Author: kerri

May 18th, 2011 0915 UTC/2115 local time (Eastern Hemisphere)

Current Conditions: We\’re 20 miles north of Great Barrier Island, heading for the Minerva Reefs. 750 miles to go if we stop there. Position: 35 deg 44 min S 175 deg 23 min N Wind South 22 Swell South 1.5 meters Temp: 59 deg F, 15 deg C Heading: 020 True Speed 7.7 knots

\”Moondance\”….Van Morrison

Dear F&F,

Well, what a marvelous night for a Moondance. We\’ve a full moon and relatively benign conditions. When the prediction for the wind to drop down to \”20 knots\” finally occurred, Kate took the helm, headed us to wind and I raised the main to the 3rd reef point. Still a small bit of sail, but plenty for \”Beach House\” aka: Miss Piggy to get up and rock. I wanted to have a nice easy first day and the conditions are cooperating. The North Island of New Zealand is still providing us protection from Ms. Tassie, we\’ll loose that within the next 24 hours.

As I write, I\’m downloading the \”mean surface level\” fax from New Zealand MET (Meterology) to keep an eye on what\’s developing.

This afternoon, good old N6ABC got back on the roll call for the Pacific Seafarer\’s Amateur radio net and checked in. We were number 18!…Busy folks out here. I got to speak with old friends including Chuck from \”Jacaranda\” still in Mexico an Joan on \”Tender Spirit\” headed also to Savusavu but from the opposite direction in the Marshall Islands. She wants to \”race\” and only has a 500 mile head start….:) Yeah, we\’re faster, but that\’s a big handicap to give.

Kate is having her first offshore and night sailing experience, doing one of the most important things she can do….SLEEPING. It sounds normal and natural, but remember, we\’re moving around constantly 24/7. It\’s an important skill. We trade watches every 4 hours and keep an egg timer going to insure we take a good look around every 20 minutes. I have no boats in sight and our AIS (automatic identification system) isn\’t seeing anyone either. However, our radar detector does see a signal, most likely at least 10-20 miles away. We\’re watching.

According to the weather fax, we should be sailing into lighter but more South Easterly winds over the next few days. If conditions warrant, we\’ll put up more sail in the morning and let Miss Piggy stretch her legs a bit.

Hope you like the \”live blog\” posts, it keeps me company and away from my dreams….

Hugs, Scott with sleeping Kate

Tuesday (Eastern Hemisphere), May 17th, 2011

\”Kentucky Woman\”….Neil Diamond

Auckland, New Zealand: Wind 8-20 knots, SW. Barometer 1011 and slightly rising. Temperature: 58 degrees F, 15.2 C. Rain Squalls. One cold front down, one to hit us in the morning, then off we go. Expect a fast passage with winds from the SW turning S, then SE, then ESE later in the program.

Dear F&F, Well tomorrow is \”jump day\”. We had a lovely dinner with friends Chris and Sandra Biggs. Returned the car, checked out with Kiwi Customs and got our routing/weather report from NZ Weather \”Guru\”, Bob McDavitt.

Luck was with us as the water maker part arrived just in time for Dave Holmes from Enertec Engineering to install it and now both of them are online.

On the way back from Chris and Sandra\’s house, \”Kentucky Woman\” was playing on the radio. I thought how odd. This song about a small southern state in the USA is playing while Chris, Kate and I were driving for the last time down Whangaparaoa Road. The song would have meant little to either of them for obvious reasons. But it made me feel both at home and out of place. Gulf Harbour in someways feels very much like home and in other ways I have no idea how I got here. The surrealness of the entire scene is something I think given the circumstances of my life (for those of you who know me well) was like being in Alice in Wonderland or Mr. Toad\’s wild ride. Things are so different today than I would have even possibly expected just a few short months ago. Today for you in the USA would have been Cindy and my 18th wedding anniversary. I tried to just have the moment yesterday here on the 18th, but I could feel all of you at home experiencing the day with me again.

I hope all of this wasn\’t a \”you had to be there\” to understand what I\’m feeling moment?

We\’ll start the daily blog (essentially live) tomorrow and put position reports on the website as well. Wish us well. Love and Hugs to you all, KIT, Scott with Kate…..last night in New Zealand

May 16th, 2011

Dear F&F,

\”Anniversary\”….\”The Little River Band\”.

Auckland, New Zealand: Wind SSW 18-35 knots. Swell in the Tasman Sea 6-8 meters SSW (18- 25 feet). Temperature 61 deg F, 16.6 C. Squally….

Today is May 16th, 2011. Today would have been our 18th anniversary. We always called it our \”Humaversary\” after the Humuhumunukunuku a\’ pua fish. You know it as the trigger fish. It was our favorite due to it\’s behavior and color. We first found this fish together on our dives in Hawaii in the mid 1990\’s.

The translation of this in Hawaiian is \”Nose like a pig, put together like a puzzle\”. I always thought it was apropos of Cindy. Little did I know…. I loved her cute nose, the puzzle is well…..a puzzle.

Tomorrow we will check out with New Zealand Customs, finish housekeeping, return the car and say goodbye. We\’ll have a last NZ dinner with Chris and Sandra Biggs at their home and depart Wednesday morning (your Tuesday in the Western Hemisphere).

The weather is predicted to calm for a bit then, but will build steadily as we head north. The swell will be long period and large, but the \”seas\” not predicted to be breaking off the tops too bad. This is \”Beach House\’s\” bread and butter condition. The good news is, it will be behind us. It could be a fast and blustery passage to Fiji. Currently, we\’re thinking \”pass\” on Minerva Reefs due to probable \”re-enforced\” trade winds when we would arrive. That means 25 knots or more! If so, c\’est la vie. If it works, we\’ll stop at North Minerva. This window is narrow and lots of boats will be leaving with us. The next one is not predicted to occur until sometime in June. So…here we go.

Savusavu, Fiji is 1205 miles in a straight line (which of course we won\’t sail) and should take around 7-9 days to get to depending on if we stop in the Minerva\’s.

Six boats are going to leave on our \”window\” from just Gulf Harbour. Perhaps 30 or so from all of New Zealand. We are lucky that due to bad weather, the Auckland customs dock was damaged so they have agreed to come up to Gulf Harbour tomorrow and check us out. This saves us a 35 mile round trip in the wrong direction. Additionally, they have agreed we can depart the next day which is virtually unheard of here. Usually you have to leave immediately upon check out. I told them I didn\’t want to do that as to have a full day of daylight before night watches began to get our \”sea legs\”. They understood.

So I write you with a mixed heart. Glad to move on, glad to leave this part of my life behind. New Zealand and all the people I\’ve met here have been wonderful, it\’s just sad that the circumstances did not allow me to enjoy it more….Perhaps I\’ll return again another day with a lighter heart.

Hugs to you all, Look for our live blog to start on the 18th here in NZ, your 17th of May in the US and UK. KIT, Scott with Kate

May 14th, 2011

\”Look Through Any Window\”…..The Hollies

Dear Friends and Family, Well, the weather HERE in Auckland has been pleasant and we were looking forward to a mid week departure. Now however, a tropical low is forming north of our nice Big Fat High. This means, we may yet be on hold awaiting a better weather window. The current set up is reminiscent of the \”Queen\’s Birthday Storm\”. An event that happened here 24 years ago, much like the \”Perfect Storm\”. You can google it: \”Queen\’s Birthday Storm\”. It\’s not likely to go that way, but we aren\’t going to tempt any fates.

The good news is that we may yet get a new circuit board for the little water maker and have it operational before we leave. Also, we could have a few days to relax and get Kate started on her Open Water Scuba course.

The food is cooked and packed, the boat is in great shape. Fuel, a bit of shopping, LOTS of organization, weather watching and some sad goodbyes.

Tonight, we\’ll be taking Paul McFadden and his girlfriend Dawn to dinner as a thank you for all Paul\’s help in this difficult time. On Monday we\’ll be going to Chris and Sandra Biggs for dinner, invite offered today as they sailed by on their boat. A chance for some relaxation will not be lost on either of us, especially me.

This Monday, May 18th would have been Cindy and my 18th wedding anniversary. I\’m sure it will be an emotional day.

Hugs to you all, Waiting for the right \”window\”…. Scott

May 12th, 2011
Dear Friends and Family, When leaving New Zealand which I have chosen to do as soon as practical for emotional reasons; the weather is EVERYTHING.

Yesterday was perhaps the worst weather I\’ve seen in my life! Not kidding. It was blowing 40 knots, 50 in the gusts. It was raining as hard as I\’ve ever seen. A tropical depression was to the West of New Zealand and just pummeling us. At least it wasn\’t freezing. Winter here is just around the corner.

What a difference a day makes…. Today looked like a benign sunny calm Southern California day…go figure!

Another low pressure system is to \”hit\” us on Sunday and the weather guru\’s say Monday to Thursday looks good for a JUMP. A jump is of course \”departure\” day. We\’ll go to Auckland (downtown), check out with Kiwi Customs and anchor out for a night to acclimatize to our environment. I prefer to start a long passage in the morning as to get our sea legs for the day. Speaking of \”our\”, let me introduce you all to young Kate Richardson of the UK.

Kate is an ultrasonographer. Basically, she takes ultra sounds of people for medical diagnosis. Kate is on an extended holiday \”overseas\”.

I met Kate through \”findacrew.net\” where people are looking for sailing experiences. As she was here in New Zealand, we met and hit it off right away. Kate brought two friends to check me and \”Beach House\” out. Kate\’s friends Stephen and Bea are both in the British military. Stephen is a communications officer in the Royal Navy and Bea a soon to be Major in the British Army. Stephen of course had to check the boat and Captain out for safety and qualification to let his friend Kate go off on a 1300 nautical mile South Pacific junket. Due to the result, I suppose both Captain and boat (which at the time was a complete mess!), passed muster.

Kate has been most enthusiastic and a complete joy in the organization of the galley and provisioning. With several crew/skipper certificates in hand, she is looking forward to her first long distance ocean passage. Hopefully it will be adventurous, but not too much so.

We are using local weather guru, Bob McDavitt to assist us in weather passage planning. Bob works for the New Zealand Met and was the head weather guy in Fiji for several years.

Kate is keen to learn to dive and I\’ve reinstated my PADI SCUBA Instructors certificate officially as of today. So if we get to the Minerva Reef\’s or upon reaching Savusavu, Fiji, Kate will get wet and we hope to make her a newly certified diver upon arrival.

So far, our Wednesday departure is looking good. If it continues so….we\’ll \”Jump\”

Keep in touch, Scott and Kate aboard s/v Beach House

May 11th 2011
Dear Friends and Family, We\’ll the journey continues and begins anew. The weather has been horrid. The wind blows like hell in furry, the rain falls like a broken damn. What am I doing here?

Mike Lonnes, great guy and genuinely best marine installation man on the planet earth, came to New Zealand with me to get Beach House ready to move on. Mike sailed with Cindy and me from the Galapagos to the Marquesas in 2009 and is most familiar with Beach House.

Mike designed an entire new electronic system and underwater plumbing system for the boat. Without his assistance, I simply would not be able to make this trip plain and simple. Thank you Mike!

It\’s been an intense 12 hour per day, go go go for the last two and half weeks. At least a dozen contractors have been here and we\’re as close to ready to go as we can be.

Mike left on Tuesday, the 10th of May and I went into a bit of \”what am I going to do without him?\” here.

Thank you all for your emails to keep up with me and keep me focused. Healing has been up and down. My new crew, Kate has been very helpful as a sweet soft understanding spirit. I\’ll introduce you to Kate in my next post.

All the folks here at Gulf Harbour have been fantastic. A great place for the major planned re-fit. I\’m still in shock and confusion as I\’m sure many of your are. I\’m plugging along just trying to keep one foot in front of the other…..

On another note, Skye\’s movie was given the \”green light\” and she and Sean are now in Atlanta, Georgia prepping for production to begin in the near future. Thank you Ms. Diaz for signing and keeping my daughter gainfully employed….:) Hugs to you all, Scott