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Unbelievable Sail from Fiji to NZ

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We finally found a “decent” weather window to sail to New Zealand.  This was after waiting several weeks. Two rounds of boats left and they did not have the most pleasant sailing experience.

We left on 16 October, 2025 and anticipated a 7-7.5 day passage from Fiji to New Zealand.  

Our friend Chris (from sv SeaGlub) has joined us on this journey.  Having a third person onboard allows us to have 6-hours in between our shifts (as opposed to 3-hours).  Whoop whoop!

The first 3 days of our trip were very “sporty.”  We had strong, consistent winds blowing 18-22kts from the ESE and gusts up to 28-29kts.  The seas were pissy with Sugar Shack rolling in at 2.5-3.5 meters on the beam.  

It felt as if the boat and the sea were trying to outdance one another. This made it a very uncomfortable trip.

Total of 1082 nautical miles to Marsden Cove

Day 1 (first 24hrs)

  • Course:   192T
  • Average Speed: 8.1kt, Max Speed: 11.8
  • Winds:  20SE and Mad 26kt
  • Swell: 3 meters
  • Engines:  P:  5391 and S: 5544
  • Miles to Go: 897
  • Miles Traveled (VMG) 185, Miles Traveled: 192

What is the difference between Miles Traveled (VMG) and Miles Traveled?  Miles Traveled is the total number of miles we sailed.  But it does not necessarily mean those miles were toward our destination. Sometimes the wind shifts and causes us to go a little off course.

Miles Traveled (VMG=velocity made good) means the total miles traveled to our destination (on course).

Every passage has two different numbers unless it is a complete motor in flat seas with no wind.  Then you just point the boat to where you need to go and motor to it.  Not much fun and not “sailing.”

We managed to pass the 3 boats that left before us.  They left early Thursday AM and we left after lunch.

Menu: 

  • Fresh baked cheesy garlic bread and salami for lunch
  • Enchilads and Mexican Rice for dinner

Day 2 (48hrs)

  • Course:   186T
  • Average Speed: 9kt, Max Speed: 13.1
  • Winds:  22Skt SE and Mad 28kt
  • Swell: 3 meters
  • Engines:  P:  5391 and S: 5544
  • Miles to Go: 703
  • Miles Traveled (VMG) 194nm, Miles Traveled: 198nm

We made good progress toward our destination today.  The ride was not super comfortable, but we covered a lot of ground.

Menu:

  • English muffins, salami, egg, and cheese sandwich
  • Eggplant Parmesan for dinner
  • Gingerbread cookies

Day 3 (72hrs)

  • Course:   185T
  • Average Speed: 8.5kt, Max Speed: 13.6
  • Winds:  16-18kt SE and Mad 29kt
  • Swell: 2-2.5 meters
  • Engines:  P:  5391 and S: 5544
  • Miles to Go: 485
  • Miles Traveled (VMG) 218nm, Miles Traveled: 220nm

We had an excellent day and celebrated 2 milestones for this passage sail.  The first is we passed over the 1/2 way mark!  Yeah.  The second is that we had a HUGE VMG day topping at 218 nautical miles in one 24 hour period!  This is huge for us and a rare occurrence!  

We join a group of 22 boats that left Fiji the day before we left.  We looked at that weather window and decided not to take it for various reasons.  The main reason is that most of the boats had to head pretty far west before heading south.

Somewhere around early evening we passed the last boat the group that left the day before us!  Go Sugar Shack

By the late hours of this 24 hour sail we passed 2 more boats in that group that left 24 hours before us.

Menu:

  • Garlic Cheesy bread and salami lunch/snack
  • Steaks for the boys, chicken for me and homemade coleslaw

We passed over the half way mark!  After leaving the tropics we got cold pretty fast.

Day 4 (96 hours)

  • Course:   189T
  • Average Speed: 8.5kt, Max Speed: 13.6kt
  • Winds: 6kt ESE  
  • Swell:  .5-1 meters ESE
  • Engines:  P:  5393 and S: 5551
  • Miles to Go: 287
  • Miles Traveled 198 (VMG) , Miles Traveled:  200

We found a big blue hole where our winds died.  Around 4:00am we had to turn one of our engines on to maintain a 6kt speed.  The dull roar of an engine is a rude awakening compared to the beautiful silence of a sail,.

On one hand it was a relief to not be bashing into the waves.  However, on the other hand it was disappointing losing our speed.  Always a catch 22.

Menu: 

  • English muffins, salami, egg, and cheese sandwich
  • Chicken Salad with cilantro, carrots, and cabbage
  • Caramel ice cream and brownies

Day 5 (120 hours)

  • Course:   182T
  • Average Speed: 6.7kt, Max Speed: 13.6kt
  • Winds:  12kt NNW
  • Swell:  .5-1 meter NNW
  • Engines:  P:  5413 and S: 5569
  • Miles to Go: 114
  • Miles Traveled (VMG) 173 , Miles Traveled: 173

Menu:

  • Breakfast burrito with egg, onion, and salami
  • Chicken enchiladas with Mexican Rice
  • Chocolate pumpkin cookies

Flying our beautiful new Parasail for a whopping 2 hours.  The wind shifted to N (coming in from behind).  It was “light” enough for us to prep and hoist the sail.  But within 2 hours the winds filled in making them too strong to fly our girl.

So, we dropped and stowed the parasail and set our main sail and genoa for a downwind run.

Day 6 (144 hours)

We arrived before day 6 began!  Check out the change in clothing as we cross over 20 degrees latitude.

Overall Passage Information:

  • Total Miles Traveled: 1,192
  • Average Speed: 8.5kt
  • Max Speed: 13.6kt
  • Engines:  P:  5418 and S: 5559 (total of 27 hours motoring / motor sailing)
  • Total Time Traveling: 140 hours or 5 days and 20hrs 
  • Time moving is from hook to hook (includes 2.5 hours leaving the marina to the pass in Fiji and 1.5 hours from the pass to the marina in New Zealand

We had some beautiful sunsets and sunrises.

Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual live events.  We did the sail from Fiji to New Zealand from the 16-22 October 2025.

Don’t miss our Fiji Day adventures.

NZ Bound #3 1082 nm till quality craft brews

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22 boats left Wednesday, we waited another day when only 5 boats left. What did we miss? We heard on the SSB that there was champagne sailing out there, so in search of that we go.

Looks a bit sporty?

We are now just about 12 hours into the journey and if we had any champagne it certainly would be shook up and have lost all its great effervescence.

We had a Mexican night onboard, enchiladas and rice, and a salt covered boat, just missing the rest of the margarita.

Still searching for champagne.

Cheers, All well onboard, at least another day of bouncing along.

Passage Planning: Fiji to NZ

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Passage planning is all about preparation and weather. A good passage is one that has favorable weather conditions.  Good conditions include consistent, steady winds at 12-18kts, seas below 1 meter in long increments, no squalls or storms, low cape and low barometer.

Note: For the next 7-8 days we will be LIVE blogging.

Weather, weather, weather!  It can be your friend and your foe.  We live our life watching the weather daily.  Does the wind shift? Will the swell wrap around the island? Is there rain in the forecast? 

We purchased the professional / premium plan for Predict Wind which allows us to enter our boat polars, plan routes, and receive detailed passage forecasts. 

This software, along with feedback from professional weather routers, rally participants, and other sailors, provides us with the valuable information we need to do accurate passage planning.

This particular passage, Fiji to NZ, is very challenging.  We will have to sail across 20 degrees of latitude between two weather systems.  This is an extremely formidable and demanding stretch of ocean.

Well over 100 boats will make this same journey this year. But we will only be sailing with a handful.

The Strategy

We take this passage very seriously, despite this being our 3rd time making this journey. 

The basic strategy is pretty well known.  You leave Fiji on the back side of a high (front) usually in crappy conditions.  You do this so that you can arrive New Zealand before the next low in relatively benign conditions. 

The systems near NZ change frequently and dramatically and tend to be more extreme.

sv Roam wrote an excellent blog post, a lot more thorough and detailed explanation on weather. I highly recommend this descriptive read.

This is what a typical and pretty good weather routing or passage plan looks like on Predict Wind.  We are starting at Fiji (top of the page) and ending in NZ (bottom).  The colors indicate the severity of the wind.

Preparations

There are numerous preparations that go into passage planning.  You’d think we’d have this down after sailing over 70,000 nautical miles and visiting over 33 countries.  But each passage and each country has its own unique preparations.

First of all, there is lots and lots of paperwork!  So much paperwork!

  • Paperwork
    • Departure paperwork for Fiji
      • Schedule appointment with officials
      • C2C Outward Report Form
      • Statement by Master Form
      • Photographs of boat (bow, stern, port, starboard)
      • Crew change Form
      • Crew List
      • Copies of Fiji entry paperwork, boat paperwork, and all passports
    • Entry paperwork for New Zealand
      • Apply online for an NZeTA (temporary visa) for each crew
      • Apply online for Traveler Declaration for each crew
      • Apply online for a Customs Number (Client Code) which gives us Duty Free purchases
      • Submit the Advanced Notice of Arrival Form
      • Submit the C4G Form
      • Appy for T.I.E. (Temporary Import Entry) which allows us to bring the boat into NZ
      • Crew change form
      • Bio Management Plan (6 page document detailing our hull cleaning/maintenance)
        • Provide photographic and video proof of cleanliness of the bottom of the boat including all niche areas (props, thru hulls, rudder, daggerboards, etc…)
    • Submit a Float plan for family, friends, and emergency contacts

Additional Preparation:

  • Pre-cook passage meals and freeze 
    • We made enough food for 3 people for 10 days (that’s a lot of food)
      • Eggplant parmesan
      • Chicken enchiladas
      • Chicken chow mien
      • Gumbo
      • Mongolian Chicken
      • Pasta de la casa (with a nice spice pasta with meat)
      • Chicken wontons
      • Gingerbread cookies
      • Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies
      • English Muffins
      • (3) bread doughs
  • Stow all valuables and breakables
  • Safety gear: put out and make accessible:
    • First aid medical kit, ditch bag, jackline, PFDs, foul weather gear 
  • Reservations at Marsden Cove Marina (where we clear into the country) and Town Basin Marina where we will stay after we arrive
  • Change window shade covers from sunbrella to Phifertex (to allow us to see out better)
  • Convert office cabin into sleeping cabin (for crew)
  • Separate “declared foods” and items to present to biosecurity upon arrival
  • Courtesy Flag: NZ and Quarantine Flag get out and make accessible
  • Clean bottom of the boat (every 5 days, 2 people, 2 hours)

Safety

  • Passage Guardian
    • File a float plan and sign up for passage guardian services
  • Island Cruising Pacific Rally
    • Land support
  • Gulf Harbor Radio
    • Daily check in with position reports and status report
  • Onshore support
    • Our very good friend, Donald tracks us while we are underway and provides weather and onshore support

Communications

We have multiple communications options.  We primarily rely on Starlink as this gives us access to the internet regardless of where we are in the world (even when we are in the middle of the ocean).  However, we do not leave this on 24/7 as it draws a lot of power.  

We’ve had our Starlink fail during a passage last year. So, we have always had communication back up plans.

  • Starlink gives us access to the internet anywhere in the world.  Starlink has been a game changer for us.  It allows us to get weather, check emails, and surf the web in the middle of the ocean, thousands of miles from shore.  However, it has been known to fail.
  • IridiumGo set up which gives us short text messages, short emails (no photos or attachments), and a few phone calls.  This can only be used in emergencies and cannot be used to surf the web.
  • SSB (HF radio) onboard.  This Single Sideband Radio can reach as far as 6,000 miles away.  We can use this to contact shoreside support.  We check in with the Gulf Harbor Radio daily through our SSB radio.  We can also get weather updates if Starlink and IridiumGo fail.
  • VHF Radio:  We also have a standard VHF radio which can reach other vessels within 24 miles of us.

As you can see there are loads of things we do to prepare for a passage.  All we can do is hope and pray that all of our resources, experts, and information is accurate enough to give us a safe passage.

We depart Fiji on 16 October 2025 heading for Marsden Cove Marina, New Zealand.  

In our last blog post we explore the beautifully authentic, old capital of Levuka.