Sometimes when you visit a place for the third or forth time its easy to do the same familiar things and not do anything new. I have visited Akaroa by road and sea many times but each time I seem to accidentally discover or do something new. We sailed into Akaroa yesterday morning around 9am and anchored in French Bay. Matt ferried our crew ashore in two trips in the RIB and dropped us at the nearby wharf.

I headed to the bakery and bought a chocolate au pain before heading to a french cafe, that makes good coffee. I had some work to do and a meeting online and it was so nice sitting peacefully in the sun, soaking up the warmth from the rays. A seafod chowder, packed with fresh local seafood followed and midday rolled around before I realised. Sharon, our skipper on Salt Lines was keen to catch up and talk about the recruiting work we are doing together for new skippers and chief mates.

Matt was picking up Sharon from Salt Lines in the RIB to bring her ashore and she had just stepped out of the shower to discover Salt Lines had grey water pump problem. That meant 5 minutes turned into 30 and as I was waiting on the wharf I figured, why not just lay down on the the wooden bench in the sun and relax. When you work around the clock on a sailing expedition, there is often no downtime for days on end. There is just never a dull moment and it takes a real effort to do nothing. I realise that makes no sense, but its easier to keep doing stuff than stop and relax, especially when there is a lot to do.

So I lay in the autumn sun on a park bench and did nothing but close my eyes and feel the warmth on my skin. And because its New Zealand sun, I figured after 30 minutes that I better go wait in the shade for Sharon, so I did not get sunburnt.

Sharon landed at the wharf at 1pm and we headed into town with chief mates'; Matt and Jess for a crew lunch. These guys work long hours each day and at night and its nice to have the chance to just hang out and relax. 3 Salt Lines crew were eating at the same cafe, so joined our table for lunch as well.

Once we had finished, Sharon and I headed off for a walk, (kapiti ice-cream) and a chat about all the challenges of the last 3 months. From the start of the Sydney Hobart Race up to now, we have had the worst run of weather in 6 years and suffered damage to yachts, more than $100k in repair bills and multiple weather impacted itineraries.

We have had to cancel, change, transfer, refund and reinvent the last 3 months for 7 different events and navigate our way through El Nino impacted weather systems. We have seen one low pressure system after, another roll in off the Southern Ocean and Tasman Sea and rain down terror on our sailing plans. Fortunately for me, Matt Harvey and Sharon Ferris-Choat always put safety first and do not take on the pressure from some customers to go sailing at any cost.

Making decisions that impact people, can be stressful, but no one ever regrets going home safely to their families. Despite the technology we now possess, the ocean is still a dangerous place on a bad day. Experienced sailors understand this. Inexperienced sailors can be a lot more cavalier (and disbelieving of weather forecasts). “How bad can it be?” they ask, or they say things like “I thought your boat can handle 70 knots”. If you have ever been in freezing cold conditions, rain, 50+ knots and big seas you learn one thing - don’t do it again. Avoid it at all costs. People get hurt and boats get damaged.

So anyway… Sharon and I wandered along the bay and then just sat on the wharf at the other end and had a chance to chat about life, about our challenges and about the next 3 months ahead. So much energy goes into running sailing expeditions, that it’s easy to get burned out, if you don’t take time out. We have had crew away on sick leave, so Sharon has stepped in again as skipper to cover extra sailing events and missed her daughter’s birthday, school holidays with both her daughters and easter with her family.

On impulse I said “Sharon, we’ve talked about this for months… I want to interview you for the Ocean Sailing Podcast, lets go find a quiet spot and do it right now.” “Okay she said, lets do it” and we headed off into town in search of a quiet spot, out of the wind. We wandered the streets and found nowhere quiet enough, but 3 blocks back from the waterfront, found 2 lonely bar stools on the porch of the local school library and (apart from 2 noisey trucks driving past) had a great 1 hour podcast chat and interview.

*They look shallow on the outside, but the caves go deep into the cliff*

Suddenly was 5:30pm and time to head to Tinis Gin Bar and Eatery, for our combined crew dinner and enjoy their wood fired pizzas. It was fun couple of hours catching up and swapping stories. After 2 weeks together we had covered a lot of ground and had some exceptional experiences. Right on dark, Matt ferried the crew back to both yachts and we agreed to lift the anchor 8:30am this morning and do some exploring of the sea caves on the way out of the harbour.

Morning came and so did the low cloud and drizzle. We were leaving on the back of a 15-25 knot southerly change, due to fill in around 11am and give us a nice ride up the coast. As we headed out into the channel, the crew grabbed binoculars and started the search along the cliff faces on both sides of the harbour for the sea caves, we had heard about.

I had never heard of these previously and what a treat our crew were in for. Johnny from Silver Fern donned his wet suit and went diving for mussels and paua. Matt carried on with the first group and headed 40m deep inside the first cave, that they discovered at the waters edge.

The tide was rising, so they had to head back out before the ceiling got too low for head room. The Salt Lines crew joined us and we crossed the bay to the opposite side, to find even bigger caves . For the next 90 minutes the yachts hovered off the shoreline, while the crew took turns 4-6 at at time, in the Silver Fern RIB exploring the interior of the sea caves.

The wind suddenly jumped from 10 to 20 knots and it was time to go. We have spent the rest of today sailing up the coast in 15-24 knots from behind and generally enjoying the easy run north. We seen large numbers of Dusky Dolphins, Albatrosses and other bird species. It’s a great part of the New Zealand coast. We are almost abeam Kaikoura and look set to re-enter the Marlborough Sounds via the Tory Channel, by early afternoon tomorrow.

David

Join the crew for a sailing adventure

Dusky Dolphins and Crazy Caves

The band has broken up

Next stop: La Rue Jolie