Niven Upham

It was a trip that started with a nice wind on the beam and average chop to a close haul with 25knotts and heavy Chop back to light seas with almost no wind.

12 hrs of wave bashing into a 15 knott southerly to start. Contemplated turning back more then once. 2.5m swells so not pleasant. Finally eased to a light westerly which gave me a chance for some motor sailing and increase the speed. Had a run overnight. little traffic about. Rounded the bottom and pointed for the Wellington heads. Then the westerly started in. So another day pounding waves. I did manage to put the head sail out for an hour when the wind shifted off the nose. Got into Wellington as the southerly hit. I was motoring across the inner harbour. 30 knotts hit like a hammer. Then the rain hit. couldn't see 5m ahead. Relying completely on the plotter for directions. Luckily the worst blew through before I got to my berth. So now nice and snug in Wellington.

Nice day while stuck in Napier so I thought I would go out for a sail.

A mixed bag of weather from no wind and motoring through to 40 knott gusts as I rounded Portland island.

Was sitting on anchor at Hicks Bay when a yacht made a distress call on the vhf. I listened for the position and checked the location on my plotter. they were only 6nm away with a broken motor. So I hauled anchor and went to the assistance. I towed them back to hicks bay. they had only just purchased the yacht and had never sail before. so I showed them how to anchor Sorted the motor with a temporary fix and then gave them a crash course on sailing. At least now if the motor stops again they can at least put some canvas up.

Started off with a nice wind off the stern. changing to a 20 to 25 knott wind on the beam with a following swell and a good chop. Reefed down the sails and still had 7 knotts of speed. Not the nicest conditions for sleeping. But managed a few hrs in 30 min bursts.

started out with a nice 15 knotts of breeze before ramping up to 25 knotts with a good 1.5m chop. boat sailed well. Had a gib sheet snap so replaced that with one of the spinnaker sheets. grabbed a mooring at Blind bay for the night.

Nice over night passage. Had to motor most of the way.

very light shifty winds. 2m swell with a bit of chop