Hauraki Gulf Cruising Notes: Motutapu Island

Motutapu Island - a lovely place to anchor up and go for a walk in pastoral landscapes and replanted bush
36°45′S 174°55′E

Pohutukawa trees on Motutapu starting to blossom in November.
Their red blossoms over the holiday period are why they are sometimes called the Kiwi Christmas tree.

Motutapu (Sacred) Island is a very popular place with local boaties as it is relatively close to Auckland and has some great walks and beaches to enjoy. It is also connected to neighboring Rangitoto Island by a causeway which means you can easily explore both islands while you're out there. If you don't have a boat, both Motutapu and Rangitoto have regular ferry service from Auckland and they're often teeming with day trippers on the weekends. The islands provide a real visual contrast sitting next to each other with Rangitoto being a younger volcanic island which erupted around 1400 CE. Compared to Rangitoto's rugged landscape and steep volcanic peak, Motutapu has a lower profile, is mostly pasture and has gently rolling hills. Motutapu was settled by Maori around mid-1300 CE and they would have experienced the eruption of Rangitoto and watched their island covered in volcanic ash.

Motutapu is a 1509 hectare recreation reserve administered by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Part of the reserve is leased out as pest-free farmland with around 3,500 sheep and 1,000 cattle roaming around. So when you go for walks on the island, sometimes you have to play dodge the droppings. It keeps you alert and on your toes though. Literally on your toes when you look down and notice you're about to step in something. Although you might think that allowing pastoral activity on one of the Hauraki Gulf islands isn't ideal, it actually has several benefits. By munching their way around the island, the sheep and cows are protecting the archaeological sites from regrowth and damage from roots. They also help keep weeds from spreading. And the military sites on the island can't be replanted with native plants, so pastoralism is a great way to maintain these sites for everyone to enjoy.

The other tenant on the island is the Outdoor Education Camp. When the WWII Artillery Camp was decommissioned it was handed over to be used by Kiwi youth and an outdoor education camp was established in 1966. It is located in Administration Bay on the northern shore of the island and you can see lots of energetic young people doing things like climbing poles, building rafts, doing rope courses and that type of thing. Makes me tired just thinking about it.

But if you're energetic, like these youngsters, then you might want to do some tramping on the island. If you're starting out from Home Bay (where the ferry service goes to), then you can walk from there to Northern Junction which is near some of the WWII site (approx. 2km). From Northern Junction, you can carry on for another 3.3 kms to Billy Goat Point at the northern tip of the island via the Wetland track across farmland. You can also access Mullet, Station, Waikarapupu and Sandy Bays from this track. If you have your own boat, these are great bays to anchor up in and enjoy the views.

Alternatively, you could try out the Motutapu Walkway which connects Home Bay to Islington Bay. Islington Bay is an extremely popular anchorage with yachties and well worth a visit. Because it lies between Rangitoto and Motutapu Islands it gives you options as to which one you want to explore, if you don't have time to do both. The Motutapu Walkway is 4.2 kms one way and goes through farmland. Follow the poles as you go. There are some great vantage points along the way and you can see areas of native bush that have been replanted.

If you enjoy the Hauraki Gulf and are looking for a way to give something back, the Motutapu Restoration Trust is doing some great conservation work and have regularly scheduled volunteer days. Their restoration efforts help protect the world's largest pohutukawa forest (the Kiwi Chrismas tree) and native wildlife and plants. I went and helped out last month and spent several hours weeding the evil moth plant. The regular volunteers and members of the Trust are very knowledgeable, educate you on their conservation efforts and take you to parts of the island you might not normally find yourself. Well worth checking out and getting involved in.

You can find additional information and some useful maps of Motutapu, Rangitoto and the Hauraki Gulf at the Outdoor Education Camp site here, on the DOC site here and on the Motutapu Restoration Trust site here.

If you're interested in other posts in the "Hauraki Gulf Cruising Notes" series, check out this page.

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Some of the cows on Motutapu. They're watching to see if you step in their cow patties. If you do, they giggle to each other. It sounds like they are saying, "Moo, moo, moo" but really they're saying, "Silly hoooman, silly hooman, silly hooman"

I Almost Killed Scott The Other Day

The scene of the crime - the X Pier at Westhaven Marina.

The key word here is "almost" - there was bleeding and a few swear words, but Scott survived. Which is good because I've kind of grown fond of him. And he makes a really good egg and cheese breakfast burrito so he is a keeper. Here is how this little drama unfolded...

Take two people. Put them in a sailboat. Make sure at least one person knows how to sail because the other person probably forgot everything she learned the previous summer because her brain can't possibly retain information on sailing for seven months. There is limited capacity up there and the sailing information has had to be replaced with the plot details about who has done what to who in season 2 of Scandal. {Please, no spoilers about the second half of season 2 or season 3.} Then add in some wind so that you can spice up a docking maneuver. The docking maneuver should have been routine and had in fact been successfully completed just two days earlier. This leads everyone to believe that it will all be just fine. The fools.

Have your skipper head into the dock against the wind so that it slows the boat down. Get your least experienced crew member situated with a mooring line on the bow so that she can jump down to the dock and secure the boat. In the future, remember to tell your least experienced crew member to stop thinking about the next episode of Scandal during the docking maneuver because it might be a bit distracting. If you're the inexperienced crew member, start to feel somewhat clever because you remember reading somewhere that you shouldn't make a big jump onto the dock and instead just lightly hop down to it. Once you realize that the dock is too far away for your short little legs, tell the skipper that it is too far to jump. But make sure you do so in a normal tone of voice because you've been told you sometimes speak too loudly and your voice carries. Then wonder why the skipper asks you why you haven't jumped yet. Panic and jump. Panic some more then pull the bow line in smartly. While you're doing this, your skipper should put the engine in neutral and jump onto the dock with the stern line. Make sure to pull on the bow line just when he is over the water so the boat drifts off astern and he falls into the water. Such fun. Such entertainment for everyone that is watching the maneuver.

At this point, there might be some naughty words being said. You can't be sure about this because the water might be muffling what the skipper is saying. When the skipper yells at you to come grab the stern line, make sure you drop the bow line because keeping hold of it would be far too sensible. Then watch the bow drift away and the skipper swimming in the water. Thinking quickly and somewhat in a panic, grab the lifeline to pull the boat in so it doesn't completely drift off. Then panic some more that you are going to crush the skipper in between the boat and the dock. Good times.

Somehow, the skipper manages to pull himself onto the swim platform and back onto the boat. Then off the boat to grab the bow line sitting on the dock. The skipper restores order. The inexperienced crew member goes down below and wonders if it is too early for a gin and tonic. The skipper thinks this is the exact moment to do a debrief of what went wrong. Because doing a "lessons learned" exercise is really important. Except all the inexperienced crew member can think about is whether there is still some lemon for the gin and tonic and isn't listening at all to the skipper. Fortunately, years of marriage have taught her how to do the head nodding thing which gives the illusion that she is paying attention.

And just to put some icing on the cake, make sure your gears get jammed up and won't go into forward just when you're trying to get off the dock and back to your mooring. This provides more entertainment for bystanders while you try to make your gears work all the while you're drifting backwards because only reverse will work.

The good news is that the skipper was wearing swim trunks already, didn't have his wallet or phone in his pockets and the water wasn't too terribly cold. He does have some pretty cuts and nicks from the barnacles on his arms, legs, hands and feet as a lovely memento of the event. 

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Back On The Water



Map of our outing earlier this week. Skipper Scott would like me to point out that the lines I drew aren't accurate. He does know how to sail in a straight line and he doesn't run over rocks. Sourced from LINZ. Crown Copyright reserved.

On Sunday, after we got the mainsail patched up and did some initial cleaning up of the boat, Scott suggested we head out for the night to get back into our cruising groove. The night turned into two nights and a long day, but once we ran out of coffee, Scott was happy to head back in. Overall, it was a good opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with our boat, for me to (re)learn basic sailing skills and for us to think through some of the logistics of moving onto our boat full-time in a couple of weeks.

Sunday, 15 December 2013

Bean Rock lighthouse in the Hauraki Gulf. It began operating in 1871 and is the sole surviving example of a wooden cottage style lighthouse in New Zealand. You can read more about it here.

We headed out around 5pm after chatting with our new boat neighbor, Jeremy. Jeremy is Belgian and first came to New Zealand as a child with his family when they circumnavigated the world. He has since moved here permanently with his family. He thinks starting off cruising in the Caribbean, once we head back to the States to buy a bigger boat, would be a good way to go. We'll need to pick his brain some more on his experiences in the coming weeks.

Good weather when we headed out - sunny and warm, flat calm and wind out of the north around 10 knots. We put the main up right away once we got out of the marina and headed over to Islington Bay, a popular anchorage between Motutapu and Rangitoto Islands. A couple of hours later, we had the anchor down and a gin and tonic in the cockpit. I wasn't up for doing complicated cooking so we just had old fashioned spaghetti with sauce from a jar and then toddled off to sleep.

Monday, 16 December 2013

Sunrise in Islington Bay between Rangitoto and Motutapu Islands

After a good night's sleep, Scott got up and took the lovely picture above and made coffee for me while I slept in. His way of getting me to wake up is to stand over me holding a cup of coffee and stare at me until I feel his looming presence and smell the coffee. Our cats used to do something similar, but without the coffee and with sharp claws instead. Needless to say, Scott is a bit of a morning person and keen to get going early, early, early. To convince me that an early start was a good idea, he even made me super tasty breakfast of egg and cheese burritos. And he did the dishes too! I can get used to this type of room service.

Woody Bay, Rakino Island. That's our tiny boat out there anchored up.

We then headed off to Rakino Island under motor due to lack of wind, which is to the northeast of Motutapu Island. We hadn't been there before, but knew that it was the former home of the famous Great Ricardo so we were keen to visit. We pitched the hook in Woody Bay, had a nice picnic on the beach, did some reading and then Scott was eager to do some more sailing. By this time there was a bit of wind so we were able to put the sails up. We had a very pleasant sail, even though we were fairly close hauled, averaged about 5 knots and headed over the top of Waiheke Island. Then we went down the east side and through the Ruthe Passage between Ponui and Rotoroa Islands. We anchored up in Southwest Bay in Rotoroa Island for the night. More spaghetti and red sauce from a jar and some cheap red wine. I'll definitely need to jazz up my cooking repertoire.



Southwest Bay, Rotoroa Island. The island has recently been opened up to the public. It was the former location of the Salvation Army alcohol treatment program, along with the neighboring Pakatoa Island.

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

Scott made breakfast for me again this morning! I think he is afraid I'm going to chicken out on this whole cruising full-time thing so he is pulling out all the stops with coffee and breakfast each morning. Another beautiful day out, sunny and warm (even too hot at times), but little wind and what there was was on our nose. So we motored on out and headed through the Waiheke Passage to continue our circumnavigation of Waiheke Island.

Putiki Bay, Waiheke Island. That's the Sealink car ferry coming in.

We headed up to Putiki Bay on the southern side of the island to look for a mooring ball that one of our boat neighbors offered up to us to use. (By the way, he is a super nice guy who has anything you could possibly need squirreled away in endless jars in his boat. He is in "later" years and is one amazing guy, rowing out to the pile moorings himself and single-handing his boat all around the Hauraki Gulf.) It was our first time in Putiki Bay, which is where the car ferry comes into Waiheke Island. A really nice, sheltered bay, which is mostly filled with private mooring balls, although there is some room to anchor up. We ended up not picking up the mooring ball because we weren't sure of the number, or the bay, or really anything. Parts of the bay are really shallow so we took the dinghy out for a spin to explore. I was hoping that we could find some ice cream. Which was really silly because I should have known that outside of the main population centers on the island, you aren't likely to find roadside ice cream stands. But a girl can always hope.

In the middle of this picture, you can see a little house which floats in the water when the tide is up. Quite cute.

After our dinghy expedition, we headed back out to Westhaven Marina. We were out of coffee so we really didn't have any choice. A morning without coffee on our boat isn't one that anyone should ever witness. Once we got back out, we put the sails up and tried to tack our way back in. No fun. No fun at all. Going against the tide, beating into the wind (which was gusting up to 24 knots) and not remembering how to tack (me, not Scott) meant that we I decided the motor isn't a bad thing after all. We headed into Islington Bay on the way back to take down the main, anchor up to wait for the tide to change and have some lunch. After our bellies were full, we headed back out, Skipper Scott went down for a nap and left me to it. I got to bash into the wind and waves, get a bit of a soaking and my hand got tired holding the tiller for hours. Once Scott woke up, he took over, put up the headsail and got us back into our slip.

Overall

66 nautical miles

Top speed 6.9 knots

Approx 5 hours motoring



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Everything Seems Ticketyboo (So Far)

We had beautiful weather the first day back on our boat, so we sat out in the cockpit and enjoyed the sunshine and the views. These are the pile moorings where we currently keep our boat. You can see Wynyard Quarter and the old siloes from our cockpit. Great views of Auckland and the city lights at night as well. And that's another Raven across the way - just like our boat.

Scott got back to New Zealand last week and, as predicted, the first thing he wanted to do was go check out our boat so we could make sure she is ready to move onboard and begin full-time cruising at the end of the month. We've started going through our list of things to check out and, so far, generally everything seems ticketyboo, which is great considering she has been tucked away out on the pile moorings all winter. 

When we got to the dinghy racks, we found that our dink was quite deflated but it was easy enough to pump her back up and, most importantly, she has stayed inflated. Our next task was to row out and make sure the boat was still there. And she was. So another tick off the list. And even better, no one had broken in and stolen anything! The engine started right off the bat and seems to be running okay. Which is great because the last thing we want to do is to have to put any money into fixing pesky little things like engines, especially as we'll be selling our boat at the end of the New Zealand summer.

We took the boat out of the water on Saturday to clean her off and make sure everything was okay down below. She didn't have too much growing on her, the sacrificial zinc didn't need to be replaced and we were in and out of the Floating Dock in no time. After filling her up with water, we then headed out and bended on the headsail and had a nice little sail. (Yeah, I didn't know what "bending on the sail" meant either. It is just Scott's fancy talk for "putting on the sail".) 

On Sunday, we patched up the mainsail, started moving some stuff on board and did a big clean outside and inside. We found that the boat smells a bit musty and there is some mildew inside. We were a bit surprised about that as we don't think the previous owners had a problem with that, but it isn't anything a good cleaning with vinegar and bleach can't fix.
We've still managed to find time for some fun - Scott has already been out rum racing and we managed to sneak in a pint or two at the pub near our marina. Fingers crossed, everything else goes okay and we'll move onboard in the next week or so and be off on our cruising adventure!
 

This is Swashbuckler's (or Swashies as some folks call it), which is a local pub and restaurant near Westhaven Marina. It is popular with boaties, marine industry workers and corporate types who work in the nearby office buildings. While Scott and I lingered over our Steinlager beers, the poor corporate bods looked uncomfortable in their nice work clothes and kept checking their watches so that they could scurry back to their cubicles on time. I must say this life of an unemployed vagabond on a boat sure beats the old corporate life!

The Cynical Sailor Speaks On The Sailing Podcast

Well, the Cynical Sailor himself didn't actually speak on The Sailing Podcast as he was busy working in Scotland. But I did. The sidekick. The one who writes this blog. The Pollyanna, glass-half-full "yin" to Scott's cynical "yang" or "yang" to his "yin". I'm not sure which, but you get the idea.

If you aren't familiar with The Sailing Podcast, you should definitely head on over and see what it is all about. Scott has been a big fan for a while and first discovered the site when he saw they had an interview with Webb Chiles (the guy who has circumnavigated five times and was the first person to go around Cape Horn solo). Scott was keen to be able to hear what Webb had to say as he had previously "met" him through some email exchanges about a boat in New Zealand. I've checked the site out as well now and it is a really great resource to hear stories about sailing and cruising, as well as the voice behind people's blogs and books. There is a great interview with David Anderson from The Sailing Podcast on Sail Far Live Free which is worth checking out as well to learn more about David and his passion for sailing and podcasts.

So how in the world did this madness happen? Scott emailed David to say that he thought it would be great to hear a podcast from someone who is new to cruising or in the process of getting ready to cruise full-time. And guess who he suggested - me. But of course, he forgot to mention to me that he had emailed David. I think I've told you before that Scott is a crafty little devil and it pays to keep an eye on him. But it is so much harder to do that when he is in Scotland and I am in New Zealand. So surprise, David said yes, let's interview Ellen and then Scott "confessed" what he had done.

If you listen to the podcast, I ramble a lot and talk about some really random stuff and I can't stand to hear the sound of my own voice. Do I really sound like that? So I would really understand if you skipped over our podcast and checked out some of the others. From people like Webb Chiles, or Teresa Carey & Ben Eriksen at Sailing Simplicity, or Paul & Sheryl Shard from Distant Shores TV, or Bill & Judy Rouse from S/V BeBe, or Mike Sweeney from Zero to Cruising, or Jamie & Behan Gifford at S/V Totem. And the list goes on and on. Some really big names in sailing and cruising and then there is, well, me. Go figure.

However, despite the fact that I'm not the world's best interviewee, it was a fun experience. David is a really nice guy and I enjoyed chatting with him immensely. If you want to have a listen, you can find a link here to download the podcast.

And don't worry, Scott will pay for setting me up to be interviewed. Oh yes, he will pay. 

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Going For A Walk: Wynyard Quarter, Auckland {Or Cute Stuff Everywhere}

Wynyard Quarter is one of the new hot spots in the Auckland waterfront area and is undergoing a 25-year urban transformation plan, the first part of which was completed in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup (which of course the All Blacks won). It sits on reclaimed land in the Waitemata Harbour and encompasses around 37 hectares of land and three kms of coastal frontage. There are all sorts of amenities for visitors to enjoy including a playground, public artwork, old siloes which have been jazzed up, a fish market and all sorts of cafes, restaurants and bars. You can see all types of vessels in Wynyard Quarter including fishing boats, the Great Barrier Island ferry, classic Kiwi yachts and mega yachts. Positioned between the Viaduct and Westhaven, it is nice area to have a stroll, visit and explore. 

The drawbridge from Te Wero Island in the Viaduct which you cross over to get to Wynyard Quarter.

View from under the pohutukawa trees back to the Viaduct and the drawbridge..

There is a lot of interesting street art scattered throughout Wynyard Quarter.

There's a fish market in Wynyard Quarter which is fun to explore. They sell good fish and chips there, but be warned if you want ketchup for your chips, it will cost you extra.



Yummy fish for sale. Although, I much prefer the ones that Skipper Scott catches for us.

One of the many fishing boats in the Wynyard Quarter.

They've repurposed old shipping containers throughout Wynyard Quarter.
You can get money out of the ATM at this one. There is a television screen on the other side showing videos.

At this one, you can buy some ice cream with the money you just took out of the ATM.

And you can even catch the bus from this shipping container.

  

At the end of Wynyard Quarter is Silo Park. It is full of siloes. The name kind of gives it away.

They've jazzed some of the old siloes up with colorful paintings.







Silo Park marina is where the mega-yachts berth. This ridiculous boat, the A, is owned by a Russian tycoon and worth $350 million. He has brought it into Auckland to be repainted. It is going to cost around NZ$30 million alone to repaint and take approx. 18 months.



These boats are much nicer.

 And the most important thing to know about the Wynyard Quarter is that they just opened a branch of Sal's Pizza there. This is the best proper American style pizza in Auckland. I think they import the cheese from Wisconsin. Getting a pizza from Sal's is a priority must-do for Scott this week now that he is back in New Zealand.

Sail Repair: The Theory

We have an approx. 3 inch tear in our mainsail which I need to repair. I tried to convince Scott that sail repair was a manly, "blue" job but then he tried to tell me that hoisting the anchor and rowing the dinghy were girly, "pink" jobs. I reconsidered. Sail repair is now my new specialty. I have absolutely no idea how to do this and clearly no experience. Thank goodness for the internet. Not only can you find out how to repair a sail, you can also find some truly weird and random stuff. So thanks to the internet, here is the theory on sail repair. Check back in later and we'll see if reality is anything like theory. I've found that the two don't always align.

From what I can tell, there are two types of patches - a cut-away patch and a "bandaid" patch. The cut-away patch is where you sew on a new piece of sail cloth on one side and then cut away the damaged part of the other side. This is what your professional sail maker would do, for a price of course. I'm cheap and certainly not a professional, so I'm going to go with the "bandaid" approach. You basically apply adhesive backed cloth or tape on both sides of the tear - like a giant bandaid.

Step 1 - Buy sail repair tape. 

I'm thinking of getting this Seasure heavy duty sail repair tape (1.5mmx100mm) at Foster's Chandlery. It says it is suitable for all sails including heavy spinnakers and you can edge stich it for permanent repair. It will cost me NZ$16.01. Which is funny because they don't have pennies in New Zealand so where the extra cent is going to come from is beyond me. But that's where Swedish rounding comes into play.

Step 2 - Make sure your sail is dry and clean. 

The adhesive won't stick to damp cloth. This shouldn't be a problem as we took the main sail off when we put the boat away for the winter.

Step 3 - Apply the tape. 

You should make sure the tape extends beyond the hole by 2-3" in each direction so cut the tape accordingly. Make sure the area is flat, peel the backing off and then lay the tape on the sail and rub it down firmly. Turn over the sail and repeat.

Step 4 - Do some sewing. 

You should reinforce the patch by sewing a zigzag stich. You're supposed to do a zigzag as it allows the stich line to stretch with the cloth. The instructions I found on the internet (see link above) talk about using an awl to punch holes through thick areas of cloth. This doesn't seem like the dresses and pillow covers I'm used to sewing on my old sewing machine.

Step 5 - Figure out what sewing equipment you need. 

Based on what I learned in Step 4, it doesn't look my household sewing kit is going to cut the mustard. You can buy this super expensive sail sewing kit at Foster's Chandlery. Give them NZ$80.26 and in return you will get a leather sewing palm, assorted needles, waxed sewing thread and beeswax. Do I need this stuff? It seems like a lot of money to invest in sewing. Although to be fair, I've probably spent more on materials for my various arts and crafts projects in the past. It would probably be so much easier if I had a sewing machine like these folks, but buying one of those isn't on the cards for us just now. 

Step 6 - Admire your handiwork and go for a sail.

Have you ever repaired a sail? How did you do it? What sewing equipment do I need and it is really that expensive?

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