Just another Saturday on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour. We had finished race three of the annual Classic Yacht Regatta on the Stewart 34 Princess and were heading back to Westhaven from the finish line out in the Motukorea Channel. We passed the Rangitoto Channel just in time to catch race four of the Louis Vuitton Pacific series finals. Emirates [...]
If you were lucky enough to be in Auckland on this year’s Anniversary Day, you would have been treated to fine weather, beautiful sailing conditions and beautiful array of classic yachts taking part in the annual Anniversary Day Regatta.
My mates Bill Falconer and Charles Scoones invited me aboard their classic 1960 Stewart 34 Princess for [...]
June 30
My sailing mates Ellen McArthur and Neil Spencer flew up from Auckland to Noumea Sunday to join me on the 800-mile trip across the Coral Sea to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
A nasty tropical disturbance delayed the start of our passage by a day. The low that passed over Noumea Sunday night brought gale force winds [...]
June 5, 2004
Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour was a bustle of activity yesterday morning. Fourteen of the yachts berthed there (including Moonshadow), ranging in size from 36 feet to 100 feet, were making final preparations for the 1000-mile race to Noumea, organized by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club.
By 1030 hours, we were as ready to go as [...]
Continue reading about Passage Logs: The Auckland to Noumea Race
Christmas in New Zealand is more social than commercial, just the way I like it. One would have to look pretty hard to find a Christmas tree lot around here, as the Christmas tree of choice down here is the pohutakawa, a relative of the bottle brush, which blossoms in a crimson red each season [...]
Twin Island Bay, Port Fitzroy
The favored overseas holiday destination of many Auckland “boaties” is Great Barrier Island. Just 50 miles by water from Auckland City, “The Barrier” is a different world from mainland New Zealand, and you don’t even need your passport to visit. Once again, we made what has become our annual visit for [...]
Continue reading about Great Barrier Island: Holidays at “The Barrier”
November 08, 2002
The Coastal Classic
The start of the race in Auckland.
2000-odd sailors, 228 yachts, 120 miles of New Zealand coastline, a 3-day weekend and one big party. This is the annual NZ Multihull Yacht Club’s Coastal Classic race from Auckland to the town of Russell in the beautiful Bay of Islands.
We entered last [...]
Continue reading about The Coastal Classic: Auckland to Russell
September 15, 2002
Bula!
Here we are once again, sitting on a beautiful South Pacific Island (in this case, Malolo Lailai, Fiji), preparing to sail to New Zealand for the summer/cyclone season/America’s Cup. We had planned to leave this morning, but a very nasty and fast moving low pressure system that eluded most of the weather prognosticators [...]
Continue reading about Passage Logs: Musket Cove, Fiji to Auckland
Part of the Lavena Coastal Walk, the most scenic trail I’ve ever hiked in Fiji.
In a recent visit, I was running a bit low on fresh provisions, so I popped across to Somosomo, a small town on the island of Taveuni, to stock up. While provisioning in Somosomo is “not exactly” like Suva, Nadi or [...]
Just another Fijian anchorage
Viani Bay is undoubtedly my favorite spot in Fiji. A large and well-protected anchorage, world class diving, great fishing, beautiful scenery, nearby provisioning and very welcoming locals are just a few of the reasons.Viani Bay is situated about 50 miles to the east of the town of Savusavu, the port of entry [...]
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