day 3

Today was pleasant weather. On the beam, sometimes a bit down wind, but not enough to get the pole out. sometimes a bit above it, but not close hauled. I had gotten my sea legs back now, no more queasyness. I cut off the second fillet and ate half of it, and made the head and bones into soup. More listening to the radio. Turning the dial through the AM spectrum, voices would jump out, usually still quite scratchy. The best radio station was Coast. All your favorites, indeed. I have a new appreciation for Rod Stewart. At one point I managed to pick up an Australian station, but only just. Tuning in the cheap ($10) radio that I had was tricky. Sometimes you'd get a station, but then if you put it down it would loose it. I tried almost tuning it hoping that it would go better instead of worse when I put it down, and sometimes I managed that. I had gotten the radio to be able to listen to Radio New Zealand, but I had quite a bit of trouble picking that up. It was usually easier to get Newstalk ZB, or various sports radio. Every radio station was talking about corona, however, so it still served it's purpose.

On the previous passage, Auckland to Wellington I had no news source at all, and it took 10 days... since NZ announced and went into lockdown with only 48 hours notice, I could have easily arrived and then discovered now everything was different. Certainly I shall be investing in a better radio once the lockdown is over.

Not least because today I was unable to get a marine weather forecast. These are broadcast on VHF at various times throughout the day, 0730, 1330, 1730, 2130. I had passed Taranaki at least 40 miles off shore, and then the coast curves inward a lot. Following a straight line for Cape Reinga put me 100 miles west of Raglan, at the furthest out. Too far for VHF it seems, but not too far for AM. what I need is shortwave, in particular, SSB - single side band.

Making good progress though, if I manage to keep up this rate could be rounding the cape Saturday afternoon.

In the evening the wind turned north, and I had to sail close hauled. Thankfully not so north that I needed to beat, but I was pointing a little east of my mark, and if this continued I'd arrive at Hokianga, and would need to tack back out, but the last forcast that I did receive predicted south and south easterly later, so that seemed unlikely. (I carefully note down the forecast when I do manage to receive it, because I often want to refer back to it later).