Where Is The Fat?

February 2006

Ahoy from New Zealand:

We just spent a couple of weeks on Great Barrier island, an island park in New Zealand which rims the Hauraki Gulf just outside Auckland.

It was wonderful. The island is extremely dramatic, and offers dozens of well protected harbors.

One of these 'safe harbors' became extremely important to us as a severe low approached... and collided with a large high pressure system to our south... creating a classic Kiwi 'squash zone' of compressed isobars.

The result was 60+ knots of wind for almost four hours.
True, we had lofty mountains all around us... but the 'bullets' of wind from the hillsides were extreme.

A number of times Wild Card dipped her rail, at anchor under bare poles!!!

The most difficult part was the water depth. The harbors here are often deep. We were in 33 feet.

In preparation, we put out 300 pounds of gear, numerous anchors and 7 to 1 scope.

Alas, not everyone was so prepared. Of the twenty boats in the harbor, 18 of them dragged. Only Wild Card and one other made it through without dragging. Some boats, like our friends on Tavake, had to re-anchor nine times... in 60 knots of wind!

Since we stayed put and there were often six or eight frantic Kiwi skippers powering around us... many of them re-anchored far too close to us... stupidly thinking we had 'good holding.'

This was the worst part... them dragging, nearly hitting us, fouling our anchors... etc. (I'm afraid some of them are still rattled at the vehemence of the 'mad man of Wild Card' when his anchors are fouled and he is danger of being pulled ashore!)

Anyway, we survived. Many did not.

Thank gosh for big anchors, long chains and a lot of heavy gear!

To locate Wild Card's current position, go to SHIPTRAK and punch in Fatty's ham callsign of W2FAT and zoom to 50%!

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