Cook Strait Weather, NZ

[seafox]

Yep been another storm here today. We were lucky to get 6 good days and a break at each end to get there and back. Going to be a rough week and the weekend doesnt look any better.

[NoTies]

We're sitting in Seaview Marina, just got rid of a bollocking of northerly and are waiting for a bollocking of southerly to arrive. Was hoping to get out and find some scallops before the weekend.
Oh yeah, had an absolutely magic sail over from Tory Channel on the first. 15 knots of southerly, blue skies and we arrived just in time for food & grog at the marina office. This is one friendly marina.

[seafox]

hi pwederell,
Thursday afternoon is only going to be a 20 knot Southerly and die out in the evening.
You could still get some scallops yet.

[NoTies]

Sounds OK, I thought they had 30 knots though. We'll be here for a while probably so no mad rush (got to earn a bit of a grubstake to put her in Cat 1 for next year)

[seafox]

See there is a new Burnsco just opened by the Warehouse in Petone. Not far from you. About time there was some competition in Wellington and good to see it there.

[seafox]

Southerly 15 knots rising to 30 knots this morning, easing to 20 knots in the afternoon and dying out at night.

[GMac]

Originally Posted by seafox

See there is a new Burnsco just opened by the Warehouse in Petone. Not far from you. About time there was some competition in Wellington and good to see it there.

Yeap should be good competition once all the other marine shops stop buying the good quality gear they do now so they can compete on a level playing field with them

I'm guessing the burnscos are still here up north. Seriously blowing it's breast off BIG TIME at the moment. Just closed the sky tower as it was wobbling so much people were getting seasick. The gulf looks like the Huka Falls there is so much white water.

[Alan Wheeler]

PETE MATE! how the hell are ya!!!! So how have the travels been???
Mate did I have fun punching through some nasties coming down the reach. They were the meanest I had seen for sometime. Some dude in Elain Bay had lost his Dory with a 20Hp on the end. It broke from the mooring and headed off to Maud Is were apparently he retrieved it.

[NoTies]

Hey there Alan,
We didn't get right round to Fiordland, too damn cold & windy, far more so than usual for winter and without the cockpit cover it was a bit much doing watches below freezing. Had an exciting trip up from Oamaru to Picton, close hauled for 2 days and 40, gusting 50. Found out I had a few more leaks on deck, blew 1/2 the slugs on the mainsail and damaged the UV cloth on the genoa but all pretty minor really, less than $150 damage so well worth it for the fun factor.

[seafox]

You'll get across this morning on the 15k NW and back Monday Morn on the 15k N. Whole weekend to get the scallops.

[seafox]

Cook coastal forecast

Issued at: 4:30 am 29 Nov 2006 NZDT Valid to: 11:59 pm 29 Nov 2006 NZDT Forecast
*STORM WARNING IN FORCE*
Northwest 25 knots rising to 35 knots this morning. Rising to northerly 45 knots in the afternoon and to 55 knots tonight. Sea becoming very high.Northerly swell rising to 3 metres. Southerly swell rising to 1 metre.Fair visibility in rain tonight. Outlook
Outlook following 3 days: Northwest 55 knots easing early Thursday morning to 35 knots.

This year has to be a record for storms.

Hey Alan, where are those Orca photos?

[Connemara]

My god, isn't it summer where you folks are? Surely it's all soft breezes and G&T on the foredeck.

Have to say my experience of the Cook Strait is a dead flat calm in February, taking the ferry from Wellington to Picton. Three weeks later, my son sent me a clip from the Herald about the same ferry taking eight hours to make the trip, with several crew members injured, and a train or truck or something breaking loose below and banging around for a while.

In another context (the Great lakes), Stan Rogers wrote: "They go from calm to a hundred knots so fast they seem enchanted."

Connemara

[Alan Wheeler]

Oh yes, that sailing is still in the news. There was a recent hearing on that one. I have a good friend with a $100+K race car that was on the trip. They were heading to an event up north and the truck tipped over on the car. It was a stock truck and the car was filled with manure. Eeeeewww. They had rather a messy clean up.

This time of the year, which is spring here, is usually subject to a very fresh northwesterly flow. The wind is common till usually end of Dec. Then we get our "real" summer which tends to be very calm weather right trough to mid winter. Then the cold snaps hit. But this year, we had an early winter and our spring westerlies have been above average in wind strength. Here in Marlborough, our rain fall has been good this year. In a few past years, we have suffered majorly with drought.

The big issue with the straights weather, is that the wind flow is funneld between two land masses with high hill country. So the wind picks up speed and can often be 10 to 20kts higher in speed than out in the more open sea. Then on top of that, we have the continental shelf on one side of the straight, rising from 8000ft upto a few hundred ft on the other side. The straight is only a short distance across with two large ocean area's each side. The two main islands ensure an enormouse tidal current flows through this gap. Now add all that together, strong current rising up from great depth to shallow, strong winds often over Hurricane force and the sea's can simply pile up to an enormouse hight. We often here the stories here of cruisers that have traveled all over the world and they always say the worst weather they have ever experianced in the entire journey is in the Cook Straight. Because we are an Island nation and our latitude means we are the gateway to the great Southern Ocean, there are no major mand masses to controll our weather patterns. They race up from the Indian Ocian and almost directly off the Antarcitic and there is nothing stopping them. We have a very challenging weather here and those that learn to sail in it here, I honestly believe could sail through anything in the world. Even our young dinghy sailors in the racing clubs go out in 20+knts on a Saturday morning to race. Most other clubs wouldn't consider such wind strengths. but if these kids didn't, they would not race at all. But I tell ya, they learn to handle a boat real quick. ;-)

[seafox]

blowing 55k again this morning. If it drops to 50 in the weekend I might pack some sandwiches and go out for a day sail

I heard a yacht lost his mast in the harbour in the weekend. Someone told me, I couldn't find anything about it in the papers.

[Connemara]

Hmmm.... this may require a major rethink. I was sort of a little bit thinking of maybe one one day buying a nice cruiser in Kiwiland and hanging out in the Marlborough Sound area. Good wine, good food, beautiful scenery.

But maybe Auckland would be better.

Connemara