Easter Trip

Well I am getting very lazy at not keeping this blog up todate, so lets make amend with Easter.
Prior to Easter I had spent 5 weeks in a row working in Australia, the money is better there!
My son and his two flatmates drove up from New Plymouth and we departed Westhaven for Kawau Island at 7.30 pm. With Radar Tusk can travel the darkest nights. We anchored for the night in Saleyard Bay, on the north side of Bon Accord harbour.

Departing Saleyard Bay just after sun rise.

 Early next morning with the sun coming up I sipped on a cup of fresh tea and took the boat out to the Barrier whilst the young blokes slept. The best time of the day for cruising in my opinion.
The departure through the North Channel was uneventful and the sea conditions perfect for the trip to the Barrier.  It is 25 miles from North Channel to the entrance to Man O War passage.

This photo shows looking back to North Channel with Kawau Island on the left.

The next two days were uneventful, a few snapper and crayfish.We spent one night in Fitzroy Harbour and another in Tryphena harbour. Fuel was a problem as I had left home without topping the tank, so a return to Fitzroy to top up was called for.
No complaints, but the weather forecast for Easter Monday was not flash so we made the dash for the bottom end of Waiheke on Sunday morning. We had some fun fishing the white water at Channel island, then off Port Jackson we spotted the gaff rigger yacht Wairiki under full sail being sailed by Jason Prew and a companion. So these photos are of Wairiki, unfortunately I missed a picture of her with her topsail set. But she still looked a fine sight.

 Wairiki sailing with Cape Colville in the background.

Port Jackson is immediately behind Wairiki. Look at the length of that boom.

 There is something special when one sees an old gaffer being sailed really well.

Just wished I got apicture of her with the topsail set. Wairiki had sailed back from Tauranga.

We ended up heading in late Sunday evening and that was great as it rained all day Easter Monday.

The trip home

I must get this blog up todate fast as February is nearly finished.
Number one and only son wanted to get back to New Plymouth Saturday so after transferring from the Whai back to Tusk we headed to the barrier for Thursday night the 6th January. It was a great trip up to Tryphena harbour, light easterly swell and a few skippies to be caught.Unfortunately the once keen crew were so tired they slept and the autopilot steered the boat and I alone enjoyed the scenery. Great Mercury Cove to Tryphena Harbour Great Barrier is a great trip, the closest you get to the Coromandel peninsula is about 5 to 6 miles and the 21 miles at trolling speed of 7 knots does not take long to roll off the miles.The crew were gone burgers, so no fresh scallops and only the skipper wanted to fish that perfect evening for a big snapper. As the bait fisherman were not successful the first snapper were landed with soft baits, then using the belly pieces of one snapper on a flasher rig I caught this 6 kg beauty.

Snapper, of Tryphena harbour, 6th January 2011

Just after dark we slipped into Mulberry Grove Bay to anchor in 5 metres of water. Good holding in a light easterly wind. The last night an sea always demands a good feed, scallops and fish and a few nightcaps.
Awaking early on Friday morning I made a mug of tea, let the boys sleep, hoisted anchor and headed for Auckland, not even bothering to fish. The next 4.5 hours were spent cleaning the boat, packing the gear and noting the work that would have to be done, finally arriving at the marina at noon. The end of a great cruise.

The annual Whai Trip

 
I have been fortunate to have been fishing and diving from the good ship Whai for many many years, starting with its builder (creator) and first skipper Peter Spurdle, who wrote the book about this story called Into the Rising Sun. I then  travelled to Tonga and Fiji as crew with new owner Mick Ellwood in 1978.
We have regularly chartered this boat for many successful trips for many many years. In fact my children grew up with Uncle Mick.
The Whai now under skipper owner John Ellwood would be the most successful charter boat on the NZ coast. No other vessel comes near it and she calls the Mercury islands home. As the boats popularity has grown it has become harder to book a weekend or  week, you need to be on the waiting 'list'.
This was the catalyst to build Tusk to run my own trips. But with the Sandford family from Rotorua we have retained the annual booking right after New Year and every year 10 to 17 of us all close friends head to Whitianga for 4 days fishing and diving and never any dull moments.

The Whai is not the prettiest catamaran, but she sure is functional, efficient and rock solid seaworthy in the biggest of seas. And John Ellwood sure does know how to catch fish.

So from January 2nd until the 6th we parked Tusk in the cove on the Whai mooring and enjoyed 4 days with great company, wine food and fishing in the Mercury Islands. And we had a ball.
Our two families will be organising the same booking for next summer. Reason is if we give it up we will never ever get the dates back....in our life times and our kids still want to keep going on Whai trips and in a few years we will be taking their kids along to.

Father and son effort

John Ellwood, skipper and owner of the Whai and what a great skipper he is. One of the best.

Shaun with a beauty

Sam has done really well

Eamon caught the heaviest, 11 kg.

An evenings catch

This year the snapper were BIG, the scallops were fat and the crayfish scarce (hard work).
But despite this we all had a really good time. There were some personal bests in the snapper league,in fact I scored a 9 kg fish (released) but the biggest was 11 kg.

Fiona with a personal best snapper

The team for 2011, and that is Tusk tied alongside

Special Boats I have spotted

Every so often I come across boats that I like for whatever reason.

In Mercury Cove during our Christmas cruise the Resolution (home port register Picton) caught my attention.
I know very little about this boat but intend to find out in the future.
Her current owner though has always maintained her in mint condition and she is clearly set up for cruising.
She is an oldie, a woodie and a beautie.  

The New Year Cruise until 2011

On the 27th December we loaded Tusk with provisions for 6 full days at sea. We were actually going away for 10 days but intended transferring to another boat the Whai for 4 days.
The crew was myself, Andrew (my son) and Eamon a local friend. We loaded food, dive gear and lots of drinks

 You will note the Marina is already showing alot of empty berths. Christmas New Year is our main holiday time and it is  summer.

Fishing gear, sleeping gear, food and beer. Just what 3 blokes need for an extended cruise.

Eventually fully loaded and with 10 knots Easterly wind on our nose we headed out to Tryphena Harbour 5 hours away at 9.5 knots. The weather conditions were great and the crossing uneventful. We trolled for a while but no Albacore or Skippies (Skipjack tuna).

The tall ship Soren Larsen, heading for Auckland.

We stopped outside Tryphena harbour and caught some fresh snapper before slipping in on dark to anchor up for the evening. That night the Easterly gained some strength and brought with it rain that made the 28th December a miserable day.
Despite gusting winds we managed to dive for a sack of fresh scallops, caught some fresh Terakihi and just pottered around waiting for the wind to drop. I must remind visitors that the locals do not respect the Divers flag, they just steamed around us at full speed whilst our diver was down and we showed Flag B prominently. Some words were exchanged with a charter boat and I will say the skipper came back and apologised later when returning from his destination. The scallops were tasty and fat.
The next day the wind had dropped down leaving a slight easterly swell so we departed Great Barrier to run the 21 miles down the coast to the Mercury Islands. We had a good run down towing lures and landed some nice Albacore. We ran down the north side of Great Mercury Island. The Easterly wind forecast ruled out Coralie Bay and so we moved round to under the cliffs in Great Mercury Bay with a lot of other boats. in about 10 metres of water.

Entering the anchorage under the cliffs.

The next day was overcast, miserable and wet, but fishing prevailed so we headed out looking for prey.
We took the opportunity to slip into Whitianga (18 miles away) to top up the fuel tanks and get some fresh milk. And returned to another night anchored under the cliffs.

Dusk, the moon is up and anchor lights are going on. Under the cliffs, Great Mercury Is.

New years Eve day was excellent, unfortunately the fishing was not great, but we scored some crayfish for dinner. That evening we moved to an anchorage in Mercury Cove and the space was tight here, but Tusk just fitted in.

Entering the Cove on Great Mercury Island, New Years Eve 2010.

Mercury Cove (also called Huruhi harbour) is one of the safest anchorages in the Mercury Islands.These photos taken from the heights of Mt Cook, Great Mercury Island show the size and shelter provided by the Cove. These photos were taken on 5/1/2011 when the party boats had left.

The entrance to Mercury Cove with the Coromandel Peninsula in the background. We are facing 236 SW

The main anchorage, the boat shed on the left.

The inner harbour at the Cove at low tide, showing the mudflats.

Looking almost due South to Mercury Island Bay. The Cove is on the right hand of the photographer. Stingray bay in the foreground, then the beach (of which are plenty of scallops) and the cliffs we anchored under in the background. The mainland in the distance around Kuaotunu.

We joined all the other boaties for New Years Eve party in the tractor shed. The island is privately owned and each New Year's Eve the Fay Richwhite families host all visiting boaties for welcoming in the New Year. It was a great party and we did not need a dinghy to get ashore as plenty of them were going past so we hitched a lift!

Introduction to the Tusk Log

Welcome Aboard
Tusk is my launch and this blog site is to record all boat trips from New Year 2011.
Tusk is a 9.4 metre Owen Woolley designed launch that I build between 2001 and 2004.
She was build in Ian Scobie's shed at Mauku and was the second to last vessel he completed in that shed.
Without Ian's skill and knowledge Tusk would not have come into being.Work started on Tusk in 2001 and she was launched in October 2004. She is constructed of wood, main hull is Lawson's Cypress  (Port Orford Cedar) with Marcrocapa topsides. the stem is Tanekaha laminated and there is a small amount of kauri in her. The decks are Meranti plywood. All exterior surfaces are covered in fibreglass.
The name, well I was told it should be short and I felt a vessel such as this should have its own anthem.
So it was named after Fleetwood Mac's classic song Tusk;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR_goU4fJA8&feature=related

Tusk was built for diving and fishing for a maximum crew of 4. She is powered by a 175 hp Nanni conversion of a Toyota 1ZK- te diesel with a 2.4 : 1 ZF gearbox direct driving a 21 inch propeller. She carries almost a full keel to prevent prop damage. Fully loaded she weights 5.5 tonnes and has a top speed of 17 knots and cruises everywhere at between 9 to 10 knots.
She is based at Westhaven Marina Auckland from there her adventures start.

 Here is Tusk on John Ellwood's mooring in The Cove Great Mercury Island on 3rd January 2011.

Tusk up the creek from Smokehouse Bay, Fitzroy Harbour Great Barrier Island, in 2009. This shows the open transom for the divers. Note the boot top is to high at the stern and to low at the bow (builder's error).

Top deck view of Tusk coming alongside at Tiritiri Matangi in 2008. Tusk is fitted with Furuno Radar and Depthsounder, Navman GPS and plotter and a Raymarine Autopilot. This day she has the rubber ducky on the back platform.
The aim of this log is to document and share Tusk's trips, describe the great places we visit and the catches we make. Plus provide some fun and enjoyment for readers. So welcome aboard.