West Park - West Park

Jobs list

The NZ crew (that's Phil, Matt & Tiny) very kindly agreed to stay on for a couple of days of make & mend.

The list was quite extensive, and included a certain amount of stowage and laying-up, before leaving Harlequin  on her swing mooring for a few weeks. And after 18 days of hard sailing, she was ready for a good clean!

Plumber Matt

All of this done with a will and a smile, before everyone was invited over to the Coopers' country villa for a very relaxing Sunday afternoon BBQ. OK, we admit it -  it was rather pleasant to be ashore for a change!

Monday was for domestics (Matt bought an old banger), re-fuelling and a tourist run ashore into Auckland CBD.

And finally, Tuesday saw a frenzy of last-minute jobs before departing West Park Marina to head up-river to our swing mooring: Jim & Phil aboard, with Matt & Tiny to drive up then row out to meet us at the mooring.

Electrician Phil

Such was the plan, until Phil (at the helm, as we motored up the river) piped up with,

   "Jim, this bridge says 17 m - is that the height?"

   "... and is it enough?!"

Needless to say, Jim was on deck in a flash and, no, 17 m would not be enough. Harlequin has a 20 m air draft. Bugger.

Dinghy repairs

Greenhithe bridge is big; no-one had even considered that it would not also be tall. It wasn't. After a brief double-check to measure the mast alongside the bridge (the watching Police launch wasn't impressed) we turned around and headed back to the marina. Quickly - the tide was on the drop again, and we didn't want a repeat of our previous arrival.

Needless to say, this is where Harlequin will remain for the next few weeks, until an alternative can be found...