Catching up in New Zealand

Apologies to all for dropping off the face of the earth after our last post off the coast of New Zealand.

One thing I did not mention is that while we were en route to New Zealand I got word from the states that my ninety-seven year old grandfather had taken a turn for the worst and was hospitalized. By the time we reached New Zealand it was evident that I needed to get to the U.S., and quickly.We cleared into New Zealand on Thursday and spent the next few days scrambling to retrieve our car (and get it road ready…new inspections and registrations), and catching up on a few things that needed fixing before I left Kathy and Danielle alone on the boat. We weren’t able to secure a slip or a mooring before I left, so we had to make sure they were ready to stay at anchor.  On Sunday they drove me to Auckland to catch a flight to the states. I just returned a couple of days ago and seem to finally have my body clock back on antipodean time.

Blog updates were…not on my mind.

I did not make it in time to see my grandfather before he passed, but spent two weeks stateside with his funeral and helping my parents get things sorted with the funeral and after his passing.

Having a grandparent until you are almost fifty is something special. I was very, very lucky in that I was able to have adult relationships with all of my grandparents. My grandfather (on my mother’s side) was my last surviving grandparent, and my kids had the joy of getting to know him while growing up. He came to dinner at our house every week for years and was always around for holidays and other times.We visited him at the beach where he lived and saw a lot of him. One of the hardest parts of the decision to go cruising was knowing that we’d not have the regular contact with my grandfather that we all loved. Our kids had a special relationship with him, and it was tough with all of us spread over the globe.

Until a few weeks before he passed he still lived in his own house, on his own with only minimal help. He’d relocated to Virginia, to an assisted living facility near my parents, but only lived there a few weeks before his condition started to slip. Up to the end of his life he did it his way, strong and fiercely independent. He was a special man that played a large role in all of our lives, and will be sorely missed.

One of my favorite pictures of my grandfather with Will and Danielle.

The Rest of the Trip

If you’ve been waiting for three weeks to find out how he trip ended…maybe you should Like the Facebook page! I did do some quick updates to let everyone know we were alive over there. Social media is a lot less work than blogging…

The last day, finally, the wind picked up again. After a morning of lighter winds it picked up and had a good, solid fifteen knot breeze from the Northeast. As we approached New Zealand though we sailed into a fog bank, and we didn’t end up sighting land until we were inside the Bay of Islands at about a distance of a mile or so from shore!

The last day was the most fun sailing of the trip, with visits from a couple of Albatross to go with the breeze. With the wind, fuel did not turn out to be a problem at all as we sailed from shortly after daybreak until we dropped the sails to motor up the channel into Opua.

Guest Blogger

We’re going to try something new in a couple of days. We’ve been approached by the Marine Super Store, a UK based chandlery, to do a guest blog post. So you can look forward to a piece from England about sailing in the Channel Islands. Those of you in cold, dank climes this time of year will be able to read about a bit of summer sailing and traveling. I know its someplace I’d like to visit after reading their piece.