Tory Channel - Lyttleton

Thursday – 03/02/2011

Leaving Tory Channel - Marlborough Sounds

Night – It has been a fairly lumpy sea through the night but we managed to get some dinner. Reheated rice with a packet of Indian curry sauce and some ham chopped up in it. Not exactly gourmet cuisine but it filled us up and kept the bellies happy through the night. Probably not a good choice though for anyone who might suffer from seasickness!

Basic cooking at sea!

On watch at midnight, the night is pitch black and it feels like the boat is racing through the water enveloped by the blackness. It’s not a wise thing to do but especially on a pitch black night when you are on the helm the mind often wanders to the possibility of colliding with a large log or semi sunken container as the boat surges through the darkness. The only views through the wheelhouse windows on these such nights is the surge and foam created from the bow wave, and on this night the phosphorescence in the water created a luminescent light around the boat and in our wake.

Morning – A huge sunrise, and in the early morning light we can see the large swells. The Kaikoura coast is about 10 miles to starboard and the Seaward and Inland Kaikoura ranges rising up to 2880 metres are majestic and stunning as the light begins to touch them bringing into relief the peaks and valleys with small pockets of snow in places.

Now on whale watch. The Kaikoura coast is an excellent place for seeing whales – usually the Humpbacks. None seen by us today but it would be pretty difficult in these seas with white crests all around and large swells. We did see the tourist whale watch boat, a helicopter, a small plane, a fishing boat, 1 small coastal tanker, lots of birds and a large container ship. The seabirds have been incredible to watch today skimming over the wave tops but I have not managed to get round to finding my book to identify any of the larger petrels and other birds.

We have been in reasonably close proximity to Kuri which is a 45’ ex tug boat built in the 20’s and travels at a similar speed to Gunner. We checked in with them on the radio in the morning and found that they had some problems with grease leaking from their gearbox. We slowed down while they contacted Kaikoura coastguard to enquire whether it would be possible to get into the very small boat harbour there and also spoke to an engineer at home. After some discussion they decided that the problem was not critical and would continue on to Lyttleton.

Raised the mainsail on Gunner about 10 o clock as the swell had eased and the wind was on our stern quarter. We carried it until about 3.30 in the afternoon when the northeasterly wind started to increase to about 25 knots and veer to the northwest as forecast. The seas picked up again and it has been a rolling trip to Lyttleton surfing down some of the waves and getting thrown off course by others.


Kuri disappearing in the swells






Godley Head, Lyttleton Harbour entrance

 “The welcome sight of Godley light On a dark and stormy night
Lets hope the wreckers haven’t changed the site”
                                     Pete’s poem on entering Lyttelton harbour