Tauranga to Napier

Hello Again One And All

Just a quick update to let you know where we are.

Well we are now sitting in Napier. We arrived last Saturday late in the afternoon after a five day and one night sail from Tauranga. We had a great stay there, of about a week. We caught up with some lovely friends of my brother John, who lent us a 4x4 and invited us to their place on the outskirts of the city for dinner. We ended up staying the night with them. We also took out two different couples one afternoon who are interested in the Seawind. It was a beautiful day and we had good winds for the test sail and they really enjoyed their time out. We were able to sail down the harbour through the entrance past Mount Maunganui and out to sea for a few miles. In fact Alec has had a call from one guys who wants to drive all the way down here to Napier so we can take his wife out and show her how the boat handles.

Auckland to Tauranga

Hello To You All

Yes we are on the move again at long last. Tonight we are tied up to the Guest Warf at the Whitianga Marina on the East Coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. A lovely spot. Last night we anchored in Jacksons Bay right at the top of the Peninsula after a day’s motoring from Auckland in dead calm seas without a breath of wind and with the sun out all the way. It was much the same today. I was able to set up my deck chair on the forward deck and take in my surroundings. It was absolutely beautiful watching the sea birds working the schools of fish – and yes I had my line out again but no luck. We really do have quite a majestic coastline when you can view it from where I was sitting!! We only got the sails up for a run in, in the last hour. Tomorrow we have people to take out for a test sail so hope we have some wind.

Auckland - Bay of Islands (Opua) - Auckland

Hello To You All Again

Yes we are still alive and well. For a quick update on where we are and what we are up to. The farm house is now rented out and the land is being looked after by a good neighbour. Murray and his cat Tigger have moved into one of our town houses in Pukekohe.  Alec and I have moved full time back onto SHAMAL and are loving it.

At the moment we are sitting in a bay off Russell in The Bay of Islands. We have come up here to have a water maker fitted. We arrived last Sunday and it has taken a week so far. They will finish it off on Monday. The weather has turned to custard today with a front passing through but we are all snug in our little floating home.

SHAMAL was used by the company who made her – Seawind – in the Auckland boat show in March and since then Alec and I have become the agents here in NZ. We now take people who are interested out for test sails. In fact on the trip up here to The Bay of Islands we had a couple on board who are interested in buying a catamaran. We have also been invited to the Boat Show in Brisbane next month by the company. I am to give a bit of a talk on ‘Women at Sea’ and Alec will help sell boats. We are really enjoying this new little side line. The company are really great and we love their product.

Brigitte is away with a new job in Saudi working a month on and a month off. She is a chef/purser on a private jet working very hard and going all over the place but really enjoying it so far.

OK will sign off for this note and will keep you posted.

Take care and God Bless

Tons of love

Ann and Alec