Orcas and Rainbow

Rainbow





On Tuesday 13th November I set out with five young sailors for an evening training session. When we left the ramp there was a yacht aground on the other side of the harbour. I went to investigate and took a fender to the sailor on the hard to cushion his boat from rocks. His friend suggested that I should round up the children because there were some Orcas in the harbour. I think he meant me to shepherd them away! I rounded up the youngsters, then we sailed to where the whales were surfacing and blowing. The children spent about three quarters of an hour sailing round in close proximity to these mighty animals. The Orcas seemed to be feeding, although we did not see them actually eating. The yachts sailing around did not seem to disturb the animals, they even seemed to surface near the yachts deliberately. There was very little wind, and the whales could be heard blowing quite a distance away. We could also smell their breath – strong and fishy. I am sorry that i did not have a camera with me. The local newspaper did manage to take some shots, and one of these was published in the Nelson Mail on Wednesday 14th.
Friday 16th November I flew to Auckland to watch the re-launching of Rainbow – one of New Zealand’s classic Yachts. She was originally launched in 1896 and has spent the last two years being restored to her original glory. Then in the evening Lorna and I went to the awards dinner at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, where we were presented with an Honour award for services to yachting. This was a big thrill, and we caught up with a number of people we had not seen for a while. Back in Nelson we have had a glorious week of weather, which is just as well because I have had groups of 17 and 19 Intermediate school children to “try Sailing”. With training in the evenings this has meant long days of 10 hours at the yacht club and I am now enjoying my day off.