Land Ho!

On Sunday morning we got up bright and early to catch the ferry from the north Island (and the city of Wellington) to the south island (landing in the city of Picton). It's a 3-hour ride across Cook Strait, so the ferry shows movies in transit. The movie was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but we didn't watch and instead opted for a bit of time on the deck as we pushed out into the harbor and then breakfast.

It was an uneventful trip to Picton, the highlight of which might've been tryingto figure out the older gentleman that seemed to be video-taping the cafeteria on his digital point-n-shoot camera. I offered for Calle to make a diversion (see how nice I am? Calle gets to do the fun part!) while I snatched his briefcase to see what we could learn from that. In the end none of us were motivated enough to care.

After a brief stop at the grocery for food/beverages for the boat, we caught a taxi to the port in Waikawa where we were renting the yacht ZigZag. After some paperwork and an orientation to the boat we were on our way (about 2pm local time) for a sailing adventure in Queen Charlotte Sound!
ZigZag
Calle Sailing!

Sunday was a beautiful day -- but this was bad! It meant there was no wind! Sailing is more challenging without wind. We were able to do a little bit and I got to observe all the 18 billion ropes that go into operating the various sails and whatnot on a yacht. I also got to observe the tiller operation...I learned that the easiest way for me to remember it (when I don't have time to run through the fluid dynamics of force pushing on a rudder at this angle will move the nose opposite of the handle) is that I need to point the handle where I want the "butt" of the boat to go. I learned a few words to add to my vocabulary from scuba diving (that vocab is bow, stern, port, starboard):

• vang (some rope-y thing on the bottom of the main sail -- no idea what it does, but I like the word)


• tiller (steering device/lever)


• tell-tales (little pieces of yarn on the sail that tell you if the wind is hitting it right by how they move)


• tack (a zig-zag basically where you shift the front sail from one side of the boat to the other because the wind shifted)


• mainsail (the big sail that's on the mast and the one with the boom that shifts and you constantly conk your head on)


• jib (the smaller sail in the front that is the one you shift in a tack)

We had to motor most of Sunday due to the lack of wind, but (like I might've said) it was a great, low-key learning day for me. We moored in Camp Bay (Endeavor Inlet) for the night.

Monday was a bit different. We had a southeasterly belowing in making lots of whitecaps on the water. We had lots of wind for sailing, but we also had a bit of drama and had to harness ourselves onto the boat because of the unpredictability of the wind/water (and my lack of experience). Even though we'd practiced the man-overboard drill on Sunday, we didn't have to use it (I stayed on the boat, thank you very much). We sailed until about lunchtime and then found a little cove to tie up to a dock in. We were waiting for the storm to finish, but it never did, so we stayed tied up there all night. My advice to you is to remember a deck of cards when you go sailing. Calle and Mal are great people and fascinatingly entertaining but I wanted to do something other that talk! I can't remember the name of the bay we stopped in, but my best guess is one just west of Blumine Island.

Tuesday was perfect! Calle and I started the day with a dip in the bay - talk about taking your breath away. I was in and out of the water so fast I am not even sure I got wet. C-O-L-D water!!! We had nice amounts of wind for sailing and instead of just watching, I actually tried helping on the tacks and I got to steer for a while! Fabulous! Not sure I need another expensive hobby but I might look for sailing lessons when I get back to Colorado this summer. We saw some penguins swimming around while we were sailing - pretty cool!
Calle and Mal preparing to sail
Penguins! Pitt Rehab - it's a sign that I saw Penguins sailing - the Pens are going to do well in the playoffs!
For Rico - we are fabulous!

We were back in the marina by noonish and took a taxi to the 2pm ferry back to Wellington. We saw dolphins jumping in the waves during this ferry crossing. Calle and I have divine take-out Indian food (after I had an even more divine shower) and watched some TV before calling it a night.