Saving the Hard Stuff for Last

Posted by John

Our time in New Zealand is about over. We’ve been busy. We’ll probably be gone by April 30th, so we thought we should say something before we go out of Wi-Fi range on our most ambitious sailing attempt so far. If we successfully pull it off, then I think we can truly qualify as ocean sailors.

Our plan is to sail from here to Tahiti in one shot. Then Tahiti to Hawaii. Then from Hawaii to Puget Sound, and home. We want to be home by early August. That’s three months of nearly continuous sailing. Should be a summer to remember.

We don’t have a lot of pictures for this post, unless you’d like to see our newly installed alternator, or how many parts make up a sail winch, all of which need periodic cleaning and lubing.

We still have so many projects to complete, including finding a buyer for our car, and getting parts of the main boom back from the rigger, and putting the sails back on. We’re also shopping for a new starter battery, trying to fix a sewing machine and contemplating drilling and tapping some holes at the top of the mizzen mast.

It’s not all about the boat. When Robyn had a birthday a few months ago, the New Zealand government no longer recognized her as a dependent of her parents. In order to extend her visa, she had to prove she wasn’t destitute. So, she opened an account in a local bank, the balance of which counted as “proof of funds.” There’s probably a form of some kind in her future where she’ll have to answer “Yes” to the question: “Have you ever held funds in a foreign bank?” The bonus is she now has a debit card that actually works at unattended gas stations, where U.S. bank cards do not. This is the only way we can fill up the boat with duty-free diesel, which we can only buy at the unattended fuel dock on our way out of the country.

We’ve had so many, mostly unexpected, “fun” experiences in recent weeks. We tried to get a propane tank filled, but our tank wasn’t certified in New Zealand, and was too old to be certified in New Zealand. This resulted in an afternoon of trying to transfer propane from one small tank to another, listening for it trickling into the empty tank, while parked in a parking lot next to a waterfall. Several chickens found what we were doing to be apparently interesting, but, oddly we seemed to be mostly ignored by the people who came to the same parking lot to take a short walk to see a waterfall. But all of this is really a story for another time. Two of us went to the eye doctor for new eyeglass and contact lens prescriptions, and two of us went to the dentist to get a broken tooth and missing fillings fixed. Sometimes it feels like we should be living here. In fact, the internet has it all figured out, which is probably why it’s constantly asking me to “Click HERE to see if you qualify for a USA Green Card.” I do find these ads a little disconcerting at times. As far as I know, I’m still a U.S. citizen, but these days, you never really know.

Many of the people we’ve met since sailing out of Puget Sound we now consider to be friends. When we’re listening to each other’s stories, we can all relate. We’ve all been through the same stuff. But it’s a little strange when we talk about what comes next. Most are continuing on, to somewhere. Their plans are open-ended, heading generally west: Australia; Malaysia; Japan; Singapore; Indonesia; Madagascar; the Red Sea; the Mediterranean. Our friends talk about taking their boats and sailing to other continents with the same matter-of-fact casualness as other people talk about taking their car on a summer vacation to Yellowstone. But for us, we’re done. We’re going home.

Robyn is going to school in Olympia in September. She’s busy looking at housing options and meal plans, and which classes she can take first. We’ve got business at home. We hope our mail carrier will be offering puppies again this year, because we can’t wait to get one. But, we almost feel like quitters among our friends.

Then we remember that we set out in August two years ago with a two-year plan to sail down the coast to Mexico, then make a 3,000 mile crossing to the Marquesas, then sail to Tahiti, and across the South Pacific all the way to New Zealand. Many people we told our plans to two years ago were skeptical. At times, we were too. But then we went out and did it. We’re not quitters at all. We’re just a few months (and a zillion ocean miles) from complete success, and home.

Saying goodbye is always hard, but there’s no place like home.


I wasn’t kidding. This project started as a “What if.” The alternator was jammed between the heat exchanger (blue cylinder thing with the label) and the maximum outside end of the alternator arm. Changing a broken belt at sea would be tough, requiring disassembly of several parts. All we wanted to do was get a longer arm and a bigger belt. But this is a boat, and we’re in New Zealand, so nothing can be that simple. New alternator on a homemade arm extender, with a longer belt that we had shipped from Australia. We got a spare belt, too. Works great.


These are the parts that come out of a winch. Maintenance consists of cleaning, oiling and greasing. Without working too hard, it takes about a day for each one. We have ten winches.

One thought on “Saving the Hard Stuff for Last”

  1. Its a coming John, good on you!!!

    We’ll be waiting for you guys and lunch or dinner is on us
    Safe sails a travels. Im hoping I can get a local ham to call on 14.300 pac net and say ho on your trip back. As far as i know its still held at 0325 zulu

    My call sign is KG7QLZ

    safe trip and best wishes
    Joe and Cat

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