life goes on in the southern hemisphere.

[waynemunro]

Hi Guys,

well it is still summer down here, and I have just returned from a long weekend away at Marahau, a very small town and beach near the top of the South island of NZ. Buck had been up there for a week or so with his weekender and he kindly invited me up for a saill.

I arrived on friday evening (drive was about 6 hours or so), to find that buck was out sailing back and forth, entrancing the locals with his lovely little weekender. The wind was higher than I would have braved but there he was cruising comfortably back and forth.

Buck convinced me to put my boat in for a sail (he's quite the salesman) and luckily the wind dropped a bit before I was out and about. Tricia and I headed out in my weekender and sailed with buck while the tide lasted. It was great and we just played around the bay. We moored the boats for the evening and looked forward to the following days sailing.

I was up 6am saturday morning to check on the boats and see if the winds were up for an early morning sail (high tide was about then), but alas the air was still, but the two weekenders looked pretty cool there, one red and one blue.

by the time the tide was back in that evening the wind had picked up to a good pace, estimated at about 25 knots, I thought.. damn no sailing this evening.. but Buck was there, ready to go... ready to do what he can to support the crazy kiwi image. I am a poor sailor (only started on weekender launch day late last year) and the conditions were far from what I would be heading out in. So I sent out buck in his weekender to see what it was like.. he headed off into the waves like a trooper, while I waited back in the shallows. He looked like he had a wild ride, but then he came back to pick me up and we both went out to try the conditions in his boat. It was pretty exciting, but that was just the beginning...

.. we came back in and moored up bucks boat and decided to try mine out there in those conditions.. my partner Tricia came out and all three of us went out in my weekender to try our luck. There are no photos of this run as tricia was the photographer at that point, but it was VERY exciting.

we had the GPS with us and we were were doing over 5 knots most of the time, and at points hit 6 knots and we were well heeled over, the lee rail was in the water at times and the splash coamings doing great work stopping the waves rolling into the cockpit. The turn to come back was again exciting, it took three or four goes to get round the tack. when we turned into the waves to get round it seemed that the waves took away all our speed and wouldn't let us round. I saw at one point that the as we went down one wave the bowsprit ran into the next one, it was very cool We did get around and headed back to the shallows and moored up.. phew.

We then rested for a bit and let the wind die a bit. there was a storm forecasted for the next day so we later sailed the weekenders round to the lagoon for some better protection from the elements, the wind was gusty then, and I followed Buck in as he smoothly and calmly sailed... my following however left something to be desired as I threw ina couple of accidental gybes and a few minor panic attacks... lots of learning to be done yet

The next day was looking like the storm was going to be coming through and the chance of sailing was small, so I lifted my boat from the water and later int he day headed for home.

So I had a great weekend and learnt a heap about the boats. Thanks for the generous invite and advice Buck, and was great to get to know you and your family better.

Marahau was an excellent location, and I think this will be a great site for the annual weekender meet.. the locals will be impressed to see three there next year (you'll be well done by then Robbo), they will think that they are breeding

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[waynemunro]

Some more pictures

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[waynemunro]

and final couple, the full collection can be found at:

http://www.waynemunro.com/grw/wayne/2004/2004_01/marahau_weekenders/dir_med_70.html

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[capt jake]

Great photos!!! Really gorgeous country!!

[Greg Luckett]

Those are great pictures. I am going to visit the link you provided and look at them all in a minute.

Question: the beach picture is a low tide I think. How deep is the high tide? :?:

[Greg Luckett]

and final couple' date=' the full collection can be found at:

[url']http://www.waynemunro.com/grw/wayne/2004/2004_01/marahau_weekenders/dir_med_70.html[/url]

WOW WOW

[Bill Paxton]

WOW!

I'm really impressed that the poly-tarp sails hold up to that kind of wind.

[capt jake]

Dig deeper into his site!! There are literaly hundreds of pictures to view!

Thanks Wayne!! :)

[MikeStevenson]

Great shots. It looks like a lot of fun. The shot of Buck hiking back looks familiar (marahau_6.jpg). That's the sort of weather we sailed the Kauai Weekender in quite a lot: full white caps and the wind whistling in the shrouds (Literally!) I suspect you precisely what I mean now...Good fun, and I'm glad you're getting up a good fleet down there.

Whe my wife and I finally get around to visiting New Zealand, I hope the fates conspire to let us see some Weekender action while we're there!

Keep up the fun Summer outings!

Mike

[waynemunro]

I am still quite buzzed about the sailing over the weekend, hopefully will get out on the water down here again within the next week or two.

and in reply to your comments:

Greg: we moored the boats at those positions at about 2-3 hours after high tide I think, and the tidal range is about 2m. I think at high tide the water would have been chest-neck depth out at the boats. still easy to get out to them, it was quite a handy location. That was the first time that I had moored my boat (having got an anchor for christmas), and I was quite nervous about it, but it worked well.

Bill: yeah, I think Buck was a little surprised that the tarp sails held up too, he reckons he has done about 40 sails on those sails and is about to retire them, I think he expected that trip to force the issue . I am sure Buck will have some comments to add later in the week when he returns to reality.

Capt Jake: Glad you like the pictures, the site is a little hard to find something specific on as it is arranged chronologically. I need to add some more descriptions so that the search functionality will pick up the weekender stuff.

Mike: It was a lot of fun . I am sure that it won't take fate to get you to see some weekender action when in NZ, except to arrange some suitable weather ... just let us know when you are here and we'll be the boats out and you can show us how its done

[Johannah]

The crazy Kiwis rule! :shock: You guys are really helping us fight the winter blahs up here. Thank you and keep it up. 8)

[buck]

Hi everyone, Just back from our break. The photos Wayne took are fantastic. We had a lot of fun, it was great to see Wayne and Trica up at Marahau. It was also fun to do some really hard out sailing in strong winds and 2-3' seas (sometimes 4') But most fun was having another Weekender to sail with, Waynes boat is beautifully finished and a joy to sail. They both looked gorgeous anchored off the beach and attracted a lot of comment. I was pleased with my tarp sails handling 20knot winds, but in truth they were well up to it, but after a year and 40 odd sails they are a little ragged in places. Sailing Wayne's boat in the above conditions was a real thrill, it was screaming along, finely balanced, at full hull speed, the wind was so strong it was hard to tack. I'm a gentle sailer at heart but once in a while its good to go and test your boat against rather adverse conditions.

[Greg Luckett]

I am still wading through all those great pictures and enjoying it immensely. This is really cool.

[Nora Lee+]

Wayne...can I be you? Your life looks like a lot of fun!

The blue sails, with the blue hull are striking! Some really great photos!

[Johannah]

Nora Lee, the blue sailed boat belongs to Buck. Wayne also has great sails which he recut from a larger set of dacron sails made for another boat, but he lacks the colour. Buck is a good teacher as well as sailor and gave my husband some lessons last year when he was on sabbatical in New Zealand. Good excuse for a New Zealand vacation! Buck has 3 boys and I find myself wondering if his younger ones might want to get into the "kids build boats" derby that has started up here.

[Nora Lee+]

Those boats look great. they look like they really sail too! We used to have boats in the 20-22 ft range before Sea Fever got hold of us! I miss being able to go out for a solo sail on the spur of the moment.

Sea Fever requires two sets of hands as she displaces 38,000#. I am looking for a nice tender that will sail too, so we can have the best of both worlds.

Capt. Jon will have to build a weekender for and with his grandsons, once he finishes with Sea Fever.

Jo I plan to come to Philly this spring, I had to cancel for the Mummer's parade, due to major back problems, but we are working on that so I will be more mobile. I will let you know when...I think you should definitely go to NZ, we have met some reeally fantastic people from that part of the world!

[waynemunro]

Hi Nora Lee, life is often a lot of fun down here, I think that is one of the reasons that I am still here rather than abroad. However I only mention the highlights on the board.. I still seem to get stuck working during the week when the weather is good outside.. and doing house maintenance when I could be working on more fun projects (and I admit that I have a little list of things to do which should have been done while I was building my weekender.)

As Johannah said the blue sailed boat is Bucks, and I agree it does look quite striking with its coloured sails, I think that when it comes time for me to replace my sails then I'll get some nice red/burgandy ones from somewhere.

I went for a sail yesterday, drove about an hour to a nicer sailing location (Akaroa harbour) than where I have been going and got some lovely winds in the 10-15 knot range. It was best sail yet and my sailing confidence is slowly getting better.. I felt in control at almost every point this time. I too have Buck to thank for sailing lessons which have helped me feel confident about putting my weekender in the water. I don't have any photos from yesterdays sail yet as I didn't take my camera, but one of the passengers had one so I should have some within a few days.

I think NZ is a great place for a visit, well the foreign visitors that I have always seem to have had a good time here. Anyone passing through Christchurch should get in contact and I am pretty sure we could arrange some sailing action

Glad that you are enjoying the photos Greg, I take a lot in the hope of getting the odd good one, then put a portion of them up on the website. A little over the top sometimes, but the digital camera makes it so much cheaper than the old way.