A Lap of Waiheke
Over Labour weekend we did a lap of Waiheke Island in Raindance – bumped into a few classic’s, some will appear on ww in the next few days.
As we approached Oneroa mid afternoon on Saturday the weather was doing exactly as predicated & the southerly was starting to pick up, coming around the point & it was blowing dogs off chains. Headed over to Little Oneroa & it was almost a mill pond, dropped the pick between James Mobberley (Moon Engines) & Dan Ranell’s stunning N. Herreshoff designed yacht – Jonquil, pictured above with George Ranell ‘on watch’. Potentially it could have been a disaster i.e. 3 kids under 5 between the 2 boats – but good parenting saved the day. A few late afternoon coldies on Jame’s launch ‘Cartel’ was the perfect lead in to dinner – a wood fired pizza on the beach from the resident pizza caravan. Saturday was a cracker of a day on all fronts. Nice weather, people & boats.
For the first time (that I can remember) we had a peaceful night in Little Oneroa & woke to a stunning day (Sunday), one out of the bag. A quick breakfast ashore at ‘Wai’ & a few provisions from the ‘new’ store on the roundabout, called ‘The Island Grocer’ – its where the old general store (fruit & veg focus was) used to be. Less hairy armpits on display these days & a great hole in the wall coffee operation. Perfect spot to people watch.
Headed down the north side to the bottom end, very pleasant trip & a lot of people both fishing & catching fish. Mooched around a few bays & anchored in Man ‘o’ War Bay. The vineyard operation was a zoo with Island day trippers, so held off going ashore until late afternoon for a drink. Quiet night in the bay, except for 2 sets of very young children doing laps of the bay in dinghies with 2hp outboards – I do not lie when I say it went from 6pm to 10pm, if I had had a gun – I would have popped the tubes.
Slow start in the morning, had to wait for the tide, appears I had discovered a wee mud bank, never went a ground but I draw 2’3″ & the depth sounder was showing 0.700m (27.5″) 😦 So it was a leisurely breakfast 🙂 Th day was overcast & forecast to rain later on, so we headed home at lunch time. As we were leaving MoW, W1 was coming in – first time I had seen her ‘live’ on the water – way more narrow than I expected given her length, but still an impressive sight & a credit to the owner, who under took a lengthy restoration in his driveway in Herne Bay.
Saw Deodar (#1) in MoW looking very smart – photos tomorrow on ww.
A fantastic weekend, only takes a few days of good weather & one quickly forgets all the cursing & swearing over winter about bloody old wooden boats.
Below are a couple of photos from Rod Marler of the classic’s – Arohanui, Trinidad, Lady Crossley & Nereides (looking none the worse for her oops at the Whangateau boat yard) at Kawau over the weekend. I hear the Kawau Boating Club was going off on Saturday night for the All Blacks v Aust rugby test.
Photo below of Wairangi at West Bay, Rakino Island on Sunday, taken by her owner & emailed in by Ken Ricketts.
nutter 🙂 nice paint job 😛
LikeLike
OK Jason, as you know I always listen to you…… so at great expense I have had 2 bronze speaker covers cast. Used the white plastic ones as a mold 😉
LikeLike
Heartwarming to see that you are reading yachting magazines, out on the Briney next time you must come over and visit us -these yachts they are very stable you know.
LikeLike
Don – I’ll do a post on the project in the next few days, lots of photos. Cheers Alan H
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like that table so much I might copy it for my boat Tusk. It is really neat and smart and ideal for between our two berths.
LikeLike
I’m off to lucinda with my hole saw to fit the 10″ subby and the 6″ mids, thinking cocpit seats 😛
LikeLike
I have solved it – photos soon 🙂
LikeLike
Big speakers are great, particularly if you must share your taste in music with the rest of the boats in the bay, although I know Alan is definitely not one of that sort. As Confucius said, “The wise boatman uses HMV 78 rpm portable with soft needle”.
LikeLike
I don’t mind those speakers at all. Their shape is essential to their function and are neither attractive nor unattractive.
LikeLike
Jason – I’ll email you some photos of Harold’s set up on Romance II.
The speakers – ok, I’ll have a think about covering up.
LikeLike
very nice, i was thinking something like a center leg 🙂 instead of the cantilever as I have a locker right there. Alan! those speakers! NOOOOOOO!!!! hide them
LikeLike
Almost perfect – its amazing how the angle of a wee bit of paint can make such a difference 🙂
LikeLike
It goes into a sail bag & I stow it laying flat up on the forward ‘cabin’ (cave) bed. The whole table set up is very cool, I’ll do a ww post on it but the photo below (during the making of it) shows how it is cantilevered to free up leg room below.
LikeLike
Waterline looks good
LikeLike
love the cockpit table, but, where do you store it when not in use as it’s quite large?
LikeLike