The car is gone and we're on our way...

We have sold our car and along with it our VIP status in NZ! It wasn't quick and we were getting worried about it. There seem to be more used cars than buyers and we were getting a bit worried about what we would do if we were stuck with a car. With our best used car marketing skills we posted large signs and a fluorescent streamer on the antenna, our Swedish friends Bo and Vivi loaned us a cell phone to field calls and this afternoon after a trip to the mechanic, the bank and the post office we are officially car-less!



The bow roller has taken form. It's been welded and Cliff finished the last fitting and welding on Friday afternoon. Our big projects are mostly done and the smaller items are being deferred until the next stop. We have enjoyed our stay at Riverside Drive Marina. There is a great sense of community, weekly barbecues, work areas, proximity to downtown, convenience of chandlery and hospitality of Ray and Karl has made our stay feel like guests. We feel very fortunate to have landed at such a perfect place for our stop in New Zealand. Of course, if we come back to NZ again we hope to see more by boat and do less work on the boat but when we do stop at a marina it will be here.



It feels a bit like the end of summer camp with boats leaving every day and new rounds of good-byes as they go. It's been a fantastic stay here in Whangarei. It's the longest stop we've had since leaving home and we have formed some lasting friendships with boats (from Sweden, England, France, Switzerland, South Africa, Canada, Germany,USA, NZ, and Netherlands) we will look for in our future travels.



With Peter there is always time for play and he has found many ways to entertain himself and our neighbors too.


As we write this we are preparing to head out to sea on a passage to New Caledonia. The boat is ready to go - all that remains is to get our sea legs (and stomach for Ginger) back!

Tramping around in NZ

Yes, Marcy is still in New Zealand. The interior projects are done and the fiberglass dust is finally out of the boat.



Ginger tells us what she thinks of fiberglass dust.

To celebrate completing the big project of re-installing all of the ports (writing this in heavy rain we’re glad to report that they don’t leak…yet) we took a “great walk” the Tongariro Northern Circuit, around a couple of volcanoes in the Tongariro National Park.






The trails in this park are heavily used, so it is good that most of it is very well engineered, with stairs, bridges, gravel, drains, and reinforcing walls.



Sign posts and wands are everywhere.



They use a helicopter to bring loads of gravel for the trail bed.



Fall is well underway at this altitude,



so we were grateful for the sleeping huts available each night.







We met and traveled with a cheerful and fun loving group of Kiwi nurses and paramedics. James is a good guide - as a ski patroller for the nearby resort he knows the area well. We hope they'll stay in touch. Maybe we'll see them in our travels.





We left the park with sore joints, blisters, and aching shoulders - and very grateful that we got a chance to see this part of New Zealand.





We’re eager to embark on the next leg of the voyage. With luck on the last few jobs – anchor roller, rigging items, rudder seal, provisioning – we’ll be sailing north to Opua in a couple of weeks. We’ll take off from there, when the wind looks good, to head for New Caledonia.

What’s new with Marcy?

Ginger’s sister Edie is visiting.



Ginger’s mother Sara was also planning to visit at the same time. Her trip ended before it began.



After a bad fall, instead of getting on the plane she got some titanium in her arm!

Here at Riverside in Whangarei there is a nice little motel right next to the boat yard. Since Marcy is undergoing dusty and smelly restoration, Edie is staying there.



It’s wonderful to have a place to retreat for a meal when the boat is dirty and messy.



Our life is focused. We work on Marcy.



And we explore.



Edie, Ginger, and Cynthia from neighbor boat Rontu enjoyed a day at the beach.

Sometimes, after a day of boatwork, we just go to Hell. For dinner.



During the wet passage to New Zealand, it became apparent that we should glass up four ports – two at the base of the mast where they were a tripping hazard while working at the mast, and two at the stern that were chronic leakers as well as trippers. No worries, we still have 14 ports left!



As part of the same project, we would have an opportunity to repaint the cabin sides, which were an unacceptably hot black color, to white – and as a further bonus, we could add nonskid to the area. To get the best bond for fastening the ports to the cabin sides, it was recommended that we use a two part polyurethane paint. To accomplish this all outside in field conditions, we needed a variety of tarps and awnings.



We got a heavy duty sewing machine from our friend Linda from Wintersea, who graciously spent a day showing Ginger how to use it. Our rebuilt anchor winch now has a beautiful cover.



We also painted one of the bulkheads in the saloon. Note that on Marcy it is the saloon, like in the old west, not salon, as in a place to get your nails done. We read somewhere that the drinking establishments in the old west were named after the beautifully paneled ships cabins of the era.



The clock is ticking – in a few weeks we need to wrap up all the projects and leave New Zealand. We'll have to get underway before all the flowers are gone.

Working away in NZ

We've had some great weather during the last few weeks which has allowed us to finish numerous painting and varnishing projects. Many days have been in the 90's but comfortable and cool at night. Last week Peter removed the two fixed ports from the stern of the cabin, planning to permanently fiberglass over the openings. We awoke Friday morning to rain, and an impressive waterfall coming in under the blue tarp and into our saloon. We dried out and did a better taping job to cover the holes for the weekend. The weather is supposed to improve again Monday and we'll get to work with the glass lay up.
We had friends spend the night on board last night who have just sold their boat and are off to the South Island and beyond to travel before heading home. We enjoyed a nice evening with them and were all asleep when we awoke to a chemical smell at 1:30 in the morning. This type of thing usually happens when least convenient. We tracked the smell to the forepeak where we've stored a gas powered generator. About a quarter cup of gas had spilled, due to an error with the shutoff valve. As we pulled things out of the way to get the generator on deck Peter assured our guests that we had found the problem and everything would be resolved shortly. He then advised us that everyone should refrain from smoking!
It's amazing how long it takes for accumulated gas fumes to be exhausted from the boat with every port open and all the fans blowing. Maybe it just seemed we were smelling gas for hours because our noses were so inundated during the clean-up. So, the former crew of Tuscany made it safely off to the bus station, where they start on a long journey home to Hawaii, via Indonesia and India.

Some video from Marcy

Here are some snippets of life aboard Marcy...


Fiji to New Zealand passage - storm sail only Nov 2007




Fiji to New Zealand with a bit of deckwashing Nov 2007




This was filmed at Makogai Island in Fiji. It was difficult to hold a steady position to film while not touching the coral because of the surge and current. Oct 2007




Apia va'a (long boat)rowing Aug 2007




Long boat sprint, Apia, Independent Samoa Aug 2007




Sailing to Suwarrow from Bora Bora, French Polynesia Jul 2007




Sailing downwind w/Lisa - putting away the main as it breezes up to 30 knots somewhere south of Puerto Vallarta Dec 2006




Dolphins in Mexico Nov 2006




And finally... a windy anchorage in the Sea of Cortez. This is a 3 minute video and may get boring, on the other hand we spent the better part of a week pinned down in this wind so what's 3 minutes? Nov 2006

Working on Marcy

Having crossed plenty of open ocean to get to New Zealand, most cruising yachts are under some sort of refit. The wear and tear of ocean passages is considerable, and after so many miles under sail many crews have new ideas about storage and rigging. The good news is that New Zealand provides a wealth of materials and services to help. On Marcy, one of the first items we wanted to tackle was fabricating storage shelves forward in the V berth. This area is almost never used for actual sleeping, being in a part of the boat where the motion is more severe. Most of our storage of bigger items – everything from deflated dinghy and motor to cases of beer – ended up as a poorly stowed mass up in this area. As we tacked the mass flowed to the leeward side. So it was difficult to find anything and some gear was damaged by chafe - very demoralizing.

January weather here was unsettled with wind, rain and a few heat waves with temps on deck topping 110F. We even experienced the tail end of a cyclone (Funa!) which headed to New Zealand to die. With the rain pouring outside the projects began below decks.

Step One: move all of the junk out of the V berth, and stuff it into another cabin.





Step Two: figure out how to put all the lumber and plywood down below to stay dry during the rain, and then trip over it for a couple of weeks.







Step Three: admire the new storage for a few minutes, then load it up!



We used the leftover bits of wood to make an improved upper support for the HF radio antenna. Many boats use the backstay as an antenna, but we have a standalone 23 foot fiberglass whip instead. We wanted to avoid the expense and potential weakness of insulators in the backstay. It’s worked very well – we always get very good signal reports. Ginger varnished the pieces as they dangled in the wind.



We also made a couple of flagpoles, galley shelves, linen and head locker shelves and a new tail for the wind generator. And fabricated and installed a new bulkhead in the chain locker and painted the chain locker. We varnished one of the accommodation ladders and installed another bilge pump. Next week we start to varnish the other ladder, and start working on deck – fixing leaks and refinishing brightwork.

It is not all work for us, though. We make time to explore the area.









We are upriver a couple of miles, but the tide is still considerable.



It’s fun to hang out with the crews of other boats in the yard. We like to chat with other sailors, Joe from Maggie Drum, and Joani and Jerry of Lotus are all from the Northwest.

We sometimes meet interesting Kiwi dockwalkers – Debbie & Wayne from south island came aboard for a beer and a chat.



The public library is a wonderful resource for us. We found the Whangarei library and were a little disappointed as it looked so small and disused..



then we walked around the back of the small library building and found the new library. It’s a bright, spacious place to go when it rains and we can’t work, or the boat is just too hot, or dusty, or small, cluttered and dark. It even has a coffee shop inside!






There are some pesky flies here, and hunting them is good sport.



And we always make time to smell the flowers.

Lisa visits

Our daughter Lisa made the long journey from Seattle to visit Marcy in December.

The original plan of sailing down to Auckland to pick up Lisa was foiled by a week of nasty weather. So after her 30 hours of air travel and layovers we met her at the airport, drove her another 3 hours, took a ferry, and dinghied out to Marcy at anchor.



Lisa recovered quickly from jet lag and jumped into Marcy’s routine. We gathered seafood, had a nice dinner, and set off down the coast to Whangarei.







Marcy was escorted by a pod of big dolphins as we left the Bay of Islands.



We enjoy seeing all the gaff riggers and even square riggers out sailing here in NZ.



Tradition is respected, and one can even see a figurehead every now and then.



Marcy dropped anchor for a “tramp” (Kiwi for hike) a couple of times on the trip south. The green hills were wonderful to see - sheep rule the landscape. The sheep create and mow gigantic lawns, and leave little pies and the occasional discarded tail scattered about.



We headed up a river to a small city, Whangarei, where we had reserved a spot for Marcy at a boatyard.



Being in boatyard, Peter’s instinct was to work on the boat. Of course Ginger and Lisa were pushed into service.





It soon became apparent that, after some boatwork, some tourist activities were called for. In short order we rented a car, drove to Auckland, bought a “beater” car, drove home, then drove back to Auckland to visit the maritime museum, toured a visiting Russian sail training ship, drove home, explored some caves, visited a vineyard, and hiked among some giant Kauri trees. Oh, and did we mention Sheep World?





















Then, before we knew it, Christmas was here.







Peter’s Christmas dinner was a carnivore’s delight.



We enjoyed our new tattoos. (Thanks MommaSara and Edie!)



Then, it was time to deliver Lisa back to the airport in Auckland and say goodbye….