Category Archives: Fiji to New Zealand

Passage Crew.

Looks like we picked up crew for this passage.

This crew member came from reputable sources that touted his seamanship and excellent fishing abilities. I resisted letting him aboard and even tried to scare him away with wild crazy captain like antics. But alas, I turned my back and again he was begging for a a ride.

I was shouting and running about and carrying on, he stood strong, as only a seasoned sailor would. Only occasionally getting up from his onboard barstool when I got within fighting distance. However, every time I turned to walk away and looked back, damn if the old salt didn’t sit right back down

.

Unplanned crew holding his own

Thwarted, I resigned to giving him a chance. Called customs and immigration and had the fowl crew added to the crew list in hopes he would be helpful and contribute on those long shifts and help the peace onboard.

But alas, all this guy would do is stand around and make a mess of the place. I even tried conversations and asked for some fishing tips and locations. However, like any good fisherman his beak was sealed, not even a peep of a tip on how to become a better fisherman. Nary even a fish tale about the one that got away.

He was such a loner. He would not even clean up after himself. By morning all that was left was his mess.. Its like he has never heard of a ‘head’ or ‘poop deck’ before.. Definitely went about created his own instead of asking where ours was!

All I can hope is that he left well rested and (or fell overboard). All that is left this morning is calling customs and immigration and trying to explain what happened and why we didn’t arrive with our crew member in our next port.

Now if you see a sailor wearing Red Booties, just be warned he is not to be trusted. Really more of a boob than a crew.

Too long at the bar, Now just holding on with every wave we take over the bows, thus cleaning the poop deck

All well onboard (minus one crew member)
Ticking off the miles, and sanity.
660 miles left, only a smidgen of sanity.
Sails are up, but motor sailing to aid in keeping them full .

Still out here

Along with some of our closest friends we have an ever met and are really not that physically close.

New Zealand bound boats

You can see the gaggle of boats that left Tonga on the right and boats that left Fiji at the top and outer proposed tracks directly into the wind. 😉

I think it might actually called a fleet of boats? if they are only bound by their destination are they actually related? Might just be a group..

The boats look close together, but there is only one boat within 10 miles of us at this point.

All good out here, 750 miles to go. Engines running making progress toward destination. Making water and batteries are full from the motoring. Looking for positives for listening to the engine noise instead of the wind noise. It is getting cooler but still shorts weather. At least 5 more days to go, especially if we don’t get some favorable winds soon, and it looks like it might be another day or so. For now the waves are way down and only 5 knots of wind on the nose so it’s time to catch up on sleep and just relax.

Cheers

First 24 hours to NZ behind us.

Knocked off 172 miles toward the destination, it only cost us 10 miles or extra distance so far. Most of that was leaving Denaru and getting out of the reefs.

Sunny and still warm. A decent run for day one. The squall line that comes in tonight or tomorrow morning will not be too much fun, but it’ll happen.

Beautiful day, can’t see but it’s a little bit bumpy too

We continue to hammer down and keep the VMG toward NZ up, well should arrive before the cold front. COLD FRONT? Why did we leave Fiji? Oh yeah, boat work and cyclone season is in our future.

Broke out the BBQ Chicken Enchiladas for diner. Can’t go wrong with some good ole enchiladas!

All good on board.
922 miles to destination.