Well, no perfect weather window for this passage at least does not exist, or rarely does. We lucked into a pretty sweet passage last time we left Fiji for New Zealand.
We waited, analyzed and agonized. Nothing was perfect..
Definitely not a weather window.
We had better already be in New Zealand before the above forecast comes to fruition,, that is a week away. Gives us a week to make this work.
We will be burning some “Dino Juice” (diesel) anytime the wind drops.
On “Our” Thursday, we left around 2pm, 1100 miles to go
All good on board at midnight, keeping an eye on the shipping traffic out here. Cheers, 1021 miles to go. There are also several other boats out here making this run as well, the customs office was very busy today.
Just like that, we are in the future again. The dateline is all that separates the past from the future, all this time I thought we needed the Delorean time machine to get to the future. Or just wait around till the future came along.
A good day, lots of wind, a front line, some big waves, couple of sail changes and some napping.
All the boats that are out here going the same direction are all so far away we can’t visually see them, or even on the AIS screen. As soon as they are about 15 miles away they might as well be 100.
Now it’s pitch black, the moon doesn’t rise till almost day break and its 100% cloud cover so nothing to see as we arrive the Eastern Lau group of Fiji. Dodging the small islands and reefs will be the video game of the night watch. Staying 2 Nm offshore of any of these hard things just in case the charts are off is plan. Luckily we have been in these parts before and have some tracks and remember that the charts we have and satellite images are pretty close. .. adding the 2 mile buffer adds to the chances of missing these if something was to go wrong.
Lots of reefs line the path this eve
About 120 Nm left to go, if the winds stay up and the forecast is they should, we can hopefully arrive in daylight. If not, our backup plan is to anchor nearby and clear-in in the morning. of course we have to finish any fresh produce and bacon before arrival. Can’t let bacon go to waste.
Fickle as we are, we have pressing matters to attend to. Just like that crazy rabbit from Alice in wonderland.
Well not really, we had a great time in Tonga but we really didn’t do it justice. Lots of whales, some great anchorages, mediocre weather and great weather but Fiji and a chance to pick up a replacement rudder won the coin toss.
Another unexpected fun in Tonga, was we got to cross paths with new and old friends from anchorages past. Some we hadn’t seen since the Caribbean, others from French Polynesia and beyond.
We cleared out on Friday with a Saturday plan. Can’t leave on a Friday, it’s bad luck, and that would have meant missing a Friday happy hour. Saturday morning came all too soon.
A cruise ship was arriving so no need to stick around. Under way and raised full sails. Soon enough, wind picked up and overpowered the one rudder. Oh my, this is going to be a long 400 miles. Reefed and tweaked, and tweaked, and finally came to an agreement with autopilot.
We agreed, not to give him too much sail to deal with and he would meander down the course, like he was the one that stayed too late at happy hour. One reef in the main and various furls on the headsail and we have some decent balance. With the exception of the quartering seas that induces lots of rudder use, we have successfully knocked out 150 of those 400 miles.
With the exception of the rough waves and winds at the start, why did we chose to leave in a squall?, it’s going well out here.
