Able Tasman Trip. 26th February.

We were aiming for a lovely weekend in Totaranui with four generations of family enjoying the last of the summer weather. Someone had other ideas. Beautiful day on the Friday and you would expect a good sea breeze to help us on our way. Unfortunately that died away and we were left to motor at a conservative 3 knots, so were just not going to make it all the way up the bay and changed plans to head into Anchorage instead. This was really lovely, just the aqua packer and two other boats in the bay, a great evening for our first night under anchor.
We knew the forecast wasn’t very favourable, but didn’t think it looked too bad Saturday morning so headed up to Totaranui in a SE 10 knots, which was very manageable for us. But just an hour later off of Totaranui (knowing there was no way we were going to be able to get in there) the wind had picked up to a steady 22/23 knots gusting up to 32 at times, with rain and worsening sea conditions. Plan B and C, head on around Separation Point and on to Tarakohe or try for Awaroa, which according to our cruising guide would be sheltered in this weather. With the kids on the floor in the saloon, two of the them feeling less than fantastic, and one very wet skipper and an extremely nervous (ie. scared) first mate we decided on Awaroa which was only 2 nautical miles (N.M.) away. We had our first attempt at reefing the main and furled in some of the Genoa and made our way back into the wind towards relative calm. This was very unpleasant with lots of motion, poor Paige had to catch the office chair before it headed down the steps as no breaks on its wheels. By this stage everyone had on life jackets and I was in damage control with picking up the odd bits and pieces that had made their way to the floor. Fortunately even in all the motion, the eggs, fruit bowl and all the piled up plastic wear were still in place. Not sure of length of time but at one stage we were losing sight of the land with the low cloud, but didn’t want to be too close with the strength of the wind.
We made it into the southern end of Awaroa tucked in behind the head at about midday, where I picked the perfect anchoring spot and we regrouped with a cup of tea/coffee and food. It was reassuring to have another vessel also tucked in there with us. Our afternoon was spent drying out, watching a DVD and playing a board game while the rain continued outside. A wee break in the weather saw Dan and Paige take the new dinghy over to the shore for a fossick around just before tea. We had come in on a high tide and watched with nervous anticipation the rocks around us as the day went on but were exactly in the middle of the so no worries there. What did happen though is at about 7pm the NW wind change forecast for Sunday came in and we were now on and exposed lee shore. Again thanks to our choice of anchorage we were far enough in the little bay to be out of the worst of the waves, but at the lowest tide we only had 1.2m of water below the boat which meant waves breaking around us. This made for a very uncomfortable 12 hours, with Dan and the kids feeling the motion. Not much sleep was had over night especially with the near hourly checks on the instruments and outside to ensure we were still in the same spot. The anchor and bridle system was excellent. It was very disconcerting having your feet hit the end of the bed when the boat was pulled up but reassuring all the same that we had stopped! It was also good to look out and see the anchor light of the other yacht and no we were not alone in all of this.
Sunday morning we could still see the white caps in the distance and breakers around the rocks, but the motion continued and no one was up for any breakfast. Dan went back to bed for about an hour while I entertained as best I could and kept an eye on the weather, which did seem to ease, so at about 9.30 we decided to head back to Anchorage. We decided that just the Genoa would be fine for a run down the coast, but after inconsistent breeze, we hoisted the main just as the breeze picked up again and flew into Anchorage doing 10/11 knots. Another lovely afternoon and following morning was had, walking the beach, exercising the dog on the wee private beach, watching the kids swim explore and let their imaginations run wild. Dan had a breathtaking swim after the dinghy as his knot came undone! He was very grateful the breeze took it too the shore and not the other way! Jazz learnt to use his new lifejacket (thanks Jo) but wouldn’t follow me as intended but followed the dingy as it had the tennis ball in it! We also need to teach him NOT to keep swimming in front of other people or boats!
After lunch Monday thought we better get back to reality and recharging the batteries so had a go had getting the anchor up by hand, just to see if we could, which we managed most of the way and headed towards Nelson with a light 5 knots from the North. About four hours later we were wallowing at one knot seeing the breeze on the water to the north and south of us while we were in the middle of a calm spot. At this rate we figured we would be back in Nelson about 8am Tuesday morning! We had a nice time eating ice blocks, playing Lego, sunbathing, reading books and catching a kahawai. We had gone all of five N.M. by 4.30pm when we could see the white caps coming. About ten minutes of "confused" sea conditions then we were off. At 5.10pm a strong SW had arrived up to 22 knots and settled at 15 knots. Again great for us to head home doing 10-12 knots of boat speed, with the kids playing cards on the table and we were back in the harbour by 6.30pm. The only thing about this was getting into our berth as we had not done this in a SW before and it was low tide. Pretty sure we kissed the rocks, but have not been able to assess if any damage yet. The kids were great crew following instructions and fending off when able and staying out of the way when needed. The previous times had put them in good stead for knowing what needed to be done.
The weekend was a real mix for us with some fantastic times and some not so great ones, but we learnt A LOT! Most of all how we all work together as a family and a team especially when in trying times. There is now another long list of jobs to do, things we need and others that are on the "would be nice" list which we are slowly working through.