Offshore Sailing Adventure in New Zealand

While we were in Auckland, we visited the Maritime museum and we got to learn about the local boat culture. The museum gave a great overview of the countries history of sailing and boating. Some statistics state that 40% of New Zealanders participate in boating and that New Zealand has the highest boat to person ratio in the world. For some locals, sailing goes back generations as many grew up building their own 1 to 3 person little sailboats to take advantage of the constant winds and continuing coastline.

We had started our sailing journey a few years earlier in Vancouver as we learned the basics of boating. While in New Zealand we joined the CrewSeekers.net forum to see if we could gain additional sailing experience by crewing on a boat. On this site you can list your location, your availability and experience level and skippers looking for crew can reach out on the platform.

The boat we would be delivering was a 1993 55ft Lagoon catamaran named Paje. This sailing catamaran had 2 diesel engines, 4 berths, 4 heads, a galley in the starboard hull and a large saloon area. It had completed an extensive refit over the past several months while in New Zealand and the owner was now looking forward to using it in Tahiti.

There was a total of 4 crew for this journey. Gary as captain who had several decades of cruising and boat delivery experience. His first mate was Leigh who was a friend of his and had sailed competitively and worked on boat electronics. Lastly there was Janet and I as the additional hands to learn as much as possible and assist with night watch.

We arrived at the boat to go over the systems, fix a few minor issues, do a final cleaning, and provision for the trip. The trip was expected to take about 16-20 days depending on the winds, currents, and sea conditions. We went to the nearby market and picked up 3 shopping carts full of food to get us ready for the journey ahead.

The weather for this region can be challenging. The boat owner hired a forecaster to predict our best window of opportunity to set sail. The forecaster saw a good opportunity to leave over the next few days and so we scheduled with customs for our day to leave port. In the morning, we took the boat across the marina to the fuel dock to get filled with 750 liters of fuel. We had both engines running as we left the fuel dock and suddenly Gary said he felt that there was something wrong with the port side engine as it felt like it didn't have propulsion when he was steering the boat. He used the starboard engine to get us over to the dock, we tied up and through the water you could see that the propeller wasn’t spinning on the port side even when the engine was in gear and revving. We limped it back into the berth and had a mechanic scheduled to arrive the next morning.

The next morning the mechanic was able to tighten the coupling around the prop shaft and we were able to set off from the marina that afternoon. The winds were light, and seas were calm as we headed out on the first day and we ran the engines to make way for most of the day. We were treated to a beautiful sunset as we made it out on our first day.

The next day was the start of the harsh weather and difficult sea state. The waves were throwing our boat left and right, up and down, like driftwood. The wind began to build and we put a reef in the main. We were hit with 20 knots of wind and rolling waves crashing onto our boat constantly. The motion of the boat in the confused seas was too much for me, I was only able to keep down some water on this day. The next boat issue was spotted by Leigh. He was using the port side aft cabin as his room and began smelling diesel. The engine was accessed by flipping up his bed and upon inspection of the engine bay we found that the diesel sending unit had a minor seep. The issue was noted in our logbook and we carried on sailing towards Tahiti.

On the third day we marked a milestone as we crossed the international date line, and the winds and waves continued to build. With gusts up to 30 knots we pulled in the head sail and reefed the main. The weather over the next few days continued to be challenging with big waves slapping the bottom of the boat causing everything in the boat to rattle, creek, and groan. We didn't document many of the events with pictures as we were focusing on each issue as they arose.

In the morning of the fourth day, two of the hard plastic battens in the mainsail were beginning to work their way out of the sail stitching. We dropped the main sail and worked the battens back into their holders and then re-raised the main. We then also raised the storm jib. After raising the storm jib one of the pins holding the boom main sheet pullies broke. This made it so we couldn’t move the boom from a mid-ship position. Gary held the boat into the wind as Leigh and I searched for a replacement pin for the pully. We found a replacement and while the boat was being rocked around by the waves were able to install the new part.

On the fifth day the wind speed increased and we began to see high gusts of 30+ knots and we continued to stay inside the boat for comfort.

On the sixth day we were getting up to 40+ knot gusts of wind, large swells of 3 to 4 meters and strong beating rain was coming down. Cabinets were flying open with tools and spare parts scattered themselves across the floor. Every time we attempted to clean up another cabinet would open and spill its contents.

Janet and I watched the storm rage from the saloon table and Gary was across at the navigation table looking at different routes for us to get out of this extreme weather. Suddenly I smelled something burning and looked over my shoulder into the galley. I saw smoke pouring out from behind the cabinets and stove. I yelled “FIRE!” and Gary leapt into action with a fire extinguisher in his hands. Mere seconds after I sounded the alarm he blasted the kitchen to extinguish the fire. The extinguisher got the flames out but as the flames were extinguished, they released a toxic smelling black smoke which quickly filled up the interior of the boat and had us all coughing and gasping for air. We slid open the cockpit door and all took in deep breaths of fresh air from the exterior cockpit. Just as we were standing in the doorway a large wave crashed over the bow of the boat and spilled over the roof and splashed into the cockpit soaking our heads and spilling over the saloon floor. Not knowing what caused the fire and smoke we used the control panel to turn off the power to the galley and all non-essential electrical systems. This left us with only navigation and the key electrical safety systems running.

After assessing the interior damage in the galley we went out to the cockpit to assess if there were any damages to the exterior, lines, or sails in these rough seas and heavy rains. After tightening up some of the lines, replacing a broken head sail halyard and assessing the rest of the exterior, we went back inside where I quickly went down into our cabin and changed into some dry clothes. I had just returned to the saloon as we got rocked by a wave and heard a loud crashing noise. Leigh who had also gone to change popped up from the port side hull and said he had spotted a problem and needed some help. He had found that the wave had crashed into the port side of the boat so hard that the two portholes in the forward portside cabin had blown open. Unluckily, this was the cabin Janet and I was staying in. Water had shot from the portholes, across the bed, over to the opposite wall and splashed up soaking the wall, ceiling, and bed. The scene from the cabin was like someone had taken a firehose and blasted water through the window. Nearly all my clothes were soaked along with my cellphone that had been laying out as I was using it as an alarm clock. Luckily Janet and my computers and other major electronics had stayed dry as they were put away in the cabinets.

Looking closer at the portholes we could see the cause of them failing. The clips that held them close had sheered off. Leigh and I were now frantically looking for anything to replace these clips so we could get the portholes closed in this storm. After a search we found some metal clips that we could screw on and wedge into the latch. These seemed to be able to keep the portholes closed and prevent water from getting in. However, the cabin was absolutely drenched and with all that water and humidity there was no way to be able to sleep in or use that cabin anymore. Gary provided his starboard aft cabin for Janet and me to use while we rotated on the shifts.

We had turned off most of the electrical systems, so we no longer had running water, refrigeration, or lighting in some areas of the boat. After the force of the battering storm several of the ceiling panels had dislodged and there was now a steady leak from the main front window as waves crashed over the bow. With the boat having been beat up over the past 6 days and now with limited on board systems and reduced sails it was then decided to begin to make our way back to New Zealand for repairs.

On day 7 the sea state was starting to slightly reduce but through the night the waves crashing on the bottom of the saloon had flexed the hull and floor so much that the navigation stool had ripped itself right out of the floor.

On day 8 the sea state made progress slow. The autopilot had now started giving error messages and was not working. The exterior helm position was not displaying accurate information and Leigh removed the connections to the exterior helm computer. This made the interior navigation station controls be the main panel to work the autopilot. This bypass made the autopilot work however there was still an issue as the person on watch needed to adjust the heading every so often or the course would drift.

On day 9 Leigh woke up in the middle of the night with his cabin filling with smoke. With a suspected fire from the port side engine. We switched to starboard engine. After some investigation it was found that one of the water maker pipe clamps had been knocked loose with all the boat movement and leaned against the engine belt. This caused the belt rubber to burn and smoke. Once the pipe clamp was adjusted, we re-started the portside engine and there was no more smoke. On this day as well the mainsail started to rip at the second batten with the strong winds we were experiencing.

On day 10 we were concerned that we would not have enough fuel to make the return trip as with the high winds and heavy seas we had used more fuel than expected. We pulled our additional jerry cans out of the forward locker and refueled. As well we contacted the coast guard who relayed our fuel request to a research vessel Kaharoa who was a day sail away on our way back. They thankfully agreed to provide us with an additional 160 liters of diesel.

On day 11 we met with the research vessel Kaharoa which is a 92 foot 300 tonne vessel and was also getting thrown around in the waves. The sea state was very rocky, and the winds were about 30 knots. In order to get the fuel cans to us Kaharoa threw the cans into the water on floats, and Gary would bring our boat alongside the floats and Leigh and I would use the boat hook to grab them and pull them onboard. Once we emptied the containers into our tanks we then threw them back into the water for them to retrieve. During the meet up our port side engine shut off and wouldn’t turn back on. We assumed because of the rolling sea state that some air had gotten into the fuel line.

After 2 weeks on the boat, we returned into New Zealand waters at about 6 am. The winds were light so we were running both engines to make our way back into the port. At about 7 am the starboard engine stopped running as it had now completely run out of fuel. We passed the Port Jackson point and continued towards Bayswater marina. The Port side engine then ran out of fuel at around 1 pm. We still had about 13 nautical miles to go to get to the marina. Gary was determined to get as close as possible to the marina and we lowered the tender into the water to push the boat with the tender’s outboard. Surprisingly we were able to get about 2.5 knots of speed from this tiny engine.

Over the next two days we continued to make our way back to New Zealand. As the waves and wind died down on the next day we were able to bleed the fuel line on the port side engine and get the engine restarted. We also investigated why the generator was not charging the house batteries. Upon locating the inverter we found that it had dislodged from the its mounting points and had fallen into the bottom of its locker at the stern of the vessel and was submerged as a wave had filled the lower part of the locker.

Luckily, the sea state continued to become more calm and the winds in the 10-15 knot range. The main sail had ripped earlier but Gary and Leigh fashioned the storm jib to be the main and unfurled the jib to sail downwind back towards New Zealand.

On this trip we certainly got to see the true power of mother nature. When you travel offshore you are truly your own lifeline. You are in the middle of nowhere, it may take days before help arrives, if at all. We had been unfortunate that the conditions had changed for the worse from when we started as we attempted to reach Tahiti. The boat was just not suited to handle these large waves and high winds that we encountered on this journey.

The experience did not dissuade us from continuing to sail but certainly humbled us to respect what nature can do when you are offshore. Happy exploring!

During this we kept the coastguard informed of our situation and that we had run out of fuel and would need a tow into the port. As well on this afternoon the NZ air force was doing training exercises in the surrounding waters and were in communication with the coastguard and at the end of their exercise flew over with a Hercules aircraft to provide the coastguard with a visual on our location.

The coastguard boat met up with us at about 5 pm and we were about 6 nautical miles short of making to the marina with the propulsion supplied by the tender's outboard. Finally, we could breath a sigh of relief as the coastguards attached Paje's tow line onto their boat and we were on our way to the marina.

But it seems that fate was not done giving us more challenges. As we were happily cruising along, all of the sudden, the tow line on Paje broke at the bridal and we were no longer attached to the coastguards' boat. It took another 45 minutes to attach a new line and continued the slow tow into the Bayswater marina where we finally arrived at dock at 9 pm. In total we were on the boat for 14 days, covered over 1,600 nautical miles, and ended up back in the same spot we started from.

We listed that we were in New Zealand, had a day skipper certification, and looking to gain experience. We were contacted by Gary who was an experienced skipper. He had a mileage builder cruise available and was looking for two crew members to assist with a boat delivery from Auckland to Tahiti. We were excited to gain offshore experience and so jumped at the chance to have a 16-20 day offshore sail.

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