Safely docked in Viaduct Marina, Auckland
06.16.2007

The Schooner Maggie B is still safely tied up in Auckland in the Lighter Basin of the Viaduct Marina. But the days are getting pretty cold, so it is getting to be time to head for the Tropics.

We have been enjoying the town and also getting a lot of routine work done. Our life raft is checked and repacked, as is the MOM8 (Man Overboard Module, but we call it “Mom”) and the life jackets. The 406 EPIRB (our rescue beacon) is overhauled. We also have a huge new anchor, a 100 pound Manson Supreme, which should keep us safe in the tricky anchoring challenges of the Marquesas and the coast of Chile and Patagonia.

Theresa overhauled our diesel cabin heater and Owen almost has our stove propane system all fixed up (the remote sensors seem to have a mind of their own). We are fitting some additional heavy weather ventilation systems so that we can get closer to the impossible goal of keeping below decks dry and well ventilated even when it is splashy on deck.

We have been carefully through our engineering spares, such as fuel filters and spare impellers, because it will be a long time (if ever!) that we will be in a place as well supplied as the Viaduct in Auckland. We purchased a 30 pound “Kiwi Anchor Buddy.” They are also know as an “angel,” kellet, sentinel, or anchor weight. It will ride part way down the anchor chain, to help keep the pull and surge against the anchor parallel to the bottom, rather than prying up the anchor. With the new anchor and the kellet, we should be able to sleep well at night most anywhere.

Auckland is a marvelous town. It is heaven for sailors. There isn’t just a single good chandlery, there are half a dozen, all fighting for your business. One near us is called Nelsons and it has been in the business more than a hundred years. On the other side of us is Sailor’s Corner which has one of everything or can get it in a minute. They have deeply discounted Musto wet weather gear and we added another suit to the ship’s inventory (just Owen’s size, hmmmm).

The Maritime Museum here is just excellent. It is huge and has excellent exhibits on everything from the earliest Polynesian voyages to yesterday’s America’s Cup Race. Up the hill a ways is the War Memorial Museum which is an amazing resource on Maori history and artifacts, though it isn’t as well organized as the Te Papa in Wellington.

But Boats! Auckland is all about boats. Across the way is Team New Zealand’s base and near it is a spare hull for BMW Oracle. In the basin a few hundred meters from us is NZ 40 and 41, which can be hired for day trips (hire both and race against yourself!). Around the next corner is the square rigger, Pride of New Zealand. The next way you look there is an Alden Schooner that used to belong to General Patton, or a marvelous little eighty-year-old steam launch called Puke (pronounced Poo-Kay which means a low hill in Maori). Right.

Sailors, when they land in a marina, immediately ask where the 1. toilets, 2. showers, 3. Laundromat, and 4. bars are (not necessarily in that order). Most marinas have 1, 2 and 3 near the gates, marvelously called Ablution Facilities in Cape Town. Here things are a bit different. Viaduct Marina is more for working (tourist) boats or plastic monstrosities belonging to someone in a nearby office of condo. So for #1, we use a public facility 20 feet away (why can’t every city have nice, clean public toilets?). For #2, we have joined a nearby YMCA that has taken over the historic “Tepid Baths” facility and has steam, sauna, hot tubs and two big lap pools. For #3 it is a bit of a hike, aswe are in too fancy an area to have anything like our favorite cafe/laundromat in Salamanca Square in Hobart.

For #4, there are 100 great bars within a ten minute walk. A favorite is a nearby Irish bar, which has a comfy fireplace as well as live music every night. A recent note from T’weez speaks for it:

“Danny Doolen’s is a tidy pub,
Where Weeza’s gone to dwell.
She hopes that you will see har there,
Before she starts to smell.”
(Last word hard to read, could be “swell”)

One important purchase is red socks for all the crew. They are a symbol of the Kiwi America’s Cup boat. Peter Blake, the legendary Kiwi sailor, used the sale of red socks to help finance his original challenge. We hope them the best in the finals this month against the Swiss (which is also full of Kiwis). Tonight may be a bit more difficult as the All Blacks are playing Canada in rugby. Hannah is insisting that we all have to wear Canadian flags on our faces when we go out to the sports bar to watch the match. We may not live to see Sunday.

New photos on the web site today!

All is well.