May 5, 2019
Well, if you read our last post, you know what happened to our old dinghy. Time for a new one.
No, that’s not it – too hard to get on and off the boat. That’s the 2003 VW Passat we bought sight-unseen from Turners Auctions for about $1500 USD. This would be our transportation to look for a new dinghy, and maybe for a little sight-seeing during the rest of our time in NZ*.
Off we went on a seven day road trip in search of the perfect water transportation. Here’s the ground we covered – 1100 miles in all…
First candidate, a novel approach to boat-shore transportation…
This would provide a comfortable ride no matter the sea conditions and our cheerios would never get wet! We never did figure out how we’d run the necessary cables from Legacy to the beach.
The demo ride up the mountain at Queenstown was really nice, and what a view. We timed this trip perfectly. We left the day after a storm passed through, dumping snow on all the peaks. In the wake of the storm were warm temperatures and stunning sunshine through virtually all of our trip. The fall colors where still brilliant.
Next, a really fast, shallow draft dinghy we’d heard about…
It turned out that with its five inch draft and two engines for a total of 700 HP, it wasn’t all that directionally stable and kept spinning 360 degrees after heading directly at a cliff wall. I’m not sure the driver who was demonstrating the boat was particularly interested in our comfort and peace of mind! I think it would also prove difficult to get this beast on and off of Legacy. On the plus side, there’s plenty of room for groceries.
Then, a different approach…
This airborne tender might just be the answer. We took a test spin up the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers. The salesman suggested that if we removed our mast, we could land on Legacy’s deck. I just can’t figure out where we’d store all that avgas?!
The demo flight was really great though with a landing (planned) at the top of the Franz Joseph glacier. This is the only way to see the glaciers right now as both access roads are closed due to slides. What else could we do? We had to see the glaciers!
Since all of the dinghies we looked at had major drawbacks, I guess we’ll just buy another small inflatable!
-Rich
*Hint:
Our remaining time in New Zealand? Here’s what we’re thinking. We just don’t seem to be able to get excited about any of our potential destinations for this southern winter. After seven years of continuously cruising, we feel like we need a little break. For that break, we’re flying to Hawaii where we plan to spend about four months.
We’ll come back to New Zealand in October, move back aboard Legacy and continue this nonsense, ah, I mean adventure. We’ll spend a month or two cruising around NZ while working on some boat projects and then head to Australia, maybe.
