HOME RUN PART3 East Cape to Wellington
New Zealand Sailing coach Hamish Willcox and his wife Ulrika are on a six-month circumnavigation of the country. We follow their cruise in a six-part series – the sailing, the anchorages, and the experiences ashore.
Sailing towards a beautiful dawn at East Cape was amazing. The only other vessel was a fishing boat hugging in close to the wild, rugged coastline. It was blowing 20 knots – but falling – as we approached Whangaokeno Island (East Island).
Our passage from Tauranga had been faster than anticipated and we arrived at the tide gate an hour early. As we approached we dropped the jib and motored inside the island with a five-knot headwind and Ulrika checking our Navionicsequipped ipad to make sure we stayed in the deep channel. By now the sun was up and the sea reflected a light turquoise colour.
In the distance the peaks of the Raukumara Ranges looked absolutely stunning. We were both tired after a pretty rough sail with little sleep, but too excited to have a nap. A sea breeze soon arrived and we enjoyed a very relaxed sail to Waipiro Bay 25 miles south of East Cape – and two kahawai on the lure for dinner.
There we stayed two nights tucked in on the south side to avoid a 25-knot south wind surge. When the wind changed we had another great sail down the coast towards Tolaga Bay in a NE sea breeze.
It’s a beautiful coast with green hills and white sandstone cliffs and there’s a fair bit of sandstone sediment suspended in the water which creates wonderful sea colours. A pod of dolphins followed us for quite some time. There were no other boats about except for a couple of ships way out at sea which set off our AIS alarm.
We first visited Ship Cove (Opoutama) to explore where James Cook had stopped to water his ship for five days in 1769. We were too chicken to take Adamite inside, a much smaller vessel than Endeavour, despite the aid of engine and chart! Those early seamen were brave. We explored the cove with our dinghy, and also the lagoon-like passage between the Pourewa Island and the mainland. Spectacular!
Two nights were spent in Tolaga Bay, anchored near New Zealand’s longest wharf (600m). It’s now completely refurbished and well used by tourists and locals. On Guy Fawkes evening we counted nine fires on the beach, and some small fireworks. But the biggest display came from the stars which lit up the beautiful white cliffs.
Unfortunately, no biking or hiking, but we did go up the river in the dinghy to the township for an early pub visit to watch the All Blacks lose to Ireland.
Cruising on to Gisborne was sailing as it should be, sun and gentle winds pushing us along at a graceful pace with lots of time to take in the scenery of Eastland. In Gisborne we tied up in the small basin, right downtown surrounded by bars and restaurants with the main street just across the bridge.
That night we dined at the game-fishing club where Ulrika stumbled upon an old friend she’d met hitchhiking around New Zealand in 1983. How crazy is that? Next morning the bikes were assembled and for the next five days we enjoyed cycling around this great little town with lots of history from Captain Cook’s days.
One day, up the Whataupoko mountain bike park just behind the town, we were overtaken by a 70-year old gentleman. It was a relief to see he was on an electric bike. He was a good sort and
later that afternoon he knocked on our boat keen to inspect it – and we were happy to host him.
Our next passage was 80 miles to Napier via Mahia Peninsula. We anchored in a bay about eight miles from the southern end of Mahia, at a pristine, white sand beach. A big ocean swell created a rock-and-roll anchorage but we were happy to have a restless sleep rather than an all-night sail. Strong offshore winds overnight meant if we dragged it would not be towards shore.
We set off at the crack of dawn in a beautiful sunrise and approached the channel between Mahia and Portland Island in a good NW breeze. Hitting the favourable current we roared through doing nine knots. As we passed we viewed New Zealand’s first rocket-launching facility which looked really interesting.
Heading across Hawkes Bay in a 15-knot NW, we eased the sheets and on a broad reach got into Napier at about 15h00. Again, no other boats in sight but plenty of dolphins and a big fish stole our line which was a bugger.
The Napier YC manager came down to marina to greet us and gave us a great berth. The first night there we listened to Graham Kendall speaking at the club. He is the first person to sail solo through the Northwest Passage above Canada. We brought his book and we both loved his talk.
Napier is where we finally slowed down and really began settling into the cruising life. The hype of city life has been replaced with time to enjoy the moments and there have been plenty. Napier has offered the most social period of our cruise so far. There were other live-aboards with us in the marina and of course Napier Sailing Club was just a few steps away.
We caught up with my cousin and a bunch of sailing families from when our kids were junior sailors – great fun. Plenty of
“We finally slowed down and began to settle into the cruising life.”
biking – mostly at the Eskdale mountain bike park, Te Mata, and of course more than 200km of wine trails!
The Kaikoura earthquake created a small tsunami in Napier harbour. About 02h00 we woke up with all the boats jumping at the dock lines as the wave reflected round the harbour. Quite scary.
We waited patiently for a good weather window for our overnight passage to Wellington. Trying to find a time when Cook Strait is NOT presenting a gale-force Nw’er is difficult. Not only were we keen to avoid a gale-force, 30-mile upwind slog from Palliser, but also the infamous Castlepoint wind hole!
After a three-week wait we finally set sail on December 1 at 05h00 and tied up at Wellington’s Chafers Marina at 1400 the next day – 33 hours for 210 miles, of which we sailed about half. We had a pretty easy period from midnight as we dropped the mainsail – zero stress for the on-watch person.
The stars that night were amazing – and plenty of shooting stars crossing the black sky. Dolphins followed us for hours and hours during the day and night. We enjoyed watching the wild landscapes slide by.
The best was arriving at Cape Palliser right on the tide gate with
massive swells breaking on the continental shelf – transitioning from 400m deep to 30m. Very spooky too! I could just imagine those waves breaking dangerously in more wind and adverse currents. The dawn was breaking and the mist descended into the valleys.
At this stage we were close-hauled beating into a 20-knot southerly, one reef in the main and staysail. This breeze quickly built further as we turned the corner for our run into Wellington across Palliser Bay. It seems Cook Strait is either gale force NW or SE, with way more chance of NW. So we were very lucky to be downwind with headsail poled out, averaging eight knots we roared into the harbour dodging cray pots off the headlands.
LESSONS LEARNED ON THIS STAGE
Talk to the locals about nearby anchorages – we didn’t know about Stingray Bay next to Napier.
Predictwind has been very accurate especially around Eastland with local sea breezes and southerly surges.
We were surprised to have good cell phone coverage sailing down the coast to Wellington and for most of Eastland.
Stay wide in at least 50m of water around headlands to miss the cray pots.
STAGE 3 SUMMARY
31 days, four anchorages, two marinas, five fish, eight different cafes, five wineries, two short walks ( Te Mata in Napier and Kati Hill in Gisborne) and 760km biking between us in seven mountain bike parks. B