Have just got back from a fantastic trip to see friends Pete and Helen in KohuKohu up in Northland. A few days classic surf at Shipwreck Bay - a world-class long, long lefthander and then an insane trip with Pete in his dinghy down the Hokianga Harbour from their village KohuKohu to Opunani a small village near the Heads. The small dinghy is a 14 foot craft called a 'Pirate Racer", the design (rather aptly as it turned out) taken from a book called "Boats for an Open Mind". it has a flat bottom, weird sideboards rather than a centreplate and is luff rigged. Its very pretty looks belie the fact that it is quite a handful to sail - especially in a strong gusty wind and a good dose of windchop. Its narrow beam makes it really quite unstable and the luff rig is easily overpowered. The boats eccentricities were enhanced by a brand new totara mast complete with bark after Pete snapped the one it had attached to it by reversing into a tree shortly before we were due to depart. I thought it was the end of the trip but having none of it Pete scampered off into the bush with a chainsaw to find a suitable replacement. He cut down a likely looking totara sapling, quickly fashioned a rudimentary mast and we were off again..
What i hadn't really thought about until we pushed off the boat ramp in KohuKohu around lunchtime on the outgoing tide was how long this trip actually was. Pete didn't know either when I quizzed him and without even a roadmap on board, the best we had to go on was his estimate of - quite a long way. Actually we worked it out later that it is about 22 miles if you take a straight line. In the event we had a headwind all day which meant we actually had to travel at least twice that distance in a series of endless tacks.
after a solid six hours of (to me) quite hairy sailing during which time we shipped a substantial quantity of water which i attempted to bail at times with my sunhat, the makeshift mast bent alarmingly, and we discovered the delicate negotiation required trying to convince the 'Pirate' not to tip us into the drink without warning, we noticed the sun was going down and the destination (though in sight now) was still far off in the distance. We might have been tempted to make a rather un-seamanly decision to keep going for it, despite the encroaching darkness - a plan fuelled by a severe thirst to make the Opunani pub, if weren't for the fact that the tide had turned an hour or so previously and was now working against us. Our progress around the point on our port side slowed inexorably, but it wasn't until we finally acknowledged that we were actually going backwards relative to the land that we turned and ran for the small stretch of beach we had noted as a possible bivvy site earlier.
We had no option but to tie the Pirate to a mangrove tree, unload some dry clothes and the roast beef we had brought with us and abandon ship till the morning, determined to make the pub on foot if we had to.
After walking to the top of the hill inland from the beach, we came across a small bach with some people inside. They were quite surprised to see us waving at them thorugh their window - miles from anywhere, but turned out to be lovely people who gave us a lift the remaining 11 kms to the pub - possibly thinking we wouldn't go away otherwise!
The following morning we returned to the bay where we'd left the boat to find the high tide had left the boat some distance from the shore. Pete nobly offered to wade out to get it and I offered to take photos - which seemed like a good deal to me.
I viewed the scene with some trepidation. The wind was even stronger than it had been the day before and quite a sizable chop had blown up. The far side promised smoother water and there were some interesting looking sand dunes we wanted to try and make landfall on before the final run to Opunani.
The sailing was initially sketchy but once on the far side of the harbour we oculd actually get on a proper broad reach for the first time and really exhilarating sailing tookus first to the dunes and then easily onto Opunani beach - and back to the pub! Classic trip!
See photos in album..... Northland Photos
