On the move

After a few delays we have finally left our home port for an extended holiday on Kabuki. Our start was not auspicious as it was a Friday (apparently bad luck to start a voyage on a Friday) and raining, but hey we like to buck the trend. We only motored sailed out to Monroe Bay in the Whangarei harbour, where we anchored up and got our sea legs for a few days. We then sailed out to Taurikura Bay in the outer harbour ready for the wind to change to south west, a favourable breeze for heading north. Friends of ours also were heading north at the same time, and we were in a quandary over the weather, as there was a cyclone predicted to drop down out of the tropics and head for NZ. But that was a nearly a week out, so we decided to head north and take our chances.

We headed north on Tuesday the 7th of February with an expected South Wester, but this did not fill in so we motorsailed all the way to the Bay of Islands, ending up beating into a North West wind in the afternoon. Luckily we met some friendly dolphins on the way to welcome us north.

Our first few days were lovely, but then it was time to prepare for that dreaded cyclone that was going to hit on Sunday 12th. We motored up to our mooring in Opua thinking that we would stay up there for the storm, but things had changed and a bigger boat was on the mooring next door, this was swinging way to close to our boat and would only get worse in a storm, so we left to anchor out. We found a spot in Uruti Bay near Russell and set our Spade anchor with 120 feet of chain on a snubber through a block on the bowsprit. We pulled out a bigger Spade anchor to deploy if required in the blow. We took down all our covers, but left the dodger up, and then hoisted our dinghy up on deck in her usual spot in front of the dodger. We were set for the big blow.

We are off again

 

Hello internet friends, I have been a bit quiet on the blog front over the last few years, but we have been working, saving, recuperating, isolating and contemplating, finding our place in a world of uncertainty.  That uncertainty has made many people look deeper into what is important in their lives, and we have been the same. We did a quick trip to the South Island for a holiday but had to return due to a family member passing.

I also went to the World of Wearable Arts, after it was cancelled last year due to Covid.

I made a dress that was totally not practical or wearable on a day to day basis, but it kept me sane during lockdowns.

Our youngest Son got married in Wanaka

The past few years have been eventful, full of love and sorrow

But the year 2020 will be a marker in many peoples lives, for me it was not just about the onset of Covid times. I had been having health issues for a number of years and was having difficulty walking and getting up on to the boat. Doctors just said it was arthritis, and losing weight would solve the problem... yada yada yada. Anyway I happened to get an appointment with a specialist and he noticed that the calcium levels in my blood were raised. This began a barrage of testing and scanning to diagnose Hyperparathyroidism.

And no this is nothing to do with your thyroid. 

The Parathyroids (there are 4 of them about the size of a grain of rice each) sit behind your thyroid and excrete parathyroid hormone, which maintains the levels of calcium in your body. Well one of mine was not behaving and was excreting to much of the hormone which led to the calcium be sucked out of my bones, chucked into my blood stream and then excreted out through my kidneys. The symptoms are muscle and joint pain, chronic fatigue, memory loss, osteoporosis, kidney stones, heart arrhythmia etc, my Doctor called it the Moan and Groan disease. Normally this is picked up at an early stage but mine was not picked up until I had deterioration of the bone density in my lower spine, apparently (according to the specialist) it had been active for 10 years or more.

So 2020 was great for me, I had a diagnosis, a reason for my symptoms other than being "Fat". My operation was booked and then delayed by a month due to covid, but I had it and have only improved since then. 

So that brings us to now, I have handed in my notice after 4 years of full time work. I was not able to take extended leave over the summer so it was easier for me to chuck in my job. I hope to go back and do some casual work later next year, but we will see what happens. Again we are heading off sailing our amazing northland coastline, to see the history and wonder of our region. I am hoping to bring you along on our travels.

 

The Kate Eliza Dress

Well it has been along time since I did any posting on the Westsailing Bum website. We have been working and working and more working over the last year or how ever long it is since I last posted. We still have our loved Westsail Kabuki and we have still been using her in the summers for sailing in the Bay of Islands here in New Zealand.

Working is not conducive to spending lots of time away sailing, but our working is for a reason. We are hopefully working our way to an early retirement. This has left us both with time on our hands during our non working times. Paul is tinkering with Kabuki, spending time with his Dad, and generally doing the things he likes to do. Me, well I have gone down the historical clothing rabbit hole in the last year or so. I have been sewing dresses and unpicking dresses, trailing sewing and drafting techniques, and basically messing about with fabric. On the side I have done some family history research, hence the photo's below.

I have had some old photos of my ancestors for some time and I have always been taken with the photo below of my 3rd Great Grandmother Kate Eliza Kelly(nee Maggs). Kate born in Westminster in London and her husband John born in Dublin, Ireland both moved to Australia in the 1850's or early 1860's. They met and married in Victoria, Australia in 1864 and then moved to Avoca in Victoria. According to my sister they had a Drapery in the town and were upstanding members of the community, but interestingly Kate was the brains behind the business. Sometime between 1870 and 1880's they moved to Wellington New Zealand. And it is still to be confirmed but Kate may have been working at Kirkcaldie and Stains a drapery company in Wellington, but she left with T Warnock and William Adkins to start their own business called Warnock, Kelly & Adkins in 1885. Any way she obviously was a pretty interesting woman.

All of this then led me down the path that I have now taken, reproducing the below dress for myself. After doing research on the clothing of the time, I will be unable to afford the fabric that I think was used in this dress (Silk and a burn out velvet or Devore) so I am making it from a cotton twill and some lovely quilting fabric. 

I have done a very mediocre attempt at colouring the photo to represent the colour scheme that I am going with, but you get the general idea. The base skirt appears to be pleated with a drapery of patterned fabric around the hips and then bustled to the back. I am taking artistic licence in having the paler blue colour on part of the drapery, but as I have chosen the black main ground it needed more colour. I have tried to date the style of dress and to my inexperienced eye it looks about mid to late 1880's so it may have been about the time she went into business (if she is the Mrs Kelly involved in the business)

To start this adventure I had to make everything that goes underneath the dress. This has been a very rewarding process and I have ended up with most of the layers required to provide the correct silhouette, one thing I have not done is a bustle cage. 

1.  because it does not look like she has the extreme shelved bustle look. 

2.  To me I am not that historically accurate.

Anyway let me introduce you to my model, Bertha. I made this dress form from a bootstrap dummy pattern, and it is fairly close to my measurements. Bertha will be highlighting in many photos to come.

So far we have got the seperate split drawers, which were becoming a little bit old fashioned by this time as the combinations (all in ones) were starting to become popular. We then have a chemise or shift that went under the corset to protect the corset from sweat and to keep the corset clean, on top of that is the corset, this would have had a steel busk at the front and some steel boning but would have mostly been bones with baleen (from whales). Mine is made with synthetic baleen (a bit like cable ties) and some steel boning. Over the stop you wore a corset cover to soften the lines of the corset and also a petticoat and bum pad (needs tweaking) to add that butt lift.

So now the skirt construction has started with the base layer of the skirt made out of cotton/calico this will have a frill on the bottom to add more width to the hemline.

Then we have the pleated black twill, in those days they only added the embellishment on the part of the dress/skirt that would be seen, so the pleating will start 10 inches down from the waist and the top part of the skirt will be covered by the drapery that will made with the contrast fabric.

The pleating is in progress, so far I have pleated about 4 metres of fabric only 21/2 to go. I measure and mark the pleating lines on the fabric with chalk then fold the pleats and pin. When I have finished a section I then iron with lots of steam and when cool apply masking tape to hold in place while I continue on with the remainder of the cloth. When I have finished the entire length I will either do a catch stitch on the back of each pleat to give them more structure or add a tape and catch stitch. Looking at the photo it appears that something like this has been done to hold the pleats in place. 

Anyway that is a catch up as to what we have been up to and what we are doing at the moment. Will keep you posted on the progress of the dress and yes there may even be Kabuki progress as we are due to haul the yacht out at the beginning of October.

What did we do this summer/autumn?

So what have we been up to this summer/Autumn?

I finished work on the 23rd of December, yahoo, but Paul continued working until the end of March.  We had the boat hauled out just before Christmas and steadily worked away at things until we re-launched at the end of January.  Our plan again had been to head off-shore, north to the Islands for the winter.  But after much expense over the years, installing an AIS, obtaining a life raft and all of the other many sundry items required for Cat 1, and much time adding locks to all the lockers, refining systems, finding storage spots etc etc, we have finally given the whole idea the heave ho.  We have joined the long list of people who have tried and failed to go offshore.  In some ways I felt like a failure, and we had lost our dream, but really truly, deep down, I am glad. 

Over the last 9 years we have been cruising our coast during the summers and working in the winters, we have toured the South and North Island’s on our motorbike, we have travelled Great Britain and Ireland for 3 months.  We have spent short and long periods of time living on board Kabuki either on the hard, on a mooring or at a Marina.  We have both tried different jobs, Paul doing Insurance Assessing work in Christchurch after the earthquake, and fly in fly out to Australia doing ore crusher re-lining.  I have done retail work at a local Emporium (interesting) and entered the office world of a Rates department at the Local Council, a total change from Mobile Librarian. Our lives have been full of meeting interesting people, seeing interesting and beautiful things.  Why do we need to spend more money (up to another $10,000 - $15,000) to put ourselves through sleep deprivation, nausea, anxiety and wear and tear on ourselves and Kabuki.  We have nothing to prove to ourselves by going, but everything to lose.

So we have embarked on a new dream, one that involves continuing on the same course that we have been on for the past 9 years.  Apparently we have been “ Living the Dream” for the past 9 years and we didn’t even know it.  We thought the dream was offshore voyaging, but for us it has become cruising the coastal waters of our beloved North Island, exploring our own backyard (New Zealand) and experiencing life as it comes.

So again, what did we do this summer? After Paul’s 60th Birthday at the end of March we set off in Kabuki for Taurikura Bay, at the head of Whangarei Harbour, hoping to sail north-west to the Bay of Islands. The wind unfortunately was from the north, so we waited a few days hoping it would turn in our favour, alas no.  I suggested that instead we head to Great Barrier Island which is to the south east and would be a beam reach in the prevailing wind.  So off we set, after first postponing my mammogram appointment (no great hardship).  We upped anchor in the early morning gloom and motored out to Fairway Buoy where there was enough wind to set the sails.  It ended up being a fast tight reach to Abercrombie Harbour, where we motored to the north east corner of Kairaara Bay and anchored up.  What a joy to be back after at least 4 years. 

Great Barrier is a great place for bush walking, bird watching, mussel gathering and meeting like minded cruisers.  We walked up to the kauri dam, bathed in the river, kayaked and absorbed the atmosphere.  We also had to endure the influx of many boats over the Easter weekend, running generators for hours on end, and anchoring slightly to close for comfort.  We bumped into our old friends John & Sue from Sir Francis and met a new friend, Ian from Souvenir.  We explored the Glenfern Nature Reserve, and experimented with our new Go Pro.  Then I received a call from work asking me if I was interested in returning for a time, also the weather was closing in with a blow set to arrive within a few days.  After past experiences of sitting out weather events at Great Barrier and knowing that I could commute to work from Opua, we decided to head north to the Bay of Islands with the favourable 15 knot south westerly that was forecast. 

It is approximately 100 miles to “The Bay” from Great Barrier Island, we took 17 hours to cover the distance averaging around 6 knots an hour for the trip and arriving at Paroranui Bay at about 3am.  It was a boisterous, choppy sail with spray flying and later in the night, Petrels dive bombing into our sails, with one ending up in the scuppers uninvited.  At first we did not think it had landed on the deck, but we heard a scuffling up near the Kayak.  On shining the torch in the direction of the noise the Petrel headed straight for the light and slid helter skelter into the cockpit. Westsail 32’s don’t have very big cockpits, and two adults and a flapping distressed bird was a bit cosy.  I managed to grab it and gently lift it over the side and release it.  I was amazed at how light and fragile it felt, it was all fluffy feathers and bony slim body underneath. 

I love arriving in the dark to an anchorage and then waking in the morning not sure what to expect outside, it always looks totally different by day light.  After only 4 hours sleep, we headed for the cockpit and our usual coffee whilst watching the day come alive on a brand you view.  As the weather system was still looming we motored up to Opua the next morning and hooked up to our mooring for a few days, this would give us a chance to do washing and have nice hot showers. The weather system turned into a fizzer for us, but our friends out at Great Barrier had it rough.

We love the Bay of Islands, the sailing is easy, you can always find a sheltered anchorage, there is activity on the water which makes life entertaining, and you are not far from town.  Sometimes there are a few to many boats around, but you have to take the good with the bad.  Our plan was for me to commute to work 3 days a week and then we could go off sailing in the Bay on my days off. Well this lasted for 2 weeks.  Paul was getting a bit bored on his own, and thought perhaps it was time for him to return to work and earn more freedom chips as well.  So the call was made, and ‘nek minute’, we were heading back to Whangarei.

Our sail, or should I say motor down the coast was lacking wind and uneventful.  We stopped at Whangamumu for one night, but with a 2 metre SE swell running it ended up being a wee bit rolly.  We made it to Taurikura after motoring all the next day, spotting a shark and a whale and hooking 2 fish, which promptly jumped off the lure.  The rain set in over night and we had a damp motor to Whangarei, with the sun coming out as we picked up the mooring lines.  It actually felt quite good to be home.

We are spending the winter on the boat this year, moving off the pile mooring and to the marina in June.  Marina living makes life far more civilised when you are working full time and it is cold.  Like many boats we have a problem with condensation in winter.  On the marina we will have electricity and can run a dehumidifier and a heater.  We have a ‘Dickinson Newport’ vented Gas fire which we will use at night, but for the 5.15 am starts the electric heater with a timer is the business.  It is certainly not as comfortable as living in a house, and Paul and I have to dance around each other on occasion in the confined space, but it is our home, and we love it.

When good boats go bad.

In our wanderings over the years we have always been observers of other yachts, as they are normally a picture of beauty no matter what shape or size. They can be slender and streamlined or chubby and accomodating, they can be racey and modern or traditional and slower paced, we love them all. But one thing that saddens us, is when a good boat is left to go bad.

There may be many reasons for this happening, and sometimes it is unavoidable. But it is such a shame to see a lovely boat, sitting on her mooring year after year, with no love being shown her, no care taken of most basic needs. Dotted around any mooring field anywhere in the world, there will always be the tired little Sloop, or the old wooden Ketch, or the smaller displacement launch moldering, rotting, slowly losing the battle with the elements, just waiting to slip to a watery grave.

Unfortunately we have had an unwitting part in the chain of events that have led to two yachts fall into this poor state. It has been so sad to see our much loved yachts of years ago now sitting, slowly moldering (according to my word program this is not a word, but it sounds so right for what happens to a neglected boat).

We purchased Nessie II in 1999, she is a 36ft Eric Cox design, built in 1966 in Whangarei by Alan Smith. We did not own her for long, only 8 months, but she was a lovely wooden boat. We realised that a wooden boat was not really our thing, so we did the wise thing and sold her, in the hope the new owner was the right one. But many years later we spotted Nessie on a mooring, slowly moldering away. I live in hope that someone has since come to her rescue. Nessie is not what prompted this little essay, what has sparked this written outburst is the plight of our last boat, Aragorn.

We purchased Aragorn, a Cavalier 32, in May 2002 from Auckland. We had plans of her being our forever boat, we had her transformed from a faded Yellow to a glowing white. We had an original design of a “White Tree” sign written on her hull (if you have any knowledge of The Lord of the Rings, Aragorn’s crest design was a White Tree), we upgraded and maintained. But as time passed we realised we wanted more room for living aboard. So the decision was made in March 2007 to sell Aragorn, and she was handed on to new owners, who we kept in touch with and they cared for her as we had. We lost track of her when she was again on-sold, until one day we spotted her, disguised under another name. To avoid embarrassment I will refrain from using her new name, mind you it is a name that sends Paul and I into spasms of embarrassment, and will have to live on the new owners conscience. 

At first we were pleased to see that she was cared for, and over the intervening years we have spotted her on occasion. It has been nearly 2 years since we last saw Aragorn, but two days ago we again spotted her on a trip down the harbour. What a sorry sight she has become, another good boat gone bad, She is covered in bird poo, her waterline is dirty, and her Bottom is fouled with weed and barnacles no doubt. She is not beyond redemption, but the slippery slide into moldering away has begun.

Aragorn today.

Aragorn covered in shite

Aragorn when we purchased her.

Aragorn when we sold her

The working life

Today I sit in our comfy little Townhouse watching the rain lashing the windows, hearing the wind scurling around the yard. The tarpaulin's covering the dinghies, puffing and rattling in the gusts. It is mid summer and we are at last having some much needed rain, after what had started as a hot dry spell of weather. The Christmas and New Year hype are a thing of the past for another year, and we can settle back into a normal routine.

I have finished my contract with the Whangarei District Council, so I am now an unemployed bum, but that is OK, as we have plans to go sailing again. Kabuki has been hauled out at Riverside Drive Marina for about 4 weeks now, but because of work and the festive season not a lot has been done, and now the weather is stepping in to slow work down. Paul is down at the yard cleaning and greasing the valves, but there is not a lot I can do, as painting is out. We are completing our annual haul out a bit later than usual, going sailing along the coast is a bit crowded over the Holiday period, so we thought we could do the work required then head off sailing when the hoards go back to work.

I can't wait to get away again, I have missed the live aboard lifestyle so much. It is a fresh, active, fulfilling way of life. No sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day looking at a computer screen, no office politics, no worrying about saying the wrong thing. Give me the fresh air, the smell of the sea, the activity required to live life on board a cruising yacht, and the freedom to expand....

Working shrinks my mind, it is hard to explain. When I work I have little desire to write, our lives are choked up with our work, it is what we talk about when we come home, it becomes that drudgery so often depicted in cartoons. This little video which I first saw shared on facebook earlier this year is a classic example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=422&v=kQjtK32mGJQ


We are getting to the age when our friends are getting sick or having life altering operations, others are dying before their time. We have realised that life is precious, time is precious and we do not want to squander any of our time on working unnecessarily for things we don't need. Work squashes our creativity, sucks up our energy, and tramples our being. Unfortunately we need to work to earn money to live, but here in lies the quandary. How much money do you really need to live the fulfilling life that you desire. How much do you need the things that money can buy you? and how much do you really need to spend on those things?

We have just purchased a new car, well new to us. It is 10 years old and the flashiest car we have ever owned, we are hoping this car will see us out i.e. to when we can no longer drive or when they no longer have petrol driven cars, which ever comes first. Some of you may say..What? Why buy such an old car? Yesterday we sold our previous car for $1000.00, it was 23 years old, still going well and it had cost us $2000.00, 8 years ago. We do not need a "new" car, we are quite happy with second hand. Second hand boat, second hand motorbike, second hand house, second hand bed. When we do buy new, we look after it and keep it for as long as possible.

Our philosophy is not to squander your life on working for "things". I am not saying don't work, we have worked our asses off over the years. We built a house and lived in the incomplete shell with 3 children, while we finished it off over 3 years. Paul has worked hard at his place of employment, and still works hard. I am not saying don't buy anything, get the things you need, do the things you want but, think... we did without expensive holidays (no taking the kids to Surfers Paradise, we went camping, no glamping here), we have always had old cars, our appliances last, we replace only when something dies, and we got our first credit card 8 years ago when we had to buy something from America on-line. Saving is a habit we have gotten into, we are still saving, but we are starting to enjoy the benefits of our saving.

Everybody's life choices are different, some people thrive on Career and work, they find it fulfilling and require the stress to survive. But for others like us, work is not the mainstay of our lives, we are not career minded. Work is a means to an end.



Viva la difference

Home is were the freedom chips are.

Well it now feels as though the UK and Ireland are a lifetime ago. We are back into our winter working routine, saving some more freedom chips. Our big adventure overseas has only whetted our appetite for travel, and settling down to work took a lot longer than usual. The last few months have been a series of swings and roundabouts, scheming and planning, then planning and scheming, only to step back to reality and the long wait till summer.

Sunset, Bay of Islands

We kept Kabuki up on the mooring in the Bay of Islands for a few months, and after work on a Friday evening we would pack up and go, she was only an hour away and we had some lovely weekends floating around the Islands. Then on Friday the 14th March (easter weekend) we headed up to Opua  ready for the sail back down the coast to Whangarei. There had been a blow over Wednesday into Thursday and things had quietened down a little, but we were not to sure what the sea conditions were like. We got on board and got the old girl ready for going to sea, we had decided to head out and make the decision when we got closer to Cape Brett.

So off we set, saying good bye to Opua and the trusty mooring, we motored out past Paihia and Russell with the mainsail set, then it was off with the engine and out with the Headsail, the wind was about 10 knots at this stage. Going around Tapeka Point can be a bit hairy with an onshore swell, and the swell was expected to be 3 metres, but we sailed past with no worries. Our thoughts turned to getting Kabuki home, so the decision was made, we would head out round Cape Brett for the 60 mile dash down the coast to Whangarei Heads.

Sailing Home

As we got closer to Cape Brett and further out from the shelter of the Bay the swell got bigger and more confused, but Kabuki sailed on doing 7 knots down the back of some waves. We had a 3 metre swell from the E and the wind swell picked up from the NW, but with 15- 25 knots of wind we were flying if a bit uncomfortably. As we rounded Cape Brett the confusion eased and it turned from white knuckle sailing to glorious. The wind held for most of the way, but as per usual once we got near Tutukaka it died away and we slowed right down. So on with the Iron Genny and a motorsail to the Mad Woman (a rock formation off Bream Head), as we got closer to the entrance of Whangarei harbour the waves eased even more. We dropped sail and motored around to Taurikura in the dark, brandishing the flashlight in search of rogue moorings. We dropped anchor at 2300hrs and settled down for a quiet night in the arms of Taurikura Bay.

The next morning we were up early to catch the tide up the harbour to Whangarei, we now had a mission on our minds. We secured Kabuki to the Marina at the Town Basin, I think she was glad to be home after her holiday adventure in the Bay of Islands. We walked up the road to home and then got set for an evening of Westsail natter at a fellow owners place i.e. I whipped up a Cheesecake for a Pot Luck dinner with other likeminded sailors. We were so pleased we made it back for the dinner, we had a lovely time catching up with some overseas visitors who also have good taste and own a Westsail Yacht.

We kept Kabuki on the Marina for 3 weeks, doing some cleaning and preparing her for the winter ahead. Every year we take all of her sails off, including the Furling Headsail, we give her a good clean and top up the Diesel tanks to stop water condensing in them over the winter months. After 3 weeks we motored Kabuki down to our Pile moorings in the river. So there she sits, Paul has gone out every weekend to do other jobs like changing the engine oil, cleaning the filters and patching up little bits here and there.

Winter has arrived at last, in fact we are coming up to the shortest day, a veritable high point in the calendar, as once that is past the days only get longer, and we can see that summer is on its way again.