After some last minute circus maneuvers, we finally pulled away from the slip in Chaffers Marina, Wellington, NZ about 11:15 AM local time in little or no air. (Because of the time differences, that was my Thursday and your Wednesday back in the U.S. … so it’s already Saturday here.) I had to motor for the first hour or so, until I got far enough out of the large harbor to pick up some air… which even then wasn’t much. It died off at sunset only to return later and build up to 30 knots during the night!
By late morning, the winds had diminished and by afternoon, I was drifting and motoring to keep forward progress. The seas have been huge and sloppy, which made for an uncomfortable first day, as I tried to regain my sea legs and get back into the rhythm of the boat and sea. That’s not always easy and can make accomplishing even mundane tasks rather difficult. But, that difficulty seems to be slipping away just as the silhouette of New Zealand’s North Island did in yesterday’s sunset. (See a slideshow of photos below.)
Presently, I’m about 250 miles away from Wellington and headed east to pick up the trade winds… in a couple of weeks. Yes, you read that right – a couple of weeks away. That’s where they be. It’s big water out here in the Pacific. When I do catch them, we will begin to shift north to make the sail to the Galapagos Islands. That’s what you have to do… head pretty far east before turning north so that you can get the proper wind angles for sailing.
So, off we go! All the best to you all. I’ll be back with more in a few days.
– Dave, Bodacious Dream and Franklin (who’s back to his bouncy self)
Here are some photos of the departure in slideshow format. They play automatically, but you can click the arrows to move them along.
