May 29, 2013
The morning of May 29 was cold and breezy, but overall it looked like a good weather window. We were the only ones leaving from Tauranga that day, but other boats were jumping off from Marsden Point (outside of Whangarei) and Opua, including the ill-fated Nina headed for Australia. Those other boats had the advantage of being a day or two north of us, but we had the advantage of being east of them, and those of us heading to Fiji would not be arriving very far apart.
During the morning we made final preparations and got checked out with customs, who actually came to our boat. It was about 12:30 when Rich fired up the engine and we were about ready to go. Rich asked if I was hungry, and I said I was. We both looked up at Phil’s restaurant perched just above our slip. Maybe if we went and had lunch, the gusty winds would die down. At least we could leave on a full stomach! With that, Rich turned off the engine and we marched right up to the restaurant for seafood chowder. What a treat! After another round of good-byes, we were back on the boat. Oh how we’ll miss everyone here.
After dressing up in layers of long underwear, jeans, T shirts, sweat shirts, hats, gloves and foulies, we were set. People came down to see us off, but I was too nervous to enjoy it. It took everything I had to focus on the tasks at hand. The current was running and was a bit of an adventure getting out of our slip. Tony from the marina was standing by to assist in his dinghy and give helpful advice. Once we maneuvered out of the slip, Rich had to go fast to keep the boat moving forward. Legacy kind of headed down the fairway sideways, but Rich kept her in the middle, then made a skillful high speed exit through the S-curve to the main channel.
We were still riding the fast current but now had a lot more room. It was quite an adventure passing the Mount at an involuntary 9.5 knots amid impressive (and slightly scary) swirling currents. We soon shot out through the harbor entrance and into the open ocean. The wind was gusting but all our layers kept us warm, and we’ve found that when we’re warm and dry, we feel much more calm. We actually felt good and excited about heading north into warmer temperatures. We knew our immediate future held some squally weather and choppy seas, but the GRIBS predicted it would get really lovely in about 3 days. –Cyndi
