Category: 2011 Blog

May 25th, (Eastern Hemisphere), 2011 – 8:30 p.m. Our Last Night at Sea….

Conditions: 18 degrees 45 minutes SOUTH 177 degrees 20 minutes EAST Wind: East, 30 knots (It\’s still blowing!) Swell: East, 2 – 2.5 meters (We\’re getting some reef protection) Heading: 340 True Speed: 5.5 knots 3 reefs in the main, no head sail (We\’re trying to go slow for a daylight entry) Barometer: 1013.8 and rising 55 miles to \”Navalu Pass\”, the reef entrance to Lautoka 75 miles to Lautoka, Fiji (Fiji\’s second largest commercial port near Nadi (pronounced Nandi))

\”Yesterday\”…..The Beatles

Dear F&F, As this is our last night \”at sea\” and the left side of my \”Deep V\” into and out of New Zealand. I thought it was important to reflect on \”Yesterday\”. I listen to lots of music out here and this song which we\’ve all heard 1000 times had me feel today why it was a timeless melody. It will be the end of tonight\’s post.

We\’re approaching Viti Levu, the main Island of Fiji. Fiji literally has 100\’s of islands, but Viti Levu and Vanua Levu (where we will go to Savusavu \”someday\”…:)) are the two largest. This is considered the most complicated navigational area in perhaps the entire world. There are still lists of \”uncharted\” reefs, possible underwater volcanos, etc. that are not published and not on navigational charts. As such, it\’s a place to be especially careful of at night. When approaching a place like this, one doesn\’t do so without a great deal of caution. Night entries are not advised! That\’s why we will wait till morning light before going into the reef system. It\’s pitch black out here tonight, no stars or moon with 100% cloud covered sky\’s. Other vessels are around too. On the radio tonight, we heard two other boats waiting to enter the pass in the morning. There could be several more we didn\’t hear too.

We\’re finally getting some protection to the east by Kandavu Island, the Great Astrolabe Reef and Beqa (pronounced Benga) Lagoon\’s reef system. These are what\’s knocked down the \”fetch\” distance reducing the swell from the full oceanic 3.5 meters to a much more comfortable 2 meters.

Most beginners to boating think it\’s the long distances of passages that are the greatest danger. In truth, it\’s actually being near land. Hitting \”land\” (reefs) is much more hazardous to our health than banging into waves. We must be more vigilant in our watch keeping close to shore and maintain the best possible night vision. There are navigational aids (lights in particular) here, but we must still approach with caution as these sometimes don\’t work in the third world or a change that hasn\’t been published shows us an aid that is mis-marked. Such is the life of the ocean going sailor, amateur, professional and everyone in between.

So on this note, I will leave you with my day\’s catharsis and tomorrow give a synopsis of our passage and plans over the next few weeks.

\”Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though their here to stay, oh I believe in yesterday. Why she had to go, I don\’t know, she wouldn\’t say? Something\’s wrong, now I long for yesterday.\” I guess it says it all. I have no choice but to move forward. I\’m still shocked and confused, I long for \”Yesterday\”…..

Nighty night, don\’t let the bed bugs bite…..I hope you\’ve all enjoyed my musical tour, sailing from Auckland, New Zealand to Lautoka, Fiji. It\’s been for the most part, a \”downwind joyride\”….. Scott with resting Kate

May 24th (EASTERN Hemisphere again!), 2011 – 10 p.m. local time.

Conditions: 21 deg 20 min SOUTH 178 deg 19 min EAST (zig zagged the date line). Wind: 25 East Swell: 3 meter ESE (more East). Heading: 340 deg T Speed: 8.5 knots (a bit bumpy again, but quite livable) Barometer: 1017 Day 6 run: 182 nm

122 nm to Kandavu (first outer island of Fiji for us). Should see it before dark tomorrow. 228 nm to Lautoka, port of entry, Western Fiji – Viti Levu Island. Expected Landfall, Thursday, May 26th mid day local time (same as New Zealand).

\”Galileo\”….Indigo Girls

Dear F&F, Tonight is a clear sky \”high pressure\” night. It brings to mind the astronomer \”Galileo\”. He was convicted and condemned for \”telling the truth\”. It\’s an introspective song dealing with our fate, re-incarnation and reliving our mistakes or the those of others who\’ve gone before us.

The BFH (aka: big fat high) that we left New Zealand on with it\’s big Southerly winds is still our dominant weather phenomenon. It was as good as it gets leaving New Zealand in the late Fall to head to the tropics. The wind has started turning to the East as well as the swell due to the BFH moving Eastward 1500 miles to our South. It\’s still blowing a blue streak out there, we\’ve two reefs in the main sail and the staysail up on the port side.

We had to stow the spinnaker pole as we had to start being concerned about losing our hard fought for \”Easting\”. The wind is actually slightly ahead of the beam, we\’d sure like last nights dead run back (wind right astern). We did cover 200 nm from 7 p.m. last night to 7 p.m. tonight.

On the radio tonight, I heard old friends Joan and Chuck on s/v \”Tender Spirit\”. Joan was joking last week that despite the 1200 miles we were behind them in arriving in Fiji (they are coming from Majuro in the Marshall Islands), they had little wind and we had lots. She said, \”you\’ll probably beat us anyway!\”. I didn\’t believe it then, but now I do. They\’re still 250 miles out and so are we. We have wind, they have little and we\’re lots faster to begin with. So goes sailing on big oceans.

So tonight as I stare at the Universe above and all the glory of the stars in the heavens, I think of Galileo and how he was light years ahead of his time. And condemned for it…. Here\’s to you Galileo, \”King of night vision, King of insight\”….

Short tonight, more tomorrow…. Scott with sleeping culinary Kate (She\’s really a good chef. Tonight was shrimp curry)

23 May, (Less than 20 miles from the Eastern Hemisphere), 2011 – 9 p.m. Local Time

Conditions: 23 deg 54 min South 179 deg 30 min WEST Wind: 15 to 25 knots, ESE Swell: 16 feet, 4 meters ESE Heading: Changed course to 315 T, we\’ve changed ports to Lautoka, Fiji (near the repair yard in Musket Cove) Speed: WOW!…9 – 16 knots! Average 10 knots. One reef in the main, genoa out to starboard on the new spinnaker pole. We\’re on a Magic Carpet Ride. Barometer: 1019 steady.

\”Magic Carpet Ride\”…..Steppenwolf

Dear F&F, This is what it\’s all about, we\’re flying. We decided to forego the Minerva Reefs as it didn\’t work as to timing, weather, etc. With a 4 meter swell, it would most likely have been very uncomfortable inside the reef at high tide and I\’m anxious to get the small leak in the port engine room fixed as soon as possible. So now instead of arriving at the most EASTERN port in Fiji, we\’ll arrive at the WESTERN most port. It\’s okay and we can work our way back easily enough. It will give us a chance to apply for the Lau Group visitors permit in Suva on the main island of Viti Levu as well.

We\’ve heard that Musket Cove can take us out on their trailer and Kate wants to go to the \”two dollar\” bar which is a local famous hang out as well. While the repairs are going on, we\’ll start the practical of her diving course at Musket Cove. Kate did the first two DVD modules today and we\’ll go over them together tomorrow again. We put the kayak back in it\’s rack where it jumped out. Discovered that the pounding of the last two days broke the little water maker off it\’s mounts. Cleaned water out of the starboard hull from a wave that visited us through the bathroom window and hung the wet clean up towels up to dry.

Now that the waves are behind us, this is type of sailing all we crazy ocean going boaters dream about. It\’s a bit scary, but incredible all at the same time. The power of the waves behind us, picking us up and racing down the face is exhilarating enough, but the fact that the boat feels like we\’re at the dock is even more amazing. No bouncing, no muss, no fuss. This is literally \”Beach House\’s thing\”. I wish you could all take turns and be here to experience this. 9-10-14-16 knots!… It\’s like a Disneyland ride. Our strategic positioning to get east early is really paying off right now. At this rate, we\’ll be off the southern island of Kandavu in 36 hours, Lautoka in two days with a morning arrival on the third day from now, our Thursday. Everything as we know can change in the blink of an eye, but for the moment, this moment is a \”Magic Carpet Ride\”…..

KIT, Scott (Kate\’s lasagna tonight was exceptional!)

May 22nd, (Staying with this date though we are currently in the WESTERN Hemisphere), 2011 – 11:30 p.m. local time

Conditions: 26 deg 13 min South 178 deg 15 min WEST Wind: ESE, 25-35 knots Swell: ESE, 3.5 meters, bumpy! (Kate\’s getting the adventure she came out here for!) Heading 020 True Speed: 6.2 knots THREE Reefs and staysail (This afternoon we had two reefs and were going 9-11 knots, too bumpy on a beam reach). Temp: 70 deg F – 21.5 deg C (we\’re in the aura of the tropics for sure). Water Temp: 73 deg F – 22.8 deg C Barometer:1022 and choppy 172 nm Day 4 run 124 miles to North Minerva, we\’re over 1/2 way to Savusavu 560 nm to Savusavu, we may divert to Suva for haul and repair of leak. Yet to be determined.

\”Catch the Wind\”….Bob Dylan

Dear F&F, This has been a passage full of wind essentially from the start. The last 24 hours has been another story all together. (Sandrine, you were right to sit this one out as a first big sail!).

Starting at 6:30 a.m. this morning, we\’ve had re-enforced trade winds as predicted from 25-35 knots, briefly squalls to 40 knots. Two days from now, it should be gone…(touch some wood..quick!…:))

This is serious sailing. You don\’t want to have to do sail changes and maneuvers in the dark. If anything were to seriously break, it would be a challenge to deal with it. Our large kayak broke out of it\’s restraints but landed in the perfect spot and we\’re just leaving it on the deck over the starboard head. I have no idea how it could have escaped the two stainless steel bars restraining it. They haven\’t moved, but the kayak escaped!

It\’s Mr. Toad\’s Wild ride for sure, it\’s why crazy ass sailors come out here. I however, would prefer less than 25 knots at all times. If you want to take the plunge from the tropics to New Zealand and sail back out, you go in understanding that this is the way it\’s gonna be.

A sailing friend once told me, \”Scott, anyone can get to New Zealand, but only the sailors leave\”. I knew what he meant then and I\’m experiencing it first hand now. As \”weather windows\” go, this is about as good as it gets. Remember, it\’s almost winter here and last night it was 44 deg F – 7.2 deg C in Auckland! It\’s 70 degrees right now outside. The temperature difference alone lets you know; we\’ve got weather!

When you look at a map of the world, you\’ll see that \”Beach House\” essentially took a deep \”V\” course leaving Tonga last September and we\’re now crawling out literally, figuratively and emotionally on the opposite leg out to Fiji. Back to the warm winter tropics of the South Pacific. Tropical sailing is about the \”Endless Winter\” versus the famous film, \”The Endless Summer\”. Summer here means Cyclones (Hurricanes) and we want nothing to do with those beasts.

Rhythmically, I write and watch the bilge pump in the port engine room cycle on and off on the light panel. I\’m beginning to think the leak is not the sail drive skirt but rather perhaps a de-lamination of the engine\’s mounting bed from the hull. The unexpected and prolonged sit \”on the hard\” in Gulf Harbour may have contributed to this. If so, we\’ll still have to haul and have the transmission removed, a bit of glass work and all will be good. Quite interestingly, when we were going 10-12 knots earlier in the day, pressing at a clip that would have sailed us at 240 miles for a day\’s run, the leak stopped. When we slowed, back it came.

When we checked in with the Pac Sea Net tonight, they thought we\’d disappeared as we had to do the third reef tango. Whenever it\’s time to do something like, cook, shower, get on the radio, etc. That\’s the time the wind God\’s always make their presence known as to whose in charge. Kate was in the shower, I was on the radio and 40 knots descended upon us in exactly the above scenario. I had to hurry Kate out of the shower, dropped the radio and with wet hair a flying, Kate took the wheel, rounded us up while I reefed and we made it just before the next blast. Then of course, we got to second guess ourselves as the wind dropped down briefly to a mere 22 knots. I told Kate I didn\’t care if the wind backed off for the night, I wanted it to be comfortable and she agreed that cooking was truly SAFER with less sail and speed on. Never fear, the 25-35 has been pumping all night, currently 30 as I write. It was the right call, glad we did it. The Pac Sea Net controller was Jane tonight and she just assumed we had sail change issues and took our report later in the program. We\’ve moved up to #10. Single handers always go first.

So as you can tell from this report, we\’ve \”caught the wind\” or should I say, it\’s caught us….. 32 knots now. Just threw our first flying fish of the trip off the deck.

KIT, Scott with of course sleeping Kate

May 21st (Eastern Hemisphere – but not for long!), 2011

Conditions: Bumpy!… 28 deg 57 min South 179 deg 43 min East Wind: 23-30 knots ESE: We\’re in the trade winds now, re-enforced by the South Pacific Convergence Zone fronts to our north. Swell: ESE, 2.5 – 3 meters Temp: 66 degrees F – 18.9 degrees C Water Temp: 69 degrees F – 20.5 degrees C 2 Reefs and staysail Speed: 7.6 knots Heading: 25 deg True 290 nm to North Minerva 725 nm to Savusavu (we\’re just under 1/2 way)

\”Night Moves\”……Bob Seger

Dear F&F, Well, we had a nice sail today in calm conditions until noon. I saw a squall crossing the southerly wind from the east. This is often the harbinger of a general change in the wind pattern. Kate was making lunch and I told her we needed to reef before the squall got here which was happening fast. She said, \”two minutes\”. I said, \”We don\’t have two minutes\”. She came up on deck and took the wheel while I went forward to reef the main. JUST IN TIME! 30 knots blasted us and it would have been ugly with the full mainsail. We waited awhile to see if indeed this was the \”new wind\”, actually the trade winds and indeed it was.

We later put the staysail up and have been in a beam sea ever since. It\’s not the most comfortable sea to have, straight from the side, but that\’s what we expected as we got further north. We\’ve been in 23-30 knots ever since screaming over the wave tops.

So tonight, we moved into the aura of the tropics even though technically that won\’t happen till we\’re just north of the Minerva Reefs. We\’re heading to North Minerva on the assumption that we\’ll be able to make a stop there, but conditions will dictate that. We will also cross the International Date line before morning and go into the Western Hemisphere albeit briefly. The Minerva\’s are in the Western Hemisphere, but Fiji is back on the East side of the dateline. Even if we don\’t stop at the Minerva\’s, we\’re gaining easting in the easterly wind to allow us to fall off the wind to a more comfortable angle later in the sail.

Here on night watch, we\’ve got to watch our \”Night Moves\”. In these conditions, we hope our preparation has minimized outside, foredeck exposure as it\’s really lumpy out here tonight. The seas will build to 3 with occasional 4 meter sets soon per the weather charts.

Kate\’s still pounding away at the \”Day Skipper\” course, I\’m listening to the IPOD and reading. The bilge pump is still easily keeping up with our tiny leak. I\’ll have to fix it in Fiji which will require a quick haul out….oh joy!…:)

Raoul Island is 70 miles directly east of us and we\’ll change navigation software chips tomorrow as the Minerva\’s are on our South Pacific Chart. Raoul and the Kermedecs are on our New Zealand chip and we\’ll be by them in the morning so we won\’t have to worry about going \”bump in the night\”…..

Three other boats are making this journey that we hear on the Pac Sea Net radio group at 0300 UTC. They all left ahead of us and have reported the same conditions we have now.

\”Hey, wasn\’t the world supposed to end today?\” \”No, that happened a couple of months ago. Yeah, I remember…..\”

KIT, Scott and Kate, bumping along, conversing and listening to song

May 20th, (Eastern Hemisphere), 2011, 9:30 p.m. local time

\”Werewolves of London\”….Warren Zevon

Dear F&F, I thought I\’d share a small world story with you. The song title has even more meaning as it\’s the last night of the full moon tonight.

Though I have not yet had the time to catch the original website up to sailing INTO New Zealand, I\’d like to share a small world story.

Last September, Paul Spicer, born in Essex in the UK sailed with me from Tongatapu, Tonga to Opua, New Zealand. That was a very challenging sail (I think Paul and I used the word intimidating!) which included us putting our our para-anchor for 40 hours in the North Tasman Sea. We had swells up to 24 feet (8 meters)!

Paul is an ex-pat, now US citizen living in Redondo Beach, California. Paul was a patient of mine and we have been in touch re: sailing/cruising for many years. Paul also sailed on the maiden ocean voyage of \”Beach House\” in April of 2004 in the Mediterranean.

So, it turns out that Kate is also from Essex! They lived only a few miles apart (though Paul hasn\’t lived in Essex since the mid 1970\’s). Sorry to date us, but that would have been before Kate was born!

So Essex wins the day. In with Paul, out with Kate, the UK has been well represented aboard \”Beach House\”. Our next crew, Sandrine is originally from France! Aren\’t we international? Anyway, \”Beach House\” was born in the south of France, so it only makes sense. Two Brits, two French girls, what\’s a Captain to do?….:)

KIT, Scott with of course, sleeping Kate!

May 20th, (Eastern Hemisphere) 2011, 8:30 p.m local time

Conditions: Very nice, very comfortable 31 deg 28 min South 178 deg 20 min East Wind: 12 knots SSE Swell: 1.5 meter SSE Barometer: 1025 and rising Heading: 011 True Speed: 5.5 knots (got light tonight, windy ahead) Temp: 65 deg F – 18.3 deg C Water Temp: 71 deg F – 21.7 deg C (definitely warming up) North Minerva Reef: 470 miles to go Savusavu, Fiji: 850 miles to go Day: 2 1/2 at sea, sailed 160 miles. A bit better than yesterday and keeping us on average of 150 miles/day. This is my conservative figure. With more consistent winds, we\’d easily be doing 180 miles/day without pressing. Maybe \”later\” in the trip.

\”Sailing\”…..Christopher Cross

Dear F&F, (posting \”live\” to the website \”ship\’s log\” section).

Today was a day. When Kate woke from her off watch at 8 a.m. this morning, we set the full main sail and genoa on a starboard reach. The wind had quit the previous night and we motored for about 8 hours. It was clear, warming, calm seas and ideal \”Beach House\” sailing conditions. \”Beach House\”, aka: \”Miss Piggy\” has been floating down the waves with aplomb today. We\’ve been averaging 7 knots since early this morning. As I started to write this, the wind has backed off as the central part of the windless high pressure to our southwest gets closer. As we move north, the winds will shift to ESE and strengthen with a low pressure system off to our East (which will continue to move east). The tradewinds per the boat reports ahead are 20+ knots in the Minerva Reef area, ESE; which is now only 470 miles ahead.

We will be less than 100 miles from the Kermedec Islands tomorrow night. These are a small group of three islands which are a New Zealand National Reserve. You must have a permit, very difficult to obtain to go ashore. The diving in photos and video I\’ve seen is exceptional.

The \”Orange Iceberg\” returns: When we first took delivery of \”Beach House\”, now 7 years ago, my Dad and Cindy were on watch in the Mediterranean. They both woke me in almost panic. \”Scott, come look at the horizon, there\’s an orange iceberg\”. I was half asleep, so I adjusted my eyes and with the binoculars could see the Moon rising on the horizon, a brilliant orange color. I told Kate this story as we\’ve had full moon nights and low and behold, tonight through the clouds, the \”orange iceberg\” returned. Maybe Art and Cindy are watching out for us tonight…..

Kate awoke me at 7:30 p.m. local time as she\’d spotted a ship on the horizon. She was concerned about a crossing/meeting situation with \”heavy metal\”. We assume this was a large fishing vessel as he was doing weird turns and such. We tracked him with our Radar and \”mini ARPA\” system. This told us that the other vessel would never get closer than 3 1/2 miles.

Kate is doing an exceptional job in the galley, absorbing the sailing and may start the theory part of the Scuba class tomorrow. She\’s got a few more modules in her \”Day Skipper\” class but is getting a little burned out on it. A change of pace may be in order.

Well, the boat speed is back up to 7 knots and……..we\’re sailing.

Scott with sleeping Kate (she\’s supposed to be asleep, it\’s her off watch!).

May 20th, (Eastern Hemisphere), 2011 6:45 a.m. local time.

Conditions: Motoring, awaiting Kate\’s watch and we\’ll set sail on a starboard tack beam reach 32 deg 49 min S 177 deg 35 min E Wind: SSE, 15 knots Swell: SSE – 2 meters Temp: 63 deg F, 17.3 deg C (warming?) Sea Temp: 68 deg F, 20 deg C (definitely warming) Heading: 015 true Speed: 7.5 knots (both engines) Auckland: 260 miles ago North Minerva Reef: 560 nm to go.

\”Dark Star\”….Crosby, Stills and Nash

Dear F&F, Last night was very dark, gray and overcast. Just as I came of watch a series of small rain squalls appeared off our starboard quarter (back right hand side for those of you who don\’t speak boat). I told Kate that these were the \”see through\” kind, not the dark heavy black we may encounter as we near the low to our north. Not much wind or rain in them, but often the precursor of major wind shifts. Indeed this is exactly what happened.

At first we had no wind, rolled up the sails and put on the \”Iron Genoa\’s\”. Just an hour ago, the new wind filled in markedly further to the SSE from our yesterday\’s SSW. We\’re due south of Savusavu and slightly west of the Minerva Reefs. We should be able to do a nice fast blast reach with the main and genoa which will set right after sunrise.

The swell is still up to 2.5 meters on occasion, but quite flat. That will change soon! The sun has risen behind the clouds, but right now, it\’s just a \”Dark Star\”…..

Scott with sleeping Kate. (Have you noticed with a crew of two we don\’t see much of each other on long passages?)

May 19th, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Conditions: 34 deg 33 min S 176 deg 19 min E Day 1 run – A very pedestrian 141 nm. Day 2 is already off to a faster beginning 690 nm to North Minerva Reef Speed: 7.1 knots Heading: 015 True Wind: 15-23 knots SSW Swell: 2 meters South Temp: 63 deg F – 17.2 deg C Sea Temp: 65 deg F – 18.3 C

Now have one reef in main and full genoa on starboard side using new spinnaker pole.

\”Everybody\’s Talkin\’ At Me\”….Nilson

Dear F&F, The song was the title from Midnight Cowboy and it\’s always been a sailing song to me. The line \”Banking off of the NE Wind, Sailing on Summer Breeze\” has always caught my attention. As you can see from the above report, we\’ve a SSW wind and really hope to never see a NE wind on this trip as we are headed essentially due North. It\’s also the beginning of Winter here, but for most of you reading this, the sentiment applies!…

It\’s gray and overcast, still cold, wooly\’s will remain on for at least 3-4 more days I suspect. Kate is doing her \”Day Skipper Course\” on her computer for the RYA (Royal Yachting Association). Once she\’s chewed that up, we\’ll start her on the PADI Open Water DVD.

It really doesn\’t get much better than we\’ve got so far. The weather looks to be like we have now for a few days and then the \”fun\” may begin as we enter the trade winds in the tropics. The South Pacific Convergence Zone always has a bit of lick to it when crossed as the tropic and sub tropic weather systems meet. Often a low pressure along it will enhance the high pressure we are currently enjoying to pick the breeze up a bit. I am expecting brief periods of 30 knots up there around the Minerva\’s and it will be from the SE. Hence, we\’re actually going a bit East now to hopefully be able to keep the wind and sea more behind us when we find that lovely spot. It\’s just more comfortable.

We\’ve a twist in our main halyard, otherwise I would have hoisted the full main. I\’ll fix it if we get really light before the wind and lower the main all the way to do it. In the meanwhile, we\’re just settling in, will check on the Pacific Seafarers Net today at 0300 UTC, 14300 USB for those of you who lurk on amateur radio.

Hugs, Feel free to drop us a note at any email you\’ve got for us. Scott with Studious – Kate