold for that rope.
Erosion of beach Brink are hard, so the tree collapses now and then, even if they aren’t helped by anchored boats ... After these manoeuvres, it was dark and Björn, who had gone into the water up to his waist, was in need of something warm.
Then we slept well and undisturbed by the gusts of wind all night.
Forecast for crossing the Cook Strait began to look better on the gribfiles, although the Coast Guard kept on warning for strong gale 40 knot, so we sailed east to be in position for the pass in the Tory Channel when the weather was ok.
Out into the Queen Charlotte fjord, southbound and nice wind on the beam, but of course once again the gusts become too strong. Jib and reefed main, the main still had to be operated quite carefully to extract air at the top when the strong gusts tunnelled down the steep slops. A clear sky made it after all a wonderful and exiting sailing in the fjord. Reaching Tory Channel, which connects to Queen Charlotte close to Picton, we turned northeast. Down wind into Tory Channel, and just as we planned to jibe we saw the ferry from Wellington around the corner. Thanks to that we had not jibed, we only had to continue our course to keep away.
In the Tory Cannel, which is considerably narrower than the Queen Charlotte, the gusts became much stronger and more violent. Small "watersprouts" appeared and the dinghy insisted to turn upside down several times. Our old dinghy we only put close to the stern and it didn’t matter if it spin. But the new one was much trickier and sucked into the water when flipping over. We could not find a way to prevent this from happening, and it happened several times during the day. The solution may probably be to have the dingy on the foredeck in the future during similar circumstances.
At the far northeast of the Tory Channel with visual access into Cook Straight between some islands, we anchored for the night. A lot of cabbage weed made the anchoring very difficult. Third attempt, we had a good holding, but with the winds came from all directions, the anchor "re anchored" with the same poor results as in our two failed attempts. When we raised the anchor, we had "harvested" some cubic of cabbage, so it was clearly understood that the anchor had not reached through down to solid bottom. What to do?
The next bay had a wharf from an old Whaling station that we could perhaps use with ropes ashore and only load the anchor in one direction. When we got there, around the cape from the last bay, a fisherman was at a buoy off the wharf. We asked if he thought it was ok with our idea of anchoring and mooring ashore, but he gave us a great big fish file (food for several days) and thought we should take the club-buoy in the previous bay. Very good suggestion, we replied and went back and moored to a buoy which we, in the shallow water found was exemplary fastened to the bottom. The buoy was very close to land so we had almost only gusts from two directions. The katabatic winds eased after dark and we got a calm, quiet night.
In the morning the Coast Guard “agreed” with our gribfiles (we think, because gale warning was now gone) and the weather for the Cook Strait was announced to be just over 20 knots and from the northwest. Perfect for the passage out through the mouth of Tory Channel, a pass where it is imperative not to be in wrong tide. Even the big ferries between Picton and Wellington have a problem in this pass when the current and swell are against each other.
We have rarely seen that kind of whirlpools in the water during slack and almost no wind! Easy to imagine spring tide and gale wind against the tide...
Now it was just undramatic and almost no wind during the first ten miles out in Cook, then, we got a nice wind until we were under North Island and passed Cape Terawhiti, a notoriously area alerted in pilots. It’s called the Wind Factory!
Much later, we received a message from a Swede who was on one of the ferries between Picton and Wellington this day and took picture of Lindisfarne. The world is really small.
Bottom conditions outside Cape Terawhiti increase the power of the tide compared to the current in Cook straight, resulting in a heavy swell. We had a following tide of four knots and wind on the port, so for us it was just full speed ahead and no problems.
Arriving in the strait to Wellington Harbour, which once again is not a port but a large inland sea more than ten miles across, we had 30 knot against. The tide was following so it was after all possible to tack with reasonable result. We managed in four-five tacks with a down reefed main to beat the 10 nm to Wellington, where we are after a little radio chat with Wellington Radio got a berth in Chafers Marine close to the newly built museum Te Papa. (Marinas has no VHF -- We have experienced that at several locations down South.)
We who normally avoid big cities liked Wellington this is a charming little big city (NZ Metropolitan, however, significantly smaller than Auckland). Refurbished waterfront with theatres, museums, restaurants, pubs, "event" buildings and squares make the city quite appealing. The major route along the shoreline between the town and the port was partly over bridged by "square bridges" so that the port had full contact with the city centre in spite of this major routes...
After three days, we were contented with the city, but the wind and rain did not want us to leave the marina. There are several days of sailing along an unprotected coast to the north, and for that reason we had to have a good weather forecast to leave.

March:
After one week in Wellington came a possible weather window for sailing north along the East Coast. Monday offered only 20-30 knot from northwest after a weekend of fierce north wind. We left Chafers at nine and had current and strong wind following us out of Wellington Harbour. With out poled sail we rushed east, only to discover that a horizontal seam was opening high in up the main between two panels. Fortunately one of our vertical battens stopped the seam from total collapse. We only had to reef until that batten was just outside the mast and the split seam was protected furled into the mast. No problems right now because the wind was strong enough for that degree of reefing, but we had 450 miles ahead of us with varying wind strength.
Sun to the north from a completely clear sky and 30knot following wind made us surf the 30 miles along the south coast in almost no time, before it was time to round and go north. Once around Cape Palister almost all wind disappeared when we came in the shade of shore. The wind was now 60 ° over the boat, so even if it was weak, we made decent speed. But with this weaker wind we needed a full main and because we had a tight schedule to get around East Cape, 300 nm north, before the predicted northeast gale began, we had to support the speed by means of the engine. Further north the katabatic winds from the mountains made the conditions quite tough, now our sail was not to small and the engine was definitely not needed. We deliberately went just a few miles off the coast to keep the sea state from getting to rough in the increasing wind. It worked, but in return we had to live with the strong gusts from shore. After the passage of Castle Point we had two hours with the swell on our bow and little wind during the night, which meant that the engine had to do service again. Day two came with new wind from the south. Out poled sails and relatively clear weather made the sailing very comfortable, but it was much colder now in the southerly wind.
Got some nice photos of four different species of Albatrosses; Wandering-, Royal-, Shy- and Bullers Albatross during the day. Fascinating, we had so far only managed to get Black Browed Albatross on film during our four years of sailing, and now in one day four new species! We saw a lot of penguins, but only the little blue one that nests in NZ. They disappear quickly and are small and do not jump, so we did not get any decent pictures. But a lot of dolphins played around the boat during the first and second day and ended up in several pictures.
We had to use the engine a lot even the second day to match the predicted weather. During the night the wind increased and we could pass Napier and Hawks Bay under sail. In the daybreak the third day sky was overcastted and the wind now blowing from southeast and we were 50 nautical miles south of East Cape. Gribfiles had been correct all the way, but coast guards weather info talked about gale, both where we where sailing (we had only 25 knots), but especially for areas north of us. They talked about 40 knots with 50 in gusts in Auckland area and that we could confirm in our grib-files. Our plan was to continue north to the Coromandel to get around to the southwest to Auckland before the wind changed to the northeast. When passing the East Cape late afternoon, we decided that it was probably not possible to get around Coromandel before the weather becomes nasty. It was 80 nm to Tauranga right to the west, which probably would be a tight race to get there before the increasing wind. The few ports which were available had bars, which you do not with impunity pass over in strong onshore wind conditions, and that to contribute to the decision to move towards Tauranga.
Taurange has a large natural "port" behind a narrow inlet. The tidal water to be let in and out of this inland sea creates a strong current in the inlet. With gale from behind and heavy seas, it is for several reasons not possible to have countered current during approach with a small sailboat. Some computer studies showed that nine o'clock in the morning was the time for slack, and then a stream into the harbour. OK, 14 hours and 80 miles, no problem.
The problem was the direction of the wind. It was from behind, a little to port and would rotate 15-20 degrees to starboard during the night. To pole out the Genoa before the darkness was well ok, but to gybe at night, in strong winds and rough seas were not a good plan. It was also wrong to gybe already, and go 40 ° north and hope for an earlier wind shift. The result was to fly only the reefed main (reefed Genoa does not work downwind without a whisker pole), prevented to leeward and the preventer to windward prepared for the night gybe. We did 5.5 knots with the down reefed main, but a roily night like this we will hopefully never experience again. Sea was rough, but not more than we previously experienced and managed ok with our normal combination of sails. It was hardly possible to sleep during the off duty watch! We sure missed our normal, stabilizing head sails. Cloud during the night made it not possible to see New Zealand's only active volcano, White Island. Last outbreak was as late as 1992.
We were happy when we in the morning could rig our usual sail setting with whisker pole to the Genoa and the flat sheeted jib behind the main, and came after a few hours to Tauranga, one hour after the current had turned to our advantage. The waves around us were three to four meters and we would certainly not want to know how they would look like by outgoing stream of three to four knots. We thought the wind was quite ok, 25-30 knots, but the high mountain we would round in the narrow entrance made us prepare thoroughly for the upcoming reefing. First the outpoled genua was furled, and the jib (normally a staysail) became a “normal” jib when we got the wind more to the bow in the strait. Shortly before the gust from the mountain caught us, we furled the jib, started the engine and when the first watersprouts appeared, we furled the reefed main. We rounded the hill, Mount Mauganui which is an isolated volcano in the end of a narrow low isthmus, and anchored behind the mountain, 450nm from Wellington and a little more than three days.
The katabatic wind we experienced during the approach was now completely gone because the strong and steady wind now came over the low country. Good holding and anchor sail up. Weather forecast spoke of increasing winds in the area for the next two days and then turning to southwest and decreasing. We felt quite sensible not having taken the chance and continued 120 miles to the north cape of Coromadel. In the evening, the predicted front arrived with rain and strong wind. We were even more satisfied with our decision to anchor in Tauranga, waiting for better weather.
Two days we were lying in the wind shade of the rock and on the third day, before the wind shifted, we motored in to Bridge Marine. Moored and strolled into the heart of Tauranga to get some exercise. The marina is a little offside from town, and the walk is along a busy road, over a bridge and then you are in the city, which is narrow and extended on an isthmus... Not as cosy as Nelson, but with a good climate and unlike Nelson Town, Tauranga is in close contact with the water.
Very friendly staff at the marina, one of them asked if we had met Peter on Kiwi Roha, and sure, we had. We met him in Puerto Montt, Chile, when he came directly from Tauranga in March 2008. The world is small and we got a feeling of having done “some travelling" when things like this happens.
Already after one night, we left for Coromandel. Southwest wind gave us a nice sailing along the spectacular coast. However, our damaged main sail did not give us our normal speed and to be able to reach Whitiangai 50 nm to the north before dark, we had to motor sail. We anchored just before dark in the bay next to Cook's Bay (he has been everywhere!) Just outside the river into Whitiangi. In the afternoon the next day, we took the dinghy to the beach, walked over the isthmus, took the little ferry across the river to the village, and bought some food for the next week. In Tauranga, it was Saturday afternoon and a long way to walk to the shops. Now it was Monday, and with double backpacks and not far from the shops to the dinghy, it was a piece of cake.
Sure, they had built a lot since we were here -95. Among others, the marina in the river was not built and the new fashionable holiday houses were probably not affordable in those days.
Now several places, especially on North Island, exploded with large elegant summerhouses, just as everywhere in the world. The setback in the global economy (the reason may well be discussed) has led to a more or less dead halt in the construction and for sale advertisements are numerous. NZ $ has lost ground against the US $ and Euro, much like the Swedish krona, the latter we are grateful for. But investors are doubtful and imports have become considerably more expensive. In the retail (read imported boat stuff) many prices has gone up by 30-40%. We wonder if importers catch the opportunity and earn some extra, blaming the dollar exchange rate...
We left early Tuesday morning to get around Coromandel, which was our next planned anchorage. As we approach the North Cape, the wind backed west and together with the tidal current north of Coromandel, our plans had to be changed. Great Barrier Island was 20 nm to the north became our new goal.
Lorna, that we have not met for almost two months, was at anchor in Port Fitzroy and they "saw" us arriving in their AIS, in spite we where behind the mountains round Barrier. Once anchored, we where invited to Lorna for an “anchor dram”. Together with Vivi-May and Bo we talk about our experiences from our respective rounding’s of North Island. They had spent more time in Marlborough Sound, but skipped Wellington. The rest of our routes had most of the way been overlapping.
They where anchored in Barrier, waiting for their new sails which was to be delivered in Tutukaka within a week. The "old ones" that was delivered in December did not work. Something was wrong with the quality of the sailcloth.
We do hope that Doyle, who is to sew our three new sails, have a good order among their cloth qualities.
Wednesday we spent together walking to the next bay and back. Very much up and down on a steep trail. Thursday was a bit of rest day, and in the evening, we had dinner in Lorna, together with plenty of sailing talk. Not so much sailing talk as talk about "must visit places" and other sights around the oceans. Lorna has been out sailing twice as long as they and we have been in Alaska, which is on our route in a few years from now.
Friday we changed bay to be in a better position for our top hiking / climbing. We used the opportunity and went a shorter trip out at sea to produce water.
Saturday came with light rain. Already at nine we dinghied to the beach for the struggle to the top. During the first hours, we actually saw some sun and the small rivers we could pass dry by step from stone to stone. At the path cross, showing the divided paths to different targets, we saw information that the track to the top was closed for extensive work. Since it was Saturday and the weather was bad, we thought it was feasible enough and no workers to be irritated. Further, up in the mountains the fog and rain became intensively but we struggled on, even if the surface on the sometimes very steep trail was quite slippery. We passed a few landslides where the track had been repaired, before we reached a ravine with a suspension bridge for one person at a time. A little scary, but after some bridge inspection, the former bridge inspector (Björn) was the first to pass. When all four had passed, we got a well-deserved sandwich standing up in the persistent rain. Some hours later, we reached the announced construction site. They where building stairs / ladders on a steep part of the trail app. 200m just below the peak phase.
At the top we where not rewarded with a magnificent view. We saw only a few dozen meters in the rain and fog. Nevertheless, it was for exercise and adventure, not the view, we climbed the mountain. At least we told us that.
Down hill was another trail, equally steep with stairs in the worst places. Now the rain had really made the trail slippery and the water in the river crossings was knee-deep with strong current. We slipped several times but managed to keep hold of branches and trees, thus avoiding damages. At least five rivers where crossed, but we were already wet right through so additional water in the shoes did not matter. However, the strong current made the passages tricky and slow.
Back at the dinghy, we noted that it was eight hours since we left the dinghy, now full of rainwater. There were no sundowners in the rain, but each crew went back and turned on the heater and in our case a strengthening hot glass of extra-spiced wine. The only setback from the trip was stiff leg muscles, once we dried and had recovered heat.
Sunday morning came with a beautiful southeast, which finally took us to Auckland where we moored in West Haven marina to stroll around the city and meet friends. Shopping in New World, the supermarket, after a week among the islands is always fun! Then we had a bit ordinary sightseeing of the Museums and Sky Tower, the highest building of the Southern hemisphere, 328 m. Lookout platform is 220 m into the air and give you an air perspective on Auckland. Now, we had as opposed to when we where on the top of the Barrier (over 600m) a magnificent clear air, perfect for panoramic photos. We saw all the way to Coromandel and Barrier 40 nm to the east.
Maritime museum was excellent and informative. In the pubs around the harbour, people were elaborated celebration of St Patrick day, Ireland's national day, with intense beer consumption by green-clad people. This contributed to the unusually crowded area around the harbour, despite the fact that tourism had started to slow down due to the late season.
One afternoon, we met Maria and Toby who moved to Auckland from Gothenburg with their three children several years ago. Interesting to hear about how to succeed in establishing a new life, both private and work, in a new country without a lot of old contacts through friends and relatives.
Kjell from Nordic Marketing, and Swedish Ocean Sailing Club contact in Auckland, came and had a cup of coffee while he was paid for our new genoa sheets, which he had delivered. Kjell sailed from Sweden, stayed here ten years ago, and operates in conjunction with Eddie, a former Seldén guy. A good and safe source of information, help and many supplies ...
Doyle, sail manufacturers, were also on a visit to check our well used sails, to have suggestions on any improvements / cruising-sail reinforcements on our new sails to be sewn here in Auckland at the Doyle New loft, one of the worlds largest sail loft. Our small sails will be sewn in one corner of the loft to be ready when we come back to NZ in late July.
On Friday, after a small frontal passage, came the new wind from the southwest and we checked out from the marina and sailed the 65 miles up to Urquhart bay at the entrance to Whangarei, where we anchored just before darkness.
Sometimes the tide is “friendly”, as this Monday, and we got a slow morning waiting for the tide to be favourable on the way upriver to Whangarei. We rafted outside Tilda, a Swedish 70 footer from Orust in Town Basin Marina in the afternoon and made us re-homed in our “home port”. Yes, that is the feeling when you are back for the third repeatedly meet all friends, not least Sharron and Pelle who live here with their two children and manages the marina and the Doyle sail loft in Whangarei.
We took two weeks of de-escalation to leave the boat for four months and fly out April 4. It will be exactly 6 months (important for the visa) since we arrived in NZ. Lindisfarne must been granted extended tax exemption to November 5, 12 months after arrival, and then we have to either exit or convince the authorities that we must stay for repair or something similar.
De-escalation may be the wrong expression. There is plenty to be done before we confidently can moor the boat between four piles. The water maker has to be preserved, engine oil change, “clean” the deck from all blocks, ropes and “lose” attachments, the sail has to come down, ropes has to be desalinated and much more. The canvas dodger has survived itself and will only work as a template during the winter for the new hard dodger. We have postponed the exchange to have a "hard" spray hood build while we are gone. The window is dismantled and moved into a workshop where an isolated fibreglass dodger will be built this winter to be ready for installation when we are back... After installation, a new bimini in canvas will be manufactured.
The new sails will be tested, so August will not be idle either.
Who said anything about cruising life was relaxing and a soft job?
However, it is a nice and exciting job that feels good, not least for everything we do make our sailing periods easier and hopefully safer.
After six months on, in and around North Island, we can describe the landscape in several ways. In places the landscape is open and very beautiful with steep valleys and high mountains, but mostly it is green and very green, dense greenery. Without a path, it is almost impossible to get through. Like Patagonia rainforest, but with a richer mix of plants. Palms, hardwood and conifers in many shapes and heights. Something very special is the high fern trees and heather, sometimes over ten m high and a four-meter version of our Scandinavian knee-high heather.
The very special Kauri tree, which almost became extinct when Europeans came in the mid-1800s, is fortunately still to be seen here and there. It has a very stodgy and even thick stud with a little small crown of leaf high up and get old. Over a thousand years old is not unusual.
The bedrock is young, sometimes very fresh. One of the volcanoes outside the entrance to Auckland grew up just 800 years ago and today looks like a bush dressed moonscape, almost impossible to walk on.
There is instability down below in the ground; the country is situated on three plates with different patterns. Although the annual movement is just some centimetres, it will most often happen as a sudden displacement, releasing many years of accumulated tensions. There are plenty of photos of roads that suddenly got a step of around the meter, and the fence that from one day to the next has a lateral displacement of several meters. Statistics are fine, but you should know where hazardous zones are in this country.
Population, approximately half of Sweden (NZ 4,5m) and has a few more square kilometres per person to live on. The capital is Wellington, only half the population of Auckland, approaching half a million citizens.
The population is app. 75% Europeans, 15% Maori and most of the remaining 10% are Indian, Asians and from Polynesia. The only people who seem to be missing are black Africans.
In conclusion, we conclude that New Zealand is a nice, beautiful and hospitable country. Here you can very well imagine staying long, as all immigrated Swedes eagerly points out.
We will return to NZ in late July.

31 March 2009
Annika & Björn
Lindisfarne

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