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Captain's Log
4 February 2000
Bound for Bay of Islands
After lunch yesterday afternoon both Spirit of NZ and Young Endeavour weighed anchor and departed the beautiful Whangaroa Harbour. Once clear of the harbour both ships sailed close together and the enevitable water battle ensued. Once again we were out gunned in Young Endeavour. Our engineer is feverishly working towards improved armament to better defend ourselves. A lack of wind made the planned tacking drills rather pointless so later in the afternoon an attempt to get in touch with the wind gods was held. It seemed to work as within an hour a fresh Souwester had Young Endeavour powering north under full sail occasionally reaching 10kts. The Spirit of NZ returned to their anchorage last night. At midnight we reached North Cape (New Zealand’s most northern point) and tacked to return towards the Bay of Islands. As the ship reached to seaward, the seas began to pick up and a number of youth became seasick. Nevertheless they pushed through the barrier and kept working and sailing the ship.This morning the wind has gradually died which has forced the ship to motor sail. We have just rendezvoused with Spirit of NZ and our planned tacking drills seem to be in jeopardy again. If the wind totally fails us, we will hand in all sail and go for a swim. Our destination tonight is the township of Russell in the Bay of Islands.Apparently it is very beautiful and quaint. I’ll let you know tomorrow.
Latitude/Longitude:
34° 56' South / 173° 59'
Conditions:
Course 160, Speed 5ts, Wind 170/5kts, Temp 24
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