Tag Archives: pacific passage

Baguette search day #5

Still no baguette to be found not even the smell of fresh ones baking in the distance.  

As day broke, you could see rain squalls on all sidss, I think I counted a magical 7 of them, suited up for battle.  Foul weather gear ready for day of rain.  Happy to report I won the battle, the rain mainly just sprinkled a time or two early in the day and put up the surrender rainbows.   Surprised as the forecast had a bit of rain all day long.  

The battle I did lose was the waves, I stood tall and said go away, but they came anyway.  3 meter waves relentlessly kept appearing out of magical hiding spots.  We were running in retreat which was actually toward out destination as luck would have it.  Found a nice rhythm and boat speed that made most of them tolerable.  I tried to take a picture of the horizon lost with nothing but wave touching the sky, but simply didn’t do it justice.  

Another round or sea sampling was on the agenda.  It’s recommended not to sample in big seas and fast speeds.  We were just under the guideline of less than 12 knots of boat speed, we surfed down a swell at 11 knots on one of the samples.  

Played chicken with 2 cargo ships one in the dark, eventually Christine told him she had right away, well not exactly like that.. simply asked if he saw us on his screen which he said yes ma’am.   We took that as a win and no insurance exchange was necessary.

Grilled our last pork chops and blanched some fresh green beans, and by grilled I mean pan-seared.  Hard enough to cook at the stove that keeps moving about as it goes over 3 meter waves.

Just over 230nm to go, too far to make in the next daylight so shooting for a Friday day break arrival at outer reef, then another 17 miles to the customs and immigration offices.  

Leaving NZ a 3rd time isn’t easy

Time to head back to the tropics, well past time actually but Mother Nature had her own schedule.

Brrrrr

Saying good bye is never easy, but in sailing it’s till we meet again. Still doesn’t make it any easier after spending nearly more than a year and a half getting to know good people and making great friends in New Zealand. 🇳🇿. Will definitely miss them as this is possibly our last trip to these waters by sailboat.

We left New Zealand on Saturday June 6th with nearly 900 miles to go to New Caledonia. Was a bit bouncy with current and waves trying to keep us from leaving. We knew it was an uphill battle till we got clear of the island. After waiting for a month for a plausible weather window, getting excited and ready, only to realize the window just became a window with shutters this frosted window showed up. Not a crystal clear window, but a workable window.

The winds look good, the seas are bigger than we’d like but they are mostly going the same direction as us, except for the start.

At the last minute another system was showing up in the forecast a week out right between New Caledonia 🇳🇨 and Fiji 🇫🇯 . Ugh! Originally we were to wait so the start wasn’t into the current and waves, but leaving a day earlier added padding to the other end so scramble and push up the and that’s how we ended up out here.

Afternoon start, not much time to get sea legs before darkness set in.

Last NZ sunset

In search for baguettes,

Pacific Passage to Easter Island

Matt dutifully posted “Real-Time Pacific Passage blogs” while we were at sea.  So, I will not bore you with another rendition of the same passage, but I will give you some highlights.

Technically, this is part II of our Pacific Passage as we started from Valdivia to Robinson Crusoe (500nm) and now from Robinson Crusoe to Easter Island.

The anchor was pulled up at 1030am on 16 March with approximately 1625 nm to Easter Island from Robinson Crusoe.  We anticipated it taking 12-14 days to make this trip.

Sunset Photo

Sunset Photo

A few days we averaged 170 nm a day, but for the most part we averaged 130-150 nm a day.  At the end of the trip we sailed 1,655 nm with a max speed of 13.2 and an overall average speed of 6.2. A remarkable 11-day sail with decent winds.

The only disappointing mishap was a ripped spinnaker.  We were flying our small spinnaker which is good to 20kts of wind.  A squall snuck up on us and as we debated taking it down, POP!

Picture of Spinnaker happy and flying

Spinnaker happy before she wasn't

Spinnaker happy before she wasn’t

Matt and Spinnaker unhappy

Ripped the clew right off the small spinnaker

Ripped the clew right off the small spinnaker

We were thrilled to sail up to Easter island are so looking forward to exploring this mystical island.

This map gives you an idea of where we sailed from Valdivia, to Robinson Crusoe, to Rapa Nui.

Robinson Crusoe and Easter Island

Robinson Crusoe and Easter Island