"Good water, good life; poor water, poor life; no water, no life" Sir Peter Blake


Saturday, December 14, 2013

How to Curl Your Hair

Granny's curlers always make great fun!  When Mum and Alan stayed, of course the kids love to help out Granny as she uses the curlers!
 
Step One:  Take the biggest ones out and tangle them in your hair
Step Two: Ask Granny for help
Step Three: Get Granny to re-arrange them neatly to look like they're supposed to be there and smile!
Step Four:  Ask Mum not to save photos these for my 21st!
 


Thursday, December 12, 2013

Princess 'Ballerina' Freya

Who needs a dance floor when you have a cockpit and a reflection in the hatch window?  Ballerina Freya enjoys her own dance moves, and "Princess Cupcakes" afterwards of course!




Wednesday, November 20, 2013

The Teps

Every time we head to Auckland City we visit our local swimming hole, the Tepid Baths.  While in the Viaduct we would visit them at least twice a week which was great for the kids swimming.  When Craig came back from San Francisco with a 'mermaid' flipper, Freya then began to grow gills!








And you can always sit down to have a rest if your imagination is good enough!


Thursday, November 07, 2013

New ASB Tower, Auckland City

On a recent visit to Viaduct Harbour we spotted a rainbow - ironic that the pot of gold may have landed on the ASB tower?


Monday, October 07, 2013

Our Next Spot, Gulf Harbour Marina

We have now relocated to Gulf Harbour Marina, just North of Auckland City.

This was our next move from when Craig came back from San Fran after being with ETNZ for the America's Cup campaign for 14 months.  After being in the Viaduct for so long, it was kind of strange leaving the city heading out on the water, but comforting to know we were doing something different other than working!   Craig was pretty exhausted after coming back, but had a great experience!  We met some amazing people both with ETNZ and around the Viaduct and we thank those people who have made it a very special time for us. We are often thinking of you!

Our trip out of the city was lovely and calm, the kids were a little sad at first, but then knew they were going to another unknown place for them.  We had SailNZ sail past with their geneka up, and saw paragliders jumping off North Head as we rounded it.  We also saw loads of birds working, and even dolphins in the distance which was something you always find pretty special.  Arriving at Gulf Harbour at our new berth we were greeted by a lovely family who we had only just met the day before!  They were so welcoming, and the weather and water was so calm it was surreal.



 Snuggled up on the deck admiring the view (when they are awake!)
 
The very next morning we woke to find this amazing fog on the water!


Blake's Post America's Cup Analysis

Well, what can we say, but BUGGER!  

It was certainly an extremely exciting America's Cup, and I don't think I've ever been so excited, nervous, disappointed, elated, gutted and not excluding EXHAUSTED after watching the 2 weeks of the finals for the America's Cup in San Fran.  I was totally shattered!  After we all calmed down and came back to planet "reality", Blake came up with a couple of changes that we could do for the next Cup.  

  1. Firstly, a more lightweight microphone, made of shock chord.
  2. Secondly, and more importantly, he thinks they forgot the best weapon, their 'protector of baddies', the  stick from the Toi Toi. (And if Deano wants some instructions on how to use it, Blake said he will show him).




Monday, August 05, 2013

dedicated builder

Well after dark the cockpit lights are on and the dedicated builder is doing his work.....


Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Finally! Daddy's return to NZ

After 8 looooong weeks apart, it was a real magic moment to see Craig at the airport.  The kids and I were SO excited to see him, I was actually nervous!!!

Blake said soon after his hug "Daddy, did you remember to bring the tablet back?".  Talk about priorities! All the way home he was making sure he did actually bring it back! And you guessed what they did as soon as we got back?  They wanted to watch Charlie Chapman of all things!!





A goodie bag from AIR NZ always is a treat, and they were super excited to get theirs from Daddy.

Friday, July 05, 2013

ETNZ at America's Cup Opening Ceremony

Craig and the team were invited to the "official" America's Cup Opening Ceremony today, so they had the afternoon of 30+ degrees sitting and being on stage.  



(Craig is staring at the camera in the centre of the photo)



He loved having the break from the ETNZ base and managed to get himself famous in this short ETNZ video.  See if you can see him.. he does a nice action shot...






Photos & Video: ETNZ

Thursday, June 20, 2013

On the rocks - Mazuran's Salvage

I am sitting on the boat at the navigation station, reflecting... I can hear the wind howling outside, and the rigging of the boat next door banging away against the mast. I can hear the battery charger with the familiar humming noise as it charges our batteries (and keeping my feet warm at the same time).  I can hear the hail outside, hitting the hatch and windows less than 400mm from my head.  There are flashes of lightening that are similar to the flashes of tourists as they walk through the Viaduct on warm summer evenings.  Thunder echoes around the buildings sounding as though there is something dreadful happening outside.

I am dry, cosy and warm.

I am reflecting about the storm that brought Mazuran into our hands. The storm that made it all happen for us. The life changing decision that made me smile and petrified at the same time.

Purchasing a rather large damaged boat.  Who would want to do it?  You'd have to be CRAZY!  (Well, yes, as you all know, I am a little crazy!)...So I write this little bit for those who don't know how we came across our new 'home'.  (Once again I have to thank my parents for making this dream come true, for they put their heart and soul into helping us in every way possible).

Every boat has a history. When an owner buys a second hand boat they have lots of emotions go through their head; excitement, happiness, elation, guilt and even fear.  When buying a damaged boat, there is also another element, dread.  There are moments when you have to sit down and think practically.  Go through every scenario, and revisit questions such as;
Can we do it? 
Can we afford it?  (no, is always the answer for that one!),
Do we want it enough to change everything in our lives? 

And once it's all yours....

What the f**k have we done!??? 

If you are the sort of person who thinks that every boat is like a human being, you feel that a part of it has 'died' when you see a boat that's been broken up by a storm.  Mother nature is something so powerful that no-one knows what the outcome will be until it has passed.  It certainly isn't a nice sight seeing a boat being washed ashore in a storm. Your heart feels torn apart, knowing that there are often great memories associated with the boat, firstly with the building of such a vessel.

When we purchased Mazuran she had been washed ashore in a storm at Paihia Beach, Bay of Islands, and the previous owner was very kind in letting us have some of the pictures of her.  These photos of her as she was going ashore, the owners were out of town at the time so were totally devastated when they came back.  A friend of theirs took these photos, feeling very helpless as they watched through the camera lens.





She even made the front page of The Northern Advocate paper and another local paper the Bay Report.




And then along came her rescuers!  (that's us)...

So this is Mazuran before we bought her and started our major refit project.  She was basically a shell that we had to add lots of structure to, including her hulls underneath.  As you can see in the pictures, she had no hulls from the waterline down.




We then relocated her to the best spot in Kerikeri, and the major re-build began!

I still am dry, warm and even more cosy now I have turned on the heaters.. I am smiling as I write this post, as I realised I hadn't written anything about her salvage. She has been an amazing boat, and the people and friendships we have formed have been something we had never thought would happen.  There were times where we shuddered at the thought of having nothing more to spend on her, yet we were only half way through what we wanted to do, but you somehow gather strength and tackle each problem with tiny steps to keep the progress going forward.  I know we will venture more with her, and have more projects to complete on her.  Even though I'm tied up to the dock with a million docklines and fenders to protect us, I feel like I am 'home'.  Aboard our hard work, a space we have created for "us".

I will do another post that shows the 'before' and 'after' when I get a chance.