Bottom to Top: New Zealand by boat

I was in the North Island of New Zealand when Cyclone Pam was wreaking havoc across the Pacific last month. For days, the people from Vanuatu working in New Zealand didn’t know if their families were still alive or if they had homes to return to. The news coverage of the disaster was extensive; the images of the devastation, sickening. I thought:

‘What can I do to help the Pacific Islanders?’

OceansWatch posted the answer on Facebook. A James Wharram-design Tiki 38 catamaran had just been loaned to OceansWatch for the sole purpose of coordinating aid relief and they needed a skipper to deliver her on the first leg of the boat’s journey.

On Monday, Laura Dekker, Gerard Ellmers and me will sail ‘Anam Cara’ from the very bottom to the very top of New Zealand.

The owner (and builder) of ‘Anam Cara,’ Sytze Riemersma.

From Bluff to Whangarei is a distance of 1100 nautical miles. With winter fast upon us, we expect the voyage to be one of the coldest deliveries any of us have ever done. Our worst case scenario is an E, NE or SE wind direction making the coast a dangerous lee shore.

Prospective departure: 07:00am Monday 20 April NZ (GMT+12)

FROM	TO	DISTANCE (nm)	TIME
Bluff	Dunedin	147	1 day 13 hours
Dunedin	Christchurch	199	2 days 2 hours
(Dunedin	Timaru)	101	1 day 01 hour
(Timaru	Christchurch)	131	1 day 09 hours
Christchurch	Wellington	174	1 day 20 hours
Wellington	Napier	221	2 days 07 hours
Napier	Gisborne	87	22 hours
Gisborne	Tauranga	197	2 days 01 hour
Tauranga	Auckland	131	1 day 09 hours
Auckland	Whangarei	83	21 hours

Safe harbours between Bluff and Whangarei.