Tag Archives: catana

Baguette search success

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Well there you have it. Goal achieved

Baguette has arrived

Arrived yesterday morning, as planned, through pass at sunrise, can’t see the reefs until you are right there and just a change in wave behavior above them

The light house is there to guide you in.

Lighthouse at daybreak

Welcomed into the lagoon with this sight.

A welcome squall

A crazy run around to get immigration process complete before they closed at noon? Best government job ever.

A couple of beers and pizza with friends who met us at the dock and grabbed our lines and secretly dropped off some French pastries for breakfast. There was a band at the marina bar, started at 6pm… don’t think I was awake for the end of the first song.

What started out as 880nm trip, turned into 1047nm. I took the scenic route. Don’t know if it was more comfortable or not, I do know it was full day longer than following the direct route. There was some nice sailing in the middle part, but the beginning and end were definitely not champagne sailing, you would have missed your mouth with the champagne flute on every sip. We averaged 7.5 knots for the trip which is pretty good for a long passage.

Anyway cheers signing off till our next passage.

Baguette search day #2

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The first night done and dusted, bounced as Lionel Richie would say “all night long”. Bits of sleep were had, always takes a bit to get into the swing of making a passage.

You know what makes it all better! BACON! Perfect reward for night one down, also pork products are one of the many things not allowed to be on the ship when we arrive. Bacon McMuffins a great way to start the day, sounds like a Macca’s slogan. ( that is what McDonalds is called in this part of the world, still spelled right just pronounced differently )

All in all a good day, still struggled with current in the morning, shook a reef out of the sail eventually found favorable currents and seas were turning the corner and decided we were going interesting places and start to follow along. Instead of thinking the waves could get us to stay in New Zealand they listened to our story and promise of the perfect baguette,

Lots of naps and staying inside where it’s a bit warmer, with the winds and seas out of the south it’s a bit chilly. Only venturing out a few times per hour to look for pirates or any other possible collision targets. None spotted.

Boat was totally crusted in salt from the previous bashing. Seriously needed a car wash. Read foreshadowing..

Spent the day watching AIS traffic and which boats were leaving and which were staying. With at least 3 professional weather routers and at least 100 boats all trying to get to the tropics, can you guess the common topic and gossip? This time of year, weather opinions trump American politics. Everyone has a “thought” and with being 6 weeks past the end of cyclone season and non normal weather patterns there is too much information. Hard not to get caught up in the heard. Add to the difficulty that leaving NZ is at least a 5 day passage and the weather forecasts are good for about 3 days, the gossip and possibilities about days 4, 5, 6 and beyond adds a the stress of making a passage. The go, no-go choice is always a challenge when it’s not champagne sailing.

Checked into gulf harbor radio with Patricia and Dave at 5:15pm on the SSB. They offer tracking and weather information to the cruising community, and most of all someone else to chat with on long passages.

Spicy Cajun pasta and focaccia bread for dinner after the ham radio net. Christine is getting ready to go to sleep, and asks “should we take in another reef for the night” to which I reply “it’s fine” it’s been a wonderful day. She just got to bed, and the sounds of wind are starting. Where did that squall come from? 35 knots of driving rain, I get soaked reducing the head sail and running even further downwind. Needless to say we took the reef for the night. And boat got was it deserved.

While we did have the radar alarms on, they were set for looking ahead of the boat, but since we were now going the same direction as the weather the alarms need to look behind too. Fixed now, after the surprise of course.

Cheers all well on board on night #2

Our first 24 hrs, nearly 200 miles through water, 176 miles over ground but only 156 count toward our destination. That’s sailing math. We have 645 miles to go

Starboard Side Stay

Compromised Rigging Part I

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It started out as a beautiful day at Arrow Bay, Gau.  Matt went to move the boom from port to starboard so our solar panels could capture more sunlight. And then we noticed a problem with our starboard side stay, standing rigging.

We have 16mm stainless 1×19 wire.  It is all supposed to be wrapped together as a unified family.  But this one stand decided it did not want to play with the others anymore.

Standing Rigging

What is our standing rigging?

A sailboat’s standing rigging refers to the set of fixed wires, rods, or lines that support the mast and other spars.  It is crucial for maintaining the boat’s stability and performance.

Unlike the running rigging, which is used to adjust the sails, standing rigging provides a stable framework to withstand wind and sail forces. And equally important, it holds up the mast. 

Our standing rigging was replaced in Sint Maarten in 2016 using 16mm stainless steel.  It has an average lifespan of 10-12 years.  Our current rigging is 9 years old.  Our last standing rigging lasted 14 years and had no damage or compromised areas when we replaced it. But the previous rig did not have nearly as many miles on it as our current rig.

We’ve managed to put over 50,000 miles on our current rig, which is a LOT of miles.

Several surveyors have commented on the quality and high standards of our rigging for the size of our boat.  Stating, in fact, that our rigging was “overbuilt for the boat.”  Always better to be over built than under built.

Discovery

I clean the stainless, which includes the stud (not the turnbuckle), and the first 2-3 meters of the side stays.  I cleaned the stainless 1 week prior to our discovery with nothing amiss.

We sailed from Ovalau to Gau on a starboard tack with (1) reef in the main.  True wind was around 12-15kts and apparent was about 17-18kts.  We were pinching pretty hard (close to the wind), but it was an unremarkable, non-stressful day on the rig.

While at anchor at Gau, Matt noticed the damage and we immediately went into action.

First thing we did was create a plan:

  • Assess the extent of the damage
  • Secure a safety line on both side stays
  • Collect specifics, dimensions, and data on replacement parts
  • Contact Westside Rigging (the only qualified rigger in Fiji)
  • Contact Vuda Marina (book slip to do the work)

Current Rigging Specifics

Our shrouds are CS16-Ix19, 16mm Ixi9 stainless steel (33 meters long).

The top pin is HYMEMI6 Swage eye l6mm wire I” pin inserted into a saddle that we can reuse.

The bottom is HYISEMI6RH Swage stud I6 mm wire 1″ UNF RH that will need to be swaged (standard).

We are hoping Westside Rigging can use the same or better stainless. The stainless for their side stay comes from Australia and their bits/pieces come from either NZ, Australia, or Korea.

Preventative Efforts

We replaced our running rigging in New Zealand.  We kept the previous lines that were still good including our lines that had dynema core.

The previously used topping lift is 14mm with a dynema core and a 4200kg safe working load. 

Our 16mm stainless shroud has a 2900kg safe working load. So, the topping lift is almost 60% stronger.

Matt takes the topping lift up to the attachment point on the mast.

Matt uses a 3:1 purchase to tighten the line and secure the starboard side stay.  It looks like a macramé mess, but it is strong and tight.

In addition, Matt also used one of our spinnaker halyards on each side stay.  The spinnaker halyards also have a dynema core and are very strong. The spin halyards  are attached at the top of the mast (just above the side stay attachment point).

He secured the red spin halyard on starboard and the green halyard on port.

Westside Rigging

Westside Rigging has been in business for almost 30 years in Fiji.  We had been in contact with Sammy to help us replace the bearings in our furler.  And since he was already coming out to the boat we thought we’d have him do a rigging inspection since our rig is about 9 years old.

Prior to the side stay issue, I scheduled the furler work and inspection for 25 August and booked Vuda Marina for 1 day.

We contacted Sammy immediately (7:45am on a Saturday) once we discovered the issue with our side stay.  I was not expecting a response until Monday.  Imagine my surprise when the phone rang 2 minutes later!

I sent him photos and gave him the specifics.  He assured us he has everything in stock and can easily replace both of our side stays.

The Plan

The easiest and safest way to get from Gao to Vuda are several short day passages.  We have one fairly long passage of 90+nm from Gao to Kadavu.  We can make short day passages from Kadavu back to Vuda (which is on the other side of the big island, Viti Levu).

Our goal is to be as gentle as possible on the rig.  Focusing on trips with light winds, small seas, and if possible port tacks.  Fingers crossed.

Stay tuned for Part II coming in a few weeks.

Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual live events.  We noticed the compromised side stay in early August 2025.

We share the beauty of Gau in our last blog post.