Crossing the Auckland Harbour bridge in our taxi, seeing the ocean glittering below and the horizon pierced by hundreds of masts escaping the confines of their berths and heading out to sea for an Easter adventure. It is easy to see why Auckland has the nick-name “City of Sails”, and we were about to join them.…
Isn’t it amazing that after 14 years, I am still learning things about my boat?! One day Andrew casually asked when the last time was that I replaced the water hoses on the motor. “Ummmmmm… hoses, what hoses?? Oh those black ones…? – nope never replaced them” I replied. “Well you do know that if…
The alarm clock’s piercing tone awoke me from a deep sleep at 3am. I felt like my head had only just hit the pillow, but no time to waste – we had an adventure ahead and so I jumped in the shower to wake myself up and awaited the arrival of my friends Vic, James…
My friend Craig Edwards has a Young 88 called Flying Machine. We spend lots of time cruising with these guys up and down the South Island coastline and attempting to race them around Lyttelton Harbour. Craig has got a wicked sense of humour and tells some fantastic stories which get me rolling around in fits…
Ten years ago we didn’t have smart phones or iPads, and sailors managed to get by perfectly well without them. But there is no doubt that times and technology have changed, and there are some seriously cool apps out there that can make life on the water just that little bit easier. So what awesome…
“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” “In or out of ’em it doesn’t matter. Nothing seems to matter, that’s the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don’t; whether you arrive at your destination or…
When you are out in the middle of nowhere, it is so good knowing that you have got people back home who are able to assist when you need them. We were recently sailing in New Caledonia, and were anchored inside a small reef and the sun was going down. It was a lovely spot,…
After leaving Monsieur Chien on Ile Casy, we set sail for the Isle of Pines. This is the Southernmost Island in New Caledonia and it is absolutely stunning. We visited last year and were keen to go back, despite it being a hard upwind 9 hour slog in 25kts of breeze for about 50 nautical…
Whether you are planning on buying a yacht and sailing off in to the sunset, or if you have no intention of doing that but you do plan to retire at some stage – then this post is for you! Saving for your retirement is a hot topic here in New Zealand. At the ripe…
I remember the first time I saw a folding bike in real life, some people turned up to a cafe in Mt Maunganui with these strange looking bikes and carrying dry bags. “Cruisers” we thought, and we were right. We got chatting and they had sailed half way around the world to get to New…
Astrolabe Sailing 