Badger

Badger

Iron Bark II

Iron Bark II

About Me

My photo
I first crossed the Atlantic in 1975 on 'Stormalong', a 28ft Wharram-designed catamaran. Back in the UK, Pete and I bought an ex 6-metre racing yacht, 'Sheila', living on her for 4 years. Wanting to do more and go further, we built 'Badger' - the best boat in the world - sailing her 110,000 miles, to the Arctic and the Antarctic, around the Atlantic North and South and into the Baltic. She had junk rig - the only rig I will ever now cruise with. Pete wanted to build a 38 ft junk-rigged catamaran, 'China Moon' - which he designed. But before the project was finished, we went our separate ways. A year later I joined Trevor Robertson aboard his 35ft 'Iron Bark'. We explored the Canadian Maritimes, crossed the Atlantic twice, wintered in Greenland and crossed the Pacific to Australia and New Zealand. I fell in love with NZ and jumping ship, bought my own boat while Trevor carried on voyaging. I put a junk rig onto ‘Fantail’ and, having decided that N Island offered better cruising opportunities than S Island, sailed up there in 2012. Looking for a boat to see me out, I built the 26ft 'FanShi' and now live on board her, pottering about, generally around the Bay of Islands.

Saturday, 20 July 2024

GOLD HARBOUR

 

54o37'S 35o56'W Chart 3585, Gold Harbour



This harbour gives much better shelter than first appears on looking at the chart, with protection from the sea from SW through W and N to NE.


Anchor off the beach to the N of the Bertrab Glacier between the rocks off the beach and the first stream, in about 9m. There was no kelp here and very good holding. On Badger's visit, we sheltered from a NW gale in relative comfort and experienced no violent gusts.


The glacier is divided in two by a sheer rock face. The northern part calves into a lagoon behind a very shallow moraine spit, which seems to contain all the ice. The southern part calves into the sea, but it is some way S of the anchorage and in the conditions we experienced, there was no sign of ice in the harbour.


Alongside the banks of the stream, behind the beach, is a reasonable-sized King penguin colony. If the surf makes landing difficult on the beach, it may be easier to row over or around the moraine spit and land in the lagoon. Care should be taken to avoid several below-water rocks.




GOLD HARBOUR, LOOKING E





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