1. Dingo in New Zealand: Tasmania to New Zealand
The 10-day crossing
Kettering is rapidly becoming the home of the cruising yacht in Tasmania and is a quite delightful small village attracting many yachties to buy in and settle down. Apart from its scenic attractions and excellent local sailing grounds it has a good community with all that is dear to the sailors heart, namely marine mechanics, electricians, welders, canvas workers, sailmakers and shipwrights who still have the time of day to talk to you.
Pre departure Dingo soaked up another rush of jobs and a 5-day haul out to get her wet parts ready. In the three weeks of preparation we had one day off when Mike, young Alice, Hughsie and self climbed Fiddle Sticks on the Organ pipes mount Wellington (while Rejane went to the movies),. In total since we bought her three years ago, Dingo has needed around 4 months of solid work (and my retirement stash!) to upgrade her from day sailer to ocean cruiser. To date we have sailed from Geelong to Kettering (2008), Tasmania east coast and Port Davey (2009) and round Tasmania (2010). She is kept on a mooring in nearby Big Oyster Cove where several friends keep a loose eye on her when we are home in NSW.
Mike Goff from West Virginia joined us for the voyage tempted by the promise of new routes in Fjordland. Mike and I have climbed together on and off for 48 years and though he has little sailing experience a mountaineeer who you know and trust is better than a good yachtie who you might not. Especially when the goiing gets really tough and we have had our share of that over the years.
Mick and James the Customs and Immigration officers kindly checked us out from Kettering's Oyster Cove Marina but there was a bit of delay when they discovered they had forgotten their stamp and had to rush back to Hobart for it. At 11.30 we were cast off by our friend Matt and motored up the D'Entrecasteaux channel for Storm Bay. Arriving just as the land breeze set in we sailed accross to Nubeena to anchor early and continue the stowing and more 'last minute jobs'. Next day we took the northerly and ran down to Port Arthur anchoring at beautiful Stinking Bay on the advice of Ian (Ian and Kim of 'Roaring Forties') who had kindly offered to do our weather routing for the duration of this trip.Around 10 am on Friday Jan 21st we motored out of Port Arthur and set sail heading east-south-east further down into the forties (Kettering latitude: 43°S, and our farthest south off the Snares: 47°S).
Haze and mist and gentle northerly got us off shore but on day two we had gale force winds as a front came through, big seas to 4m and prolonged spells of 45kn. This took us north of our track and had us reefed right down for 8 hours. We then went south on the ensuing south-westerly.
This forced us to heave-to 70 miles due west of the Snares and 90 miles SW of the south cape of Stewart island. The next 24 hours we spent hove-to or fore-reaching after the storm jib sheet chafed through. The night was particularly bad and had us putting together drogue and storm anchor in anticipation of worse to come. In a moderation the following day we ran in toward the SE coast of Stewart island. We had to hand steer straight down wind on a building south-westerly, big seas/swell with bands of rain adding to the difficulties especially as night fell. Mike earned his 'helmsman first class' badge that night! At dawn we still had 20 miles to Port Pegasus and the wind started to increase even further, continuing to do so all day till it peaked at a steady 60knots just off the Lords River.
We tried to make it in to Port Pegasus but even motorsailing could not best the wind which was now a westerly. We turned away and ran up the coast with Rejane saving our bacon by getting advice from 'Good as Gold' Mary of the Fishermen's radio net suggesting Lords River as our best and as it turned out only, option.
Even in the lee of Stewart Island the seas were up to 3 - 4 meters over a 4 mile fetch and the wind extremely violent whipping the tops off waves, streaking and often turning sea and air white over large areas for prolonged periods. On storm jib alone we were making up to 10.5 kn on the surf and not dropping below 6 kn. We managed to swing round Surf Head into Lords River but got stopped dead and turned round 180 degrees three times in the entrance by the wind and williwas blowing down the inlet.
Finally managed to inch our way in the odd lull and spotting a fishing boat in a sheltered bay asked for a tie alongside as our anchors were all de-rigged for the crossing. In true Stewart Island fashion we were welcomed alongside, given advice, fresh blue cod, an offer of a mooring in Bluff and an invite over for a beer. This last was declined as we were all quite shattered and a bit shocked by the violence of the last 48 hours and I made several resolutions such as having all bad weather storm gear fully set up and instantly ready for action.
We spent the night tied up to Stephen and Gordon ('fluff')'s fishing boat 'Legacy' and slept right through happy to be in this quiet nook and not being trashed out in the great southern ocean. In the morning Fluff informed us the rafted vessels had dragged right down the ibnlet, a first for them, and fetched up snagged on a mooring sterns just metters from the rocks.
As the lads were off fishing we cast off and motored round the corner to the Nook and tied up to a fixed stern line and deployed our bow anchor and started clearing up the chaos.
We will front up in Bluff (official port of entry – a day's sail away) to be scolded and checked in (customs and immigration) and then set off on the next leg: Stewart Island and the Fjordland.
Rejane's afterword: I would like to add to this account the seasickness and the stress (read 'fear') of being right on the edge for a prolonged period. Believe me, there was enough of both!
PS Well it might have been a day sail from the Nook in Lords river to Bluff but it took five more days before we got in due to two more gales that came through. We managed to move to Little Glory cove in Paterson's inlet for two more windy nights and thence a good sail into Bluff. This is a wild and industrial port with over sixty fishing boats and only one other yacht "Expeditus" from Adelaide tied up here. The people are as friendly and helpful as possible and we have been looked after at every turn. Brett the Customs man and his partner from Bio security were relaxed about it all and gone in an hour leaving us staggering round to the pub for a beer after 14 days on the boat.
We have now been to Invercargill, a great little city with a well preserved architecture in the CBD and lots of energy. Saw True Grit at the flicks and had a good walk round. Its now blowing a hoolie and we need to head back to the boat to tend the lines and fenders as the gale is blowing onto the jetty. Out of the last 8 days there has been seven days of storm warnings in sea area Puysegur, the one we have to go through to get into the south end of the Fjords. Not for a while yet!
In no particular order, thanks are heartedly given (for help, advice, hospitality and friendship) to:
Jeannie and Rod Ledhingham
Matt Orbell
Jerry from the marina
Ian Hughes
Mick and Luke Burroughs
Ian 'Spanners'
Garry
Ken
Phil from the marina
Reg Marron
Shell
John Gardner
Ian and Kim of 'Roaring Forties'
Ian from the chandlery
Heddy and Peter
Steff and Duncan
Mike and Wendy
Bryony, Stan, Alice and Noah
The guys who made our storm jib at Omega sails (Geelong)!
