Horizon PC52, “Purrfection”

This day our ship will port in a place of peace and wonder.

Its bow facing the wind, engines cooling at rest.

Proudly stoic from its journey, wearied but not sunder.

Having pushed a stead course toward its mark and broken every crest.

Driven to reach its voyage end and beginning new, fresh.

Welcome to tonight's After midnight blog. The final for this delivery aboard the Horizon PC52 Purrfection, the loom of Auckland's bright lights already visible, looming on the horizon of the dark night.

Conditions idyllic, light breezes and smooth seas. A distant cry from the extreme weather experienced here last week and again expected in the next 24 hours.

A great deal of money was spent preparing the vessel for this voyage and the many more to come. Particularly on the mechanical and electrical equipment, which had been left somewhat neglected by its former. The results of this investment speak for themselves and have proven to be money wisely and well spent. We picked this boat up from Cairns and brought her down to the Gold Coast to have the works and maintenance carried out. During the voyage to the Gold Coast we had multiple mechanical failures, countless electronics failures and it resulted in multiple unplanned stops to rectify issues as they rose. Since departing the Gold Coast, over the 1,400NM voyage to NZ we have not had one single issue go wrong. Talk about "Purrfection", in my entire career I've never had a boat do 1,400nm straight without having some spanner being thrown in the works.

It goes to show, money well spent, is money well spent. It also highlights the quality of the trades and services available on the Gold Coast, in Particular I'd like thank Cameron Ward from Cworthy Marine for their mechanical work and antifouling, along with Eddie and his boys at MarineRV electronics for their work on our electrical systems. Job well done.

Of course I need to thank Josh, the one true AquaMan, and thank all supporters and followers on our socials, especially all of you that reach out to us while we are offshore with great conversations that keep us sane out here.

We are booked in for customs and immigrations at 11am Westhaven Marina Auckland, our quarantine flag is already flying and I'm looking forward to a hot bowl of seafood chowder at Swashbucklers for lunch.

That's all from the night-watchman tonight, until next time.

Tommy.