The trip to get the big boat to Samoa was delayed. It was planned for late 2022 before the cyclone season however there were delays with Samoan flag registration. So difficult to find a good lawyer that will follow through with the work and so difficult to find the information required!
We did a few sailing trials of the boat around Whangarei, Auckland and Bay of Islands, then decided that we would sail her home to Christchurch and moor her at the marina, spend some time to get her more ship shape and then get her away to Samoa in 2023 after the cyclone season.
We departed Opua headed for Christchurch, Ethan and I thought we would head on down, the boat is ready, provisioned, load of diesel and we were feeling confidence that the trip would be relatively straight forward.
We passed a lot of boats on the way out of Opua and around Cape Brett and headed down toward Great Barrier Island. The boat was going good, tacking into a head wind of 20 knots gusting 27 in a 3 meter sea, it was lively.
We quickly re-stowed everything that that was flung around the boat and slowly but surely beat our way forward.
Sunset was nice, the night sailing was epic. Night sailing is my favourite. The stars up, the moon rising. The black all around with a distant flashing light of the Nav lights of a cargo ship was all to be seen.
We were doing okay, into the routine of the ship, the batteries holding charge with the engine running for three hours at a time, we were making 6 knots on some big tacks to get us south.
We were aiming to get around East Cape and catch a following wind down to Christchurch. Most of the predictions showed a good stiff 20-25 knots most of the way which is a nice wind for sailing a heavy old boat.
The boat was handling well, going fast enough, all systems go, we are feeling very safe.
BANG, bang bang bang. Whats that I ask Ethan. He moves some things about, ties some things down. We think, sweet thats the end of that. Later on another BANG. I think its the gas bottle loose. Few hours later BANG, Sounds like its coming from the stern locker, we restow things. Then no more banging, sweet, all sorted. We continue to sail into the 3 meter sea, punching into the swell, It is good fun. The sun comes up, BANG scrape BANG. OH no we have not solved the problem. I go forward to check everything again.....I spot the issue. Its the anchor hanging low on its chain. Its scraping across the bow in the big swell. I attach my tether, go forward on the galloping boat and tie it off. I look over the port side, see some scrapes, nothing serious looking.
We forge ahead and continue to sail onward. Ethan is looking forward to a few days sailing. A few hours later I think to go to sleep after doing the night watch. When I went down below, I could hear sloshing. LOTS of sloshing so I check the bilge and see that it is totally full, nearly over the floor boards! Shiver me timbers !
I tell Ethan that We are probably going to sink and will need to find the leak. I check all through hull fittings and they are fine and see if there is an obvious leak...there was not. I turn on the bilge pump....dead.....it has actually obviously been running for a number of hours and made the battery's flat.
We have a leak. Flat batteries, no VHF due to flat batteries, i pass Ethan the grab bags, epirb, iridium go, first aid kits, we are prepared to launch the life raft if we have to. Ethan sees that he has one bar of cell coverage so we decide best thing to do is call the police.
It is very poor reception and very difficult to ask for the help we need and the coms person asked the question " is there anyone in immediate danger" to which Ethan replied yes. " We will coordinate your rescue" she then said she would be in touch. The intention was to call a Pan Pan. request assistance by way of a ship with a pump and perhaps we sail toward Whangarei and we perhaps get a tow in for emergency haul out.
Now call me paranoid but I like to keep a spare battery, high above the waterline, detached (just in case battery) we also have spare bilge pumps and a spare vhf. So I grabbed that battery. We used it to get loads of water out of the bilges. I hooked up the spare VHF to the battery and called maritime radio and called a Pan Pan. Explained the situation and that we had been in touch with the police. Maritime radio informed us that Police had dispatched the Whangarei Rescue helicopter and we were to abandon ship. It was then that we could hear the helicopter and see it doing a fly over. We had already commenced sailing toward Whangarei.
We told Maritime radio that we wanted to downgrade the (Police) Mayday to a Pan Pan. Request tow and pump and that we would be sailing toward Whangarei.
My plan was to continue to pump water, then use buckets, getting into Whangarei and seeking an emergency haul out. The time was about 2 pm. We were loath to sink the boat and abandon ship given that amount of diesel on board and that we would leave so much pollution / rubbish, we were near a marine sanctuary!
It did not seem that dangerous, although the sea was around 3m, 20-25 knots of wind, we could have easily deployed the life raft OR the spare life raft, abandoned ship, had enough gear on board to continue to call for help and eat and drink for a month....
Anyway, long story short :
Whangaruru Rescue came to the rescue. The came up alongside, it was tricky in the sea state. They gave us a water pump. With this pump we could empty the bilge every 15 mins, it would take about 2 mins to empty. Each 15 mins the bilge would fill to almost floor level. Quite a big hole. Whangaruru had us point to Whangaruru harbour however in talking with them, we found there was no haul out option. They tagged out with Tutukaka Rescue.
Tutukaka Rescue had us point toward Tutukaka, they tailed behind us, we were sailing about 4 /5 knots. Again talking with them they had no haul out facility and I told them that we would end up sinking on a mooring.
They tagged out with Whangarei rescue who had us point toward Whangarei. , when we got around the heads they took us under tow and took us to Dockland5 for emergency haul out.
Coast guard were amazing, epic, patient, reassuring and good to have. You MUST be a member if you go anywhere in boats !
Dockland 5 were amazing, 3 am haul out. Awesome facilities, can live in the yard with shared lounge toilets showers laundry.
The damage! The anchor had made three wee holes in the bow. Going into a head sea, thats where all the water was coming from ! In hindsight, I could have hove too, inspected the bow more fully, blocked the holes. bailed the water. Sorted some charging, sailed on.
In the future, I will be sure to
have bilge alarms that sound when the pumps activate.
have on board a petrol pump just in case
investigate all strange noises properly !
Now we are on the hard, the plan is to
Antifoul
Do anodes
Install fish finder depth sounder
Cut a wall out of the toilet to combine the room with the shower
Build a Bimimi and additional charging up there
Install AIS
Get Starlink
Get a Samoan Flag
Sail to Samoa after the current cyclone season.
New bilge pumps, alarms, petrol water pump and petrol / diesel generator.
Last week 15th Feb we went up to Whangarei to do some work on the boat. She is well underway with repairs to the hull complete, We aim for sea trials in March. Depart to Samoa in April.
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