Leaving Norfolk Island

Moody Norfolk

A slow start, with some make & mend, ready for the final sprint to the finish: 500 nm from Norfolk Island to Opua, our arrival port for CIQ in New Zealand. That's 500 nm straight line, of course - probably well over 600 nm in the forecast strong E'ly and associated lumpy seas.

First some sail repair, though, as our trusty UK Sails Tapedrive Genoa had again developed tears. After a re-cut by Barry Hayes' team back in Hong Hong last August (while Harlequin was in Cairns), where they removed the roach entirely to extend its life as a basic cruising sail, we've covered about 2,000 nm in 6 months of Tropical sailing. And that's with a 5-year old sail!

This 155% Tapedrive still holds an excellent shape, especially when reefed (which is why we still use it as our primary headsail), and after 5 years of racing and cruising, owes us very little.

Just needing a few patches of sticky-back Dacron here and there, where the Mylar is delaminating. We'll hopefully get another summer and 2,000 nm out of her yet!

NI to NZ

Anchor a-weigh at 1030 on Fri, 8 Feb. Again with difficulty, with that blasted windlass acting up again - always when you have max scope out. Then double-reefed main and triple-reefed Genoa for the 25-30 Kt E'ly as we cleared Philip Island. Course about 165 degs (45 apparent), making 7.5 kts to the south for lighter conditions. Wet work!




And so it went for over 36 hours, as we fell back into routine, hardening up gradually to 35 apparent as the winds dropped to 100/17 kts. A gradual header, leading to our first tack at 0130 on Sun, 11 Feb.

Sunday saw us shaking out the reefs, swapping oilies for suntan lotion (always a rewarding part of a crossing) and setting the fishing lines. Again a day of rest, so a couple of beers allowed. Also a clock change that night, from 0315 to 0515 NZ time. A thrilling moment, strangely - implying "we're almost there"!

As if the wind gods overheard the small celebration, the breeze immediately dropped to a zephyr. Engine on (we needed some charging anyway - ain't that always the excuse?) and we could now point straight at North Cape.
Passing the Three Kings Islands at about midday on Mon, 11 Feb we landed the first Tuna. Heaved to in order to land the monster (at least Phil played it as such), the baking sun became too much for the crew.

Three Kings tuna

Man overboard!

Not for long though, as someone (who shall remain nameless) decided to - how shall we put this - squeeze one off from the boarding ladder, and everyone else was back on board in a trice!

    A very refreshing swim though. If brief...

Later that same day...

By 1700 we were anchored back at Cascade Bay, now decidedly more exposed and with the long swell regularly breaking over the pier.

Matt to the rescue...

Matt & Yann immediately paddled ashore to meet the shore team with the repaired outboard - a new spark plug and she ran first time.

Then, with a sterling effort from Matt, picking his way to the pier and back between the breakers, the last bodies and stores were shuttled aboard.

Phil was last to be collected, having parked the hire-car by the pier for retrieval by the company later. He must have been concerned he was going to be left behind (even though 'freshly' outfitted from the island's OpShop) and would not release the fish & chips til the last run.

We were all glad to see him back aboard of course. But possibly more so the fish & chips, which were wolfed down just as soon as we'd once again weighed anchor and popped the Genoa to ran very quickly back to the shelter of Anson Bay.

Again, to anchor there in the dark at 1930. A bad habit that we really must try and shake...

Fish supper

A long day, but colourful war stories from the previous 24 eventful hours were swapped 'til late.

Norfolk Island Day 2

Anson Bay beach

Yep, that was one rocky night.

Rocky, as in rock-and-rolly that is. Not the other rocky - the anchor was reassuringly solid all night, despite the constant pitch & roll of the swell.

Speaking of swell, daylight brought a clearer view of the beach at the head of Anson Bay, and it was obviously going to be a bit of a bitch landing there with the dinghy. To say nothing of getting off again. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained...

Mt Bates looking SE

 First Mate John had woken with a knackered knee (alcohol obviously hadn't cushioned the impact of a twisting fall into the dinghy from Cascade pier), so he wasn't going to play. And Yann was pretending to be asleep. That left Tiny & Jim to make this particular viking raid.

All went swimmingly at first (you know where this is heading), successfully timing the breakers for the final run into the beach, until the last one caught the dinghy very convincingly from above. Not behind or below, but above! The shore party were already there to help gather up the remains, while two bedraggled vikings scrambled ashore to dry off.

Norfolk pastures

After a couple of hours, and copious application of WD40, it was clear the outboard wasn't going to start again, so only two options remained:  paddle out through the breakers, or portage everything up the cliff behind the beach. Including the dinghy, outboard, repaired windlass, and all the provisions. Everyone seemed to prefer the former option.

Matt was elected to lead the charge, being a serious paddler back home in Oz. Jim felt like another swim, so volunteered to come along for a laugh. Or several laughs, actually, as it took 5 or 6 attempts to get past the breakers. Each time being beaten back, rolled, spun, submerged, and generally rinse-cycled. If there was anyone watching from the top of those cliffs they would have been on their knees, laughing so hard. We were.

Happy days...

The sun was shining, we were having fun in a perverse sort of way, and finally, just before we felt we really should call it a day, Neptune decided to give us a break. Maybe he had an appointment elsewhere. Anyway, we made it back out to Harlequin, quickly fitted the windlass (the dry bag had worked, amazingly), and weighed anchor for Cascade Bay.

The shore party were now to cart the outboard & provisions back up the cliff to the waiting hire-car, have the outboard fixed in town, then meet us back at Cascade Bay. With some fish & chips. By now, we had worked up one hell of an appetite!

Norfolk Island break for R&R

Norfolk Island courtesy of Google Earth

Day 7, Wednesday 6th Feb, dawned (well almost) as we carefully approached Norfolk Island's northern shores.

In the fresh SE'ly, the best shelter was to be had in Cascade Bay, an old whaling station which also boasted a small pier where we could land to meet the Customs Officer - and yes, we were going to have to clear back into Australia again...

First, though, we had to feel our way around the west and north of the island in the dark, then into anchoring depth with only limited electronic charts on the laptop to assist. The new NZ Navionics chip in the chart-plotter was not going to play ball. No nav beacons and not a lot of moon, but the kind Customs lady said that they would leave the light on at the un-manned pier. And they did! And it helped!

Cascade Bay pier

By dawn we were anchored about 200 m off the pier in 15 m and, of course, required a couple of celebratory Bundy Cokes to calm the nerves. And as a warmer, after the obligatory refreshing dip off the transom into some rather fresh seawater!

Four hours later, Jim, John and Phil staggered ashore to meet the Customs officer at 0900. She had very kindly driven down to give us a lift into town for CIQ (arrival & departure dealt with at the same time) and collect a hire-car to help with our repairs and provisioning.

Jim took Customs, John the hire-car and Phil the steering chain fix. All was sorted in short order, leaving time for a quick explore of this pretty island, including a drive to the summit of Mount Bates for a stunning all-round view. The seas didn't seem quite so big from way up there!

By midday we were back aboard, to allow the rest of the crew away for some R&R. Despite a service and new brushes in Mooloolaba, the windlass had also packed up again, so that was to be taken ashore too, for another rebuild.

The local advice was to overnight in Anson Bay, so the shore party were due back aboard by 1700 latest, to allow us time to drop anchor round there in daylight. They weren't and we didn't. They rolled up (literally) at 1800, so we swiftly swapped Matt C for John, Tiny & Jan and started the slow process of weighing anchor (and a lot of chain) by hand.


Reaching Anson Bay in the dark, for another very careful approach towards the breakers, it was clear we were going to have to anchor well out, and the remaining shore party of Phil and the two Matts would have to deal with a night ashore. We didn't get any complaints.

Or a lot of sleep, as the enduring S'ly swell played havoc on the beam...