April
30, 2008
- Times They Are a'Changing
by Michel & Jane DeRidder
April
is the end of the summer season in New Zealand. Overseas cruisers feeling the chill in the air
are getting ready for their next passage toward lower latitudes and higher temperatures.
Opua is the northernmost port where yachts can clear in and out so we took Magic
Dragon there to see the activity. We wove our way by dinghy through the marina
where most of the overseas flags are flying, noting that cruising boats keep growing
in size, complexity and investment. Gone are the days when Magic Dragon
was a big boat in the fleet. On the canals of Holland and Belgium in 1968 she seemed too large in the local yacht
clubs. Even in San Francisco in 1965 we were offered marina berths that were long enough but too narrow
for our fourteen foot beam. Today’s marinas can handle big yachts and the mantra
is "tie up and plug in". In Opua it was chockablock. Flags of many nations
add to the rich mix. Even satellite communication domes are not a rare sight any
more.
 |
| And
France. |
Cruisers
increasingly have to be techies. Chat on the cruising
nets is "How can we put SeaMap on Vista?" Many cruising boats nowadays sport roll bars for radar and wind generator bearers, davits for
RIBs. Solar panels are used as cockpit shelters. We
have seen huge flat screens on the bulkhead of boats not much more than forty
feet.
Cruising
in flocks seems increasingly to be the way to go with itineraries organized and
radio skeds kept throughout. The advantages are multifold: stocking
up made easy, frozen and vacuum packed meat organized by ticking a list, duty
free booze and fuel arranged en masse. Hail fellow well met parties. Best of all
- check in procedures pre-paid and pre-arranged so there need be no muss, no fuss
with officialdom. There were two fleets of Island Cruising
Association vessels on the countdown phase in Opua, sporting what they call
their "battle flags", one ICA
stream about to head for Tonga, another for Vanuatu. For those who enjoy that sort of thing it is
marvelous. For those like us who abhor crowds and schedules and being led, it
could be purgatory.
 |
| ICA
battle flags. |
Odd
ball salts still manage in the DIY old fashioned way to gentle about the bays,
share info, do most all repairs themselves - no doubt just as many as, or more
now than ever there were, but representing a smaller percentage of the entire
fleet. The seagoing way of life sees to it that there
is always something to improve, repair, strengthen, maintain even on the simplest
of vessels, though far fewer fix-its than on mega-yachts where specialists must
often be called in to perform esoteric and mysterious adjustments and replacements
for which they must be paid huge sums.
There
is far less today in the way of varnished wood and far fewer hanked
sails, which to our mind is wonderful. Been there. Done that. Come to think
of it, we seldom see baggy wrinkle any more, long the badge of ocean wanderers.
And there are few long bow sprits left.
 |
| Above
and below: Old timers. |
We
spent yesterday on the beach doing dinghy and outboard maintenance before winter
sets in. We are extraordinarily fortunate to be able even now to cope with jobs
that if farmed out to professionals would eat huge holes in our bank account as
well as causing time wasted in waiting, pain in payment, and frustration if all
is not done as advertised and promised. We have only ourselves to blame if the
fix does not work the first time round.
 |
| DIY
repair jobs on the beach. |
The
general appearance of the cruising fleet has changed dramatically over the last
few years. As far as we know, however, our friend Edward, solo in his engineless
H28, is still out there in the Great Southern Ocean sailing somewhere in the Atlantic
after his cruise through Chile.
