New Zealand Cruise of the CCA

Aukland Waterfront

by Peter Pallette with photos by Harriet Lewis Pallette Southern California Station

So 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.

Mandion Bay, Kawau Island

Following the opening reception at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS) Friday, March 16, complete with a Maori tribal haka (a native dance, of sorts, to welcome visitors, but let them know who’s in charge!), our intrepid group of 27 boats sailed east, then north toward our next landfall, Kawau Island, about 30 miles up the coast.

Haka Welcome Ceremony

Many paused to watch the start of the 7,600- mile Leg 7 from Auckland to Itajaí, Brazil, of the Volvo Ocean Race, with seven 65-foot one-design sloops competing for line honors. Exciting—sort of like sailing in a blender, since most of Auckland jumped into their boats to offer competitors a suitable send-off and the related wake maelstrom was prodigious.

Aukland Sunset

Party at the Pepper Tree, Coromandel Town

Bon Accord Harbor, Kawau Island

Green-Lipped mussels, Coromandel Town

Next stop, Bon Accord Harbour for a rum-barrel-based cocktail party at the RNZYS-owned Lidgard House and a dinner party at the adjacent Kawau Boating Club on Monday evening. We were on the north side of this scenic and secure harbor, home to several safe anchorages. On the south side is Mansion House Bay, where Governor Sir George Grey’s home and grounds have been converted into a national park brimming with bird life and an occasional wallaby. Several island trails also begin here, leading to beaches, an abandoned copper mine and smelter, and ancient kauri forests. A hiker’s delight.

Tuesday saw a few set sail into 25–30 knots, on the nose, en route to 28-mile-distant Port Fitzroy on Great Barrier Island, our next landfall. Others explored Kawau for the day, avoiding a victory-at-sea experience, then made for Great Barrier on Wednesday in better close-reaching conditions. That night, the Port Fitzroy Boat Club hosted our third event, a cocktail party at their hillside location several hundred yards uphill from the rather spartan Port Fitzroy Wharf. Winded—but not wounded—we enjoyed delicious pupus, generous libations, and a sunset view of colorful cumulus cloud formations of departing showers. The fleet rested comfortably that night in Port Fitzroy’s snug harbor, with our 54-foot custom-built catamaran, Cool Change, secure in about two feet of water at low tide. Gotta love those cats! By the way, this one had unstayed masts (foils, actually) stepped in each hull athwartships rather than fore and aft—unique, efficient, and a great sailing boat. In fact, she makes about six knots under bare poles in 40 knots of breeze.

Port Fitzroy is home to the Glenfern Sanctuary, a significant restoration project founded and sponsored by the Bouzaid family. Chris Bouzaid, a winner of New Zealand’s legendary One Ton Cup, along with his wife, Lydia Langston, joined us on the cruise as the guests of Steve and Missy Kasnet (BOS). Chris explained that the sanctuary’s mission is the preservation and restoration of the island’s native forest and several species of flightless birds. Until relatively recently, and uniquely, New Zealand had almost no natural predators, at least as far as birds were concerned, so many—most notably the kiwi—evolved flightless. Rats are the biggest threat today, and the locals won’t rest until the final one breathes its last in a rat hotel.

Thursday morning, we “broke camp” and headed south along Great Barrier’s scenic west coast. This was our longest leg—about 36 miles—so most of us chose to overnight at one of several inviting anchorages along the way. Sailing inside the Broken Islands and passing Whangaparapara Bay, with its island trails and access to hot springs, we continued to Tryphena Harbour and went ashore to explore the town. Vice Commodore Bob Medland (GLS) and his crew, meanwhile, hijacked a taxi for transportation to the east side of the island and Medlands Beach. If memory serves, this was also a Medlands taxi, so rumor holds that Bob and company may have been treated like royalty.

Up came the anchor after breakfast Friday morning as we departed Great Barrier’s southwest coast on a beam reach across Colville Channel, making for the Coromandel Peninsula and a west side anchorage. Don and Marilyn Logan—our friends and hosts aboard Cool Change—once farmed in the area and knew every nook and cranny at sea and ashore. In fact, some of the critters grazing happily on the abundant green grasses of Coromandel’s rolling hillsides seemed to welcome them back. Don spotted their old house and workboat in a secluded cove, proclaimed that “this is as good as it gets,” and dropped the hook. We launched the dinghy and headed ashore to check things out, while Brad and Rosie Downey (PNW), our shipmates and longtime pals, remained behind as anchor watch (which, as it turned out, was not needed). I’d swear a lot of livestock ambled in our direction to say hello to the Logans, who still knew how to open every pasture gate in the place.

Ponui Island

Next day, Saturday, the fleet reassembled in the shallow waters off the Coromandel township wharf for a dinghy ride up the one-mile access channel into this quaint town for lunch at the Pepper Tree Restaurant & Bar. Time has largely stood still here. You’d almost expect Wyatt Earp to step out of the shadows. Though our meal at Pepper Tree was outstanding, the best part was an after-lunch treat made with hokey pokey, New Zealand’s signature concoction, from the ice cream stand down the street. Though we might have stayed here all day, the ebbing tide was not favoring our exit down the shallow channel to our waiting vessels just offshore. Once back aboard, the fleet was reminiscent of the man who got on his horse and rode off in all directions at once, with several of us headed to a “snug” in the popular Te Kouma Harbour area, passing lovely Smokehouse Bay along the way.

A beautiful Sunday morning—comfortably warm, with blue skies and a light easterly breeze—seemed perfect for a little gunkholing and a favorable 12-mile sail past Ponui Island, which the Logan family has owned and farmed for generations, to our next landfall, Rotoroa Island, home to a Salvation Army drug and alcohol rehab center from 1911 to 2005 and now a conservation park.

Securely at anchor in Southwest Bay, we headed ashore for a hike and some exploration at the former facility, now a museum. It’s a beautiful place, and frankly, I’d be inclined to ingest whatever booze and drugs might qualify me for admittance if it were still in operation. That afternoon, Don, armed with his knowledge of the island, jumped in the dink with his scuba gear, returning 45 minutes later with a bucket filled to the brim with scallops. Dinner was indescribable!

Food Truck at Closing Dinner

Monday produced another storybook day, so after one of many swims taken along the way in 70-degree water, we braved the high seas for the three-mile crossing to Waiheke Island’s Man O’ War Bay, site of our final event. We didn’t even hoist a sail. This is one of several coves on the east end of the island, somewhat exposed, but very popular in anything but a howling easterly.

That afternoon featured a remote-control model sailboat regatta won (handily) by team Sunstone—ringers Tom Jackson (GLS), Doug Bruce (BOS/GMP), and David Mitchell, with Tom Schock (SOC) and a couple of proteges eking out a second. The beach party spawned by the regatta eventually morphed into a wonderful closing ceremony with cocktails and dinner at the beachfront Man O’ War Winery. The staff and caterers were exceptional. We wrapped up the evening with awards to a deserving few, an exchange of gifts (including a beautiful commemorative plaque to the SOC Host Committee from Commodore Willauer), a tribal departure haka (yes, the Maoris are still in charge), and a last chance for friends to exchange hugs and well-wishes until the next gam.

Glenfern Sanctuary, Great Barrier Island

Mansion Bay: Jane Schock (SOC), the author, Seymour Beek (SOC), Rosie Downie (PNW) and Bobbie Daniel.

The Man O’ War venue and festive atmosphere provided a fitting completion to our cruise, which was blessed with a very friendly host country, outstanding cruising grounds, favorable weather, and exceptional camaraderie. As a bonus, 24 of us took a land tour of New Zealand’s South Island subsequent to the Hauraki Gulf adventure, engineered by Jim and Jill Morgan (SOC), but that story will have to wait for another day.

The author shows off his Peter Blake socks at the RNZYS

It was an honor, and fitting,to dedicate this adventure to the memory of Sir Peter Blake, a true seafaring icon and New Zealand hero, for his many accomplishments and contributions to the world’s maritime community. May his fabled red socks campaigns be recalled for all time!

The cruise disbanded Tuesday, March 27, and most of us had a delightful 20-mile sail back to Auckland to turn in our chartered boats, once more passing Rangitoto, which offered haere ra (“farewell, goodbye”). It was an honor, and fitting, to dedicate this adventure to the memory of Sir Peter Blake, a true seafaring icon and New Zealand hero, for his many accomplishments and contributions to the world’s maritime community. May his fabled red socks campaigns be recalled for all time!

So concluded our “circumnavigation” of the Hauraki Gulf and the CCA’s 2018 cruise in New Zealand. The Southern California Station Host Committee is grateful to Commodore Willauer for providing the opportunity to produce this event for our fellow CCA members and their guests. ✧

Man O'War VIneyards, Waiheke Island

Man O'War Bay

Peter and Harriet Pallette

Laissez-Faire, Chartered by Mags and Les Crane (BDA)

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

East meets West: A New England sophisticate hailing from Hingham, Massachusetts, (Harriet) and a Southern California beach rat from Newport Beach, California, (Pete) met nearly 30 years ago. They were married in 1996 at Newport Harbor Yacht Club, and have enjoyed multiple CCA and Newport Harbor Yacht Club cruises in various parts of the world ever since. They reside in Newport Beach, California. They are members of CCA’s Southern California Station, where Pete is currently rear commodore. They are pictured here on a glacier in New Zealand.