It was during a chat with Lyndsay in Dick Smiths he put up the idea of a SailInn up to Riverhead. Bloody good idea.... There was a time when boating trips to Riverhead were high on the agenda of every launch owner and picnic parties dressed in all their finery would regularly ply the stretches of the Waitemata River. These days I doubt that many boaties are even aware that the channel exists.
For me an early start rising at 0445 to get Blue Jacket out of Milford Creek. Normally not a chore at all but I had been working at Coastguard until late with the annual training exercises in full swing. I had finally gotten to bed at 0030 and with the mind still going at 500 mph it took a while to get to sleep.
I was standing a lot further offshore than I really needed to be and was quite close to the main shipping channel. The shoreline from Milford to North Head can be quite deceptive and I was taking no chances. There was only me, the Harbour Pilot and a tourist liner its people no doubt still asleep in their luxury cabins sliding past. These ships come in on the morning tide and are gone that night. Just before midnight and there were still wind warnings in force but I now had about 10 knots right on the nose. Fortunately I had picked up a pair of ski mittens for $5 at the supermarket so my hands were toasty warm. The same could not be said for my eyes which were watering with the cold breeze. Perhaps I should consider a pair of ski goggles as well next time.
Around North Head I headed BJ up the harbour and cracked both the headsails. Another knot and a bit on the speedo I knocked the throttle back so the James the Yammy was on about quarter power and almost silent. Not been up here in BJ that often because powerboats churning up the harbour in every direction mean its no fun in a yacht.
Through the Harbour Bridge now, habitation along the waters edge has given way to native bush right down to the water. Bloody great boating this.... every so often a bay or access to the water would be marked by hauled dinghies and the odd mooring. Paul Groom lives up here at Island Bay and the bottom of his street marks one of those mooring areas which is my alternate if I can't get back into Milford Creek.
i had been unable to find my chart of the area and decided that the GPS Chart would suffice. Not all that impressed though as I cleared Herald Island and my head was telling me the channel was to starboard but the plotter was showing me it was out to port. Proof that you should not trust your judgement when you are dog tired I opted for the chart plotter's opinion and in what it said was the channel I eased gently onto the soft mud of the sandbank alongside the channel. Yup I could see the bottom and yup the numbers were low on my depthsounder. Note that the chart contains little in the way of soundings but does have that important note 'Local knowledge required'. HAH
The depth sounder transponder is mounted as per specification on the bottom edge of the transom and as such is often prone to error due to the aerated nature of the water in that region. I really need to convert to a through hull fitting for it to be of any use in such circumstances. Any anyway I can't blame the machine when a perfectly good Mk I eyeball had also let the side down.
With about 30 minutes to the bottom of the tide to go and it being quite safe here I threw out the picnic hook and climbed into the sleeping bag. An hour later I awoke to find BJ on her chine at about a 35 degree angle but everything wa snug. Fired up the electric ear and gave Jason a call..... he was on Seaward about to get underway and of course delivered the deserved derision about my navigation skills. Shortly he was anchored not far off and after inspecting BJ's hull from his dinghy headed back to Loloma to retrieve his sea boots.
I lay back enjjoying the sun regretting only that I could not boil the billy for a cuppa. I set the headsails so as the bow would come off when there was enough water and lifted the picnic hook. Blue Jacket quietly rose back onto her lines and with a bit of Puffy the Tug Boating from Jason's dinghy [2hp bollard pull] were we soon out in the creek. These boats with a long keel are a pleasure to take the beach . On the other hand a keeler can spring all sorts of surprises as they reloat. In future when the bottom needs a scrub or there is some work to do on the hull i will be beaching.
Seaward..... THE SEA TRUCK. Owned by Harold Kidd more about this fine vessel another day.
We proceeded in line astern towards the planned anchorage in Pareremoremo Creek which was everything I remembered it to be. As soon as Seaward's pick was bedded in I came in and rafted up alongside. Big boat this one and a tribute to the builders way back in 1909. Time for breakfast and a clean up.
Over a cuppa Jason and I took in our surroundings and wondered if anyone else was going to turn up. It was not too long before Mike in his strip planked sloop rigged Navigator came around the corner. Sailing three up they passed close by and yelled that there were others coming up behind. Sure enough Lyndsay and young son in the Houdini and then Frank and Barb in Varuna hove into view.
Jason and I had resolved to flag away the Riverhead bit and just stay in Parry Creek. It is a wonderful little spot really and I was looking forward to 'bagging a few zzzzz's and having a quiet feed and relax with some music'.
But the flotilla was not waiting for us so Jason piled aboard and we set of in pursuit of the open boats. The channel if you could call it that wends itself without rhyme or reason from one side of the estuary to the other. Jason was on the tiller while I was doing the Young Nick lookout thingy. Some kind soul has placed bamboo poles in what we assumed was the right place and we were not doing too bad. Now and again you could feel the boat stick and I would go forward to trim the hull out some more. Eventually we arrived at the pub as expected the jetty is still occupied by a ferry catamaran which has pretty obviously was not in survey. While the open boats managed to get inside the floating pontoon Blue Jacket has to be parked out into the creek firmly on the bottom. We streamed a pick and cadged a ride ashore with Frank and Barb.
The Foresters Arms is showing the ravages of time. But unlike the ferry, the pathup to the pub and the wharf which would not pass muster with OSH and the boys from Maritime NZ it has considerable charm. In the early afternoon patrons were few and regulars would probably arrive for the All Black game on TV that night. Not many pubs look much empty and when you put a couple of hundred in here the place jumps. A favourite watering hole with the knights of the road [bikers] this one.
We had a bit of a natter and some managed to fit in a pint and a plate of potato wedges before we set out for the boats again. Mike and his team had arranged for their boattrailer to be brought up to Riverhead and were going to haul out there.
Why the rush to leave? During the winter around 1500 the arse falls out of a nice day and it starts to get really cold. Sensible travellers head off to get their tents up and gear organised while some warmth remains.
For Jason and I this was a simple matter of retiring to our galleys and flashing up our stoves. For Frank and Barb things took a little longer. Lydsay's outboard had decided that winter motoring was not for it and flatly refused to start. Lyndsay had launched down at Greenhithe and Varuna was towboat for Lyndsay and young sone back to the ramp.
Half an hour later Varuna appeared back around the point and we tied them up on Seaways starboard side. Frank then revealed the fruits of many hours labour as a brand new boat tent arrangement of his own design emerged from its stuff sack. it was not too long before they were as snug as a bug in a rug.
Now fed I settled back to watch a DVD of some comedian Jason had collected but despite the guy being very very funny the long days and nights of the previous week were catching up fast. At about 1830 I excused myself and headed back to Blue Jacket.
'Take her down Number One, run silent, run deep......... I had just enough consciousness left to zip up the Arctic weight sleeping bag and I was out too it..... nothing on the clock but the makers name.
0600 Sunday and my body clock roused me from one of the better sleeps I can remember. Head out the hatch noting that everything was saturated but a beautiful calm morning. Seems it had rained very hard during the night, but not enough to wake me.
Frank was doing his cooking duties and very proud that his tent arrangement had stood up to the test with no leaks at all. Great boat Varuna and you would have to say it could not have gone to a more caring pair of owners than Frank and Barb. I see them often from the big windows at Coastguard as they head out into the Gulf looking for another adventure.
Paremoremo Creek was at its most magnificent. The area is still worth a trip even though many mansions have sprung up on all the attractive headlands and advantage places. At the top of the creek New Zealand's top security prison and one or two of the guests have made it down this waterway to be spiritied away by fast boat to places unknown by their law breaking friends.
The morning was a bit foggy but still and quiet. Lots of marine birdlife which is a good sign. Away across to the west we could see rain clouds gathering and soon were treated with the spectacle of two overlapping double rainbows. Did you know women can see one more colour in a rainbow than men? Nothing to do, go to Wikipedia.org and search Rainbow for some interesting facts and figures. You'll never look at a rainbow the same way again.
Back to the Sail Inn. We had one end of a rainbow falling on one of the harbourside homes [and they are all very tastefully constructed too], the other was falling on the water just ahead of Blue Jacket. Naturally that means it is about to piss down and I had time for a brew [thanks to Varuna for a refit on my coffee jar]. Bit of a tidy up and scrub down and the urge to push on towards home was strong. Jason was also doing his chores and Varuna had fallen back onto her pick while they had a cook up.
I slipped the springs and swung away downstream on the outgoing tide. Naturally there is a fair bit of water leaving town and with 'James'..... the name for our Yammy' just ticking over I was gliding over the still waters at 5 knots.
One of the secrets of navigation up here is that people put down their moorings where the water is deep. No moorings equals shallow water.
There are some nice boats up here and some real crap. Obviously a few of them have live in custodians and many have not seen sight of an owner in a decade or two but it all adds to the charm of the place.
Through the congestion of the Herald Island channel I made a slight diversion to see two old friends. In another life I was a naval radio operator on a 72ft motor launch working around the New Zealand coast on fishery protection duties. I don't know which one she was but I will find out. Originally built as harbour defence launches in WWII they are wonderful boats. Its a story I will write one day but it really tugged at my heart strings to see the ML here.
I once served on one of these vessels..........
HMNZS MAKO ZMSR. A Black Boat..... Part of the Fishery Protection Squadron in the 1960's entering harbour. The T shaped object is the galley funnel. Powered by a pair of GM diesels these vessels had a best speed around 12 knots but were pretty seaworthy and for many years were a common sight around New Zealands coast and ports.
It was a great life for a young bloke... we covered all of New Zealand's coastline and lived off the land visiting anything that could be considered navigable. The after porthole of the for'd set was over my bunk.
Just astern of the ML was one of the 90 foot Fairmiles which also originated in WWII. These babies used to ply between New Zealand and the islands as flotilla leaders but had all paid off to passenger duties by the time I joined. My first ever trip in the Navy was on one of these. As a pale pimply youth being transported from Auckland down to Motuihe Island for my first three months of service in boot camp. This one has been bastardised by one of the ferry fleet owners and apparently failed her survey just before work was completed. She has been swinging on the mooring here for as long as I can remember. Both vessels are double diagonal timber construction I believe.
Swinging around past Island Bay Wharf just down from where Paul Groom's Woollacott is having a half life refit I was playing catch me if you can with the rain squalls but these soon cleared to quite a reasonable day. Still no wind but never mind, James is up to the task of getting me home.
Coming through the Harbour Bridge I could see a familiar rig ahead. A Navigator yawl with tan sails moving down on the tide. I came quietly up under her stern and hailed with the time of day. John keeps his boat SWIFT on a mooring but she was a neat as a pin. [Seem to remember him saying he first found the design on Woodenboat NZ]. it never fails to impress me that Welsford's now famous design can be seen in so many variations. In fact I cannot remember seeing two Navigators that are alike. Quite like the colour scheme of this one too.
John and I think alike....... we both made the decision to have a full round cockpit coaming rather than the original design which comes to a sharp point for'd of the mast. Much nicer to lean back onto when you get the chance
From here on a constant reminder that this is not a good place to be on a windless day as the launches spew out of Westhaven and hurtle past with little regard to the Rule of the Road of niceties of proper seamanship. Fuggem. But soon enough I was around North Head and chugging up to Castor Bay for lunch and some sleep while I waited for the evening tide.
Got a few chores done as well. And, it all goes to prove that I can turn on a decent drop of weather for a bit of a sail. MMMMm time for another visit to Islington Bay and I am sure that will find favour for the next Sail Inn.
I was now into the approaches to Herald Island [used be called Pine Island with a tidal causeway earlier in my lifetime] pretty chokka these days as moorings take up every inch of the channel. You just kind of pick your way where you think fit. There are some nice boats here but some crap too. Testament how easy it is to stop using your boat and let it go to rack and ruin. I could see Loloma and Seaward on their moorings but no sign of Jason yet. It was pretty early. It had taken me 3 hours to get here [15 minutes if I had used the car to come straight across the isthmus].