Plans Subject to Change Without Notice

Was it really only a week ago that we were in Mimiwhangata?  Indy lost a shoe, Erik lost a beloved hat (side note: Tilley hats sink like a stone.  Like a brick laced with lead weights, seriously.)  The girls became expert boogie boarders at the beach, and even Erik and I had some success. 

But the day came to move along, and move along we did.  We waited for a gale to pass, and set out the next day for Great Barrier Island.  Inevitably, no wind, no waves.  Just the Perkins 135 chugging along, and Erik’s sour mood at having to motor.

A few hours in, the wind came up.  Up went the main.  We tried to put out the jib... but it wouldn’t go.  Erik checked the bottom.  Nothing.  We hauled him up the mast to check the top.  Nothing.  And then the whole thing started to sag.

Our forestay had parted.

For those of you unfamiliar with sailboats, this is a really, really bad thing.  It means the big giant cable holding our mainmast forward was gone.

Goodbye, dreams of Great Barrier Island.  Hello, sharp right turn, destination Whangarei.

Luckily, we have a running forestay that we moved forward, and, as I said, we had no wind, no waves, and it was daylight.  An almost unimaginably lucky set of conditions.  We made it to the marina without a fuss, and there sits Papillon.  The rigger is busy ordering parts, and we are busy trying not to think about the cost.

And so, old plans scotched, we decided to take a quick inland trip.  Erik parents have to fly home on Saturday, so here we are in Rotorua, visiting hot springs and bubbling mud pools.  The girls, while less than enthusiastic about the long car ride, were ecstatic about the motel.  We have a little two-bedroom unit with a small hot tub in back, no doubt fed by a hot spring somewhere.  Indy has designated the tub “her pool”, and spends every motel-related moment  in the water.  Even sitting in a hot spring-fed pool in the woods today couldn’t compare; as soon as we were back in the water taxi, she was talking about her pool.  Chacun son gout.

Tomorrow will be colourful hot springs, and visiting the park.  Unless it isn’t.  As we’ve found, flexibility is the key to a happy life, on the water or off.