wreck hunting..

[John B]

we went for a look at the wrecks on the northern side of Rangitoto island this weekend. It's the seaward cost and it's off the beaten track ( as it were) so it gets few vistors there. I was surprised at the numbers of wrecks that are there. apparently there are 13 or so.

One in particular I spent a bit of time looking at and wondering about. There are a lot of baulks of timber in the general area and this section of bow/ keelson.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid91/pa4819258cf966e2a7e08976c26de57ac/fa6ae7f3.jpg
She's the Columbia. a timber schooner from Washington built in 1899 and scuttled here in 1938
so the website says anyway...
http://www.arc.govt.nz/arc/index.cfm?47F 73897-E018-6898-F71F-844662C82845. (http://www.arc.govt.nz/arc/index.cfm?47F73897-E018-6898-F71F-844662C82845.)
I should have stood a kid next door to it to show just how big those timbers are.

We idled in to the coast to anchor watching the depth sounder and with a boy standing on the boom. With little sun we couldn't really see into the water but the depth alarm going from 6m to 3 m in half a boat length had me selecting "R" el pronto. :D

[ 12-01-2003, 03:20 AM: Message edited by: John B ]

[ken mcclure]

I'm having a "wish I was there" moment ...

[John Blazy]

Wrecks are one of the reasons I put glass-bottoms in my boat. Actually MR-10 (scratch-resistant) Lexan.
Cool story - John B

[John B]

There were other submerged hulls there.. at least parts of them. Mostly iron .It wouldn't surprise me that the thing that we nearly hit was one as well. We might go back on a sunny day so we can see more in the water.

Funny kind of weather on the weekend though. the reason we went was that it was a great forecast with a giant high pressure system just starting onto the country. A not so good saturday and a spectacular sunday is what it promised.
Guess what. When we were motoring back into a cold ( did I say COLD) headwind it reached 32 knots. I tried to go home the same way we came and pitched ourselves down to 1.8 knots. That's when I turned around and went the slightly longer , more sheltered route.
Monday was just gorgeous!!. I really enjoyed looking at it from my desk.
And we are just not organised yet. Ran out of water sat night!. Kirsty had to go and ask for a kettle of water from some neighbours in the bay for a morning cup o tea..LOL. I thought you checked the water. I thought YOU checked the water.