NZ Land Logs 56, Year 2: Sunday–But Not A Day Of Rest
Date: Sunday, April 15, 2007
Weather Today: Mostly Sunny, Periods of Wind and Rain in the AM
Location: Whangarei, New Zealand
It was another frustrating weather day. It rained hard during the early morning, but by the time we got up the skies were blue. We went right out and dried everything off so that Mark could begin the day by putting the second coat of green paint on the waterline and shearline stripes. But as soon than we got everything dry it decided to rain. The rain didn’t last long and the sun came out once again, so we wiped down everything a second time. And just like clockwork, the rain came again. This time Mark had already started painting, so as soon as it slacked off, he just continued on. In between sunny periods, we worked on boat organization. We moved one of our big anchors and chain off the bow and put it in a locker on the aft deck. We did this to try and get our bow just a little lighter in weight. With our main anchor and 300 feet of heavy chain, plus the second anchor and chain, we sometimes felt like we were plowing through the water instead of sailing. Hopefully today’s move will help just a little. While Mark continued painting, I went off in search of finding a cleaning solution to remove mildew from material. I have this great little shoe organizer that hangs from our forward head door. I roll up our guest towels and put them in the organizer instead of shoes. It works beautifully but has “sprouted” some mildew stains and I am out of any cleaner that might do the job. Marie on Ranger gave me some IOSSO Mildew Stain Remover, and it works like a charm. I’m still soaking the organizer, but by morning it can be hung out to dry. While I was talking with Marie, we decided to go into town to do more food provisioning. We spent a couple of hours at the New World market. This is the more upscale grocery store in town with slightly higher prices, but it has some items that you just can’t get elsewhere. By the time we got back to the marina, it was time to fix the food to take to the Sunday night cruiser barbecue.
As always, we enjoyed talking with other cruisers over dinner. The numbers are dwindling and by next week even more people will be gone. At 6:35 am this morning I heard Dianna blowing her conch shell as she and Bob on White Swan escorted Pam and Scott of Starship down the river. Bob and Dianna will be back tomorrow, but Pam and Scott are headed north and then on to Australia. Others that we talked with tonight will be leaving this week. Due to our weather delays, it will probably be early next week before we leave. Conversations tonight were about how to keep warm until we sail north to warmer waters and what provisions to buy to take as trade items in the islands–powdered milk, noodles and rice, chocolate, and sugar. In terms of keeping warm, Paul and Marie on Ranger will be heading to Fiji with two extra crew members and are in need of extra blankets for their guests. We have two down comforters with us, so we will loan them one. We are using the other and it is keeping us nice and toasty at night. Beth and Ken on Eagle’s Wings were showing off their layers of clothing and long underwear that they have resorted to wearing in order to keep warm here at night. We all got a big chuckle out of the fact that they check with one another to make sure the other isn’t wearing something that will be warmer. They definitely were wearing coordinated dress tonight. As Marie said, Ken and Beth’s rugged outdoor wear puts Ken and Barbie to shame.
Tomorrow we start waxing the sides of the boat. This will continue on Tuesday, and hopefully by Tuesday we can also start painting the bottom. We are getting there, slowly but surely.
