Auckland by Air

April 3, 2012. We flew to Auckland. It was pleasantly warm and balmy when our kind friend Marian Harkness picked us up at the airport and took us to her lovely home for a few days. Two days later, Brian kindly picked up Mark Lincoln at the airport early in the morning and dropped us off at RAYC.
Mike Webster picked us up on Northerner for a 4 day Easter weekend race/cruise. Mark was brighteyed and bushy tailed on the start line a few hours after getting off the plane. We had a fabulous 4 days aboard Northerner racing and cruising with Mike. He's a terrific host and catered to our every need (almost).

Mike Webster rowing to victory in the singlehanded, singleoard race.  Northerner in the background

Graeme Colle

 We were able to rendezvous with Gloria and Michael on Paikea Mist, for a goodbye visit. They are headed north for another season before returning to Vancouver. We hope to see them there again in a year or so.

A couple days later we flew back to Wellington to prepare for Leg 3 - Wellington to Raivave. It was sad to say goodbye to our special Kiwi friends. We hope they'll visit us in Seattle. Wellington is a lot colder than Auckland. But Mark had brought a heater part so Bill was able to fix our heater and get the boat warm in Wellie's cold weather. Of course,he also had to fix the refrigerator, so we could have cold too.

Unfortunately, while we were away, another boat had hit and damaged Jarana. So there was a bent stanchion to repair. There is a big supermarket just across the street from the marina, so we made daily trips for provisioning.
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