Started out like any all day carnival ride where the “attendant” forgets to press the off button on your e-ticket ride. Into the night we go.

Made some dinner, or more specifically re-heated one of the passage meal as it was too bouncy to get creative and hold on at the same time. And everyone likes butter chicken and a fresh baked batch of “hoodoo bread”.

A little radio check in with New Zealand, get an update on weather and see how friends are doing behind us. New Zealand, Gulf Harbor radio told us that our spare AIS antenna was able to be picked up by satellites. Of course I had dismantled it and put it away as the device was saying it didn’t like the antenna. So with renewed vigor, made the temporary setup less of a tripping hazard on a bouncing boat and set it backup for the duration of the journey. Also Gulf Harbor reported that they counted over 50 boats making the passage from Fiji to New Zealand on this weather window. We knew there was a lot, but thats a whole lot. Gulf Harbor Radio live streams the Ham Radio calls on their YouTube channel and records them it you want to hear Christine’s radio voice and what kind of information is shared over long range radio, search YouTube for Gulf Harbor Radio.

Night watches are more fun when you have a project, the AIS was such a project. Before I knew it the waves melted into the background noise. Were we getting used to it? Or did they magically become less chaotic? Turns out they be came organized and were no longer jarring and more smoothing and accepting our presence. Only occasionally a wave every so often didn’t get the message and soaked the boat but a much nicer motion. So much so that on my second shift I started easing more canvas out to go faster. And as day broke it was time to raise more than the scraps of sails we went to bed with. Full Jib and First 2 reefs in the main, then only 1 reef left in the main. And what a wonderful way to get the day zooming along. Turns out we covered about 194 miles on day 2.

Picture of the AIS antenna now living in the pocket of the life ring and tied on for dear life. Sometimes spares come in handy. Extra Coax cable and Antenna and we are duct tape and bailing wire’d for now.

Cheers all well on board

Well we made it through day number one!

Long line at Customs and Immigration with all the boats wanting to leave on this “weather window”. Everyone talking in line about strategies and why this is a good time to leave. I’m not convinced lots of non favorable conditions and a dead line at the end made for some tough decisions but decided to go with the heard. Leaving Fiji in a conga line or the autobahn was pretty crazy we counted 20+ boats in a line all motoring out of the wind shadow looking to start sailing.

Normally I like to start these longer passages early in the day, to have a full day of nice sunlight and getting “sea legs” or used to the motion of the boat in the day light before darkness settles in. There are no street lights to guide your way at night, and we are in a “new moon” phase so the moon doesn’t eve show up to help light the way. It’s also overcast and grey so no stars – not really a champagne sailing kinda day but off we go.

We get out the pass around 2pm and barely before dark have the full force of the wind that was lurking behind the shadow of the big FIji island. Then the seas that go with 20knots of wind also showed up. Bouncy but fast night. Not that comfortable. Even started with only half of the sail, 2 reefs. Eventually raised some more, but the a bit later dropped it back down.

At the start there were lots of boats around, but as the night grew on everyone was taking their own path and speed, and then there were no boat lights on the horizon before day break. Some were still on AIS, radio tracking. With all the bouncing around our AIS antenna had enough of trying to hold on any longer and jumped ship. We saw him hanging from a wire contemplating his fate, but there was nothing we could do to change his mind. Eventually he let go of the coax and bailed on us. He held in there for 26000 miles at the top of the mast since Costa Rica, I can only imagine he was getting a little tired of all those waves we have bounce through. So no we are not seeing the boat even electronically or worse yet, not broadcasting our position to nearby boats so they can see us. Something to address at the first camp site along the way, meaning New Zealand.

All well onboard. Christine is well medicated and not showing signs of being green or wanting to talk to the fish. She even got her some pulled pork tacos to start the journey off right. 1100 miles as the crow flies on this journey down south into much colder weather.

I was asked if I was gong to wear socks.. “Socks??” I asked, and he replied “it’s like mittens but for your toes”. Wonder if they work with Flip-Flops?