Category Archives: Passages & Crossings

Passage Planning: Fiji to NZ

Leave a reply

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.

Drama on the high seas

8 Replies

First and foremost everything is fine on board, we are continuing on toward Fiji as planned still with a stop in Tuvalu.

We left Majuro bound for Fiji with 2 stops along the way, Kiribati and Tuvalu.  Its the end of cyclone season, Yippie, except for the one that just popped up between Vanuatu and is heading toward New Zealand.  We are heading to “Bula” country, home of friendly people and kava ceremonies. 

When we left the Marshall Islands we had 2 steering helms, 2 rudders, 1 auto pilot and 2 souls capable of steering the boat with any of those.  And we have an emergency tiller too, in case everything goes pear shaped.  Let me say, we have had some “challenges” on this passage south. 

First arriving Kiribati, one of the steering boxes on the starboard side decided 24 years was enough, and demanded attention.   One its bearings on the inside the steering gears rusted through and burst into pieces.  One steering station down. Now we can no longer steer the boat from the starboard helm, and that is also where the gas pedal is.   So picture a clown car with the clowns carrying around the steering wheel, yet the car won’t turn. Turn as you might the steering wheel, helm, just spins indefinitely.   To actually turn, you have to run to the other side of the drivers end clown car to steer and run back to give it gas or slow down.  What can go wrong?  🙂  The clowns always make it work, right?   I actually removed the steering gear (red below) where the bearings disintegrated, so that the pieces and wobbly gear wouldn’t lock up the steering completely.  So whew,  order bearings to repair and head off to Tuvalu.  Not ideal but we have 2 of everything, part of being a catamaran.

Left Kiribati bound for Tuvalu.

The sail started out as champagne sailing doing great speeds and making short work of 700 miles we were making toward Tuvalu. It devolved a bit into prosecco sailing when the speeds dropped a bit, but still great fun.   Day 3 the squalls of the ITCZ (convergence zone between north and south hemispheres), quick wind shifts and gusts made for some exciting times.  Nothing out of the normal for this part of the pacific crossing the equator and the convergence zones.   When the wind went too light and on the nose, it was time to check the engine fluids before starting and to spot any potential issues.  I found the port rudder “control arm” broke at some point, probably during one of those pesky 30kt squalls.  The ones that steel your perfect wind and force you off course.  Thinking back, the broken bit might explain why it took longer than normal to turn downwind to run in the storm.  So the port rudder is down till we find a stainless welder.  Its lashed to the central position now, its just not wobbling too and fro willy nilly, and getting a free ride.

So for those keeping count, we have 1 working steering helm station (port), 1 working rudder (starboard), 1 auto pilot(starboard), and 2 less than pleased souls on board.   And of course the emergency tiller when all else fails.    So now we still use the gas pedal on the starboard side, run to port side to steer, the steering rudder is actually on the starboard side.   Got it?  A bit complicated but we are still trucking along, albeit a bit more conservatively till we arrive Fiji and work on getting cold beer to tackle fixing the steering project.

Is it Fiji that doesn’t like our steering?  2 years ago, one of our rudders vanished on the way to Fiji.  This year, other steering components are making their voices heard. 

275nm to Tuvalu, then another 500ish to Fiji.. we will get there!

240 Hour Passage: Vanuatu to Marshall Islands

1 Reply

As you know, our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This passage occurred toward the end of September.  We have been playing in Marshall Islands for the past 2.5 months so keep reading and enjoy these adventures.  

We left the Rowa Islands which are part of the Banks Island Group in Northern Vanuatu on a bright, beautiful sunny day.  Our goal was to arrive Majuro in 9-10 days.  We hired a weather router, engaged the Passage Guardian, and had our very good friend, Donald feeding us weather updates daily.

Our weather gurus picked a fairly benign weather window knowing we would have at least 2-3 motor days.  We decided to take this window because the SPCZ would be fairly calm.  This is good as it is known for being a center for thunderstorms and unsettled weather.  We did not want any of that on our watch.

Day 1

Our first day brought us really nice winds, low seas and a slight current in our favor.  We were able to sail for the first 6-hours before the wind died and we ended up motor sailing the rest of the night.

  • Fish:  Caught and released a Skip Jack Tuna and a blue marlin
  • Miles Travelled:  130nm
  • Avg. Speed: 5.4kt and max speed: 9.7kt

This marlin gave Matt a really hard time, but we finally got the hook out of his mouth and released him to the sea.  Our freezers were full and could not accommodate this big fish.

Day 2 & 3

Talk about “low wind” days.  We had glassy waters out in the middle of the South Pacific  Crazy how calm the seas were.  We did something that we have never done before – we flew the drone off our moving boat.  Taking off and flying were easy, but the landing was a bit of challenge.

  • Fish:  caught another blue marlin, but this guy was able to do water dancing which wiggled the hook out of his mouth.
  • Miles Travelled:  130nm each day
  • Avg. Speed: 5.5kt and max speed: 9.7kt

We did manage to get a few periods of sailing and it was glorious!  We were full sail, pinching hard to the wind and making good progress at 7-8kts.

  • Fish:  No fish
  • Miles Travelled:  130nm
  • Avg. Speed: 5.4kt and max speed: 9.7kt

Crossing the Equator

Matt and I have crossed the equator once before so there were no “rituals” but we did enjoy seeing the Latitude go to zero.  We left the southern hemisphere and are now in the northern hemisphere.  Whoop Whoop!

The good thing about rain storms are the gorgeous rainbows that follow.

Playing Dodge Squall and Dodge Boats

What a pain in the arse.  We encountered 6 different fishing fleets.  The fleet consists of 6-8 fishing boats and their individual FADs (fishing aggregating device), and a mother ship.  Most had AIS tracking on but a few did not.  It required constant surveillance. 

If we are not dodging the fishing boats we are dodging the squalls.  Makes it an entertaining day/evening trying to avoid both.

We always hope to have a full moon on long passages but we certainly don’t plan around it.  However, this time we got lucky and had the bright moon during most of our passage.  

Of course the moon could not have all of the attention. The sun had to show off its beauty as well. My favorite images are those that have the glassy seas and the reflection of the sun and moon in the water.

Almost There, But we Slow Down

On day 8 we realized that we were going to arrive at the pass after dark. This is never a good thing when you are not familiar with the pass or its conditions.  So, we decided to slow down.  We would miss daylight hours by 2 lousy hours.  Why is this a big deal?  Well had we arrived 2 hours earlier we could be at the anchorage and enjoying a solid night sleep.  But instead we are out at sea for an additional 24 hours.  

We ended up dropping the sails and shutting the engines off.  Sugar Shack just drifted for 7 hours.  We have never just drifted on a passage or anytime for that matter.  We still maintained our watch schedule and had all of our alarms set.

Our first sighting of land.

As we arrived to the main pass we noticed 3 large fishing vessels waiting to enter as well.  They had to wait for a pilot boat so we stood off to the side to let them enter first.  Funny to be in a traffic jam on this remote island.

Summary

  • Total Miles Travelled: 1,339.22
  • Total Hours: 240
  • Average boat speed: 5.5kt
  • Max boat speed: 10.4kt
  • Hours Motoring:  136 hours or 5.6 days
  • Fish:  We caught and released (1) skip jack tuna and (2) blue marlin
  • Books:  11 books read (Christine)
  • Movies:  2 movies (Christine)

Formalities

The officials, Customs, Immigration, and Biosecurity came onboard Sugar Shack and it was truly the easiest clearance process we have ever experienced.  They were incredibly friendly and efficient, asked a few questions, signed a few forms and stamped our passports.  Sweet As!

The officials clear us in to the country with the easiest formalities yet!  Super nice group, a wonderful welcome!

Even though we motored more than we ever have on a passage, this was still considered a good trip.  We would much rather have no wind and calm conditions than face massive thunderstorms, squalls, and bad sea conditions.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This passage occurred from 9/15-9/25.  The previous blog posts was written by Matt during our passage.  Prior to our passage, our last blog post highlighted the Banks Islands.