Wilderness Cruising | Nautitech Open 40 blog

I mentioned that Kiwi fisherman gave us fish for helping him, but this is not the first time we've been given fresh fish by Kiwis. We eat fish, but we're no good at catching them. Luckily for us New Zealanders are very good at catching fish, and also happen to be generous with them, or perhaps we just have a hungry look. Over on Great Barrier Island we saw a familiar boat, but when we went over, the owner was not who we expected. The boat had been sold, and the new owner was onboard. We got to talking about boats, and the next thing I knew I'd offered to take a look at his watermaker for him. They had an Open Ocean 30L DC model. We have the 60L model, and they are basically the same. Watermakers are a sensitive bit of kit. Despite the sophistication, they feel like a cottage industry, not at all like a dishwasher home appliance. You need an understanding of electrical circuits, reverse osmosis membranes, filters, plumbing, high pressure, power, etc, before you even go near ...

I thought I'd learned my lesson, but it just will not stick.  Here's some of our tender exploits; jungle river exploration, lost in dingyy, lost the dinghy, rescued the dinghy, rescued another dinghy, caught speeding, soaked, swamped, flooded, starved, flipped on davits, floated away on tide, forgot to tie on, caught dingy painter in dinghy prop, caught dingy painter in yacht prop, hit a reef, hit a reef at night, dinghy drifting, dinghy drift snorkel, towed snorkel, towed boat to harbour, rescued yacht using the dinghy, and more... One of the lessons I thought I learned through all of this is, don't be a hero!  In the Marquesas, Nuku Hiva has the main port for cruisers. There is lots to see on other islands, but the access to town, plus the large protected harbour, means Nuku Hiva is one of the most popular spots for cruisers. The town has a wharf that locals and cruisers use to tie up. It's not uncommon to see 20 dinghies tied up. Sometimes dinghies can be three deep ...

We've met many interesting characters on our travels. The memory of this Texan sailor always makes me smile. It was November, and the end of cruising season on the US East coast. Many boats had gathered in Norfolk in the lower Chesapeake to make the dash across the gulf stream. Rallies were staging, sailors were partying, and plans and stories were exchanged.  Although there is lots going on, everyones first priority is the criticaly important weather routing to safely pass Cape Hatteras, and the Gulf stream. We met all kinds of characters here, solo sailors, couples, families, and those with pets onboard. Sailors with movie scripts, sailors on multi-million dollar yachts, sailors still busy repairing critical systems, even sailors without a boat. One cruiser let us tie up to his fancy Fountain Pagoit, a well known French Catamaran. We got talking, swapping stories, and the Outremers came up. These catamarans are well known. They look amazing, they are high performance, but expensi...

One of the best things about having a boat is the sense of freedom you have in choosing your destination and setting off.  Due to some essential tasks we needed to complete, we spent three days up the Whangarei river. But now we're out! Days of early starts and late evenings muddled our sleep patterns. One more early start is needed for us to get to Mahurangi harbour to clean our boat bottoms.  A haul out is scheduled next week, but the last time we hauled out, a high pressure wash damaged our copper coat. So we didn't want a repeat of this, and decided to forgo the pressure wash this time. As we didn't want to lift out with dirty bottoms, it means we have to clean them, so this why we are heading for Mahurangi. We prefer super settled, almost glassy conditions, and shallow waters for bottom cleaning, and Mahurangi provides this.  So we were up before dawn, the waxing moon giving us just enough light to get ready. We made it back round the gap between the isolated da...