Cruising In Kawau Island {Or It’s A Small, Small World}

I’ve always found that even though there are a gazillion people living on planet Earth, in many ways it is very a small, small world. Back when I was in university, I ran into a professor of mine in a dress shop in an alley in Dakar, Senegal. Wow, was I ever surprised – the last place I expected to see him. Fortunately, I got a good grade in his course so he was happy to see me.

That experience was my first clue that you never know who you are going to run into wherever you happen to find yourself in the world. The “small world” phenomena happened to us again when we were cruising up in Kawau Island and saw a boat just like ours anchoring just next to us in Bon Accord Harbour. Of course, we’re always interested when we see another Raven 26 so we had a good look and realized that the name seemed awfully familiar. It turned out we knew the boat and its owners from when we met them last year in Gulf Harbour! They don’t live in Auckland so they’re not people we would normally see when we lived there, and even though New Zealand is a small place, the chances of running into them on the water were pretty slim, let alone having them anchor just next to us.

They either recognized us, or thought they should pretend they did when they saw us waving to them, and came over for a visit and some drinks. And then they had us over to their boat the next morning for coffee. Such a lovely couple and it was so nice to have a visit with them. They’re in their 70s and they’re still out there cruising and enjoying their Raven 26. A real inspiration to me to see people who have loved cruising for years and years and still love it to this day. I’ve always read that one of the best things about cruising is the people you meet and this particular couple really confirmed it for me.

If you want to know more about our trip out to Kawau Island (the home of Lin & Larry Pardey), here is what happened…

Friday, 10 January 2014

Sunrise in Auckland

We took off from Auckland at 10:30 am and motored up the Waitemata Harbour. Scott looked enviously at the boats out fishing and decided to try his luck at 11:00 am near the naval base. Such excitement when he caught the first snapper of the season! Such disappointment when it turned out to be too small! Fishing was abandoned at 11:45 am and we continued on to Mahurangi eventually dropping the hook in Otarawao Bay at 6:45 pm.

Water conservation has been top of mind for me (I have bad dreams about running out of water), so that night I decided to try my hand at washing the dishes with salt water and then rinsing them off briefly with fresh water. My new dishwashing technique seemed to work out okay and our coffee didn’t taste salty the next morning which is the true test for me.

Saturday, 11 January 2014

Sunrise in Mahurangi

We left Mahurangi at 11:00 am with plans to circumnavigate Kawau Island before anchoring for the night. Unfortunately, the wind had other plans for us. She was very uncooperative and didn’t seem to want to help us get anywhere. We puttered around for ages in very little wind. Scott decided to try his luck fishing again, but 15 minutes later the wind picked back up and we put the sails back up and the rod away. Unfortunately, we weren’t getting anywhere fast, so decided to head into Bon Accord Harbour and anchor up around 3:30 pm in a primo spot next to the Kawau Yacht Club. I was really happy about our early anchoring as the place really started to fill up in the evening and there is nothing worse than trying to find a spot in a crowded anchorage at the end of a long day when you’re tired and hungry. It is far more entertaining to sit in your cockpit with a drink and a full belly and watch everyone else.

Kawau Yacht Club

The Kawau Yacht Club is a great place to sit outside and watch all the boats come in so we dinghied on over for a couple of beers and some hot chips. As usual, we kept an eye out for the Pardeys, but no luck again this time. After that, it was “small world” time when Reflections anchored up next to us and we had drinks with them on our boat later that night.

Sunday, 12 January 2014

Sweet little spot where we had our picnic lunch on the grounds of Mansion House.

The next morning, we went over to Reflections for a coffee and a nosey around their boat. A much, much nicer boat then ours, that’s for sure. They’ve put a lot of time into her and it shows. We were really interested in their set-up down below which is quite different than ours. While we have our galley running along one side of our boat, they have their cooker near the companionway with their sink on the opposite side. This allows them to have two full settees in the saloon, rather than the just the one that we have. Much more spacious and clever set-up to my mind as they can both sleep on a settee each with their feet tucked under the sink and cooker respectively. On our boat, poor Scott has to sleep on the settee as he is too tall for the v-berth. It just goes to show you how important it is to put some real thought into the set-up of a boat. We had a great visit and a really tasty coffee and mince pie.

Public wharf at Schoolhouse Bay

We had planned to go out for a hike in the morning, but there was a cold front and showers that came in so we held off until the afternoon when things got a bit better. While much of Kawau Island is private land, the Department of Conservation has a large reserve off of Mansion Bay which has some really nice walks. We tied up our dinghy at the public wharf in neighboring Schoolhouse Bay and picked up the trail to Mansion Bay where we had a nice picnic lunch. [Tip - if you decide to do the same one day, don’t tie up at the public wharf. There is limited space for dinghies and the wharf has to be kept clear as that is where the helicopter would land in an emergency. The tides also make it a real nightmare. The smarter thing to do is to go all the way to Mansion Bay and pull your dinghy up on the beach. We did the dumber thing, but we’re smarter now.]

The path to the Kawau Yacht Club from the dinghy wharf. Beware of the pirates as you walk by!

After our walk, I had a craving for meat, which is in limited supply on our boat as we don’t have refrigeration, so we headed back to Kawau Yacht Club in the evening and split a bacon cheeseburger. Yummo!

Monday, 13 January 2014

Beach near the dinghy dock and Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron facilities.

I decided to put my cooking skills to the test and made griddle scones on the cooker for breakfast. Not having an oven or ready access to reasonably priced bread out on the islands, means we’ve been relying quite a bit on store bought tortillas (which last forever) and what I can whip up in a skillet. While the scones you would buy in a bakery are a million times better, mine were edible and when you’re hungry, that’s really what matters.

The wind was kicking up and where we were anchored was getting rolly and uncomfortable so we decided to move over to Mansion House Bay. A much more protected anchorage for the conditions and we settled in nicely after a short stroll on the Mansion House grounds. The winds continued to kick up in the evening with the neighboring boat reporting that it was gusting up to 35 knots out on the water. Scott, being the good skipper that he is, kept a close eye on the anchor and made sure we had enough rode out to suit the conditions. Unfortunately, another boat (which anchored after us) touched our hull for a brief moment sometime in the night. That meant that Scott got very little sleep after that. He pulled in some rode and kept an eye on how our boat and the other were swinging all through the night. We’re sure neither of us dragged during the night but rather that the incident was due to our differing ground tackle and the way we were each swinging. Scott popped by the other boat in the morning, let them know what happened (they hadn’t noticed during the night) and everyone was happy there wasn’t any damage.

Monday, 14 January 2014

Mansion House

The weather was forecast to get worse later in the day and we needed to stock up on supplies and refill our grease gun for the engine so we headed over to Gulf Harbour. It was the worst sail ever - for me that is, Scott has had much, much, much worse. We were beating right into over 30 knots of wind. The boat kept slamming up and down and up and down and up and down making for a very uncomfortable ride for the crew down in the cabin. We’re not sure how much the skipper enjoyed things up top either. Scott thought about heading back to Kawau Island, but we persevered and made it into Gulf Harbour Marina at 12:30 pm. Poor Scott – he was pretty tuckered out by this point with the anchor drama the night before and the tough sailing in the morning.

While we were getting things organized on the boat, a guy stopped by and asked if he could have a look at our boat. He had recently bought a Raven 26 and was curious as to how ours was set up. We had a good chat with him and he told us about his adventures sailing to the Pacific Islands from New Zealand and how he spent several years exploring them. After that, we had a mosey over to check out his boat. It is quite different from the standard Raven 26 as it has a wooden coach roof, different windows and beautiful wood interior and teak decks. Concerto is an absolutely beautiful boat and he keeps it in pristine condition. So that was two Raven 26 boats that we got to check out on our trip – both look much nicer than ours!

We had hoped to catch up with one of my bloggy pals while we were in Gulf Harbour, but we ran out of time chasing down engine grease and other supplies and by the time evening rolled around, I think we were both exhausted and had an early night.

Overall

Total nautical miles = 62

Top speed = 6.1

Average speed = 3.75

Approx number hours motoring = 3 hours 15 mins
Number of other Raven 26 boats we visited = 2 

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Curtain Twitchers

I'm not sure how widely the term "curtain twitchers" is used. I first heard it when we lived in Scotland and it was used to describe the old ladies who were constantly at their windows, twitching their net curtains so that they can have a peek outside and see what was happening. Who was visiting whom, what time the husband across the street came home and whether he was a bit tipsy, what the teenaged girls were wearing for a night out on the town, whether the neighbor's dogs were digging up the petunias etc. When they see anyone looking back at them, they dart behind the curtain and pretend that they have been in the kitchen making a pot of tea the whole time.

When Scott's friend took us out for a weekend cruise on his sailboat in Scotland, I quickly realized that the term "curtain twitcher" can also apply to middle-aged men sizing up what the other boaties were doing in the anchorage. I caught the two of them twitching the curtain down below and saying things like, "Oh, he is going to drag anchor for sure!" and "That guy doesn't know what he is doing!" and "Oh, [insert naughty words] that [insert more naughty words] can't possibly think he can drop his anchor so close to us!" That's when I discovered, little old ladies have got nothing on middle-aged sailors when it comes to wanting to know what everyone else is doing and muttering under their breath all the different ways in which they are doing it wrong.

Now, don't get me wrong, I can curtain twitch with the best of them. And in fact that is what sundowners in the cockpit is all about. You sit there, have a cold drink, watch the sun go down and check out all the other boats. It sure beats television. Usually, everyone is subtle about it and if you are caught curtain twitching at another boat, you just give a smile and a wave and everyone is happy as Larry. Usually that is. There are exceptions.

Just the other day, we actually had someone get out their binoculars and stare straight at us. No pretense at all that they were looking at the birds or the vista, just the binoculars pointing directly at us. It certainly brings curtain twitching to a whole new level. I think they were just jealous of our spacious 26' sailboat. Or they coveted our worn out, sun-beaten pink decks (which were white at one time). Or envious of the cute little seahorse painted on our stern with leftover anti-foul paint. Or maybe they read our blog, recognized our boat and just had to check it out. Once they got a good look through the binoculars, they probably realized the pictures on the blog make it look much nicer then it is. After their curtain twitching, they went down below never to be seen again. Hopefully, they were practicing their subtlety. 

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Going For A Walk: Coastal Track, Rangitoto Island {Or Really, A Small Dog In Your Handbag?}

If you're only going to go to one island in the Hauraki Gulf, you might want to pick Rangitoto. It is a volcanic island which last erupted around 600 years ago. You can hike up to top of the volcano and enjoy some incredible vistas of Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf from the boardwalk on the summit. It is a very popular outing with tourists with regular ferry service from Auckland. While most people climb straight up to the top, there are a number of other nice walks on the island. One of my favorites is the coastal track from the Rangitoto Wharf to Islington Bay Wharf. (You can find a map of Rangitoto's walking tracks at the Fuller's ferry site.) The signs will tell you that it takes around 2 hours one way depending upon how quickly you walk and how many pictures you stop to take. We took a few and here they are.



If you go to Rangitoto, be sure to wear sensible shoes like sneakers or hiking boots. Jandals/flip-flops aren't really going to cut it when you're climbing up the side of a volcano and, for goodness sake, don't wear high heels. I've actually seen more than one person wearing cute little shoes with heels. Clearly they didn't read a guidebook or any information about the island before getting on the ferry. These girls always seem so surprised when they end up sliding on the scree and end up on their bums. They also seem to have way too much make-up on for tramping and often some sort of small dog hidden in their handbag.



This is what I'm talking about - hard to walk on with jandals/flip-flops. So wear the appropriate footwear. And put a sweater on, its cold outside. It's official - I am now channeling my mother.

 

Imagine pushing your baby in the stroller across the rocky path while wearing cute little strappy shoes. You have two choices - abandon the baby or abandon the stroller. This family made the right choice.

 

Not to worry - you don't have to walk across lava fields or scree the entire time. The path meanders through woods at times which makes a nice contrast.

 

Sorry, spoke too soon. Back to walking across scree.

Change of scenery again. This time it is mangroves.

If you didn't bring enough eggs for your breakfast burritos, you could try grabbing one from one of the traps set up around the island to keep the population of unwanted pests down.

Near to Rangitoto Wharf, you can see some of the old baches (holiday homes) on the island. They're trying to get rid of them and I think they're not renewing any of the leases once the current owner passes away. I think everyone is doing their best to make sure grandma and grandpa stay healthy so that the rest of the family can enjoy the bach for as long as possible. Getting rid of the historic baches is a bit of a contentious issue.

The views back to the Auckland skyline make you realize how close Rangitoto is to city center.

And finally the Rangitoto Wharf where the walk ends or starts depending upon which way you went.

Water Purification: The Theory {Plus A Long, Random Tangent About Dreams & Tribbles}

I'm 40 something and, as we get ready to set off cruising full-time, for the first time in my life I find myself thinking about things like water purification. Something I never thought I would think about let alone wake up in the middle of the night dreaming about. And it was a very strange dream indeed. A furry monster (like a cross between a tribble and a yeti) with impossibly long claws poking and jabbing at me and demanding to know if our water was pure. When I woke up, the first thing that came to mind was the fact that the monster really could do with a manicure. My second thought was, "I wonder what this dream means?" Thanks goodness for the internet because in a matter of minutes I was diagnosing my dream with an online dream dictionary. Kind of like you do when you have a strange pain in your side and your tongue looks bumpy and you immediately go online to diagnose yourself with some disease that you can't pronounce and save yourself the cost of a visit to your GP. Well, here is what the dream dictionary told me:

Monster - To dream that you are chased or followed by a monster represents aspects of yourself that you find repulsive and ugly. You may possess some fears or some repressed emotions. Try to confront the monster in your dream and figure out who or what aspect of yourself the monster represents.

Yeti - To see a yeti in your dream suggests that you need to learn to find balance between your reasonable, rational side and your emotional, instinctual nature. 

Water - To see muddy or dirty water in your dream indicates that you are wallowing in your negative emotions. You may need to take some time to cleanse your mind and find internal peace.

Claws - To see claws in your dream signify feelings of vulnerability and/or hostility. You feel a need to defend or protect yourself or your surroundings. You also need to be careful with your words and actions.

I am disappointed to report that the dictionary didn't have an entry for "tribble". It is clearly defective. So, I've made up my own entry:

Tribble - To see a tribble in your dream indicates that you wish you had your very own spaceship and could go off and explore other planets. Alternatively, it signifies that you've watched too many Star Trek episodes in your 40 something years and you have way too many DVDs.

My mom and someone else recently asked me how I was feeling about setting off on this little adventure, was I feeling nervous, did I have trepidations etc. I didn't think I was concerned but clearly my dream indicates that I am repressing some very negative emotions about giardia and that I really need to get this whole water purification thing sorted out. And I think the tribble thing speaks for itself. Despite the risk of drinking bad water, we're off for a fun adventure on our spaceship boat. {If you've stuck with me this far after that long and random dream tangent, this is where we get to the part about water purification.}

We don't have a lot of water storage on our boat which was fine last summer because we were back onshore by the time we were close to running out of clean water. This time will be very different as we won't have a permanent mooring at Westhaven Marina with its lovely, clean water. And instead we'll be looking to top up our water at various islands and provincial towns. The places where they say, "Warning: This water is untreated. Only a fool would drink it without treating it first." or "Warning: This water is treated but there is a risk of giardia. Boil your water."

Our flexible water bladder tucked away under the settee. These are great because they fit into odd shaped areas. Also note the retro 1970's vibe we have going with our cushions. You probably last saw this print on your Grandpa's Lazy Boy chair in the wood paneled rec room.

Our main water storage is a Plastmio flexible water bladder. I had assumed we had the 100 liter one, but after checking it out, I've discovered we only have the 50 liter version which isn't really a lot of water in the scheme of things. I was surprised how much they retail for - the 100 liter one will set you back NZ$199. But then I was surprised that I was surprised as everyone knows that anything you buy for a boat is super expensive. Last year, we just filled up the bladder and sailed away. It never occurred to us that the bladder should be cleaned regularly. Oops. This year, things will be different. I read on the Smart Marine site that you should add baking soda to the bladder, fill it up with water, let it sit for at least a day and then flush it out. Great advice, but no specifics on how much baking soda to add. If anyone has done this before, please give us some advice. I really don't want to have another yeti-tribble hybrid dream.

While we use our water bladder water for cleaning and cooking, our drinking water comes from a 20 liter jerry can with a spigot which we keep on the counter. We've just always filled it up with fresh water and happily drank from it. But again, did we think to clean it out? No, of course not. We rinsed it out a number of times, which Scott thinks is good enough. But this year it will be different. I'm thinking of putting a little bleach in the jerry can with some water, letting it sit for a while and then rinsing it out. Anything that is living in there will die by the hands of Mr. Bleach.

All of this cleaning of our bladder and jerry can is well and good, but to date we've filled them with clean water. Our bladder and jerry can may have been dirty, but at least our water was clean. But now we're getting into the territory of having to treat water because I really don't want to get giardia or some other weird disease. From what I've read, there are a few ways to do this:

1.  Boiling - You can purify your water by boiling it for at least five minutes. Seems simple, but there are a few downsides. It uses up fuel, you can only treat small amounts of water at a time and it can taste funny as there isn't any air in it.

2.  Bleach - This seems simple. You add 16 drops of 5-6% bleach to every gallon of water (I'll need to do some conversions to liters and buy an eye dropper). Let it sit for 30 minutes and then sniff. If you can't smell a little bleach, repeat and let it stand for 15 minutes. If you still don't smell bleach, give up because your water is too dirty to be treated and book yourself a slip at a nearby marina to top up with their clean water. And I learned something new - bleach goes bad. It shouldn't be more than a year old otherwise it loses its potency. Did you know that? Yes, you probably did as you've been treating water since you were 5 years old. I'm really late getting into the game on this one. This method seems fine for our jerry can. I'm just not sure if you can or should put bleach into a flexible water bladder. More research required. Or if you know the answer already, please let me know.

3.  Purification Tablets - You can buy kits from camping and outdoor stores to treat your water. The tablets are generally iodine or chlorine. You mix them with the water and presto, Bob's your uncle. But from what I've read, bleach is recommended over the tablets and it is cheaper anyways.

So that's the theory about water purification. We'll test it out and report back at the end of the summer what the reality was like for us.

As always, any advice, suggestions or thoughts welcome about water purification, dream interpretation or tribbles.

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Provisioning In New Zealand

One of the many hidey-holes that we stash our food in on the boat.

What Scott might call "overkill", I call super-duper provisioning. I might have even reached new heights in organizing things. I'm not sure why Scott is so surprised by my fascination with provisioning as a supreme exercise in organization. It isn't like he hasn't met my mother before. Now there is a woman who knows what organization is all about. She doesn't even have a junk drawer in her kitchen, something the rest of us do, because her motto is, "Everything has a place and everything in its place." Junk that defies organization simply doesn't have a place in her home. Scott should count his lucky stars that I can't even begin to match my mother's prowess in this area and am merely a dabbler in organization from time to time - like now, with this whole living on a boat thing.

Provisioning is just a fancy term for "food shopping and food storage on a boat." And to be honest, we don't really need to do serious provisioning in New Zealand as a grocery store or general store is never very far away. It isn't like we're doing some long offshore passage or anything. (Scott - we're not, we're really, really not. Maybe someday, maybe. Or maybe not.) When we lived in central Auckland there were three grocery stores just minutes from our apartment so we could pop out whenever we needed to get something. On the boat it is a little different and if you run out of milk then it takes some effort to head to the "big city", one of the islands or a provincial town to stock back up. And I really don't want to have to revolve our cruising life around proximity to the store. So we're stocking up. Big time. That way we can stay out as long as we want, with plenty of food options on board with which to make tasty meals, before we have to head back in. And we can also save money and have more variety as once you get out of the "big city", things are often more expensive and there tends to be less choice.

For the past couple of months, when something we like has been on sale, I've bought a couple extra and I did a big shop in December. Because we don't have a fridge on our boat, I've had to think a bit differently about what we buy. More things in cans, flour to make our own bread, long-lasting vegies and no fresh meat. Here are some of the types of things we have on board our boat (courtesy of my provisioning madness):

• Tinned beans & lentils - Mostly kidney beans, but other types as well such as cannellini, refried beans, chick peas etc. You can do a lot with beans such as soups, dips, chili etc. And they are good for you too!
• Rice, pasta & other grains - I have quite a few bags of pasta, udon noodles, basmati rice, rice mixes and couscous on board. I found last summer when we were out on the boat that we ate a lot of pasta because it is pretty quick and easy. Usually with some sort of red sauce, but I'm quite a fan of peanut noodles too.
• Tinned & jarred vegies - Other than tomatoes (which I use a lot of on land and water), we don't normally eat a lot of vegies from tins and jars. But keeping fresh produce on the boat without a fridge is a bit of a challenge, so we're going to try using more vegies that come out of containers. Lots and lots of tins of tomatoes and other miscellaneous vegies like peas, roasted peppers, mushrooms, potatoes and corn. We've also brought along some fresh cabbage with us - lasts a long time and I'm a big fan.
• Tinned & dried fruit - We have some cans of pineapple and peaches, as well as raisins on board. In terms of fresh fruit, apples last a long time so we've also stocked up on these, and I'm experimenting with extending the life of lemons by wrapping them in foil which is a tip I read somewhere.
• Nuts - I love peanut butter and it is a great form of protein that doesn't need to be stored in a fridge. So we have a few jars plus some walnuts and pine nuts.
• Baking supplies - As we don't have an oven on our boat, I've been experimenting with making various bread-like things in a skillet such as scones, tortillas, fry bread etc. So I've got all the various supplies we need on board to keep us loaded up on carbs. I've also got boxes of crackers and some packaged tortillas for those times when I can't or don't want to make our own bread items.
• Snacks - Of course we have snack foods, but we've tried to keep them to a minimum. We'll see if we stick to that resolution. I do have some granola/cereal bars which are good in the morning if we have to make an early start and don't have time for a proper breakfast. And I even squirreled away a couple of chocolate bars and some cookies. Don't tell Scott. If he finds them, he'll eat them all in one sitting and then complain that his tummy hurts.
• Tinned meat - I'm actually leery of the whole meat out of a can kind of thing. But I bought one can of chicken and one can of salmon to try out. Scott likes to fish, so we'll be able to augment our meat supply with snapper when the fish are being cooperative. And when we're in town restocking our food supplies we can always buy some fresh meat and cook it that day.
• Eggs - We've got a fair few eggs on board as they last a long time and don't require refrigeration. You just need to turn them regularly.
• Soup - I just have a couple of cans of soup on board. I generally don't think soup from a can tastes that great and prefer to make our own, but it is good to have something ready made for those days when no one wants to cook.
• Odds & Ends - And then of course we have the usual supply of herbs, spices, oils, jam, condiments etc. Not to mention boring things like toilet paper, paper towels and Ziploc bags.
• Drinks - We generally don't drink soda pop or fruit juice so I haven't stocked up on these. I like milk in my coffee and I use it for making scones and pancakes, so I've stocked up on powdered trim milk. And we do drink a lot of coffee so there is plenty on board. I think Scott will truly appreciate my foresight in this area. He could probably happily go without food for days, but a morning without coffee on our boat would not be pleasant for anyone. We might have some beverages of the alcoholic nature on board too...mostly gin for our sundowners, but some bottles of wine as well.

I've even created a spreadsheet to track what we start out with, what we end up needing to buy during the summer and what's left over at the end of the three months. My bet is on the can of mutton stew, which we bought last summer and didn't eat, makes it through this summer unscathed as well. You have to love a good spreadsheet too. They are so much fun - you can filter and sort data - how exciting! You can see clearly that you started out with one can of mutton stew at the beginning of the summer and ended up with one can of mutton stew at the end. It is important to track things like mutton stew, but for some reason, Scott remains unconvinced of the beauty of a well-constructed spreadsheet. We'll see if he changes his mind when his belly is full thanks to a well-provisioned and organized boat.




Some of the food waiting to be transported. If you look closely you can see a giant Cadbury Dairy Milk bar with hazelnuts. They were  on sale, two for NZ$4, so it only made sense to buy some. There also seems to be a lot of crackers. Oh, and you can see the udon noodles too! We love ourselves a bowl of udon noodle soup.

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The Balance Beam Of Terror

We took our boat in to the Floating Dock at Westhaven Marina in Auckland to be hauled out and get the bottom cleaned off a few weeks ago. The Floating Dock is a bit different from the usual travelift contraptions that pull your boat out of the water in slings and then drive it to another part of the boatyard. Instead, you pull into a submerged dock, your boat is positioned in place by some beams and then the entire dock is lifted out of the water using some sort of hydraulic system.

It is actually pretty cool to watch. That is until you realize that you have to cross the balance beam of terror to get from your boat to the steps that take you down to the dock. It reminds me of when we did the balance beam in school, except there they had big mats to cushion your fall. I fell a lot. The mats were important to me. At the Floating Dock, if you fall it is approx. 10' down onto the dock. No mats, no padding, nothing. Scott scampers across the beam without a worry in the world. But then, he has broken lots of his bones before so what is one more? I've only ever broken one of my toes and I have no desire to find out what it would be like to break some of the bigger ones.

You can get a ladder to climb down from your boat, but apparently that is just for sissies. And not wanting to be called a sissy, across the balance beam of terror I went. I did choose to cross when the boat and dock were still submerged in the water with some sort of vague rationale that the water would cushion my fall. The guys that run the Floating Dock are super nice and seem amused by my reticence to cross the beam. I suspect I may be a story they tell at the pub, "We had such a sissy scaredy-cat American lady at the dock today. You should have seen her face when she had to cross the beam."

You do have to love New Zealand though. This sort of thing would never happen in the States with all the American love of litigation and the lawsuit happy bunnies that live there. Health and safety here is a wee bit different.

Trust me, it is scarier then it looks.

These are the beams that press up against your boat to hold it upright.

View from up top - the big weird thing sticking up in the Auckland skyline is the Sky Tower. Very popular with tourists. When Beyoncé was here she did a bungee jump off of it. I'm betting she wouldn't be afraid of the "balance beam of terror".

Another view of the beam from up top.

Boat Review: Tartan 37

We're getting ready to buy a new (or new to us) boat back in the States next year so we've been researching various options that fit our criteria: (1) cheap and cheerful, (2) between 35-38' (maybe even smaller), (3) a sloop with a shoal draft and (4) two cabins and a U-shaped galley aft. We're not too picky and we do know our budget limits our options. We've already had a look at the mass production Catalina 36 and now we're checking out the Tartan 37, which had a more limited production run.

Tartans are made in Ohio and I'm from Ohio, so we're already off to a good start. The Tartan 37 was designed by Sparkman & Stephens, originally in two versions - a cruising sloop and a racing ketch. While they built a few of the racers (known as the Tartan 38), they weren't very popular so the rest of the boats built in this model were cruisers. There were 486 built between 1976-1988 so they're relatively older boats, but most of them are still sailing today. In his review, Mike Schrader comments on the modern lines of the Tartan 37 and the fact that the "only thing that hints at her age is the trademark plaid-upholstered interior." Our current boat has plaid upholstery so that shouldn't be a problem as we're already used to that particular sort of retro vibe.

Construction

The Tartan 37 is known for its solid, quality construction. The hull and decks have a balsa wood core, but it is tapered to solid fiberglass in the areas you might worry about such as the mast step, shroud terminals, engine bed, thru-hulls and keel sections. I get a little nervous about balsa wood, so I'm a bit reassured to know that the hull is pure fiberglass where it counts. It sounds like it is rare to find structural problems with these boats, even the older ones.

Jack Horner talks about the unconventional method by which they attached the deck to the hull. As far as I can understand, an aluminum plate is sandwiched between the hull and the deck with a toe rail on top and the whole thing is screwed together. Jack worries that the threads for the screws on the aluminum plate might get stripped due to the normal flexing of the boat which would cause deck failure. However, he does say that he hasn't heard of any major deck issues with these boats so it may not be a problem. But if you buy a Tartan 37, I guess it is something to keep an eye on.

Many of the Tartan 37s have a centerboard. This surprised me. The first boat we ever chartered in New Zealand had a centerboard but it was a teeny-tiny boat (a Davidson 20). I had assumed that larger sailboats didn't normally come with centerboards, but this sounds like a good option to have shoal draft when you need it. But a centerboard does come with downsides such as it slapping around when at anchor, the attachments breaking and potential problems with fouling.

Up Top

There are two rigs you can get with the Tartan 37 - the standard one (52'0") and the tall rig (53'8"). The sail area is 625 sq ft and by all accounts the Tartan 37 tracks well under sail.

Down Below

The interior of the Tartan 37 has been described as dark due to the use of lots of teak veneer and trim (its more fashionable now to use lighter woods and finishes), but the set-up meets our needs:

• V-berth
• Small head forward, no separate shower
• Starboard settee in main cabin can function as a sea berth
• Port settee converts to a double
• Drop-down table
• Galley to starboard
• Nav station to port at base of the companionway
• Double quarterberth aft

Things to Look Out For

Although the Tartan 37s have a reputation as a solidly built boat, a few things to look out if you’re thinking of buying one.

• Tartan 37s were built before vinylester hit the scene and use a polyester resin which might make them more vulnerable to osmotic blistering.
• The use of balsa wood coring means you need to check for possible delamination.
• As discussed above, the unusual method of attaching the deck to the hull means could cause problems with stripping the threading on the steel plates.
• The pulpit fasteners lack backing plates.
• The scuppers and bilge pump outlets don’t have any shutoffs.
• The fold-down table can be flimsy which isn’t great when you’re underway.

Summary

The Tartan 37 is a moderately priced boat and the average seems to be in the upper US$60k range for the older ones, based on the current Yachtworld listings. It is definitely at the upper end of what we want to spend on a boat, but as they are solid cruisers which have been proven offshore and are good value for money, they might be worth a closer look. Because there were less than 500 built, I don’t think there will be a lot on the market at any given time which might make it harder to find a suitable one. We’re putting her on our “maybe” list for just now.

If you're interested in other slightly eccentric posts on how to buy a sailboat when you know nothing about sailing or boats, check out this page.

Notes: For more information, check out the Tartan 37 Owner's Sailing Association, Mark Schrader's review in Cruising World, Jack Hornor's review in Boat US, Brian Coyle’s discussion of affordable cruisers in Practical Sailor and a discussion of the centerboard on Sailnet. You can find the specs here.

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