The story of the Jetski journey around NZ in support of skin cancer awareness
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The Jetski Diary5/2 Auckland – Russell
We had a late departure due to breakfast and send off speeches at the Viaduct. There was quite a strong SW wind blowing all the way which gave us 6 hours of surfing down steep short waves. We took a lot of water in the face and it was generally uncomfortable. We stopped for lunch of rice pudding and oranges at Whananaki North which was nice.
We arrived at Russell 2 hours late a little sore but were glad to be underway.
6/2 Russell –Ahipara We had an early departure from Russell and a reasonable run to Matai bay. After Matai bay a SW wind came up and we surfed uncomfortable waves to North Cape. After North Cape we had strong headwinds and nasty chop to a lunch stop on the skis just short of Cape Reinga. We rounded Cape Reinga around midday only to see a horrifying sight. Just off the cape 6m swells were breaking for a few kilometers. The whole scene was in turmoil and looked like something from a horror movie. We both admitted later that we had been terrified but we managed to find a way through making very slow progress against the near vertical waves. The Seadoos were awesome in these conditions. 2 hours later and 30km further on the swells dropped to a consistent 4m with chop and a 50km/hr wind. It took us 5 hours to do the last 80km to Ahipara. We arrived exhausted and almost out of fuel. Time on skis 10.5 hrs 7/2 Ahipara- Auckland Manakau Another early departure. The weather was quite good but there was an uncomfortable wave pattern giving us a continuous bash bash bash rhythm all the way.
Time on skis 7.5 hrs 8/2 Manukau- New Plymouth As far as Raglan was ok but uncomfortable. South of there our GPS navigation* was not working so we had to follow the coast. Visibility reduced to 1km in rain and the wind was gusting up to 60km from the North. It rained heavily for hours and we had a 3m breaking swell hitting us from our 4 o’clock position. We didn’t have the conditions to stop for lunch and this took its toll physically as time went on. We completely submarined the skis a few times into the back of waves and once I was washed off the ski completely having to swim hard to get back to it. At times the top of the sea was completely white with foam from the wind and waves and the skies were so dark it felt like twilight... Following the coast that close was very hazardous with lots of rocks and headlands jutting out. In all it was another pretty scary experience and we were glad to see New Plymouth after another 10 hour ride. *not Here I Am tracking – but the GPS navigator for course setting 9/2 New Plymouth- Paraparaumu We left early and had a slow run around to Cape Egmont with 4m swells at first on the nose that gradually moved around to the tail. After Cape Egmont the swells continued but the sea was smooth and we had a great 2 hour high speed run into Wanganui which was good for morale.After a break we headed for Paraparaumu. That 2 hour run was a bit choppy and generally hard work after the earlier good run. Brad’s Seadoo had battery problems 10km short of Paraparaumu so I had to tow him in from there. Time on skis about 7hrs. 10/2 Paraparumu to Durville Island to Nelson
Cook Straight was about as good as it gets with a light southerly and 1m swells with a bit of chop. Half way across the visibility increased a bit so we could see D'Urville Island and confirm our angle to the swells was working. Then rain came again and we were back to dead reckoning again which worked out pretty well as we were only about a km off at the Chetwode Islands. We made our way through French Pass and onto my Uncles and Aunts place on D'Urville where we were treated to Venison Steaks for Lunch. At about 2pm we left D'Urville and had a reasonable run to Nelson. Time on skis 6hrs. 11/2 Day off Nelson …got a new GPS navigation system for course setting. 12/2 Nelson- Takaka Our planned destination was Karamea. We left late due to bad weather and got up to Torrent Bay when my battery failed so Brad towed me back to Kaiteriteri. We changed the battery and decided to have another go. Off Separation point a strong northerly wind came up reducing our forward speed to about 12km/hr so we realized that we wouldn’t make Karamea and decided to pull out at Takaka. Time on Skis about 3.5 hrs. 13/2 Takaka-Greymouth.
After rounding the spit we were straight into a 35km/hr wind and a 2m swell. This was slow going. I realized that my auxiliary fuel pump wasn’t working so we headed into Whanganui Inlet to fix it. It was beautiful in the inlet and a welcome break from the bashing we were getting outside. We again hit the road and had a couple more hours of bashing but after rounding Wekakura Point the sea conditions improved and we had a great run into Westport. After an hour in Westport we left again for a very uncomfortable 2.5 hr ride to Greymouth due to the wind coming up. The Greymouth Bar welcomed us with a monster wave that we just avoided. It exploded in front of us and the subsequent turmoil reminded me of the bottom of the Huka Falls. 14/2 Greymouth - Day on shore due strong winds. 15/2 Greymouth - Another day on shore due strong winds. 16/2 Greymouth to Haast We left Greymouth at first light after a very short sleep. (The afternoon before we had discovered a problem with one of the jet units caused by ingesting stones in the Grey River so had done a quick run over to Christchurch to get it fixed) The Greymouth Bar had another good go at wiping us out with Brad taking on a monster wave and almost coming to grief. I out ran it and waited for a break at one end of the wave. We got underway with more head on swells and riding was uncomfortable for the first 4 hours. We were rewarded with magnificent views of Mt Cook and Mount Tasman as we traveled down the coast and we saw many pods of dolphins including some of the rare Hectors dolphins. The wave patterns improved the further south we went so we arrived in the Haast area at about 2pm. We rode up and down the area for an hour or so looking for the entrance to the river but it is well hidden and we were unable to find it. “Leadfoot” Brad was running out of fuel so we found a bit of sandy beach and ran the skis thru the surf and up onto the beach much to the delight of some Swedish tourists walking the beach at the time. After talking to locals and a quick refuel from our ground crew we found the entrance and called it a day. Time on skis-8hrs 17/2 Haast to Deep Cove in Doubtful sound. We had a reasonable run down the coast and stopped up the Hollyford river for lunch. Again we were visited by many pods of dolphins and seals were a common sighting. Getting over the bar at the Hollyford was more difficult than the Grey . Once out of there we had a good run down to the entrance of Doubtful sound. We entered the sound which is easily the most awesome place we have seen so far. We stopped under a huge waterfall for a snack As we headed up the sound we saw and played with more dolphins. These ones were big and stunningly impressive. We could feel them bumping the bottom of the skis and they frequently splashed us. Deep Cove exceeded all expectations for beauty. Time on skis 6.5 hrs 18/2 Deep Cove to Stewart Island We left early again and had to work fairly hard to get down to Puysegar Point. Once around the corner and heading East we surfed a tidy 2m swell all the way to Riverton. We had media commitments there and refueled and then headed across Foveaux Strait to Half Moon Bay. On a good day Stewart Island is an impressive place and we felt on top of the world as we arrived outside the South Sea Hotel. The best day yet. Time on skis about 7 hrs 19/2 Stewart Island to Dunedin Good weather in Foveaux Strait is like hens teeth so we decided to take advantage of it and get ahead of schedule. Crossing the Strait was fine but then we hit head winds and steep choppy swells which continued all the way to Dunedin. All in all this was a shocking day and we were shattered by the time we reached Dunedin. Time on Skis 7.5 hrs 20/2 Dunedin to Akaroa We were delayed leaving Dunedin due to unscheduled servicing that turned out to be bad fuel so we didn’t get under way until 11.30am. Sea conditions were perfect as we stopped first in Oamaru and then in Timaru for media stuff. The perfect conditions looked like keeping going so we pointed direct to Akaroa from Timaru and set off. We made great time but about 80km short we encountered thick sea fog with visibility reducing to 100 meters . As I was the only one with a GPS Brad formatted on me so as not to get lost. The fog caused quite severe vertigo in both of us and we had the sensation of going down a steep hill that leant to the left. Murphy was there too as the GPS1 decided to have a rest . So we had to set a regular angle of attack to the swells just like we’d done previously across Cook Strait. We’ve had GPS troubles all the way around the trip. Fortunately it started to work again just as we approached Akaroa harbour. We entered Akaroa as the sun was setting after a really great day. Wildlife count for the day: Many Dolphins and Seals and 2 x 8ft Sharks Time on Skis: 7hrs 21/2 Akaroa-Christchurch-Kaikoura We again encountered the sea fog on the way around Banks Peninsular which made for an interesting navigation exercise .Fortunately the fog cleared as we approached Sumner. We pulled out at Sumner and towed the skis to a Seadoo dealer for a regular service. We were back in the water at 1pm for what we thought would be an easy run to Kaikoura. However we were punished for having such a great day yesterday as Pegasus Bay served up a nasty North Easterly swell with a Westerly chop that had us feeling like we were in a washing machine. We arrived in Kaikoura 5 hours later battered and tired. Time on Skis 7hrs 22/2 Kaikoura - Wellington Conditions were pretty good at first but once we hit Cook Strait a strong North Westerly came up and steep unrelenting seas hit us head on. This was hard work. We could see the North Island but didn’t seem to be getting any closer . As we got closer the wind became really strong at I estimate 70km/hr and the spray was making it very hard to see. The tidal rips added to the drama just when they were not needed. It was impossible to get the skis up to a reasonable speed because the wind would make them skip side ways. Eventually we made it into the harbour looking and feeling like drowned rats. The Wellington reception made us feel better though(once we found the right wharf). Time on skis 7 hours
24/2 Wellington- Napier This is the day we had dreaded the most as it was 360km and the forecast wasn’t good so we had mentally prepared ourselves for the worst. We set off early from Lyall Bay and had a reasonable ride with a big side on southerly swell to Cape Palliser. As we rounded the Cape and started to head North the 4-5 meter swells were on the tail and we began surfing. They were quite untidy and quite steep so the ride down the face of the swells was almost out of control and very high speed. This was a bit scary at first but as we got used to it it became quite good fun and we surfed all the way to a lunch break and refuel at Castle Point. After lunch we headed out again and surfed smaller but tidier swells all the way to Cape Kidnappers . There was an annoying chop from there to Napier but we made it there early and grateful that we had had such an unexpectedly good day. Time on Skis 9 hours. 25/2 Napier- Hicks Bay We headed off in “just ok” conditions towards the Mahia Peninsular. We were riding directly into the sun which was very hard work so we tried tacking to avoid the glare. This worked but added extra distance.We rounded Mahia and had an awkward ride into Gisborne. The sea was like glass but with an underlying chop so it was hard to judge when the ski was going to jump or drop. The weather in Gisborne was brilliant so we enjoyed a lunch break there. After lunch we set off for Hicks bay via East Cape. The run wasn’t too bad until East Cape but rounding the Cape a strong North Westerly wind of about 50km/hr was blowing and whipping up an untidy and steep 2-3 meter sea. Knowing that we only had about 40km to go we actually started to enjoy the waves as they were a great height for playing in and jumping. In these conditions the GPS(our third) was again “seasick” so we had to use memories of a photo we had seen of Hicks Bay to identify it. Time on Skis 10 hours. I discovered by trial and error that night that the GPS we were using doesn’t like being jolted so my opinion is that they aren’t suitable for use on PWCs. When you need them the most they don’t work. 26/2 Hicks Bay- Tauranga Leaving Hicks Bay we encountered reasonable conditions but a closely spaced 1 meter head on swell meant that we were back to the “thump thump thump” of previous days as we plodded our way to White Island. White Island was magnificent so we had a snack there before heading off for a rendezvous with about ten riders from Tauranga. We met up with them in great conditions off Motiti Island and then we all headed in at high speed past the Mount to a nice reception at the Tauranga Yacht Club. Time on Skis 7 hours. 27/2 Tauranga- Auckland
We finally got the day we were waiting for. Matt from Maks Gear in Tauranga rode with us up the inner harbour with Louise from the Classic Hits Radio Station on the back. The calm of the inner harbour continued outside as we made our way at high speed up to Cape Colville. We had been worried that if conditions were bad we might be late for the 1:30pm reception in Auckland but this wasn’t going to be a problem today as we rounded Cape Colville at 9:45am. We had been told not to be early so we called into Oneroa on Waiheke Island and had Coffee and Pies for an hour and a half. Eventually we set off again and arrived on schedule to an amazing reception at the Viaduct basin.
It was a fantastic way to finish off a great adventure. Time on Skis 4.5hrs.
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