Category: Voyages

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!)