Crossing the Ditch-Tasman Sea to NZ

We left Hobart, enroute to Whangarei NZ, on a warm, calm and windless day. We motored down the D'Entrecasteaux Channel towards the open sea. The quiet conditions gave us time to reflect on how much we had enjoyed our visit to Tasmania. Being a weekday, there weren't many boats about, but, we enjoyed watching this pretty one pass us by.

We entered Storm Bay and as we reached open water, conditions soon changed. The wind and waves picked up and before we knew it, we were close-hauled and bashing into a lumpy sea. We'd hoped to pass close-by scenic Cape Raoul, but, it wasn't to be. All we got was a camera-zoomed image, still spectacular nonetheless.

We were barely away from the coast when we got hit with two, short, but, intense low-pressure systems a day apart. We hove-to for a while in both as it was gusting into the forties overnight and very squally. We were expecting unpredictable and quick-changing winds for this passage. We were hoping for a good run of maybe 18 days to do the 1800, or so miles. Instead, we ended up sailing 2,325 miles over 26 days in very frustrating conditions.

We got within 400 miles of Cape Reinga (the north tip of NZ's North Island) and were headed. The wind blew from the NE for eleven days straight, barely budging direction and directly on our nose. We beat back and forth endlessly, but, made very poor forward progress. If there'd been somewhere to go back to, we might have turned around, but, the NZ government, in its wisdom, has decided that there are now only four official ports of first entry for yachts and they are all on the east coast of NZ, not the west coast we were approaching on (it now looks like Auckland, on the west coast, may be added back to the approved port list soon). So, we persevered. We felt like sitting ducks, just waiting for the next huge low pressure system to swing up from the south and engulf us. We had to keep sailing back and forth as heaving-to would have caused us to drift backwards at 1-2 knots, losing hard-won ground. We held our nerve and worked hard to get within 100 miles of the Cape. Finally, there was a glimmer of hope when the gribs showed a coming one day window of reasonably calm conditions and lighter winds which, if the sea calmed quickly enough, would allow us to motor directly to the Cape and around the top. And so it was. At first it didn't look like it was going to happen as the winds were up all day. Then, all of a sudden, just when we were dreading another miserable night of waiting, at 1600, there was a very violent, fast 180 degree wind shift and the wind immediately dropped to almost nothing, just like somebody turned the switch off. It felt really good to just get that motor on and get out of there!  The first sight of land was very exciting.

We made it around the top and it was just getting dark as we passed the Cape on the north east tip of the island. We started down the east side and you guessed it, the winds were now from the SE on this side, not favourable at all, again. We did manage a few hours of sailing, but, in the end, just kept powering, we were like horses heading for that barn door. The scenery was probably spectacular as we passed by the Bay of Islands, Poor Knights Islands and other landmarks, but, it was pitch-black and we saw nothing.

The morning brought, rain, mist, wind and grey/yellow skies. We checked the gribs and noticed that everywhere in NZ had light winds except for where we were. As we approached Bream Head and the spectacular entrance into Whangarei harbour, the winds were a steady 28, gusting 30's. We surfed into the entrance channel with a container ship coming up quickly behind us. After almost missing the marina entrance, we doubled back and with great relief finally landed at the quarantine dock at Marsden Cove Marina. Another passage complete, but, I wouldn't say it was an enjoyable one.

During our campervan tour of NZ a couple of years ago, we visited Cape Reinga by road, Here are a few pictures of what it looks like from the land side and in better weather.

This is Cape Maria Van Diemen, arcing off to the west, very close to Cape Reinga. We were a few miles off, but, could clearly see the mist created by these huge rollers.

Although it maybe hard to tell in this photo, the waves in front of us were clashing in a decided v-shape, one side from the Tasman Sea, the other from the Pacific. I remember thinking at the time, that, if I was ever to round this maelstrom from sea to stay well off and we did!