December 2011

Dear Friends:

March 2011 – From New Zealand

Dear Friends:

Tawera may be handsome, but she isn’t the prettiest boat in the New Zealand Classic Fleet. On the other hand, every time we raced Taleisin or Thelma (the 115 year old Bailey cutter Larry rescued from a state of neglect) among these ageless beauties [See March 2006 and subsequent 2006 to 2010 January newsletters for more on lovely Thelma], though my eye would be drawn to the lovingly restored gaffers from the turn of the century, my ears would always be drawn to 50 foot long, Tawera. At anchor before the start, on the way to the start line, as racing commenced and especially when the fleet again lay at anchor and apré race events began, laughter seemed to ring constantly from this well maintained and aggressively sailed 70 year old sloop.

February 2011 – From New Zealand

Dear Friends:

The New Zealand summer started wonderfully, with weather that lured us out sailing on many fine days. But now in the middle of what is usually the finest sailing time, a La Niña event which brings warmer ocean waters to the South Pacific, has brought a series of cyclonic lows tracking south with heavy rain and strong winds to ruin everyone’s sailing holiday plans, including ours. So it’s a good time to finally sit down and write this.

October 2010 – From Kawau

Dear Friends,

Most of you are probably watching the leaves around you turning to gold then red and feeling the first cold breezes of autumn whispering in. For us it is the opposite. The equinox, which marks the change from winter to spring, has just passed and with it ten days of traditional foul weather. Early spring flowers have shoved their heads clear of the blown branches and debris in the flowerbeds surrounding my cottage. Buds are beginning to show on every tree and bush. The owners of the boats which have spent the winter stored at Mickey Mouse Marine, have shown up, sandpaper, face masks and scrubbing gear in hand. They seem relaxed and glad for an excuse to mess about in boats on the first truly warm, light wind days of spring.

August 2010 – From New Zealand

Dear Friends:

Water fills my view as I write this newsletter, the leaden grey waters of the bay which reaches within 20 feet of my office window, slanting rain that makes me wonder how I will get from my office across the 40 feet of open air that separates it from the house. Winter in the northern part of New Zealand is not severe, we have only seen frost here once, spring weather usually arrives by late September. But Larry has just come in from checking the boats stored in our little boatyard and reports it is too muddy, too soggy to start the repair work he’s taken on. And I am looking out at where Taleisin sits looking neglected and soggy. It all makes me restless and more than a bit nostalgic. Part of my nostalgia probably comes from using this wintery time to sort through some of our very oldest photos as we begin work on an interesting new writing project.

July 2010 – From New Zealand

Dear friends
The bonus of cruising, we have often said, is the people you meet.  I think you could probably extend that to include the people local sailing adds to your life.

April 2010 – From New Zealand

Dear friends
There is nothing quite as wonderful as the feel of an able sailing vessel when she has a perfect wind on a wide-open sea. We’d planned to spend a relaxed and enjoyable week celebrating a friends 70th birthday at Great Barrier Island then sail back to our home base at Kawau Island thirty miles to the west-south-west. But the weather forecast for the next week was for fresh southwesterly winds and lots of sunshine.

January 2010

We know summer has arrived in New Zealand when the Pohutakawa trees put on their Christmas colors.

Dear Friends:


“Well imagine meeting you here,” a lilting Irish voice called as we waited in line to order our dinner at the Opua Cruising Club in the Bay of Islands. We’d just sailed in from a week at Great Barrier Island where we’d joined a large group of international voyager to celebrate the New Year. Now both Larry and I struggled to place the face. Roy Dixon quickly introduced himself and said, “You probably don’t remember me but we met in Howth, Ireland when I was just dreaming of setting of cruising and here I am just sailed in from Fiji!” It took only a few minutes to recall the evenings we’d spent together back in 1997. As we waited for dinner, Roy told us a story that we just have to share.

October 2009 – From New Zealand

Dear Friends:
“You live on Kawau Island? Do you have a boat out there?” When mainlanders ask that question, I try not to give the long answer which is, “No, we have nine, or ten according to what day of the week it is.” Then I have to explain we have our fizz boat Jay Dee for trips around the island and to the mainland, our barge for hauling building materials, our landing pontoon to lay boats alongside the jetty, three or four dinghies in various shapes, sizes and states of repair or disrepair, plus two wooden yachts.

September 2009 – From New Zealand

Dear Friends:

More than 24 years ago, Larry and I sailed to New Zealand to rendezvous with Eric and Susan Hiscock. We had used their books as inspiration when we fitted out Seraffyn. Over the course of Seraffyn’s eleven year circumnavigation we had the privilege of meeting Eric and Susan in four different countries. When we went back to build Taleisin, an enjoyable correspondence grew. Then when launch date came Eric wrote, “Of course you’ll sail down here and show us this new boat.” It took us almost two years of enjoyable cruising before we made it to the Bay of Islands in the north of New Zealand.

August 2009 – From New Zealand

Dear Friends:

Endings can be as emotion laden as beginnings. Saying farewell to our Tongan family was one ending, especially as we knew we might not see them again for some time. Our voyage from Tonga to New Zealand marked the end of a circumnavigation, one that began almost 20 years before when we’d set sail for Australia in search of work. News of yet another ending reached us just as we sailed in to the Bay of Islands.