A Bumpy ride

Well we have been on the yacht for two weeks now and during that time have only managed to sail up to the Bay of Islands. We left the Whangarei Harbour on the 19th and sailed straight up to the Bay anchoring in Parekura Bay. We then sat out our second Gale at Dicks Bay, the wind turned to an unfavourable quarter overnight on Sunday the 23rd so we upped anchor and motored to Uruti Bay near Russell.
On the 27th we went over to the Kerikeri river and anchored up, and did the trip up the river in the dinghy, beautiful day good lunch. We then hightailed it back to Uruti Bay on Friday to sit out Cyclone Wilma. It rained all day Friday as we sailed over from the Tepuna Inlet, the wind did not get up as much as we expected. We now are faced with the dilemma of Paul being called back to work, for a few weeks the help train new staff.
We are going to leave Kabuki at Matauwhi Bay, hopefully on a mooring. Paul will be able to travel to and from work from there, I will stay on the boat or have a day in Whangarei. A little bit of a downer, but Paul feels He should help them out, they have been really good to Him.

Anyway just a quick catch up, gotta go

We're off!!!

Paul and I motored out of the Whangarei Town Basin on Monday morning with the outgoing tide, not a lot of wind so we motored all the way to Taurikura Bay. We anchored up and after lunch went to visit Paul's Dad and Step-Mum, by that time it had started raining and the wind was picking up. Tuesday was a no show, 25-40knots of winds and rain squalls meant a day on the boat. Wednesday morning we packed up and sailed for the Bay of Islands, the forecast was for 30knot Southwesterlies, but we never saw any. We were becalmed a couple of times, and it took 12 hours to cover 60 nautical miles. We arrived in the Bay of Islands at about 7.45pm and anchored up in Parekura Bay.
Today we sailed over to Dicks Bay in preparation for a Southeasterly gale and rain for the next few days. Bloody typical isn't it, as soon as you go on holiday the weather packs up on you. We don't really care, just as long as we are away on the boat.

My Family

Well this blog has always been pretty much about our yacht Kabuki and our travels. For a change I am going to boast about my family.

On Saturday my Step-Son Jason got married to his beautiful lady Tash, my son Xavier was a Groomsman and my Step-Daughter Hollie was a Bridesmaid. Paul and I were very proud to see them standing side by side with their brother on His big day. I have added a photo to show off my family, from the left is ,Paul (my partner) , Hollie, Jason, Xavier and myself. The other photo is of course the Bride, Tash and her new Husband Jason, and that bloody photographer who was always getting in the way.

The wedding was beautiful, it was a lovely sunny day, with family and friends present. Tash made a beautiful bride, and we are very pleased and proud to welcome her into our family.

Anyway enough of that.

Holiday wind down

Well the holiday period for Paul and I has been relaxing but busy. We celebrated Christmas lunch with my Parents our son Xavier and our neighbour Jean. We then went visiting other family.
On Boxing Day we went down to Auckland to pick up a new (second hand) dinghy that we bought off Trade Me. We think it is a John Wellsford design "Tender Behind", this is a dinghy we have liked for a long time. It is plywood glassed over, and a pram configuration. We are hoping to get a centre board put into it at some point, and then we can install a mast and voila, a sailing dinghy. It fits on the deck of Kabuki, under the boom, without a millimetre to spare. It is a very stable dinghy in the water, but does not row quite as well as "Milligan" our previous dinghy.
We now have 4 dinghy's, two fibreglass, one plywood and the inflatable. I think it is time to downsize our dinghy fleet.
Paul and I managed to complete the rest of the stocking of the boat, we only have the fresh items to get now. It has stowed away really well in our starboard settee locker, prior to this trip Paul had ropes and spares in that locker. We were able to move things around in the stowage department after we removed the holding tank in the bow. Now storage is a bit easier.
We managed to get Kabuki's registration number on the hull, but I think Paul has committed a big faux pas by putting "New Zealand" above the Rego number.
The wedding happens this weekend, so we are looking forward to that. We got caught up in wedding preperation last night with Jason and Tash doing the last minute organising from wedding central, our dining table.
Anyway only 12 days before we take off, it seems to be taking forever to get here. Paul has had to go back to work this morning to do some quoting. But hopefully He will be home at lunchtime. I am off to buy myself a new pair of shoes to go with the new dress I have bought. I think I am a bit odd, as I do not really enjoy shopping for myself, I find the whole thing very depressing.
Cheers for now.