Thursday 17 February Whangarei Town basin

Whangarei Town Basin early morning

A super early start before the sun had risen to catch the incoming tide and arrive in Whangarei Town Basin at high water at 8am. This is the first time we've sailed in the dark since our passage from Tonga 3 months ago. We don't mind. Dawn is a wonderful time of the day and we had the river almost to ourselves; a fisherman with lights and a large freighter heading out to sea.

Alongside in the same spot we had at Christmas, rafted alongside Yantl Paraxi a long term fixer upper. The early arrival meant we had a full day to get out and get organising ready for haul out next week. On our bikes we pedalled out to Norsand to talk to the yard captain about the details. At the moment haulout is next Thursday so David will be on his own. I'm flying back to England on Tuesday. There's an on site company who will wet sand the remnants of the old antifouling as soon as Jackster is out of the water and on the slipway. This will be a big help for David and as they say 'let us get the cancer from the chemicals'. David will do all the painting himself in the following 7 days.

Another items checked off the list was a visit to the sailmaker to arrange for him to come and see the headsail we damaged and repaired in Tonga and to have a look at replacing the bimini. He'll come and see us on Monday morning.