Get Lost On Purpose

Author: Drew

  • Draggin round Beveridge Reef

    This one is for the cruisers out there.

    I’m not leaving here till I get at least one calm, hot, sunny day! The wind hasn’t dropped below 20 knots in three days now. Normally that’s not a problem. It’s usually a good thing but with no land and a reef that submerges at high tide in front of us, I have finally found a challenge “old Bruce” (my oversized primary anchor) can’t live up to. The sand must be ultra-fine down there or something. This is the first time I’ve had a problem with my ground tackle dragging on Dosia. Right now, on my third set in three days, I have 150′ of chain out in less than 10′ of water (all sand, no coral). I’ve tried less, I’ve tried more…nothing seems to stick. We don’t suddenly start dragging and fly across the lagoon with the wind and current, anchor trailing out behind us. It’s a gradual thing. After twelve hours or so rocking and howling in the wind, we may move .04 miles backward. Not much I know but I don’t like the idea of moving AT ALL. I get a good set on the anchor every time. I can see it hit the bottom clear as day even at night, which happens to be when we’ve had to reset both times. Speaking of which, Margie and I have evolved in masters of the anchoring process. Marge takes her place at the helm and I’m on the bow. There’s no speaking or yelling back and forth, no radios, and no eye contact. She watches for my hand signals and steers the boat exactly as I need it. At night, I put on a headlamp and light up my hands so she can see my signals. It’s a work of art. Resetting in these conditions with 30 knots of wind in darkness but no other boats or obstacles in the way has been great practice for us. And it’s also reassured me that I did a good job setting up the anchoring system with massive backing plates, offset rollers, an oversized windlass, and substantial cleats for the snubbers. You can see good photos of the process on the “About the Boat” page. Everything is performing exactly as I intended it except, right now, my dependable Bruce anchor is not doing its job. Of course, it’s not the anchor’s fault. It’s mine. I’m asking it to perform in conditions where it does not excel. That’s why today, I’ll be pulling the CQR off my secondary rode and replacing it with my big Fortress anchor. The danforth design should dig in a lot better in this soft sand. It’s something I should have done two days ago. I don’t like the fact I’ll be using it with only 50′ of chain but there isn’t a coral head in sight on this sand bank as big as a football field so no worries about it chafing through. We’ll probably move over closer to Brickhouse, the only other boat out here so we can make new friends and talk to someone other than each other!

    The weather has somewhat cleared. At least the rain is no longer constant and I can usually find some area of the sky that is blue. I could probably go for some snorkeling today if I want to battle the wind and waves up to the reef in the dinghy. The forecast shows no break in the wind till Friday when a Low coming from the west sucks up all the breeze. Then, of course, that Low moves over top of us on Saturday, sending the wind counterclockwise meaning we’ll probably have to move to the other side of the lagoon. I’m beginning to wish we took the northern route and stayed away from all these Low pressure systems. No need to rush off to Niue before this Low. If it gains in strength it would make the anchorage there 10x worse than we’d ever get in here. Might as well wait it out and see. We have movies, games, tons of books, wine, and bacon. That’s all I need to survive. Plus, I haven’t touched my wallet in 7 days!

  • Anchored inside Beveridge Reef

    We arrived at Beveridge Reef yesterday just after noon. The last day of sailing was crap compared to the first three days. It started raining in the middle of the night Friday and so far, it hasn’t stopped but for one hour long window the sun just happened to show itself and guide us safely across the lagoon. The fact there’s no land here, just reef, is still crazy as hell to me even though we’re anchored right here in the middle of it. It’s much larger here than I thought it would be. The lagoon is probably 2 miles across and double that north to south. It’s shaped somewhat like a kidney bean. There is a small wreck on the eastern side and we’re anchored south of it on a sand shelf in about nine feet of water. One other sailboat is in here about a half mile to our north. The reef is dead ahead about 200 yards so if the rain wasn’t stopping us from opening the hatches and windows we’d be listening to the soft, relaxing beat of waves crashing. As it happens, the weather is not so relaxing.

    Last night it started blowing hard. The perfect forecast I’d been staring at for the last week suddenly had a change of heart and formed a low just southeast of us. It looks like we’d be far enough west to avoid it but obviously we’ve not much luck when it comes to weather avoidance as of late. I feel really sorry for the folks who left Raro just behind us. Especially Chuck and Joan on Tender Spirit who departed on Thursday and are probably getting the crap kicked out of them. The wind is blowing in the 30-35 knot range, the rain is shootin’ sideways at us, and enough of the ocean swell is coming in over the reef to make it bouncy. I put an extra snubber on the anchor line early this morning in case we chafe through the first one. The great thing here is that if the anchor did break loose, we’d have plenty of time to unknowingly drift before we hit anything! It’s hard to say whether we’re better off in here since if we’d kept going we would certainly be far enough west to avoid this thing but it is nice to be anchored and sitting somewhat still. Of course, it’d be a lot nicer if I was snorkeling and diving in this crystal clear water instead hunkered down in our little home drinkin coffee listening to the wind howl through the rigging! After the sneak preview of what the water in this place looks like yesterday during our little sunshine window, there’s no way I’m leaving here till we get a chance to peek under the surface and see some wildlife.

    Speaking of wildlife, yesterday we finally saw one of my all time fantasies come to fruition. We were barely a half mile off the south side of the reef motoring around to the lagoon entrance. The rain had let up for a couple of minutes and was just a sprinkle. I was staring over at the breakers on the reef when directly in the middle of my field of vision a massive Humpback whale breached almost completely out of the water! It was so far above the surface I could see on its body where the skinny part of the tail started to widen into the flukes. It did a kind of a twist in mid air and land with a massive splash. I screamed “WHALE” and Marge came flying off the settee and up to the cockpit. There was at least one more humpback, maybe two, because as soon as she stepped foot on deck the second whale breached the surface and she got a great look at it. They danced on the surface for another minute or two before they calmed down and swam around shooting water out of their blowholes. We slowed down and waited, camera in hand, for another show but they finally dawdled off altogether and we lost sight. After talking to each other in Dory’s whale voice (“Finding Nemo” fans will know what I mean) for three days hopeful that we’d see one, Marge and I couldn’t believe our luck. It certainly goes down as one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. The fact we’re in the middle of the ocean on our own boat next to a remote reef it took over three days to get to made it all the better. There’s no better way to appreciate such an experience and it will certainly go down in my long list of unbelievable things this trip has allowed me to see and do.

    Alright, looks like it’s time to wake Marge up and start movie day here on Dosia. It doesn’t look like this weather is calming down any time soon and I promised we’d watch “The Notebook” on the next rainy day.

  • Day 3 Passage to Beveridge Reef and Niue

    All is well out here on the open seas. It’s Friday afternoon and we’re about 115 miles from Beveridge Reef sailing along at 6.5 knots under full mizzen and slightly furled genoa. We’ll have to slow down overnight tonight so we arrive in good daylight tomorrow. Although I have good coordinates on this place from several sources, I can’t bring myself to get within 5 miles of it at night!
    We’ve been making steady progress all three days. We haven’t seen another boat since the first night out of Raro. The weather has been absolutely perfect. It seems like it’s getting slightly warmer again as we head a little back to the north but we still miss our old friend the Equator. At night it dips down in the 60’s. We’ll okay, 68, but that seems really cold out here on the ocean!

    I had to run the engine a few hours to charge the batteries night before last but other than that we’ve been sailing along in silence. I took the chance in Raro to completelly fill up on fuel. I didn’t know when I’d see a price as good as $1.55 a liter (around $6/gallon) so I dropped by the harbormaster’s office to order up the fuel truck for delivery. They came down to the quai and I’m sure they were happy I called. After I took on 150 liters, six other boats announced they’d like fuel and finished out most of the 1000 liters they brought in the truck! As of now I’ve got a full 50 gallon tank, 30 extra gallons on decks, and I barely burn a half gallon per hour. So we’re good on fuel for quite a while now especially since after this passage the jumps are mostly 1-3 days through Fiji and we have plenty of time to wait for weather windows.

    Assuming all goes well, I’ll write again tomorrow night from anchor at Beveridge. I gotta go slow her down again. We’re up over seven knots and it’s barely blowing 20!

  • Left Raro-Sailing to Beveridge Reef

    We pulled out of Raro last night just before dark. I left feeling almost sorry for the place. Such a great island with such a horrible harbor. I guess it’s not always so bad but we inadvertently timed our stay with two passing troughs of low pressure that brought northerly winds, sunless skies, and a chill in the air. When we first arrived, the idea of not having to use the outboard motor to get into the dock seemed a relief. When the second northerly blew in this weekend it became a struggle to get the dinghy back and forth the few yards from quai to boat without getting your head ripped off by a neighbor’s lines. People were dropping anchors on top of other people’s anchors, words were getting exchanged, cleats and stanchions were popping off boats, Dosia was covered in dirt blowing off the quai; my little voice said “let’s get the hell out of here.” So we did. And now we’re over 100 miles out and sailing along blissfully under a full mizzen, double-reefed main, and full genoa. As soon as the wind backs around another 15 degrees, up goes the spinnaker and we will hopefully coast right into Beveridge Reef. We had homemade beef stew for dinner last night, homemade lasagne coming tonight, and the meals are planned for the rest of the trip assuming we don’t catch any fish…whenever I get around to throwing out some lines. This is sailing at its best and we’re having a ball. It’s blowing 10 knots on our beam, a few gusts up to 15 and we’re doing anywhere from 4.5-6 knots in easy-riding seas. Even Marge, the anti-passagemaker can’t complain in these conditions. If all goes to plan, we’ll arrive at Beveridge Saturday morning or midday for a mid ocean rest stop. One or two night’s stay depending on weather. No land, just reef and a lagoon. One of those weird mid-ocean anomalies. As always, I’m hoping to get Marge in the water with some sharks! Check it out on google. Peace.
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