Sailing Taurus NZ

Having spent a couple of nights on anchor in Okoromai Bay we set sail early, heading to Scotts Landing for the Ocean Cruising Club weekend. The festivities didn’t start until late afternoon so we had time to sail, and as the wind was coming from the direction we wanted to go in, we had the chance for a nice long sail. We headed north, tacked to the south west, tacked again to the north and sailed into Mahurangi Harbour in time to get the sails down in a hurry as the weather turned squally.

We anchored just off Oaua Point next to a catamaran and a few monohulls flying the OCC burgee. That evening we were all invited onto Sabre II, a fifty foot cat owned by Brice, an American who had sailed to NZ from San Diego. Sabre II is so large that we were all able to settle round the outside dining table and get to know each other. A highlight of the evening was meeting Lin Pardey and her partner David Haigh. Lin is a living sailing legend. She and her husband, Larry, who sadly passed away a few years ago, were pioneers of cruising in small boats. Setting sail in the 1960s they inspired a generation of would be circumnavigators to “go small, go simple, go now.” David is a vastly experienced sailer in his own right, having circumnavigated mainly sailing his yacht solo. Other people at the shin-dig included a bunch of people who had sailed all round the world for decades. Needless to say Cara and I had a fantastic evening, talking boats, voyages, and exotic anchorages.

Next day we sailed to Kawau Island and anchored in Mansion House Bay. We were booked in to have dinner there with the OCC that night. The mansion in question was owned in the 1860s by New Zealand Governor, Sir George Grey and has been extensively renovated over the past few years. The island is also is the site of an old copper mine with a ruined steam pump house that reminded me of some of the walks I had done round the Cornish coast in the distant past.

After a great meal we left next day to sail the short distance to the bay where Lin’s house is located. We had a BBQ there that evening and Lin kindly signed Cara’s copy of her book, The Self Sufficient Sailor.

Next day David spent some time showing us around his yacht, Sahula. This was really interesting for us because it’s a very well organised and thought out steel boat of similar size and vintages to Taurus. After a great weekend and with plenty to think about — mainly in regard to reducing the amount of stuff we have on board, we headed north again.

Our destination was Whangarei, about eight hours away. It was a lovely day with winds of up to 25 knots on the beam, nigh on perfect for Taurus. We flew along, and soon were sailing into Urquhart’s Bay, the first protected anchorage in Whangarei Harbour.

Next morning we left early and sailed up the long channel to Limestone Island. Our friends, Ralph and Annie on Jemellie were anchored here and had recommended the site as a good place to anchor.

Ralph and Anna were soon over for coffee and after a good catch up we all went across to the island to stretch our legs. The island has old ruins from a lime stone mining operation and some wrecked ships on the shoreline so it was an interesting place to poke around.

All too soon we were off again, heading into Whangarei Marina. We had a few jobs to do on the boat, and another OCC event was scheduled for the weekend. The OCC barbecue didn’t disappoint, and once again we met some fascinating characters. One Swedish couple, Lars and Susanne, later invited us to their boat, Seawind for drinks. Though a fairly standard looking 37 foot fibreglass sloop, Lars and Susanne have taken her from Sweden to Greenland, Iceland, halfway round the world and down to Antartica. The photos of their journey are outstanding and include pictures of a polar bear who swiped the flag off their boat and wore it on its head like a shawl! Seawind has a blog and Facebook page and I’d highly recommend it if you are interested in expedition type sailing.

All too soon it was time to leave the marina and think about heading north. A storm was coming and after a night back at Limestone Island we headed to The Nook, an anchorage with better protection from the north. For the next two days we were buffeted around in winds of about 35 knots but it was quite comfortable and we were happy with our holding. When the weather cleared we headed further down the Harbour towards the sea. However, I had noticed quite a lot of oil in the bilge… We anchored in Little Munroe Bay to investigate the source of the leak. It seemed to be coming from the oil filter, so hoping that perhaps it hadn’t seated properly when I changed it last I did an oil and filter change and cleaned the area up as best possible. Alas, the hoped for simple solution didn’t materialise and the oil kept leaking out from an unknown source.

Whilst I was in the bilge working on the engine the weather had turned nasty. An almighty bang brought me out of the bilge in a hurry to find that our snubber had snapped. A snubber is a nylon bridle that attaches to the anchor chain. The thin nylon line has elastic properties so reduces the snatching forces on an all chain anchor rode, which makes life more comfortable and reduces the chances of the anchor being yanked out of the bottom. With the engine still in pieces and gusts of over 30 knots we were uncomfortably close to a lee shore (a shore that the wind would blow the boat onto). We quickly reassembled the engine and decided to seek a better anchorage. Unfortunately there was no protection from the wind nearby, and we were making such poor progress against the wind and tide, with an ailing engine, that we decided to head into Marsden Point marina. Taurus then decided to add to our stress by performing like a trained seal and absolutely refusing to reverse in the direction we tried to point her in. This is a well known issue with long keel boats, but we have not have such difficulties with her in a long time. The chaos on board from working in the bilge compounded the issues as our normal mooring lines were buried somewhere so we were using shorter lines than normal. Tempers flared, words were spoken, but eventually a samaritan came over to grab our lines and we were moored with the only dents being to our egos.

At this low moment we met a true gent. Dave Chapman is a diesel mechanic in Marsden Cove. After giving him a call, on a Saturday, Dave headed straight over. Dave, being a bit bigger than myself could barely fit in the bilge, though he tried valiantly, and also unable to find the source of the oil he produced a magic substance: a liquid which when added to the oil glowed bright yellow under UV light. Dave refused any payment for his time or this magic substance, so many thanks again Dave — we owe you a beer!

Marsden Cove is a nice marina but there are not many shops and public transport is very poor. We therefore decided to return to Whangarei Marina where we could access the town. We thus added some more oil and sailed back up the harbour, noticing on the way that the UV strip on our jib was coming undone. Another job to sort before we could leave — sometimes it rains, sometimes it pours!

With the benefit of Dave’s UV solution we were able to trace the leak to the crankcase door — specifically the joint just behind the oil filter. We carry a set of gaskets on board, so all we needed to do was remove the heat exchanger, diesel line, and throttle assembly to access the door, whip it off, replace the seal, replace the heat exchanger, etc., and hope the engine didn’t still leak. Three days later the engine was back together — and not leaking, or at least not yet!

We tried to stitch up the jib ourselves but our sewing machine wouldn’t punch through the fabric, and having started the job by hand we realised that the whole strip needed to be resown. Translating to hours of work to achieve a mediocre job we got the sail to a sailmaker who ran the sail through a machine for a mere $400. Ouch.

Naturally, the universe wasn’t finished with us yet. We had been getting an orange light on our stray current monitor for a few days and Cara managed to track it down to our LPG solenoid — which remotely turns the gas bottle of and reduces the risk of the boat exploding. Another couple of boat dollars later we had a new solenoid fitted and basked in the glow of a cheery green light from our stray current monitor. Later today we are leaving (again) and hope to head north towards Opua. Fingers crossed that the bilge stays clean.