It was a very busy 2 weeks prior to setting sail for Fiji. Two new ends had to be fabricated for the main engine oil cooler. Nearly a thousand dollars of paint went on to the hull and bulwarks. (Alvei is looking very good by the way.) Nearly 5 thousand worth of food into the galley and two and a half tons of diesel went into the fuel tanks. After a long list of last minute tasks like getting the welder welding and fixing the mast head light. Everything had to be packed away and lashed down. Then muster station and safety drill. At last we departed Nelson the 9th May 2013. It was a slog getting out of the Tasman Sea. It started with a fast ride out of Tasman Bay on the heels of a sou’easterly gale. Then we were met with northerly head winds. Ten days into it, a fresh westerly was trying to push us on to 90-mile beach. Forty miles off the beach I decided to tack south to gain some sea room. As we approached North Cape a sou’westerly gale caught up with us. It was a clear air gale with a sunny sky and deep blue sea. There were streaks of white foam and sparkling white breakers. From the weather fax we could see the blow had a 600-mile fetch, which is to say the wind had a long distance to build the sea. There were sets of waves on top of sets of waves with the sea running 6 to 8 metres and the wind 40 to 50 knots. We rigged storm ropes along the sides and had the crew wear harnesses and clip in when on watch. With only a double reefed fore and fore stay’sl set there was time to settle in and enjoy the show of strong wind and rolling sea. It was quite beautiful actually. After sailing past 3-Kings Islands and into the South Pacific we set a course of East Nor East heading for the International Date Line. It was essential that we make our Easting before we reach the trade winds. The wind moderated and swung around to the south about the time the GPS quit listening to the satellites. Luckily Dr. Henk and Nelleke had given us a small hand-held GPS. We found it stowed away, put in fresh batteries and we were back on the charts. I taught the watches how to do speed checks using a stopwatch and a wadded up page out of the yellow pages in an old phone book from Portugal. As we neared the dateline we could shape a more northerly course. We furled the fore and aft sails and set the square sails. We were treated to dark starry nights, the kind of sky not seen from land because of the lights from cities and towns. As we rolled northward the Southern Cross sunk lower into the horizon while the Big Dipper, (the British call it the Plow), rose above the horizon. The constellations of the Zodiac: Scorpius, Libra, Leo and Gemini, marking their place along the Milky Way. One afternoon when we were nearly becalmed a Gray-Headed Albatross landed near us and swam right up to within a metre of Alvei. These big birds have a wingspan of nearly 3 metres. I had never seen one that close before. With its large black and yellow beak and black/gray eye shadow it was an impressive sight. As we crossed into the tropics, gumboots were stowed away and bare feet appeared on deck. We used the SSB radio to check in with Rag-Of-The-Air, (R.O.T.A.) 8.713.0 MHz, 1900 Zulu, the maritime mobile net to report our position and hear a personalized weather report. Net coordinator Jim Bandy has been a friend for many years. After the 5th week many of the crew were anxious to catch flights and carry on with their travel plans. We motor sailed the last 30 hours to Suva Harbour. We had sailed 1976 miles, noon to noon, by the time we anchored in Suva on the afternoon of the 42nd day at sea. During that time we ran the main engine 137 hours and the generator 204 hours. Together they consumed 1987 litres of diesel fuel and 110 litres of lube oil. We also blew out the inner and outer jibs. And out of 42 days at sea, there were 20 days of northerly wind. After a week in port it is just Torgny, Dan, Shaun and myself left on the crew. Next week we will sail to Moon Reef followed by a 3-day passage through the reefs over the north coast of Viti Levu to Lautoka on the west coast. From there we will begin a 3-week expedition to the Yasawas. After returning to Lautoka from the Yasawas on 18 August, we will make ready for the passage to Vanuatu. This year we plan to sail on to Brisbane, Australia for a haul-out during October. November we sail back to New Zealand. Evan
Posted on: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 09:06:59 +0000
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