Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Ted's Log, Stardate April 24, 2008

HI FROM OPUA, NEW ZEALAND

PAT AND TOM'S WIFE MERRIE FLEW BACK TO CALIFORNIA ON FRIDAY, APRIL 18TH.

THE NEXT DAY DAN, CAROL, TOM AND MYSELF LEFT AUCKLAND ON CAPRICE AND SAILED ALONG THE COAST NORTH TO OPUA WITH STOPS ON THE ISLAND OF KAWAU, THE CITY OF WHANGAREI, AND THE SMALL RESORT TOWN OF TUTUKAKA.

THE SAIL FOR THE MOST PART WAS DOWNWIND OR ON A BEAM REACH (WIND AT RIGHT ANGLE TO THE BOAT) WITH WINDS BLOWING 10 TO 30+ KNOTS. CAPRICE SAILED BEAUTIFULLY.
SOME BUMPY TIMES BUT MOSTLY SMOOTH SAILING.

WE SPENT THREE DAYS IN WHANGAREI WHERE WE PROVISIONED FOR THE TRIP TO FRENCH POLYNESIA. IT TOOK THREE TRIPS TO THE SUPERMARKET TO GET ALL THE FOOD STUFF AND PAPER PRODUCTS THAT WE WILL NEED.

WHANGAREI IS LOCATED NEAR THE HEAD OF A RIVER ABOUT 15 MILES FROM THE OCEAN. THE ENTRANCE TO THE RIVER IS A MASS OF BOILING WATER NOT UNLIKE ROUGH RAPIDS. CAPRICE GOT BOUNCED AROUND PRETTY GOOD FOR ABOUT 30 MINUTES BOTH ENTERING AND LEAVING THE RIVER. IT WAS UNCOMFORTABLE FOR THE CREW, BUT THE BOAT HELD UP VERY WELL.

OUPA IS A SMALL TOWN, CATERING TO MARINERS, LOCATED IN THE BEAUTIFUL "BAY OF ISLANDS" NEAR THE TOP OF NEW ZEALAND. WE WILL REMAIN HERE A FEW DAYS DOING LAST MINUTE REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE-CHECKS ON THE BOAT AND WHEN THE WEATHER IS RIGHT, HEAD EAST FOR THE FRENCH POLYNESIAN ISLANDS.

THE DISTANCE FROM HERE TO OUR FIRST STOP IS ABOUT 2200 MILES AND WE HOPE TO MAKE IT IN LESS THEN 3 WEEKS.

I WILL SEND MORE MESSAGES IN ROUTE

TILL THEN

TED
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

About Me

1291 Sanderling Island, Pt. Richmond, CA 94801, United States
Dan and Carol Seifers

Crazy

Crazy Caprice, or what

Like is so good to us. At 65, after 15 years of retirement, my wife, Carol and I have everything one could want Good health (for old folks), loving children ( one son and his wife Jenny is marvelous), wonderful grandchildren (one age 6 and one age 4, who have a remarkable ability to totally exhaust us in about 4 - 6 hours), a good home. Wonderful friends. What more could one want?

Then we were casually cruising in the Delta ( area between Sacramento and San Francisco) last summer with the Richmond Yacht Club Cruising Group. Life was serene, life was comfortable, and then it happened - WHAM - we saw a cruising catamaran tied up at the Rio Vista marina with a sign in the window which listed its adventures. Starting in Australia, across to New Zealand, up to Tahiti, over to Hawaii and on the the West Coast. What an adventure!!! That’s when Carol started thinking about the possibility of buying a new boat (we already had a Gemini 34’ cruising catamaran - life was good). Then sailing in Sydney basin for a few months, then either shipping it to California or sailing it across the South Pacific to California. Is she CRAZY?

That started our CRAZY file.

Over the next few months, she started feeding me articles about Australia, New Zealand, and multihulls. She even subscribed to Multihull magazine and would place various articles about sailing in the South Pacific under my nose while I was reading the morning paper.
She became obcessed. A devil (Tasmanian?) had her. Then around Christmas time, the bug really bit me. We were perfectly happy with our boat, but the idea of getting a new one (with all the new toys) and visiting “down under” seemed very appealling. A friend loaned me all his books on New Zealand and Australia, and the more read, the more I becaume enthralled with the idea