Monday December 27, 1999 - Kaikoura, NZ

Dear STARSHIPSTERS,

We had a grand holiday weekend and I have to say that I missed writing the journals for you guys. The events on STARSHIP didn’t seem real until I had typed them into the journal. As the days past I kept making mental notes to remind me of what to put into today’s journal. Christmas Eve was spent at World’s End in the Pelorus Sound sipping margaritas. That night we went to bed with smiles on our faces from all the great gifts we had exchanged and good times we shared. Unfortunately Tom, Michael, Enrico and Caroline had to wake up at 2am to move the boat to a more sheltered bay when the wind picked up to gust of 47 knots.


STARSHIP in Worlds End Bay

Christmas Day the ladies and Papa DJ took and an energetic, 22 km hike or tramp as it is called here. The native bush was laced with streams and waterfalls. I have never seen so many different types of ferns uncurling as they grew. Through the trees we could see the fjords shining blue between the lush steep hills. Tom& Michael  picked us up at the next bay with STARSHIP and we started to make headway south towards Picton to meet Trevor and Monika. As we neared the mouth of Pelorus Sound the seas and wind began to knock us around. Blowing  down the hill the winds were fierce with gusts up to 50 knots. Now being close to shore that wasn’t unbearable but Michael knew the conditions would worsen the further into the Cooks Strait we ventured. Especially if the strong current runs against the wind. The ocean got me and I had to give my lunch back the hard way, over the side of the boat. STARSHIP made a quick U-turn back into the sound for shelter so we could enjoy the lovely duck dinner Enrico was making, complete with all the German trimmings.

Thankfully Cooks Strait was calm on Sunday and we sailed back down to Queen Charlottes Sound. We spent the afternoon running Man Over Board drills until we had it down to perfection. We all took turns at each station. Michael would throw our orange fender overboard and whoever happened to see would cry out Man Over Board!!! That person would keep their eyes glued to the ‘man’ in the water while the rest of the crew sprung into action. (Initially Papa DJ had volunteered for the "Man over Board" job but we decided unanimously that wasn’t the best idea.) Whoever was on the helm turned the boat around and traced our course back to the fender. It was a good drill and it reminded us how hard it is to retrieve somebody from the water even in perfect conditions. And the moral of the story was to remind us to never ever fall overboard to begin with.

After that test Michael had Ulli, Caroline, Enrico and I together in the wheelhouse. “Take us to Picton,” he said. “No problem,” we thought until he said that we were not to use the TRANSAS Navigation computer. Oh no!! Out with the chart, Caroline marking our location. Enrico was steady with the binoculars searching the coastline for markers. Ulli stood checking for boat traffic in the sound. We had to dodge a couple of the fast cat ferries as they headed toward the Tory Channel and navigate through alternating currents. Some confusion arose over magnetic north verses true north. At our location in the sound we had a 22-minute magnetic deviation from true north. (True north refers to the direction of geographic north and is represented as straight up on paper chart. A compass reads magnetic north and changes annually.) This difference can be significant if navigating in waters so close to land. With much pride we brought STARSHIP straight to Picton without a glitch.

Monika and Trevor are back with us. Trevor wasn’t onboard more that five minutes before he was down in the engine room fussing with the pesky generator. Our captain and first mate look great but after all their stories of Australia it sounds like they need a vacation from their vacation.

Sperm Whale fluke on the way down...

At the moment we are on passage down the east coast of the South Island to Kaikoura after a 5:30 am departure from Picton. (It was definitely the crack of dawn, not even the sun was up). I woke up for my 8am watch to find us out of the sounds and heading due south past Cloudy Bay. And a cloudy day it is. The water is reflecting the same grey color of the clouds. The coast looks dry though the veil of grey haze. The east coast, much drier than the west coast, receives an annual rainfall of 800 millimeters. On the flip side, the west coast catches as much as 7000 millimeters rainfall per year. Michael and Tom went ahead by car to check out the sea and to prepare our visit. They went on a whale watch and saw five Sperm Whales. The impressive animals hung around at the surface oxygenating for around 10 minutes before flipping their tail and diving down for the next 40 minutes to feed. The Sperm Whale is the largest toothed whale on the planet, weighing in at 70 tons and averaging 18 meters. We hope to see more whales tomorrow if the weather holds. If not we will head down to Akaroa just south of Christchurch, which is the only French colony in New Zealand.

STARSHIP signing off,

Anne-Lise