Dear Joan,

Last Easter three of us spent three pleasant days aboard. We left Nelson late on Friday afternoon bound for Astrolab, a land locked anchorage formed between Adele Island and the mainland, some 20 miles around the coast. As it was late Autumn there was very little wind until after nightfall when land breeze made in with smooth water and full moon over the stern we flew under our large double luff Spinnaker, Genoa and Main.

As we neared Astrolab the wind left us. This gave us time to cook a meal. Then the breeze returned and we decided to continue up the coast to Bark Bay, 8 miles farther on.

This large bay has a lagoon with two small rivers, running down the steep densely bushed hillside. This we made by 11.30 pm and as the tide was in we anchored the boat up almost under a waterfall and spent the rest of the night there. The following day was spent fishing and lazing in the hot sun.

We intended sailing home that night but only got as far as Astrolab when the light land breeze left us altogether, so we rowed in and anchored.

The next day we were fortunate enough to get a light sea breeze and. we got under way at 9.15 am and had a most pleasant sail home with the wind on the port quarter

This is typical of our weekend cruising in the summer time. Good Sailing, Malcolm Dickson