     
Cruising Aboard Candu II |
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Wellington Nelson January 2003
This race was tailor-made
for Candu II. We had a gentle southerly going up Cook Strait and then
it turned south east for the trip through to Stephens Island.
The forecast was for the
wind to turn to the north and we were amazed, and delighted, to find all the
bigger boats parked up at Stephens waiting for (us?) - no, the wind change.
Re-start at Stephens! That's got to be good for us - the smallest boat in
the fleet.
We floated about there with them for a couple
of hours and then a gentle northerly kicked in and we had a 50 mile kite
ride to Nelson. The weather was fantastic and our biggest concern was
sunburn. First time I'd taken the boat beyond Queen Charlotte and it was our
race on Club handicap it doesn't get better than that.
John Futter hard at work on our way to
Nelson |
An Unforgettable Night
We over-nighted in Four Fathom Bay, Pelorus
Sound on our way back from winning the Wellington - Nelson race, January
2003 in great spirits.
Four of the crew slept ashore in John
Futter's bach a converted container. For the three of us who stayed on
board it was an unforgettable night.
On a mooring with stern line ashore we were
beam on to the very blustery wind. As the tide went out,
each gust moved the boat sideways and eventually Candu II's
rudder scraped on the bottom.
We pulled the mooring line onto the back
cleat and eased the stern line out a bit hoping
that would keep us clear but we were scraping th bottom again 30 minutes later.
We then winched the
mooring line back to the mast, checked the almanac to
make sure the tide wasn't going to drop any more and finally a
somewhat sleep-deprived crew got to bed.
Then the rain started....blowing right
in my face! I got up to put
another washboard in and to my horror saw the new Nş 3 headsail floating in
the water about 20 feet away. I'd picked this sail up from the sail loft on
my way to the boat two days earlier and hadn't
even opened the bag yet!
By this stage, so they
say, the
skipper's language had deteriorated to the unprintable. Mark, gallant chap
that he is, got in the dinghy and fetched it back.
It was daylight when we finally got to sleep.
We stayed in bed until lunchtime while the "shore" crew sailed the boat home. A rather sheepish Mr Futter confessed he'd had the mooring moved since
he'd last had Shibbeen on it. |
Four Fathom Bay, Pelorus Sound
this photo
was taken 2 and a half hours after low tide |
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John Futter's bach in Four Fathom Bay,
Pelorus Sound is a converted container.
The solid steel doors open to form the sides
of the verandah and reveal a ranchslider door. The
windows are covered by secure steel shutters that slide
into place when the bach is not in use, keeping it safe from
vandalism.
The 'outhouse' is a bit of a climb up the
hill but being an open-air affair has fantastic views right down the bay.
Dinner was fantastic for a starving crew - bits and pieces from Candu II's
galley mixed with a whole bucket of fresh oysters collected from the
bay made a really delicious broth.
And while we waited for the broth to cook we
heated a pizza, contributed by Mark Ansell, in a frying
pan (Mark, we did tell you Candu II doesn't have an oven
neither does John's bach!). To tired and hungry crew it
tasted darned fine though. |
John
Futter's converted container at Four Fathom Bay, Pelorus Sound |
It was a quick trip home with a 35kt
northerly forecast that more than lived up to it's name. We had a white-knuckle ride through Cape Jackson and a very quick trip down Cook Strait.
Coming up the harbour under storm jib and 2
reefs was a long hard slog and a tough way to end what had been a fantastic
weekend. |
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Working Knowledge goes
sailing...
Daniel Pranic, then-Director
of Working Knowledge, took the opportunity to invite some clients out for a
fun afternoon on Wellington harbour. This was the beginning of a 3-year
partnership with Working Knowledge sponsoring Candu II.
Introducing Working Knowledge to Corporate sailing, November
2001
In
2002 Working Knowledge was the primary sponsor for
the Working Knowledge Corporate Yacht Race. This tied in
with a re-branding exercise and all participants were given polo shirts with
the new Working Knowledge branding. Four years later, people are still
wearing the shirts. |
The slogan 'Action - Not Words' was
a challenge to live up to.
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Pre-start for the Corporate Yacht Race in Lambton
Harbour, Wellington, NZ |
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Candu II at anchor at Cockle Cove, Bay of
Many Coves, Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough, NZ |
A new skipper...
Just two months after buying a half share in
Candu II, I set off cruising with family my
youngest daughter Jodie, her husband, Rob and my then-5 year old
granddaughter, Hannah. We left Waikawa Bay early in the morning with a long
list of instructions from Colin, the other co-owner.
We
wandered in and out of a few wonderful bays and had a couple of practice
runs at anchoring which all went well. We found a great spot at Cockle Cove
a little alcove just next to the main bay. We
confidently set our anchor and put a stern line
ashore. It wasn't long before we realised the anchor was dragging.
Convinced we'd followed all the instructions
carefully, I wasn't sure what had gone wrong. I spotted a fellow Port Nich
boat and went over to ask for help. Ken Papps, Flying Fish, hopped in
his dinghy and 5 attempts later and another 40 metres of warp we finally got
the anchor to set.
This was Day 1. I was so shattered by the
experience we stayed there for two days and what a wonderful two days it
was.
Hannah caught a scallop on her fishing line
and was very proud. Her mum cooked it and cut it into 4 pieces to share around.
We spent some time with Lorna Manson, the
owner of Cockle Cove, and she successfully sold me her book about the bay -
a very enjoyable read. |
Hannah sitting in the Hole-in-the-Rock at Cockle Cove with
Candu II in the background |
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Punga Cove, Easter 2003
Some of us thought it
would be great to head over to the Sounds for Easter. We didn't count on a
southerly buster with winds up to 70kts and huge seas in Cook Strait.
There were a number of boats waiting to head
across the Strait on Thursday night. Bindy Greer (then owner of
Distraction and now co-owner of Distracted) invited the grounded
skippers to her city apartment for dinner on Friday night the only dinner
party I've been to where the guests were focused on the VHF all night! The
Interisland ferry captains are a great source of up to date weather information.
Looking toward Furneaux
Lodge - the weather had improved but it was still a bit ghostly with the
mist rolling down the hills.
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Punga Cove Resort, Endeavour Inlet, Queen Charlotte Sound,
Marlborough, NZ
We finally made it across Cook Strait late on
Saturday with a 25kt southerly and 2-3m swells a great, fast crossing. We
headed down to Waikawa Bay to drop one of the crew off, then had two nice
days sailing around the Sounds. We left Candu II at the Waikawa Bay marina
and headed home by ferry.
The following weekend was another long weekend and
we decided to go down a few days later and make up for the time we had lost.
The weather was still very unsettled but
Punga Cove was a great haven from the wind. There was a hotly contested
rugby game on TV on Saturday night and the bar was buzzing. |
When it came time to leave
after our 2nd weekend away, the seas at Tory Entrance were alarmingly high
with large breaking waves. I decided to err on the side of caution (or I'm
just plain chicken) and left Candu II in Waikawa Bay marina once again. We
were happy we were on the ferry when we crossed Cook Strait.
I went down a couple of nights later with
Gordon McDougall and we brought Candu II home during a small weather window.
We left Tory entrance at 10pm and we were back in the harbour at 2am dodging
ferries coming and going why are they always at the entrance when we are?.
Punga Cove (Camp Bay), Endeavour
Inlet, Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough, NZ
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