ROUNDING EAST CAPE

The wind died down last night and I finally had a really good rest.  I had a look around early morning, all was peaceful and I indulged in another hour in bed.  After a leisurely breakfast I sailed off the anchor with triple reefed main and yankee at 10:00.

I soon shook a couple of reefs out the main sail and in a light W’ly breeze made good time towards East Cape.  A beautiful crystal clear day and the shoreline clearly visible.  East Cape is one of the few lighthouses I have visited from the shore, always interesting to get a lighthouse keepers perspective – although there are not many lighthouse keepers around anymore.

As I had the south going current with me I took the inside passage between East Cape and East Island.  The wind went light as I went around but there was just enough to keep sailing.

Once clear of East Cape the wind returned and it was a glorious sail down the coast towards Tokomaru Bay.  We averaged over 7 knots for a while with just a reefed main and yankee and Micky doing the steering, effortless – how it should be.

All good things come to an end and an hour out of Tokomaru Bay the wind died and the services of Mr. Yanmar were called upon to get us to the anchorage before dark.  We anchored in the north part of Tokomaru Bay, just off a disused wharf in Waima Cove.  It’s a funny sort of anchorage, quite open to the sea with a reef providing some protection.

There is supposed to be a good pub here.  I didn’t have the courage to leave Truce in such an open anchorage so passed on the opportunity.  Maybe another time.

I feel we are making good progress to the south, passing East Cape is always a significant milestone when travelling along this coast.  The weather ahead and into Cook Strait is not looking too promising at the moment, lets see what happens in the next couple of days.