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After
owning Rapport for 16 months we now know her pretty well and have
plenty of confidence in her cruising ability and reliability.
Although we bought her as being “ready to cruise” that turned out
to be not the case and the first three months or so were spent adding
equipment and bringing
up to our high standards. For the past several months we’ve cruised
extensively and clocked 129 nights aboard and 329 engine hours.

A
huge surprise for us has been Rapport’s remarkable economy. She’s
powered by twin 375hp Caterpillar 3208s and we generally cruise
around 1,400rpm
giving us about 8
knots. She’s
capable of the 21 knots we achieved during our pre-purchase sea trial
with full water and fuel plus five adults aboard, but Di and I prefer
the more sedate 8-10 knots although we do
regularly
run her faster for up to 30 minutes in order to load up the engines.
We’ve found that we’re averaging about 15 litres/hour each engine
for a total of 30 litres/hour and this includes running our 7.5Kw
genset for an average of three hours daily. I had honestly expected a
figure nearing double this and combined with Rapport’s huge 2,800
litres diesel tank capacity we
have a big cruising range with refuelling being a rare occurrence.
For example since our last refuel on 27 December we’ve spent 58
days cruising clocking 133 engine hours, only refuelled once and
still have over 500 litres in the tanks.

Here
is an edited version of an article shortly to be appearing in Pacific
PowerBoat.

You
can easily
miss a lot
when sitting aboard your boat anchored a couple of hundred metres
offshore, but
if you take the time to jump into your dinghy and explore the nearby
coastline you’ll
be well
rewarded and
gain a better appreciation of your anchorage, for
example
knowing
where any
rocky
outcrops
and shallower patches begin
(keep a
lead line in your dinghy to check depths).

If
you have young children aboard you
can make
your dinghy
trip a real
adventure for
them too as
well as letting
them drive the dinghy and teaching
them about
about
“messing about in boats”. Last
but not least, surprisingly
large snapper can be caught close to inshore
rocks in
just a couple of metres of water using
floating lines and
large baits,
especially
in the subdued light of early mornings and late afternoons although
I must add
that we don’t like fishing from inflatables as they are too prone
to being punctured by spines.

If
we’re going ashore on
Hauraki Gulf island
beaches we
often take a small rubbish bag to gather any
unsightly litter. As
my background is in the plastics industry we’re a bit sensitive to
the inaccurate negative publicity related to what is really an issue
of littering, not technology. I must say that despite
publicity about littered beaches we rarely find more than the
odd plastic
bag or
container, a few bottle tops and an old jandal. Sometimes
we literally can’t find a single item of rubbish. Maybe
other folks
are regularly
cleaning up
beaches too?

Here’s
some examples of dinghy trips we’ve enjoyed.

Rangitoto
Island’s Islington
Bay is one
of the Gulf’s most popular and sheltered anchorages and we’ve
anchored here countless
times during
40 years cruising.
It’s
sheltered from all except S to SE winds so generally like the
proverbial millpond except for some residual wakes from passing
ferries and large launches. From
out in the
bay Rangitoto’s
rocky
coastline
looks much the same, but
as you cruise close to shore a different world opens up of small
coves and the remains of small jetties and launching ramps not
visible from afar.
At the
northern end of the bay Rangitoto is
separated from Motutapu
Island by a
narrow estuary heading north under a bridge into Gardiner Gap, a
shallow bay separating the two islands. Within
about two
hours or so each side of high water this estuary is completely
navigable by small dinghy, but be ready to duck going under the
bridge. Unlike Islington Bay itself the estuary has clear water and
is a good place to have a swim, though watch out for rays which often
glide
across the bottom searching
for small fish and shellfish.
Likewise
Gardiner Gap is good for swimming close to high tide. If
you beach your dinghy near the bridge you can walk east over the farm
lands of Motutapu or follow a track around Islington Bay’s
coastline. There
used to be dozens of baches here built mainly in the 1920s
and 30s and these were
rustic
simple dwellings unlike many
of today’s
small mansions that people rather ironically still call baches.
Many were later
removed after
disputes about land leases,
but you can still see where they were located along with remaining
chimneys and foundations. Fortunately
a few
baches remain
reminding us how
people then travelled
here by ferry to enjoy
their simple
holidays at
a slower pace of life.

Another
very popular anchorage is Kawau Island’s Bon
Accord Harbour. This is particularly sheltered in easterly winds and
the harbour’s depth allows anchoring well up the bay’s head
between Emu
Point
and Moores Bay.
Take your dinghy on a trip into Swansea Bay on the north eastern
corner up to a couple of hours either side of high water, passing
through the mangroves and into the creek. It’s
possible to navigate several hundred metres up
this creek into
a delightfully tranquil valley of bush where the only sounds are
birds singing and jumping fish splashing. The water is clean and
easily clear enough to see any obstructions such as submerged
branches. Kids
love it if you pretend these logs are in fact crocodiles and
embellish the story accordingly. Up
this creek are several fresh water pools, ideal for a dip to wash the
salt off.

If
you’re visiting Coromandel Harbour a great dinghy trip is
navigating the creek to Coromandel township. Anchor your vessel
south-west of the Coromandel wharf and set off about an hour before
high tide. Be
aware the sea can become
choppy in strong westerlies so
don’t overload your dinghy.
In
this area life jackets must be worn, not just carried aboard and
this requirement is enforced by
particularly vigilant authorities.
The channel is evident and you’ll see some fairly large fishing
vessels moored alongside makeshift jetties either side of the
fairway. After a few hundred metres you’ll come
to a bridge
carrying the main road across the creek and a large area where you
can beach your dinghy. The township has
an eclectic mix of people (read
as people who became hippies in the 1960s and got stuck in the
groove) and
ranks as
one of the most picturesque we’ve seen while
providing
all the cruising supplies
you may
need. In
the old days we’d often go into the pub for a cold beer, but we’re
now more inclined to have a doughnut and coffee at the bakery.
There’s also a very good takeaway offering tempting fish and chip
lunches. Don’t lose track of time though as the creek does get
shallow as the tide recedes. On
our very first trip here we moored our 6 metre runabout to the wharf
and were shocked to find it high and dry when we returned, giving us
no choice but to return to the pub.

A
trip we want to do soon is to anchor off Arkles Bay and do a dinghy
trip up the Wade River to Silverdale. Enjoy
your dinghy exploration and find your own favourites.

After owning Rapport for 16 months we now know her pretty well and have plenty of confidence in her cruising ability and reliability. Although we bought her as being “ready to cruise” that turned out to be not the case and the first three months or so were spent adding equipment and bringing up to our high standards. For the past several months we’ve cruised extensively and clocked 129 nights aboard and 329 engine hours.

A huge surprise for us has been Rapport’s remarkable economy. She’s powered by twin 375hp Caterpillar 3208s and we generally cruise around 1,400rpm giving us about 8knots. She’s capable of the 21 knots we achieved during our pre-purchase sea trial with full water and fuel plus five adults aboard, but Di and I prefer the more sedate 8-10 knots although we do regularly run her faster for up to 30 minutes in order to load up the engines. We’ve found that we’re averaging about 15 litres/hour each engine for a total of 30 litres/hour and this includes running our 7.5Kw genset for an average of three hours daily. I had honestly expected a figure nearing double this and combined with Rapport’s huge 2,800litres diesel tank capacity we have a big cruising range with refuelling being a rare occurrence. For example since our last refuel on 27 December we’ve spent 58 days cruising clocking 133 engine hours, only refuelled once and still have over 500 litres in the tanks.

Here is an edited version of an article shortly to be appearing in Pacific PowerBoat.

You can easily miss a lot when sitting aboard your boat anchored a couple of hundred metres offshore, butif you take the time to jump into your dinghy and explore the nearby coastline you’ll be well rewarded andgain a better appreciation of your anchorage, for exampleknowingwhere anyrocky outcropsand shallower patches begin(keep a lead line in your dinghy to check depths).

If you have young children aboard you can makeyour dinghy trip a real adventure for them too as well as letting them drive the dinghy and teaching them aboutabout “messing about in boats”. Last but not least, surprisingly large snapper can be caught close to inshore rocks in just a couple of metres of water using floating lines and large baits, especially in the subdued light of early mornings and late afternoons althoughI must add that we don’t like fishing from inflatables as they are too prone to being punctured by spines.

If we’re going ashore onHauraki Gulf island beaches we often take a small rubbish bag to gather anyunsightly litter. As my background is in the plastics industry we’re a bit sensitive to the inaccurate negative publicity related to what is really an issue of littering, not technology. I must say that despite publicity about littered beaches we rarely find more than the odd plastic bag orcontainer, a few bottle tops and an old jandal. Sometimes we literally can’t find a single item of rubbish. Maybe other folks are regularly cleaning up beaches too?

Here’s some examples of dinghy trips we’ve enjoyed.

Rangitoto Island’s Islington Bay is one of the Gulf’s most popular and sheltered anchorages and we’ve anchored here countlesstimes during 40 years cruising. It’s sheltered from all except S to SE winds so generally like the proverbial millpond except for some residual wakes from passing ferries and large launches. From out in the bay Rangitoto’srockycoastline looks much the same, but as you cruise close to shore a different world opens up of small coves and the remains of small jetties and launching ramps not visible from afar. At the northern end of the bay Rangitoto is separated from Motutapu Island by a narrow estuary heading north under a bridge into Gardiner Gap, a shallow bay separating the two islands. Within about twohours or so each side of high water this estuary is completely navigable by small dinghy, but be ready to duck going under the bridge. Unlike Islington Bay itself the estuary has clear water and is a good place to have a swim, though watch out for rays which often glide across the bottom searchingfor small fish and shellfish. Likewise Gardiner Gap is good for swimming close to high tide. If you beach your dinghy near the bridge you can walk east over the farm lands of Motutapu or follow a track around Islington Bay’s coastline. There used to be dozens of baches here built mainly in the 1920s and 30s and these wererusticsimple dwellings unlike many of today’s small mansions that people rather ironically still call baches.Many were laterremoved after disputes about land leases, but you can still see where they were located along with remaining chimneys and foundations. Fortunately a few baches remainreminding us how people then travelled here by ferry to enjoy their simple holidays at a slower pace of life.

Another very popular anchorage is Kawau Island’s Bon Accord Harbour. This is particularly sheltered in easterly winds and the harbour’s depth allows anchoring well up the bay’s head between Emu Point and Moores Bay. Take your dinghy on a trip into Swansea Bay on the north eastern corner up to a couple of hours either side of high water, passing through the mangroves and into the creek. It’s possible to navigate several hundred metres up this creek into a delightfully tranquil valley of bush where the only sounds are birds singing and jumping fish splashing. The water is clean and easily clear enough to see any obstructions such as submerged branches. Kids love it if you pretend these logs are in fact crocodiles and embellish the story accordingly. Up this creek are several fresh water pools, ideal for a dip to wash the salt off.

If you’re visiting Coromandel Harbour a great dinghy trip is navigating the creek to Coromandel township. Anchor your vessel south-west of the Coromandel wharf and set off about an hour before high tide. Be aware the sea can becomechoppy in strong westerlies so don’t overload your dinghy.In this area life jackets must be worn, not just carried aboard and this requirement is enforced by particularly vigilant authorities. The channel is evident and you’ll see some fairly large fishing vessels moored alongside makeshift jetties either side of the fairway. After a few hundred metres you’ll come to a bridge carrying the main road across the creek and a large area where you can beach your dinghy. The township has an eclectic mix of people (read as people who became hippies in the 1960s and got stuck in the groove) and ranks as one of the most picturesque we’ve seen whileproviding all the cruising supplies you may need. In the old days we’d often go into the pub for a cold beer, but we’re now more inclined to have a doughnut and coffee at the bakery. There’s also a very good takeaway offering tempting fish and chip lunches. Don’t lose track of time though as the creek does get shallow as the tide recedes. On our very first trip here we moored our 6 metre runabout to the wharf and were shocked to find it high and dry when we returned, giving us no choice but to return to the pub.

A trip we want to do soon is to anchor off Arkles Bay and do a dinghy trip up the Wade River to Silverdale. Enjoy your dinghy exploration and find your own favourites.

This
is an edited version of an article shortly to appear in Pacific
PowerBoat magazine.

We
set off after
Boxing Day for
a seven week cruise,
our first
stop being
Motutapu
Island at
our
favoured anchorage of
Waikalabubu. We
love that name – sounds very exotic. Here it’s
very sheltered in south-westerlies and only minutes away from great
fishing in the Rakino Channel.

After
collecting Di’s
sister, Sharon
and her
husband, Doug from
Gulf Harbour marina we head to
Mahurangi
Harbour.
The popular
anchorage here is Otarawao Bay on the port side as you enter, but
it’s
often used by shore-based jet skiers breaking all the rules so we
head a further mile up harbour to anchor off
Oaua Point
at the entrance to the Pukapuka Inlet. Here
it’s more sheltered and quieter, the only sounds
being the splashes of some large fish jumping.

Spending
a few days
around
Kawau
Island we
enjoy good
fishing on the island’s
north-east
coast
around
Fairchild Reef. In strong westerlies a good anchorage at
Kawau is
difficult to find, the
best one being
Harris Bay
in Bon Accord Harbour if
you tuck close to shore.
But
that’s
generally
crowded so
we anchor at Goldsworthy Bay on the southern side of Kawau Bay
finding
excellent shelter and
only two other boats for company.
In northerlies our preference is the
very picturesque Bostaquet
Bay with
its great sandy beach.

A
visit to the Kawau Boating Club is a must with diesel and water at
the wharf, basic
provisions, laundry
and shower facilities available
and an
excellent licensed cafe where
we enjoy a
perfect lunch of seafood
chowder and
smoked fish pie. In
fact we like it so much we join the club.

Most
of our time is spent at Aotea
/ Great
Barrier Island and overall
it’s
hard to beat, providing
a huge
number of varied, safe and interesting anchorages and
some great
sandy beaches. It’s
well
supplied with fuel (although
$1 per litre above mainland prices),
water and stores
and offers
superb
fishing. We
regularly
caught good
feeds of snapper up to a 72cm,
7kg
specimen that we returned to the sea and
even caught
legal snapper in five
metres of
water at one of our anchorages.

There
must be a few crays around too as the skipper of a nearby
boat gave
us the rare treat of one to enjoy. We
offered him a bottle of wine in return, but he preferred a loaf of
bread, something we’ll be happy to trade for a cray any day.

The
Barrier also has many great walking tracks taking you to scenic
vantage points, hot
mineral springs, kauri dams, waterfalls and the remains of a whaling
station. If the arts are your thing you
can visit the studios of
several local talented painters and potters.

Our
preferred Barrier
anchorages
are Kiwiriki (“Two-Island”) Bay
and Wairahi
(“Ghost”) Bay in Port Fitzroy, Nagle Cove and Karaka Bay (where
laundry facilities are available at
Orama Oasis)
in Port
Abercrombie, the Broken Islands in
settled weather, Bowling
Alley Bay in
north-westerlies through to easterlies and Whangaparapara in
easterlies or light westerlies.

Port
Fitzroy’s Smokehouse
Bay is very popular and it’s well worth going ashore to see the
bath house, where
you can also do
some laundry, exchange
books and most often chat with
other boaties.
Fresh water
is available here at high water from a hose on the grid. Incidentally
water is no longer available at Forestry
Bay and while there is usually water available from Whangaparapara
the supply has been turned off due to low supplies.

Nearby
Smokehouse
Bay in
Ghost Bay Barrier Gold sell manuka honey and related products from a
rustic barn where you can also catch up on the local news.

Recycling
can be disposed free and garbage $5 per bag near the Port Fitzroy
wharf where fuel, water, ice and bait are also available. Take
a short
walk up the hill where
a store offers
basic supplies, beverages
and lpg bottle refills. However
stocks are intermittent here and
the best
place for supplies is Tryphena where virtually everything is
consistently
available
from the Stonewall Store at Puriri Bay, one
of the island’s nicest sandy beaches
except in
strong westerlies.

The
Barrier has its own private radio station working VHF channel 01 with
weather forecasts at 0745 and 1745 while
Coastguard can be contacted on channel 60.

In
most of the anchorages we
visit there
are
roughly 60 per cent yachts and 40 per cent motor vessels. Among the
yachts it’s noticeable there are less traditional designs and more
imports, including
catamarans. When
we started cruising in the 1980s 12 metre vessels such as Marklines,
Corsairs, Rivieras
and
Vindexes were considered large and
Kennedy 46s
were enormous. Now these are
small by comparison with many of today’s newer vessels and
it’s not uncommon to see vessels in the 20-25 metre range.
Unfortunately
some of
these large vessels cause enormous wakes of around 1.5m, a fact that
seems to escape the
notice of some
of their skippers.

Despite
exceptional numbers of cruisers predicted
to enjoy
this
holiday
season we
didn’t notice
areas we visited being
any busier
than normal.
Maybe people had less annual leave available
or was it
the relatively strong south-westerlies prevalent for much of the time
– in all of
our time away there were only a handful of days with light winds.

The
subject of sharks has been widely covered in the media since
Waihi Beach’s tragic fatal attack in
early January.
We hooked and released six
small
sharks while snapper fishing and saw several others
swimming near us or other anchored boats including three large bronze
whalers just off Port Fitzroy wharf,
one in
Whangaparapara and one in Tryphena.
On the
homeward journey we also see a large shark inside Kawau’s Bon
Accord Harbour. The
experts say sharks
are more noticeable because
the water’s clearer and there’s more people around to notice
them, but we’re not convinced and others
aren’t either judging
by the
noticeable drop in numbers of swimmers off anchored
boats. There’s
a strong case for not filleting fish where people are likely to swim
as sharks are certainly attracted by the
scraps.
It’s
much better
to bag the frames and scraps and dump
them later
in deeper
isolated waters,
something
we’re now
doing and encourage others to do the same.

From
the Barrier
we make a side trip to
the stunning
Mercury
Islands (25 miles
from Tryphena) and Whitianga (43 miles
from Tryphena) and
wonder why more
cruisers don’t make this
relatively short trip down from the Barrier.
Our close
friends Frank and Marie are staying at Whitianga’s
Simpsons
Beach and join us for a three day trip to the Mercurys.

We
find
Whitianga’s
Mercury Bay tough going for fishing, although Great
Mercury
Island
provides
us with snapper, kahawai and grandaddy hapuka.

Mercury
Cove is snug in all winds except strong south-easterlies while
Coralie Bay is great in westerlies and the various sandy
bays along
the south coast are delightful
in northerlies. Another
option in strong westerlies is Kennedy Bay about eleven miles to the
east on the Coromandel Peninsula. There
are many other glorious beaches on the Coromandel’s east coast but
most of them are only suitable for anchoring over night in very
settled weather due to swell.

Around
Whitianga overnight
anchoring in
south-westerlies is good off Wharekaho (“Simpsons”) Beach or
Cooks Beach,
but there
are no good anchoring
options in easterlies.

Whitianga
is a perfect
place to re-supply and it’s generally possible to use a mooring in
the harbour for
this purpose,
while
diesel is available from the marina at mainland prices. In
town is the amazing shop called Pinky’s – something like an
up-market
$2 shop offering
a huge range of
useful products and
we challenge anybody to come out of there without buying something.

On
our way home we backtrack our outward voyage via Great Barrier and
Kawau and
cutting our planned time away by three days due to a forecast of
winds around 50 knots and heavy rain. When this weather arrives
Rapport is safely on her marina and we’re home once again, planning
our next trip.

This is an edited version of an article shortly to appear in Pacific PowerBoat magazine.

We set off after Boxing Day for a seven week cruise,our first stop beingMotutapu Island at our favoured anchorage ofWaikalabubu. We love that name – sounds very exotic. Here it’svery sheltered in south-westerlies and only minutes away from great fishing in the Rakino Channel.

After collecting Di’s sister, Sharonand her husband, Doug from Gulf Harbour marina we head toMahurangi Harbour. The popular anchorage here is Otarawao Bay on the port side as you enter, but it’s often used by shore-based jet skiers breaking all the rules so we head a further mile up harbour to anchor off Oaua Point at the entrance to the Pukapuka Inlet. Here it’s more sheltered and quieter, the only soundsbeing the splashes of some large fish jumping.

Spending a few days around Kawau Island we enjoy good fishing on the island’s north-east coastaroundFairchild Reef. In strong westerlies a good anchorage at Kawau isdifficult to find, the best one beingHarris Bay in Bon Accord Harbour if you tuck close to shore. But that’sgenerally crowded so we anchor at Goldsworthy Bay on the southern side of Kawau Bay findingexcellent shelter and only two other boats for company. In northerlies our preference is the very picturesque Bostaquet Bay with its great sandy beach.

A visit to the Kawau Boating Club is a must with diesel and water at the wharf, basic provisions, laundry and shower facilities available and an excellent licensed cafe where we enjoy a perfect lunch of seafood chowder and smoked fish pie. In fact we like it so much we join the club.

Most of our time is spent at Aotea / Great Barrier Island and overall it’shard to beat, providinga hugenumber of varied, safe and interesting anchorages and some great sandy beaches. It’s well supplied with fuel (although$1 per litre above mainland prices), water and storesand offerssuperb fishing. We regularly caught good feeds of snapper up to a 72cm, 7kg specimen that we returned to the sea and even caught legal snapper in five metres of water at one of our anchorages.

There must be a few crays around too as the skipper of a nearby boat gave us the rare treat of one to enjoy. We offered him a bottle of wine in return, but he preferred a loaf of bread, something we’ll be happy to trade for a cray any day.

The Barrier also has many great walking tracks taking you to scenic vantage points, hot mineral springs, kauri dams, waterfalls and the remains of a whaling station. If the arts are your thing you can visit the studios ofseveral local talented painters and potters.

Our preferred Barrier anchorages are Kiwiriki (“Two-Island”) Bay and Wairahi (“Ghost”) Bay in Port Fitzroy, Nagle Cove and Karaka Bay (where laundry facilities are available at Orama Oasis) in Port Abercrombie, the Broken Islands in settled weather, Bowling Alley Bay in north-westerlies through to easterlies and Whangaparapara in easterlies or light westerlies.

Port Fitzroy’s Smokehouse Bay is very popular and it’s well worth going ashore to see the bath house, where you can also do some laundry, exchange books and most often chat withother boaties.Fresh water is available here at high water from a hose on the grid. Incidentally water is no longer available at Forestry Bay and while there is usually water available from Whangaparapara the supply has been turned off due to low supplies.

Nearby Smokehouse Bay in Ghost Bay Barrier Gold sell manuka honey and related products from a rustic barn where you can also catch up on the local news.

Recycling can be disposed free and garbage $5 per bag near the Port Fitzroy wharf where fuel, water, ice and bait are also available. Take a short walk up the hill wherea store offersbasic supplies, beverages and lpg bottle refills. However stocks are intermittent here andthe best place for supplies is Tryphena where virtually everything is consistently available from the Stonewall Store at Puriri Bay, one of the island’s nicest sandy beaches except in strong westerlies.

The Barrier has its own private radio station working VHF channel 01 with weather forecasts at 0745 and 1745 while Coastguard can be contacted on channel 60.

In most of the anchorages we visit there areroughly 60 per cent yachts and 40 per cent motor vessels. Among the yachts it’s noticeable there are less traditional designs and more imports, including catamarans. When we started cruising in the 1980s 12 metre vessels such as Marklines, Corsairs, Rivierasand Vindexes were considered large andKennedy 46s were enormous. Now these are small by comparison with many of today’s newer vessels and it’s not uncommon to see vessels in the 20-25 metre range. Unfortunately some of these large vessels cause enormous wakes of around 1.5m, a fact that seems to escape the notice of some of their skippers.

Despiteexceptional numbers of cruisers predicted to enjoy thisholidayseason we didn’t noticeareas we visited being any busier than normal. Maybe people had less annual leave availableor was itthe relatively strong south-westerlies prevalent for much of the time – in all of our time away there were only a handful of days with light winds.

The subject of sharks has been widely covered in the media since Waihi Beach’s tragic fatal attack in early January.We hooked and released six smallsharks while snapper fishing and saw several othersswimming near us or other anchored boats including three large bronze whalers just off Port Fitzroy wharf, one in Whangaparapara and one in Tryphena.On the homeward journey we also see a large shark inside Kawau’s Bon Accord Harbour. The experts say sharks are more noticeable because the water’s clearer and there’s more people around to notice them, but we’re not convinced and others aren’t either judging by thenoticeable drop in numbers of swimmers off anchored boats. There’s a strong case for not filleting fish where people are likely to swim as sharks are certainly attracted by the scraps. It’s much better to bag the frames and scraps and dump them later in deeper isolated waters, something we’re now doing and encourage others to do the same.

From the Barrier we make a side trip to the stunning Mercury Islands (25 milesfrom Tryphena) and Whitianga (43 milesfrom Tryphena) and wonder why more cruisers don’t make thisrelatively short trip down from the Barrier.Our close friends Frank and Marie are staying at Whitianga’s Simpsons Beach and join us for a three day trip to the Mercurys.

We find Whitianga’s Mercury Bay tough going for fishing, although GreatMercuryIslandprovidesus with snapper, kahawai and grandaddy hapuka.

Mercury Cove is snug in all winds except strong south-easterlies while Coralie Bay is great in westerlies and the various sandy bays along the south coast are delightfulin northerlies. Another option in strong westerlies is Kennedy Bay about eleven miles to the east on the Coromandel Peninsula. There are many other glorious beaches on the Coromandel’s east coast but most of them are only suitable for anchoring over night in very settled weather due to swell.

Around Whitianga overnight anchoring in south-westerlies is good off Wharekaho (“Simpsons”) Beach or Cooks Beach,but there are no good anchoring options in easterlies.

Whitianga is a perfectplace to re-supply and it’s generally possible to use a mooring in the harbour for this purpose, while diesel is available from the marina at mainland prices. In town is the amazing shop called Pinky’s – something like an up-market $2 shop offeringa huge range of useful products and we challenge anybody to come out of there without buying something.

On our way home we backtrack our outward voyage via Great Barrier and Kawau and cutting our planned time away by three days due to a forecast of winds around 50 knots and heavy rain. When this weather arrives Rapport is safely on her marina and we’re home once again, planning our next trip.

Here is an edited version of an article we wrote appearing in the latest version of Pacific PowerBoat.

After
a difficult covid 19-dominated year and with lockdowns hopefully
behind us, the summer cruising season finally upon us and overseas
travel options restricted for the forseable future, unprecedented numbers of boaties are
expected to head out to enjoy the delights of their local cruising
area and beyond.

Some
guests may be experienced boaties, but even they need to know the
peculiarities of your boat (yes and even those  of the skipper). So cruising
with guests is made all the more enjoyable for all if they know what to
expect and after being welcomed aboard are made fully aware of
safety procedures, how things work, and the skipper’s basic
“rules”.

If
you’re planning to meet guests mid-way through your cruise consider
that it’s generally much easier and cheaper for you if they come to
where your boat is located rather than you needing to make major
detours to meet them. It’s a funny thing that we seem to baulk at spending hard earned dollars on a ferry or taxi, but not even more for diesel.

With space limited on boats you don’t want guests arriving with bulky
suitcases so discuss in advance what they should bring. Do they need
to bring their own linen and towels? If you don’t like guests
wearing shoes aboard your boat you need to provide guidelines
on suitable footwear as well as clothing for the cruise
(experience-based tip: guests always bring far too many clothes). Discuss food supplies to avoid duplication and to ensure any special requirements (which seem all too prevalent these days) are met. 

Two
major challenging areas with guests aboard can be the heads and water
conservation. Explain clearly to your guests exactly how the heads
operate and what not to flush down them; dismantling a blocked head
is not the ideal way to start a great holiday together! Also explain
how your boat has limitations with fresh water compared with life
ashore and the need to conserve water during showers (yes this particularly applies to the ladies).

Most
guests find it important to be able to charge their devices – mobile
phones, iPads, laptops etc and you need to explain how they can do
this. We also ask guests to leave their phones off or in silent mode
overnight to avoid interrupted sleep for others.

By
adopting some of the above suggestions your cruising experience with
guests can be made a whole lot more enjoyable for all and with memories of a great cruise they will
still be friends when they disembark.

Here is an edited version of an article we wrote appearing in the latest version of Pacific PowerBoat.

After a difficult covid 19-dominated year and with lockdowns hopefully behind us, the summer cruising season finally upon us and overseas travel options restricted for the forseable future, unprecedented numbers of boaties are expected to head out to enjoy the delights of their local cruising area and beyond.

Some guests may be experienced boaties, but even they need to know the peculiarities of your boat (yes and even those  of the skipper). So cruising with guests is made all the more enjoyable for all if they know what to expect and after being welcomed aboard are made fully aware of safety procedures, how things work, and the skipper’s basic “rules”.

If you’re planning to meet guests mid-way through your cruise consider that it’s generally much easier and cheaper for you if they come to where your boat is located rather than you needing to make major detours to meet them. It’s a funny thing that we seem to baulk at spending hard earned dollars on a ferry or taxi, but not even more for diesel.

With space limited on boats you don’t want guests arriving with bulky suitcases so discuss in advance what they should bring. Do they need to bring their own linen and towels? If you don’t like guests wearing shoes aboard your boat you need to provide guidelines on suitable footwear as well as clothing for the cruise (experience-based tip: guests always bring far too many clothes). Discuss food supplies to avoid duplication and to ensure any special requirements (which seem all too prevalent these days) are met. 

Two major challenging areas with guests aboard can be the heads and water conservation. Explain clearly to your guests exactly how the heads operate and what not to flush down them; dismantling a blocked head is not the ideal way to start a great holiday together! Also explain how your boat has limitations with fresh water compared with life ashore and the need to conserve water during showers (yes this particularly applies to the ladies).

Most guests find it important to be able to charge their devices – mobile phones, iPads, laptops etc and you need to explain how they can do this. We also ask guests to leave their phones off or in silent mode overnight to avoid interrupted sleep for others.

By adopting some of the above suggestions your cruising experience with guests can be made a whole lot more enjoyable for all and with memories of a great cruise they will still be friends when they disembark.

In
early October Tommo from Caterpillar spent most of a day servicing
our twin Cat 3208 engines and
I spent this time with him, learning a lot in the process.
They’re
supposed to be serviced annually or every 200-250 hours and although they’d
only done about
140 hours since the last service we needed to get the service
done before the summer holiday rush. Half the cost of service is the
multitude of filters, oils, anodes and other service parts replaced.

Due
to covid
we hadn’t used the boat since June, so in
mid October did
a three day shakedown cruise around
Rakino & Waiheke Islands. The fishing was surprisingly good and
we caught
one snapper 62cm long. 

Nice snapper caught northern end Rakino Channel

Rapport
has a NEMA 2000 network information sharing system and we found some
elements weren’t working properly. Subsequently the Furuno agents, ENL, came to the
boat and quickly found the problem caused by two faulty network cable connectors
which they replaced.

But
the biggest issue was the recently serviced generator kept shutting
down after about 30 mins operation. On
return to the marina we found the 5 year old start battery had gone
flat and replaced it, but that didn’t help. Our regular contractor
called in a genset electrical specialist who after a couple of hours
investigation found that during the service the oil pressure switch
had been replaced with an incorrect type. The switch is supposed to
send a signal to shut off the glow plugs after working oil pressure
is reached, but this switch wasn’t doing that so the glow plugs
were staying on and sucking 10
amps from
the battery. Once the correct oil pressure switch was fitted all was
OK.

Over
Labour Weekend we took out John, Alice and our grandkids Lily, Veida
& Axel. Again the fishing was good and the kids all caught their
first ever fish, but what sizes. We spent an afternoon ashore at Waiheke’s Man
O’War vineyard and although enjoyable was way too crowded with long
delays for food.

Not a bad snapper for 4 year old Veida’s first day of fishing

We
had another two weeks aboard during November, including on week with
Chris. The weather wasn’t great with winds up to 30 knots and many
showers, but everything ran well and again we had an abundance of
snapper.

After
a year of ownership we’ve logged 70 nights aboard and that’s not
bad considering all the time we couldn’t go out due to covid
restrictions.

We’ve postponed our Whitianga trip to around March-April.

In early October Tommo from Caterpillar spent most of a day servicing our twin Cat 3208 engines and I spent this time with him, learning a lot in the process. They’re supposed to be serviced annually or every 200-250 hours and although they’d only done about 140 hours since the last service we needed to get the service done before the summer holiday rush. Half the cost of service is the multitude of filters, oils, anodes and other service parts replaced.

Due to covid we hadn’t used the boat since June, so in mid October did a three day shakedown cruise around Rakino & Waiheke Islands. The fishing was surprisingly good and we caught one snapper 62cm long. 

Nice snapper caught northern end Rakino Channel

Rapport has a NEMA 2000 network information sharing system and we found some elements weren’t working properly. Subsequently the Furuno agents, ENL, came to the boat and quickly found the problem caused by two faulty network cable connectors which they replaced.

But the biggest issue was the recently serviced generator kept shutting down after about 30 mins operation. On return to the marina we found the 5 year old start battery had gone flat and replaced it, but that didn’t help. Our regular contractor called in a genset electrical specialist who after a couple of hours investigation found that during the service the oil pressure switch had been replaced with an incorrect type. The switch is supposed to send a signal to shut off the glow plugs after working oil pressure is reached, but this switch wasn’t doing that so the glow plugs were staying on and sucking 10 amps from the battery. Once the correct oil pressure switch was fitted all was OK.

Over Labour Weekend we took out John, Alice and our grandkids Lily, Veida & Axel. Again the fishing was good and the kids all caught their first ever fish, but what sizes. We spent an afternoon ashore at Waiheke’s Man O’War vineyard and although enjoyable was way too crowded with long delays for food.

Not a bad snapper for 4 year old Veida’s first day of fishing

We had another two weeks aboard during November, including on week with Chris. The weather wasn’t great with winds up to 30 knots and many showers, but everything ran well and again we had an abundance of snapper.

After a year of ownership we’ve logged 70 nights aboard and that’s not bad considering all the time we couldn’t go out due to covid restrictions.

We’ve postponed our Whitianga trip to around March-April.

 This is an edited version of an article we wrote shortly to appear in Pacific PowerBoat magazine.

Covid-19 cruising update

No sooner had wementioned New Zealand’sreturn tounrestricted cruising late July in PMB’s last issue than the new Auckland level 3 lock down commenced on 12 August, lasting until the 30^thbefore going to level 2.5 and finally to level 1 on 7 October. This time around there was no room for confusion about boating under level 3 being not permitted and now with lock downs hopefully behind us andSpring here cruising can only get better.

In other covid news there are many cruisers in variousPacific island locationshighly disappointed at not being able to come to New Zealand for the summer to avoid the cyclone season and a German crew who arrived illegally have been deported leavingthe future status of their yacht unclear. I guess many of these crews assumed they would be allowed entry and didn’t think to make alternate arrangements. Obviously there is sympathy for these crews, butpotentially arriving at various locations at different times could have represented a logistical nightmare for ourauthorities, although I guess their time at sea cruising here could have counted towards quarantine.Sympathy also for the various marine facilities and other businesses who normally benefit from the spends of these crews, reported by media as averaging $50k per vessel.

Managing cruising information

Cruising is all about maximising the enjoyment of our leisure time and the last thing we want to do out on the water is paperwork right? Absolutely, but consider these scenarios.

You call anelectronics technicianabouta problem with your radar and he needsto know its serial number. You think it’s about time to getyour engines serviced but can’t recall how many engine hours passed since the last one. You know you wrote down the weather forecast this morning, but where’s that piece of paper? You decide to sell your boat and need a comprehensive list of its features and onboard equipment. You’rein bed when your bilge pump alarm sounds – do you know how to access each seacock and through hull for inspection at night?

Asimple Information Management System can easily answer these questions as well as makingthe operation of your vessel easier and enhancing its resale value. The elements of the system we’ve successfully used during nearly forty years cruising include an Operating Manual, a Logbook, a Daybook, a To Do List and a Receipts File.

Operating Manual:when we bought Rapport last year there was no Manual and the broker’s advertising sheet lacked detail and missed much of the equipment. Now we have a comprehensive Manual comprising about forty pages describing all equipment aboard and covering subjects such as safety equipment, location of seacocks and other through-hulls, location of electrical isolation switches, functions of circuit breakers, how equipment operates, service intervals and spare parts carried. A multitude of systems makes boats complex and it’s impossible to remember everything about them, so when we do a job for the first time (eg adjusting an alternator’s vee belt tension)we note procedures in the Manual to make it easier next time. After owning our previous vessel for 12 years we were still addinginformation during our last year, maintaining it on Microsoft Word and periodically printing an updated copy for easy referral.

Logbook:This is where we note information of lasting interest that you might look back on. For example with great friends Bill and Sue you cruised to Man O’ War bay and had an enjoyable afternoon ashore at the vineyard. The next day you crossed the Firth of Thames catching some nice snapper mid-way, anchored off Coromandel and all went up to the township in the dinghy for fish and chips, nearly getting caught out by the tide on the return trip. We note down engine hours each evening, but only mention weather in the Log if it’s unusual and memorable for example a still sunny day in the middle of winter or a wind shift that causes an uncomfortable night.. If you want to (and you’re brave enough to) keep a record of money spent on the boat, the back of the Logbook is ideal forthis.

Daybook: We use this instead of writing information down on different scraps of paper that always seem to get lost. Information included is weather forecasts; route planning; fuel and water tank levels; refuelling details; engine oil pressure, water temperature and charging voltage;notes about maintenanceand information about planned boat projects. For example we’re researching an improved bait and filleting station so we’ll do our internet research noting relevant points in the Daybook so our information is all in one place.

To Do List: I guess most boat owners would use such a list and it’s really self explanatory. A cruiser’s dream is to have nothing left on their To Do List.

Receipts File: Keep all your receipts together in date order for ease of reference. When you eventually sell your boat many prospective buyers would want to see this and it helps reassure them that you’ve used anorganised approach to maintenance.

Using a system like this is not burdensome and on the contrary adds to the joy of cruising.

 This
is an edited version of an article we wrote shortly to appear in
Pacific PowerBoat magazine.

Covid-19 cruising update

No
sooner had we
mentioned
New
Zealand’s
return to
unrestricted cruising late
July in
PMB’s last issue than
the new
Auckland
level 3 lock down commenced on 12 August, lasting
until
the
30^th
before
going to level 2.5 and finally to level 1 on 7 October.
This time around
there
was no room for confusion about
boating under
level 3 being
not
permitted and
now with
lock downs hopefully
behind
us and
Spring here cruising can
only get
better.

In
other covid news there are many cruisers in various
Pacific island
locations
highly disappointed at not being able to come to New Zealand for the
summer to avoid the cyclone season and a German crew who arrived
illegally have been deported leaving
the future status of their yacht unclear. I
guess many of these crews assumed they would be allowed entry and
didn’t think to make alternate arrangements. Obviously
there is sympathy for these crews, but
potentially arriving at various
locations
at different times could
have represented a logistical nightmare for our
authorities, although
I guess their time at sea cruising here could have counted towards
quarantine.
Sympathy
also for the various marine facilities and other businesses who
normally benefit from the spends of these crews, reported by media as
averaging $50k per vessel.

Managing
cruising information

Cruising
is all about maximising the enjoyment of our leisure time and the
last thing we want to do out on the water is paperwork right?
Absolutely, but consider these scenarios.

You
call
an
electronics technician
about
a problem with your radar and he
needs
to know its serial number. You
think it’s about time to
get
your engines serviced but
can’t recall how
many engine
hours
passed
since
the last one. You know you wrote down the weather forecast this
morning, but where’s that piece of paper? You
decide to sell your boat and need a comprehensive list of its
features and onboard equipment. You’re
in
bed when your
bilge pump alarm sounds – do you know how to access each seacock
and through hull for inspection at
night?

A
simple Information
Management
System
can
easily answer these
questions as well as making
the
operation of your vessel easier and enhancing
its
resale value. The
elements of the system we’ve successfully
used during nearly forty years cruising include
an
Operating Manual, a Logbook, a Daybook,
a
To
Do
List
and
a Receipts File.

Operating
Manual:
when
we bought Rapport last year
there
was
no Manual and the
broker’s advertising sheet lacked
detail and missed much
of the equipment. Now
we have a comprehensive Manual comprising about forty pages
describing all equipment aboard
and
covering
subjects
such as safety equipment, location of seacocks and other
through-hulls, location of electrical isolation switches, functions
of circuit breakers, how equipment operates, service intervals and
spare parts carried. A
multitude of systems makes boats complex and it’s impossible to
remember everything about them, so when
we do a job for the first time (eg
adjusting
an alternator’s vee belt tension)
we
note procedures in the Manual to make it easier next time. After
owning our previous vessel for 12 years we were
still
adding
information during our last year, maintaining it on Microsoft Word
and periodically printing an updated copy for easy referral.

Logbook:
This is where we note information of lasting interest that
you
might look back on. For example with great friends Bill and Sue you
cruised to Man O’ War bay and had an enjoyable afternoon ashore at
the vineyard. The next day you crossed the Firth of Thames catching
some nice snapper mid-way, anchored off Coromandel and all went up to
the township in the dinghy for fish and chips, nearly getting caught
out by the tide on the return trip. We note
down engine hours each evening, but only
mention weather in the Log if it’s unusual and
memorable for
example a still sunny day in the middle of winter or a wind shift
that causes an uncomfortable night..
If
you want to (and you’re brave enough to)
keep a record of money spent on the boat, the back of the Logbook is
ideal
for
this.

Daybook:
We
use this instead of writing information down on different scraps of
paper that always
seem to get
lost. Information
included is weather forecasts; route planning; fuel and water tank
levels; refuelling
details; engine
oil pressure, water temperature and charging voltage;
notes
about maintenance
and information about planned boat projects. For
example we’re researching an improved bait and filleting station so
we’ll
do our internet research noting relevant points in the Daybook so our
information is all in
one place.

To
Do List: I
guess most boat owners would use such a list and it’s really self
explanatory. A
cruiser’s dream is to have nothing
left
on
their To Do List.

Receipts
File: Keep
all your receipts together in date order for ease of reference. When
you eventually sell your boat many prospective buyers would
want
to see this and
it helps reassure them that you’ve
used an
organised approach to maintenance.

Using
a system like this is not burdensome and on the contrary adds to the
joy of cruising.