Blog catch up - Bay of Islands, preparations for departure

Once back in the Bay of Islands it was full on boat jobs before we flew back to Brisbane to catch up with family & friends and do the rounds of medical appointments.

Before commencing serious jobs we had a couple of days out in the Bay of Islands where Cran could work on more pleasant jobs – gaining more experience flying our new drone.  Over these days he progressed from beach operations to taking off and landing on the boat.  A significant upskilling as the drone isn’t cheap and it doesn’t float.

The drone has some amazing inbuilt flight modes which Cran has been working through.  A favourite is Asteroid which makes you feel as if you are in your own little world.

One serious job was to dismantle the anchor windless for servicing (for you non-boaties it’s the motor and gearbox that drives the anchor chain up and down, a real bugger if it fails).  We had concerns it was getting noisier and drawing more power than previously.  Unfortunately it isn’t easy to check as the motor and gearbox are enclosed in a housing that is bolted to the deck.  Once we had unit unbolted we could see the extent of our problems: the electric motor had broken apart and was shorting out when we changed direction of the chain movement.  A situation that if left undetected could have at best ended with total failure of the motor and at worst could have caught fire. The other issue was that it appeared there wasn’t any oil in the gearbox.

Fortunately the guys at Seapower, a marine engineering company at Opua that we use, are service agents for our brand of windless so once dismantled the electric motor and gearbox was left with them to investigate and if possible repair while we went back to Brisbane.  There’s a saying in the world of yacht ownership and maintenance: “there is no problem on a boat that time and money can’t fix”  often is requires a lot of both.  In this case with our windless it wasn’t too bad.  The electric motor was able to be fixed and the gearbox that didn’t appear to have any oil actually had a fine grade of grease put in it by the previous service agent instead of oil.  While not recommended it did mean that the internal gears were not damaged and the gearbox only need a strip down, clean off all components, new seals and the correct grade of oil.  Problem fixed for a lot less than we were expecting and it now runs so much smoother and quieter.

We were fortunate that our flight back to Brisbane was on a Saturday and the Friday was the Island Cruising NZ dinner at the Auckland Royal Yacht Club.   A good chance to catch up with some of the people from the rally last year.  Ben and Helen (ex Felix) had just purchased Panthera from Jim.  Panthera is a Lagoon 440 which was also on the rally last year and was currently berthed at Westhaven Marina near the Auckland Royal Yacht Club.  Ben & Helen generously invited us to stay onboard with them Friday to go to the dinner and drive us to the airport the next day.  An offer that couldn’t be refused.  It was a good night and we caught up with several people from the 2017 rally.  We also noted at the yacht club a certain old mug in pride of place and plenty of electronic security.

America's Cup back in NZ

As we didn’t get to spend any time in Auckland in 2017 we decided to book a couple of nights in Auckland on our way back from Brisbane.  One day was spent at the Maritime Museum.  NZ is very much a maritime nation and the museum had a lot NZ sailing history including exhibits of 2 types of yachts from Cran’s early sailing as a teenager.  It was very easy to spend a whole day there.

Cran's first yacht a P Class

Cran's second yacht, a 2 person Flying Ant

While we on Great Barrier Island climbing to all those scenic lookouts Cran developed an inflamed knee.  The knee was still causing problems 6 weeks later when we were back in Brisbane so our GP referred Cran for a MRI.  Unfortunately the MRI was done the day before we returned to NZ so we didn’t get the results until we were back on the boat in the Bay of Islands.  The MRI report identified a “bucket handle” tear of the meniscus cartilage.  That type of tear can cause a locked knee, which is not only very painful but also very immobilizing, not the sort of risk we could take heading out to the remote Pacific. 

The treatment for a bucket handle tear is to surgically remove the flap.  Straight forward surgery but surgery non the less.  We decided that Cran would return to Brisbane to see the orthopaedic surgeon he had used previously while Ann would remain on the boat and finish provisioning.  Advice we received was that it would be between 3 and 6 weeks before Cran would be back in NZ and ready to sail north.  Very frustrating as our friends Steve & Kate on Blue Summit were ready to leave on the next weather window and Rob & Nicola on Distant Sun were also getting ready to go.  We would have to catch up with them later in Tonga.

Making the most of our expected delay we decided to purchase a new vang from the USA.  The vang is a telescopic rod that runs between the boom and the base of the mast and supports the boom when the sail is down. Our old vang had crapped itself (old nautical term).  We had tried getting a replacement earlier but the whole process was frustrating and we decided not to deal with NZ agent for that brand.  With our extra time we were able to purchase a different brand through Garhauer NZ.  It would be made by Garhauer in the USA to specifically fit our boat.  As it was a custom order it would take 3 weeks which worked with our new timeline.

Cran went to Brisbane and returned after a week.  The good news was the MRI report wasn’t correct in the type of tear.  The orthopaedic surgeon advised that the tear was not a bucket handle and would not cause a lock knee.  His advice was to not have surgery but to continue treating the inflammation as Cran had been doing and revisit it when we get back to Australia in November if it was still causing problems.  A good result but it took another trip across the Tasman to find out.

After Cran was back in NZ we still had the wait for the new vang. Kevin Akast, owner of Garhauer NZ worked closely Merv Worthington, a local stainless steel fabricator who was modifying our mast & boom fittings to take the new vang plus liaising with Garhauer USA to ensure we could install the vang at the earliest possible time.  Once we had a firm delivery date and a reasonable weather window for departure Patrick was alerted and flew in with his friend Linda to crew with us to Tonga.

Merv doing the final fitting of the vang attachments

Everything was coming together and not a moment too soon as the days were getting very chilly in Opua.   Definitely time to be departing for warmer climes north.  The day after the vang was fitted we cleared Customs, fuelled up and were on our way by midday Tuesday 29 May 2018.

Another foggy start to a Bay of Islands chilly day

Fuelling up. Note the beenies on Cran & Patrick, a cold southerly wind.