More Yachting

 

Second Christmas on Shamal 

During 1975 I spent many happy hours cruising in the Bay of Islands, often taking my marking with me during the weekend. I also joined the Waitangi Yacht Club and joined in the racing as often as I could. One of my best crew was my English Department colleague, Roger Taylor. Roger was a very experienced sailor. Having been a member of the crew of the James Cook Endeavour replica on its journey from North America to new Zealand when it was wrecked at Parengarenga Harbour in the far north.

 

Roger had also taken part in the single-handed race from New Plymouth to Mooloolaba in Queensland, and still owned the boat he had sailed then.  It was a concrete-hulled 19 footer, with no superstructure above the deck except the mast and rigging. The yacht was designed so that it could be sailed from below the deck in rough weather. Roger had taught himself to wake every 45 minutes when asleep to check on his course. 

Being a small boat, his entry arrived last of all at Mooloolaba, having encountered storms and been rolled right over twice on the way. 

 

I learned more from him and from the other old hands who crewed for me from time to time. Sometimes I also joined races from Russell or Kerikeri as well. There were three well-supported boating clubs in the Bay at that time.

 

The second January (1976) I again took Terry on a cruising holiday, but this time also engaged another crewman for the trip.  He was an American tourist, and worked on the yacht in return for travel with us.

 

We set out and made for Great Barrier, where we spent a few days at Tryphena anchored near the wharf. After Christmas we sailed south to the Coromandel Peninsula and down the east coast to Mercury Bay. There we met up with Stuart and Catherine and their family and spent a happy day sailing them around the bay. At this stage our American crew had gone walkabout for 24 hours to explore this part of the country.

 

We said goodbye to the relatives and headed north, spending a night in the lee of Great Mercury island. Then we rounded Cape Colville and flew down the west coast to Te Kouma Harbour, where we sat out a cyclone with a host of other yachts taking shelter.

 

When the weather cleared we sailed west to Waiheke and on up the Tamaki Strait to the anchorage at Rangitoto next to Motutapu Island.  Here we sat out another storm and had to stop the boat dragging its anchor in the middle of the night.

 

Next day we sailed in to Auckland, and I put Terry on his plane back to Dunedin for school, and then  with the American to help, sailed home to the Bay of Islands to get ready for school. 

During 1976 I regularly took groups of pupils out on the yacht on sports afternoons, along with one or two other teachers who also owned yachts. With eight on board we could divide up the jobs and rotate the crew so that everyone got a chance to try out each task.

 

In the Spring we joined in the mid-week evening races from the Yacht Club at Waitangi. The first week in November, I invited Margaret to crew along with Terry, but Terry developed a cold and wanted to stay home. So Margaret was put through her paces, and came through with flying colours.

I think it was probably this experience that convinced me she was a pretty good all-round companion! That was the day president Jimmy Carter won the US election .