KEY POINTS:
10:25 - In five minutes time we were due to meet at the boat, load on the freeze dried, EAS energy shakes and bars, a bunch of chocolate and some apples (the latter for a lazy way of getting the feeling of clean teeth).
Never much fun getting out of a warm dry bed to load gear, or do anything, in rain and wind you can hear slamming against the bedroom window!
Instead, I have just eaten three of the hot cross buns allocated for afternoon tea and will shortly head to a cafe for brunch.
We received an email from SSANZ (Shorthanded Sailing Association of New Zealand), the race organisers, at 7.30 this morning advising that the start has been postponed until Sunday morning at 10 due to the howling winds that I began tuning into while trying to go back to sleep at 5.30am.
As the smallest boat in the fleet by a metre measuring 8.7m (28ft), the postponement is probably good news for Waka. 24 hours of large waves and 40 knot winds would knock us and the boat around more than most.
By the same token, we have always expected some of this weather (admittedly closer to Wellington) and Gary Patten has done a great job strengthening the boat in anticipation of this.
With wet weather gear on and the sails set-up for the breeze it would have been great to be under way.
Meanwhile, the challenge this morning is going to be getting from the car to the cafe without being drenched...