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:
Conditions:
Course 160, Speed 5ts, Wind 170/5kts, Temp 24
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Thank you Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt for your narrative of today's events. Intentions are to remain at anchor in Hunters Bay, just off HMAS Penguin, home of the RAN Diving School, a place close to my heart, having spent many a day there under training as a young Officer! The plan is to weigh anchor and proceed to HMAS Waterhen, in Waverton, to pick up our Community Day Sailors from the Windgap Foundation and take them for a sail around the harbour for 3 hours. The Youth Crew will help us host our visitors and give them an experience of Young Endeavour. We will drop them back to Waverton and then proceed to anchor in the harbour where we will have a good view of the Bridge and the Opera House for the Youth Crew's last night onboard. Until tomorrow. Yours Aye, Captain Mike