On Tuesday 25th May we finally got the weather we have been waiting for, a deep subtropical low east of the North Island is directing strong south easterlies and large waves over the east coast of the upper North Island. The conditions we experienced were not as extreme as we would have liked but none the less a sea that many vessels would not have been comfortable in. What we found was 2.5-3m swell with a 6-7 second period with 30knot breeze gusting to our maximum recorded gust of 39Knots at about a 60-70 degree angle to the swell. The Whangarei Ports wave buoy’s were displaying max waves of 4.5 which was typically when the wind chop aligned with a bigger set to create a larger than normal swell.

These would be quite challenging conditions for a less capable hull as it was quite messy and very short, Photo’s never seem to represent the conditions. Mollymawk handled the conditions nicely cruising comfortably at 11-12knots when heading directly into then on various angles too the sea. Not at any stage did we feel the need to reduce speed. We then turned Mollymawk to run with a following sea travelling at 13 -17knots. We found her to be stable at speed and comfortable on a wave. Being a short trip out with many directional changes we were not trimmed for best surfing or for head sea’s, rather a neutral trim.  During this testing phase we are in light trim condition to test the performance of the Hull, stabiliser and auto pilot performance without the benefit of ballast fuel and water.

For the first trial in less-than-ideal conditions, we are pleased with the confident and responsive handling of Mollymawk.

Sea trials are continuing, and we are gathering more and more information and data each time we go out.   All of this information, videos and data will be made public in the coming weeks.

For more information contact Circa Marine at peter@circamarine.co.nz

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