by Judy Handley | Nov 12, 2006 | Passage To New Zealand, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 390, Year 1: Passage to New Zealand, Day 3—The BIG High Pressure
Date: Sunday, November 12, 2006
Weather: Overcast Day, Winds E 7 Knots
Air Temperature: 68 degrees F and falling
Water Temperature: 64 degrees F and falling
Latitude: 29 Degrees 26 Minutes South
Longitude: 177 Degrees 17 Minutes East
Location: Passage from N Minerva Reef to New Zealand
Miles to Go: 388
We are currently negotiating our way through a BIG high pressure system. That means we have little or no wind. The weather folks have been referring to this high as “big” because it is impacting the entire western South Pacific from Australia to French Polynesia. Sometime between now and tomorrow we should go through the center and after that our winds should begin to increase. As we approach the coast of New Zealand, however, we will begin to feel the affects of a low approaching the North Island. If we get in on Wednesday morning, we will avoid the strongest winds that should arrive later in the day on Wednesday and should continue on into Thursday. Unless we have a major problem, we will be in Opua early on Wednesday.
The temperature continues to drop slowly. This morning it was 64 degrees F, but by this afternoon it was 68 degrees F. That doesn’t sound that cold, but we are already using layers of clothing. I put on my long underwear for last night’s watch, but it was still a little chilly. We broke out a polar fleece blanket that we can use when on watch. That really helps to keep the chill off. Unfortunately, both Mark and I have managed to get a cold. I guess this cooler weather just doesn’t agree with us. The tropics are already becoming a distant memory, and one we want to hang on to. I know we will enjoy New Zealand but it is going to take us a few more days to adjust to the differences.
We heard from Quantum Leap by email and they are now in Whangarei. They have a rental car and have jumped back into land life. They said they went to two movies yesterday and had popcorn and ice cream. Sounds like they have already acclimated to “life after the tropics”. I’m sure we will as well.
by Judy Handley | Nov 11, 2006 | Passage To New Zealand, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 389, Year 1: Passage to New Zealand, Day 2—Motor Sailing on Flat Seas
Date: Saturday, November 11, 2006
Weather: Partly Sunny Day, Winds SE 15-20 Knots Backing to E 12
Air Temperature: 74 degrees F and falling
Water Temperature: 67 degrees F and falling
Latitude: 27 degrees 18 minutes S
Longitude: 178 degrees 20 minutes E
Location: Passage from N Minerva Reef to New Zealand, Day 2
Miles to Go: 512
The rock and roll is gone. And as of late this afternoon, the “living on a slant” is gone. We are just motor sailing along on flat seas with about 12 knots of wind from the East. We are entering a high pressure system and we know our winds will diminish even more for a day or two. Right now we could be sailing with a boat speed of about 4.8 knots. But as Doug on Windcastle said today, we need to put the pedal to the metal and get to New Zealand as fast as possible. There are too many unknowns with the weather if we take our time. Commanders’ Weather also recommends that we go as fast as possible, so that is what we are doing. There have been lots of clouds today, but the sun has been shining through making it very warm and comfy in the cockpit. Last night it got a little chilly and we had to break out the polar fleece. The chilly weather really makes us appreciate the cockpit enclosure.
There are nineteen boats that are checking into the Southbound Coconut Net each day. This is a cruisers’ net that was started in Panama and it is run by volunteer cruisers. Mark will be net controller for the next two days and then another volunteer will come forth and take over. It is a wonderful comfort to be in contact twice a day with this group. If anyone has a problem, there is always someone coming along behind that could stop to help. And you really never know when you might be the one to need the help.
Now that things have settled down a bit, we hope to get a little more time to read about New Zealand. We will land in Opua which is a town up a river in the Bay of Islands. We will spend a few days there and do some land touring and then go out and explore the Bay of Islands. Since we will be back here in late April, we will just visit a couple of places and then head on down to Whangarei. This will be Windbird’s home for the next four or five months. Some cruisers we know are also using Whangarei as their home while others are going on to Auckland. We chose Whangarei based on the recommendations of other cruisers. The marina where we will be staying has only 30 slips and gives very personal service. Since we are leaving Windbird for a couple of months, knowing we would have personal service was very important to us.
It’s time for dinner, so that’s all for today. It is time to get ready for those night watches. The moon is giving us light during the night after it rises just past midnight, but until then it is black as pitch out here. Last night the stars were twinkling, but there was no light on the water until after the moon came up. I surely appreciate that moonlight.
by Judy Handley | Nov 10, 2006 | Passage To New Zealand, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 388, Year 1: Passage to New Zealand, Day 1—Crossing the Dateline
Date: Friday, November 10, 2006
Weather: Overcast Day with Some Clearing in the PM, SE Winds 15-20 Knots
Latitude: 28 degrees 08 minutes S
Longitude: 179 degrees 44 minutes EAST—Yippee!
Location: Passage from N Minerva Reef to New Zealand
Miles to Go: ~700
We have now crossed the “official” Dateline-180 degrees. The Dateline, for time purposes, was moved to include Tonga in the same time zone with New Zealand. When we crossed that on the way from Samoa to Tonga, the time did change, but it didn’t give us the feeling of real accomplishment that we got today.. The longitude will now count down from 180 instead of building up to 180. In our voyage around the world, we are making progress.
And we are making progress on our passage to New Zealand, but not easily. As promised, we are bashing into head winds today. The projection was for us to pass into a cold front at about 0700 this morning, but at 0230 during the night we had an abrupt wind shift from NW to SW. The shift took about two minutes. I was just going off my first night watch when it happened, so the timing was perfect. I called down for Mark to come up and evaluate the sail plan and then we kept moving. We are having to run the engine at about 2000 rpm’s and are still using a full main and head sail. We are having to go a little more west than our rumb line, but Windbird is forging ahead like a Sherman tank. The seas aren’t too bad, but anytime you are beating straight into them, the comfort level certainly decreases. Sometimes we wish we had a lighter, faster boat, but in these conditions we are reminded of why we chose this boat. If I had the choice to make over, I’d still choose Windbird.
I feel like we are playing a real life board game on this passage. At each decision point, you either move forward or go back a few spaces. Commanders’ Weather reports are fantastic. John Leavitt at Commanders’ gives us quick responses and very thorough routing information. We emailed yesterday telling him of our decision to leave Minerva and continue on to New Zealand. We got an email back from his this morning saying, “From today’s vantage point it appears more clearly that you made a good decision.” Let’s hope he is right. Of course, it was his thorough information that led us to the decision, but we are feeling more confident in our ability to read through the mass of weather information and made decisions. This passage is still going to be problematic, but those who left before us are having challenges and information tells us that even if we waited in Tonga or Minerva for ten more days, we wouldn’t be assured of a smooth passage. There will be that perfect window, but the waiting game got the best of us. So now the strategy is to use the day by day information we get from Commanders’ and plan the best course from here. We have to balance the use of fuel against the distance and make sure we have plenty of fuel when we get close to the North Island. Nasty weather there is REALLY nasty and you want to be sure that you come into that part of the passage with a full range of resources. For now, the winds have come around enough that we are almost back on course and we are making better than our projected five knots, so all is well. And the sun is actually shining and I am hot. That is even better! The cold will come soon enough.
by Judy Handley | Nov 9, 2006 | Passage To New Zealand, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 387, Year 1: N Minerva Reef and On To New Zealand
Date: Thursday, November 9, 2006
Weather: Sunny Day, NE Winds 12 Knots
Latitude: 24 degrees 01 minutes S
Longitude: 179 degrees 18 minutes W
Location: Passage from N Minerva Reef to New Zealand
Miles to Go: Arrived in Minerva–745 Miles to New Zealand
What a day! First, we received emails about the election results in the US and about the demise of Donald Rumsfeld. We heard that Massachusetts has the second black governor ever and that the Democrats swept New Hampshire. Of course, all of you back home already know all of this, but it was exciting news out here. Wow. What a difference a day makes.
But with our first emails of the day, we didn’t receive the weather updates we requested yesterday. Then literally just before entering North Minerva Reef, we received the responses from both Bob McDavitt in New Zealand and from Commander’s Weather in New Hampshire. As the Commander’s report stated, all of our options for proceeding are problematic, but basically the reports were saying that the next good weather window for the passage would require waiting in Minerva another seven to ten days. My gut reaction to reading the reports was that we should just keep going and not stop in Minerva. We called Windcastle on the radio, and after some discussion, we made the decision to go on inside the reef, anchor, and reconsider whether to go on or stay in light of the new information. After a couple of hours of hashing through the options, we decided to push on. Some of the other boats there are leaving tomorrow morning, but we are a little heavier and slower, so we decided that by leaving Minerva late this afternoon, we have a much better chance of reaching New Zealand before the next low pressure system hits the North Island. We also have a good chance of getting south fast enough to avoid a possible tropical low that might develop and head toward Minerva in a couple of days. That, along with the headwinds we will have tomorrow and the variable winds on Sunday and Monday are the problematic parts. We will have to motor for much of our trip in order to reach New Zealand before the bad weather hits, but we think we can do it. So tonight we are on our way-certainly not where we expected to be tonight, but it feels good.
Our stay in Minerva Reef was brief but amazing. You could easily sail by and never notice the reef at high tide. There are a few breakers, but you really don’t see them until you are right next to the reef. The break in the reef where you enter is about a quarter of a mile wide and pretty straight forward. Inside it is like a big pond that is almost three and a half miles across. We went all the way to the far side to anchor where the only other two boats were located. White Swan and Kabukee (not sure how to spell) were there at anchor. All of the other boats that we had expected to see there had made the decision to go on. Campbell on Camdeboo offered to come get us in his dinghy and take us out to the reef, so we took him up on his offer. Since we had decided not to stay, it seemed silly to take the time to put our own dinghy in the water. When we got out to the reef, it was nearing low tide so Campbell had to drop us off in knee deep water and we walked the rest of the way. We had to watch our steps carefully to avoid stepping on clams and urchins, but we finally got into ankle deep water. The clams were not giants, but they were so colorful. I love the way they look like they are smiling at you. The sea urchins were all hidden in tiny little sea urchin caves, so they were a little easier to step around. We saw no fish, but we did see what looked like little crayfish scurrying everywhere and then escaping into little holes. The top of the reef where we were was almost a quarter of a mile wide. I’m so glad we got to at least visit the reef, but we regret that we weren’t there long enough to find lobsters to eat. Too bad.
Today was a whirlwind. We entered Minerva around 1 pm, ate lunch, went over and over and over the weather information, went for a fabulous walk on the reef, talked with the other boats on the VHF radio about our decision, and then left before 6 pm. I’d call this a “Handley Stop”. In addition to a fast-paced day, we rocked and rolled so much last night that sleeping was not easy. We are hoping that the calm conditions we have right now continue through the night so we can get some good rest. I think we are going to need our energy for this passage.
by Judy Handley | Nov 8, 2006 | Passage To New Zealand, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 386, Year 1: Passage to N Minerva Reef, Day 2—Downwind Again
Date: Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Weather: Overcast Day, ENE Winds 18 Knots
Latitude: 22 degrees 32 minutes S
Longitude: 177 degrees 30 minutes W
Location: Passage from Tonga to N Minerva Reef
Miles to Go: 104 to Minerva Reef
We have great winds, but from the wrong direction. They are still dead behind us and we are motor sailing most of the time in order to get to North Minerva Reef tomorrow. The seas are fairly calm so today has been a smooth ride. Late last night, things got a little boisterous with winds ranging from 20 to 30 knots. It was one of those old time rock and roll nights. We motor sailed all night and then when the winds settled a little this morning, we were able to sail for a few hours. Then the winds settled a little too much and the engine went back on. So it goes with sailing. Our daughter Heather wrote that she and her husband Jed are having a hard time finding the right weather window to get their little 19-foot Cape Dory moved around to the place it will be hauled out for the winter. Whether on Cape Cod or out here in the South Pacific, sailing is all about those weather windows.
Mark and Doug on Windcastle drove me nuts today analyzing the weather on the VHF radio and in another half-hour they are going to do it again along with Paddy on Zafarse and Ray on Nereid. These are two other boats that are close to us. They have been reviewing all of the weather data to see if we should push on to New Zealand without stopping in Minerva. My analysis says we should stop, but I will report tomorrow on the conclusion.
by Judy Handley | Nov 7, 2006 | Passage To New Zealand, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 385, Year 1: Passage to N Minerva Reef, Day 1—Crappy Beginning, Great Ending
Date: Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Weather: Sunny Morning, Partly Cloudy Afternoon, Winds Just N of E 18 Knots
Latitude: 175 degrees 32 minutes S
Longitude: 21 degrees 03 minutes W
Location: Passage from Tonga to N Minerva Reef
Miles to Go: 235 to Minerva Reef
We did it! We left Tonga today, but not as early as planned. That was due to the crappy beginning of our day (pun intended). When I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I was not able to flush the head. I woke Mark up to warn him. He got up early and started to work. He found that the “exit” hose was indeed blocked. Calcium deposits had built up gradually and finally blocked the flow. It took him more than two hours, but he was successful. The clean-up process was one of those experiences one could live without, but once it was done we were on our way by 1030. Mark definitely gets the “Captain of the Day” award. If you are not a handyman, I have no idea how you could be a cruiser because there is always something to fix.
Gdansk did not leave with us, but Windcastle is traveling close by. There are two other boats that have been in sight most of the day. One is Nereid, a boat out of Anchorage, Alaska, and the other, we think, is Pleite from Germany. They were next to us when we were Med-moored in the inner harbor in Nuku’alofa and the boat we see through the binoculars looks like Pleite.. The boat from Alaska is captained by the father of another boat captained by his son. This is the first time we have run into a father and son duo. The son and his wife left for Minerva yesterday, so they will be there when we arrive. Right now, Windcastle is still in sight to our starboard. Mark just finished checking us into the Pacific Seafarer’s Net and we heard Paddy of Zafarse check in. Evidently he left Pangaimotu this morning a little ahead of us and right now he is twelve miles in front of us. His girlfriend from Australia just flew into Nuku’alofa last night, so he surely didn’t waste anytime heading south. I’ll look forward to meeting his girlfriend in Minerva. There are also a number of boats that left yesterday, so there is no shortage of company out here. North Minerva Reef has a big anchorage area, and I think it is going to be crowded.
I left Tonga wearing a bathing suit. I refuse to let go of the tropics until I am forced into long underwear! It is only 74 degrees F out here, but with the sun shining brightly it is comfortably warm in the cockpit. Of course, we do have some of our plastic side curtains down to keep out the wind, and as night approaches, I’ll bet we put up even more side curtains. It is really nice to be able to easily raise and lower these plastic curtains. I don’t think I would enjoy cruising half so much without them. Many do not have this luxury, but I surely appreciate the fact that we do.
The best news of the day is that the new auto pilot seems to be working great. Never again will I take the auto pilot for granted. From now on, we will give thanks and praises for each and every hour that it is working. Mark also loosened our steering considerably and that seems to be working as well. We have to sail about 1,000 miles from here to New Zealand, so let’s just hope everything keeps working until then.
