Tasmania to New Zealand Galleries

Tasman Sea Passage : November , 2003... November 22, ADAGIO set off for a very interesting eastward crossing of the Tasman Sea. ...Soon we were making 13 knots boatspeed in 27 knots of wind. We averaged 10 knots for the next several hours under full main and jib with winds in the low 20's on our starboard quarter. This was Pete's first Tasman Sea crossing and the word he chose to describe his experience was, "Sen-SAY-tional!" Thunder down under. Early on the sixth day of our passage from Hobart, Tasmania to Nelson, New Zealand, gale force winds had been blowing in the mid to high 30's for 24 hours, and the seas were continuing to build but not yet breaking dangerously. The true wind angle was 130 degrees and the angle of the seas similar, so when the crest of one of the largest five to six meter waves broke close astern, Adagio received either a noisy strike on the starboard quarter, or a cascade into the cockpit. The forecast of light winds on the third day had turned into something very different...

Tasman Sea Passage

November , 2003... November 22, ADAGIO set off for a very interesting eastward crossing of the Tasman Sea. ...Soon we were making 13 knots boatspeed in 27 knots of wind. We averaged 10 knots for the next several hours under full main and jib with winds in the low 20's on our starboard quarter. This was Pete's first Tasman Sea crossing an ...

Updated: Nov 20, 2006 9:23pm PST

Nelson New Zealand : November - December, 2003... On November 28, after a rollicking passage from Hobart, Tasmania, we arrived aboard ADAGIO at the Customs Dock, “D” pier, in the Nelson New Zealand Marina and were met by Customs and Agriculture representatives at 2330 hours.  This was our first visit to Nelson, although several of our friends lived there.  Our long time friend from Russell, Eva Brown, came aboard as soon as she could. It was just like old times, and we had much catching up to do.  She showed us around town, invited us into her beautiful home and introduced us to many of her friends.     Two very special cruisers whom we had been looking forward to meeting were Maurice and Katie Cloughley, of the sailing vessel NANOOK OF THE NORTH.  Their small sailing vessel had carried them on several circumnavigations, including the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea and Soviet Union east coast.  They published two books of their travels, illustrated with Maurice's exquisite woodblock prints and drawings.  We made the short walk from the marina to their home.  Maurice said that they had never owned a car and that this was their first house.  They wanted to be within walking distance of the marina so that after a rainfall Maurice could walk to the marina to throw buckets of salt water onto NANOOK's wooden decks to preserve the wood.

Nelson New Zealand

November - December, 2003... On November 28, after a rollicking passage from Hobart, Tasmania, we arrived aboard ADAGIO at the Customs Dock, “D” pier, in the Nelson New Zealand Marina and were met by Customs and Agriculture representatives at 2330 hours.  This was our first visit to Nelson, although several of our friends li ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 1:23pm PST

Nelson to Great Barrier Island : January, 2004... We departed Nelson Harbor at 1140 hours on December 30. Most of the hills of the Marlborough Sounds have been logged bare, and mussel farms line many of the shores. The wind "bullets" can be funneled down the valleys, so we would choose our anchorages carefully. Three hours later we were entering Croisilles Harbour where we picked up the mooring owned by Dick and Babbie, in Wairangi Bay, inshore of mussel farms. The sunset was framed in the mouth of the inlet whose tree-lined headlands stood in stark silhouette. By 3 PM on January 11, we had set our anchor in 10 meters of water at the head of Whangaparapara Harbour, Great Barrier Island. Surrounded by green hills, several boats on moorings and several more on anchor. Helmut & Meryl of the sailing catamaran FALLADO have their house at the head of the bay. We phoned their cell phone to learn that they were still in Picton, waiting for a weather window to come north. They offered us their mooring in this bay, but we preferred to anchor. We slept well.

Nelson to Great Barrier Island

January, 2004... We departed Nelson Harbor at 1140 hours on December 30. Most of the hills of the Marlborough Sounds have been logged bare, and mussel farms line many of the shores. The wind "bullets" can be funneled down the valleys, so we would choose our anchorages carefully. Three hours later we were entering Croisilles Harbour where ...

Updated: Nov 20, 2006 9:42pm PST