New Zealand Cruise
Down Under Adventure Auckland waterfront.
by Peter Pallette with photos by Harriet Lewis Pallette Southern California Station o the phone rings and the voice at the other end says something like, “Hi Pete, this is CCA Vice Commodore Brad Willauer, and I’d like to ask the Southern California Station to host our 2018 cruise in New Zealand.” My reply, “Sure, Brad. Anything else?” Thus began an odyssey that took Harriet and me Down Under in March 2017 for some reconnaissance of our cruising grounds, followed a year later by about 135 members and guests who sailed the Hauraki Gulf for two weeks under blue skies and memorable sea conditions. The cruise took about 18 months to produce and saw us navigate a 126-plus-or-minus-mile clockwise course around the gulf in varying easterly winds, stopping at five shore calls along the way, and generally enjoying the camaraderie of new friends and old. From the get-go, there was no reason to reinvent the wheel. In 1999, Bob Van Blaricom (SAF) and a couple of his San Francisco Station mates staged a well-received predecessor to the 2018 cruise, so we simply dusted off that plan and went sailing. Rangitoto, the landmark volcanic island one encounters upon entering or departing Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour, beckoned with our first kia ora (Maori for “welcome”). Following the opening 38
voyages
Mansion Bay, Kawau Island.
