Day 16 - Weds 16th Feb

Cast off 2 rafted vessels and mooring buoy at 09.30 at Ngakuta Bay off Groove Arm and sailed out into Queen Charlotte Sound. Daily crew rota for skipper/crew and galley duties. Today I'm SKIPPER - yay!! - with 3 male crew - John, Frank and Kin. Studied charts and maintained navigation and GPS checks with my crew. Started on the helm before handing over. 2 crew on jib sheets, one on main sheet. Millenium Spirit has a huge genoa foresail - at least 1.5. Main sail with two reefing points as winds here can be changeable and quite gusty, with frequent wind shifts in early afternoon. General rule is winds 10kn less than what's blowing in Cook Strait. This morning winds ESE at 15kn true, increasing to 20kn. Sailed 20miles to Endurance Inlet (next overnight stop) and continued due north to Long Island in gusty winds, mostly on broad reach with lots of gybing across the channel. Top speed (SOG) 8.9kn - a hull speed of about 11kn - and each crew member managed to reach a boat speed of over 8knots so I called us the Super 8 crew! On arrival into Punga Cove at Camp Bay in Endurance Inlet, we were greeted by another pod of bottlenosed dolphins frolicking at the bow. They slid under the hull at the beam, criss-crossed at the bow, sometimes three or four dolphins deep, and jumped and broached all around us as the other beneteau sailed up. What a sight - so much joy from witnessing these graceful and playful animals up close.
Secured to mooring buoy at 18.00 after sailing about 40 miles today - F.A.B.!!!!