End of the ordeal?

Oh! The sweet life of the cruiser!
Sitting in a marina for almost a month, maxing out one's credit card several times, having the credit extended, and maxing that too...
Listening to a million advices on what to buy, all the meaningless gadgets so many think you Just Have to Have! (Get a suveyor, an electrician, an inspector, a lawyer, that brand new SSB, that GPS, that sea anchor at -only(!!!)- 3000$, 10000 meters of chain, line, rope). Weeks and weeks of awaiting for documents, researching suppliers and best prices, swinging that plastic card over and over for every one of the million of bits and pieces required to say "we are ready". Hand stitching the sails to save money while enduring the mercyless Auckland weather...all in the name of the dream day when Fiji will appear over the horizon, jumpers will be shed and the chain will roll over into a blue warm water.
Oh well, a crash course in boat purchasing and ownership, spiced up with nightmares, freezing weather, crew defections and self-disqualifications, anxieties of all sorts. As one guy told me yesterday: 'Sailing: the most expensive way to go anywhere on fourth class'.
But the day is coming..oh it is coming.
Currently three people aboard (Me, Nick and Ben), with a fourth that really wants to be here but somehow is failing to materialize. No matter, three is enough for the 8-12 days to Fiji. The last things are falling into pieces, and by the end of the week we should be departing for Opua in the Bay of Islands. There we'll explore the islands while waiting for the US registration to come through, and then we'll be finally departing for the dream isles. Just a few days to go and a few card swipes..."all it takes..."

Going sailing

I move on the boat, the first two days are spent cleaning and reorganizing, from bow to stern. I forget to eat lunch, can't be bothered really with all the things I must think of. Once everything is taken care of Joe and Nick move in, while Mia arrives a few days later. I try to give everyone's something to do. No matter, the weekend comes and we've prepared to have a first inaugural sail staying out just the weekend. We exit the marina and motor out of the harbor area, as I don't yet know the boat well enough to sail on a weekend in such crowded waters. We exit Waitemata harbor and up go the sails, an absolute first, under my command. Before going out I briefed the whole crew on what does what, but as always, practice is the only key to learn the workings of a boat, and I end up having to instruct every move, or relinquish the helm to Nick and take care of things myself.
Slowly we round Rangitoto Island, our initial destination of Great Barrier Island is soon abandoned, as the wind is right on the nose. The day goes by pleasantly, with a few tacks until we round Motutapu and anchor in Station Bay. It's a happy dinner (again, a first), we hang out in the cockpit, sheltered by the island and by the awning which makes the cockpit so cozy. Tomorrow is another day.

Sept. 30th
We leave Motutapu at 11:30 am (why does the crew always sleep late?), trying again for Great Barrier Island, but once again it'd be a long boring struggle getting around Coromandel and then on to GBI. So we sail around for a while, practicing some tacks, while I decide where we should go for the night. I make my mind for Kawau, Bostaquet Bay, some 18 NM from our departure point.
Magically, we're still upwind (the joys of sailing!), but about seven hours later we get there just as the night approaches. Many other boats are anchored there, but we manage to tuck in pretty well, sheltered by the cliffy island. We have our own candlelit little party (as usual, I am a freak when coming to energy and water conservation) and go to sleep.
Return the day after is finally downwind. Mia gives Keturah her first (and I wish last) unespected jibe while Joe insistently just can't put the bow between two islands...there's a bit of weather helm yes..but...
I takes us only four hours getting back to Rangitoto. The NW wind built up quite a swell at the harbor entrance, and the wind is peaking at 30 KN, so we have a bit of commotion getting the bow in the waves and dousing the main, continuing on Jib only. Mia is shocked at the swell, which is just barely annoying as it is short, which though gives us some "surfing" which makes steering all the more fun.
As soon as we enter the harbor, rain starts to pour, and I am left the last bit with rain and wind slashing my eyelids and freezing down my neck. This is our first mooring in the marina, so everyone (surely mostly concerned about their own boats rather than wanting to help out) is on the dock with lines, hooks and whatnot. No sweat, I try to moor stern first, but the boat just won't reverse at all, so I slowly turn her around and go in bow first...without a scream, without a scratch.
Richard and Charlotte fom D'urville (spared from some imagined ugly scratch on her starboard topside) then break out in an applause at the perfectly executed entrance.
All lines secured, I, drenched, sit down in the cockpit and light a cigarette, my first exit on Keturah.