More bad luck!   Sunday, 30/06/2024

Well, another aborted voyage. Two days out the autopilot failed. Yes – the new autopilot, the totally new system. It’s funny how this is proving to be the bane of my travels. 

I spent a few hours fiddling – with the cover off the binnacle (the steering column) I could see exactly what the problem was, a mechanical one. But I couldn’t make a fix. So, after simply drifting for the rest of Thursday, on Friday morning I started the arduous task of hand-steering my way back. What helped is that the wind had become very light, a good thing because I was motoring directly into it. But with wind and current absolutely against me, it meant that when I wasn’t steering we were being pushed northwards – backwards! So to cover perhaps 150 nautical miles it took three days. 

I decided to head into Opua in the Bay of Islands, because it’s a bit further up the coast than Whangarei. Arrived here at 14:15 this afternoon in beautiful winter sunshine, the ocean no more rippled than a lake on a summer’s day. I tied up at the Customs/Quarantine dock without any difficulty – I timed it so that it was just 12 minutes before high water, meaning no discernible current. And then I phoned Customs to let them know I was back in New Zealand. The chap I spoke to was very friendly – he even suggested coming down to me this afternoon. I persuaded him not to, but to leave it until the morning. I said I had no desire to go ashore – it would just be a great relief to relax and then sleep properly. 

Hopefully a fix can be made and I can be on my way again soon. I feel fine. Somehow I’ve become a lot more accepting of things in the past few years of sailing. Almost fatalistic you could say. When it became apparent that I’d have to turn back – with about a thousand miles to go to Vanuatu it just wasn’t an option to continue – I just shrugged, thought “Oh dear” and then began investigating the layout of Opua on my Navionics charts. And then got on with what I had to do. Maybe a rueful smile at this new setback. Although the journey back was tiring, I’ve been in surprisingly good spirits! If I’ve learned one thing from sailing it’s perseverance. Resilience too (sorry, that’s two things, but closely related!).

I will post again when repairs have been done and I’m set to leave. It will mean waiting once more for a suitable weather window. The weather patterns are not easy: there are frequent storms around New Zealand, as well as patches of very light wind. Trying to get between the two takes patience.

It is beautiful here, so that’s a plus!