March 15, 2021

Yesterday we took a final walk on the Waikanae beach.  It was a perfectly glorious day, and there was quite a crowd on the beach – about 20 people over 6 km!  Then, while Jim was Zooming with his siblings, Frances found a lovely local artisan market.  The proprietor was a kiwi who had relocated from North Carolina.  A conversation and several purchases ensued.

The America’s Cup racing was cancelled yesterday due to lack of wind. 

This morning we packed up our house (it really had begun to feel like home) and with a final sweep we drove up to Te Horo to offload our extra bags with Jan and Jock, who are providing a locker service.  We really are blessed to have such wonderful friends!  Of course, it was morning tea time when we arrived!

Next, we drove down to Wellington, where we returned our rental car.  Our friend, Hilary met us at the rental place and drove us to her home.  Again, we are blessed with our friends. Once there, Hilary and Frances had time for a quick walk to the library. On the way back we met John, of John’s track in Philip Myers Park, a local resident who is improving the local environs.  Lovely to stop for a chat.

We scurried home in time for Race 7 & 8 of the America’s Cup, which were both very exciting.  Credit to the New Zealand Herald for help explaining this next part.

The highlight of Race 7 was that it saw the first lead change of series.  Team New Zealand’s boat, Te Rehutai, executed the first pass of the best of 13 series, overtaking Luna Rossa on the third leg of the race and going on to claim a comfortable 58-second win. 

In the second race, it was disaster for the Kiwi crew as they came off their foils – basically fell off the legs that allow them to ‘walk on water’ – midway down the second leg, allowing Luna Rossa to get more than 2,000 metres ahead.  Team New Zealand looked to manoeuvre away from the Italians and appeared to sail straight into the ‘dirty’ air of their opposition, losing all their speed almost immediately.  Dirty air is turbulence downwind of the other boat.  The commentators were calling ‘curtains’ for New Zealand, but the light and inconsistent conditions meant that there was every chance for another twist in the tale. 

And there was indeed another twist as at the end of the third leg, when Luna Rossa, almost a whole leg ahead, came off their foils. By this time, New Zealand was back in the game.  Team New Zealand went from being down by 4 minutes to winning the race by 3 minutes and 55 seconds.  We were on the edge of the couch, hardly able to sip our chilled Pinot Gris that our hosts, George and Hilary, had put in our hands.  The score card stands at 5:3 in Team New Zealand’s favor.  Race 9 & 10 tomorrow, wind permitting!