Get Lost On Purpose

Category: Sailing

  • Passage to NZ – Day 3

    Ah, the adventure of sailing. Foamy seas, the salt spray in your face, heeling over at 45 degrees and slamming into huge oncoming seas…not on this trip so far. Last night I turned on the motor when we hit 1.8 knots of speed and on it’s been ever since. It’s like being on a catamaran. I can set my drink down, walk away, and expect it to be there when I return. Every sail is up in readiness for those short 5 knot “blasts” of wind we get every 5 minutes but in general they’re all flopping around useless up there. We’re turning the motor at about 1500 rpm and doing 4.5-5 knots. I decided 100 miles a day motoring was enough since we don’t yet have the most accurate outlook of what to expect the last few days into New Zealand. Not until we reach 30 degrees south and I start examining the 72 hr outlooks will I trust the forecast for the homestretch so let’s save the fuel in case we need to motor all the way. The wind is suppose to fill back in the day after tomorrow. Enough to sail by at least….I hope.

    No complaints from the crew though. Marge is just as happy motoring as sailing. And when it’s calm she doesn’t mind getting in the galley so I can’t complain either. It’s so calm we’re grilling chicken tonight. I don’t remember ever having used the grill on passage before. My last batch of fish jerky should be ready by sundown. Casey from “Monkey Feet” (yep, that’s the boat’s name – two youngsters aboard) taught me how to make it. We had tons of mahi left even after giving so much away and this is a great way to save it. I’ve had trays of it drying in the sun the last couple of days. I also keep having dreams about catching a yellow fin. Hmmmm, maybe I can sneak a line off the back without Marge noticing.

    I would say a quarter of the boats that left on Sunday are stopping in Minerva Reef. We’re sticking to our guns. The weather outlook is fine so we’re taking advantage and going all the way. The last thing I would want is to stop there for a couple of days and then realize a Low is blowing off Australia. We’d have to race it down or wait it out and I don’t want to do either. Slow and steady seems like the right thing to do. As long as the fuel holds up, I predict we’ll be into Opua, New Zealand on Tuesday. Meanwhile, I’ll set my drink down and go grill some chicken. Hey Marge, put a movie on!

  • Passage to NZ, Day 2

    Covered 138 nautical miles in our first 24 hours at sea so no complaints coming from us. Drew’s currently watching the back of his eyelids while I keep an eye out up on deck. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a passage where the rocking of the boat was more peaceful than pissful but thus is the case and I slept better last night and most of the morning than I ever have at sea. The motion of the boat is like a dose of Ambien to me when it’s this calm out. Dosia’s weight loss back in Neiafu seems to be working in her favor and she’s sailing quite nicely. We’ve seen anywhere from 4 1/2 to 7 knots today and were able to stop motoring which is great for our diesel conservation. We’re hoping to get at least two or three good sailing days, if not more, out of the early part of the trip and then we know we have the fuel on board to motor us the rest of the way to New Zealand if need be. Hopefully that won’t be the case but it’s reassuring and good for my blood pressure! Right now there are steady 10 to 15 knot winds coming from the south/southeast that are supposed to maintain for the next day or two. We keep this pace up and we’ll be happy cruisers.

    Drew’s got the remains of our mahi catch from the trip to Nuku’Alofa up on deck, soaked in soy sauce & red pepper flakes, and he’s making fish jerky. Pre prepped tuna casserole filled our bellies for dinner last night and since it’s pretty calm out I might even get in the galley tonight and whip something up that doesn’t come out of a tin can. Drew likes to test my patience during passages by calling me his “galley wench.” Yeah, keep talking. I’ve got your galley wrench…i mean wench…

  • Let’s do this…Passage to NZ, Day 1

    Well unlike Georgia against Florida today we do have our game faces on. This morning we pulled out the positive attitudes, along with all the cold weather clothing we have onboard, and eased our way out of the harbor around 7:30. Our chartplotter’s eyes were manually set on Opua, New Zealand. Mileage-1010 miles. So far we’re about eight hours in and if we manage to maintain six knots our estimated time of arrival is early morning about eight days from today. We put about as much hope on maintaining six knots as I do on Tom Brady leaving that Brazilian bombshell for yours truly. The weather window is calling for light winds with fair seas for about ten days but naturally that is subject to change. As a sailor you quickly learn that you only usually trust weather reports through the first three days or so no matter how long the window they predict. We will check weather at least twice a day, everyday. On the horizon we see the sails of several other boats who left shortly after us this morning and while most of them are planning to do a little layover at Minerva Reef, we are in this for the long haul. As long as the weather window stays in our favor then we are trucking along. Nonetheless, for now I find comfort in the site of their sails knowing that help is a few miles away if need be.

    There’s a funny rumor amongst cruisers that more injuries on sailboats happen at anchor than at sea. That rumor proved itself to be true in Nuku’Alofa. One cruiser slipped a disk in his lower back, has been hulled up for about four days now, and he and his wife will now fly to New Zealand where he will have surgery after having found crew to deliver their boat for them. Just yesterday morning, a woman who had flown in to help crew yet another yacht fell on the stairs inside the boat and severely broke her leg. She was flown to New Zealand last night and was scheduled for surgery today. There were two doctors onboard their own boats in the harbor with us and they both stayed fairly busy their entire time in Nuku’Alofa. As much as you hate to see any cruiser go down like that you can only imagine they must be somewhat thankful that if it had to happen that it happened at anchor. Could you imagine being 400, 500 miles into a passage such as this one and something like either of these two cases happen?

    Spilled some salt making Drew a BLT for lunch today so quickly threw a little over my shoulder. We don’t need any bad luck hanging over our heads right now!

  • Customs Clearance B.S. , and the passage to New Zealand

    I gotta tell you, nothing beats the feeling of freedom you gain from checking out of a country via sailboat. It doesn’t matter if you have a clearance for a port you may not check into within the next month…or year…OR you have no actual plans on leaving the so-called “cleared port” within the next several days…or month. It doesn’t matter at all. You still feel like a wildman when you get that paper. In reality, I could pull up anchor and sail direct to Thailand if I wanted and nobody but Marge would question me. That is awesome. That is freedom.

    Few people out here actually follow the rules. Yes, I said it. Finally. Someone actually said aloud what everyone knows. You can check out today and not leave for weeks and no one would really care or know. It happens with cruisers all over the world. Sometimes the rules are just plain stupid. There are those FEW odd circumstances or random security checks but they are super rare and I only know of a few boats that REALLY care. Most people don’t and who blames them. People who never broke a law in their life are bending the rules in this area. I checked out today (Friday here in Tonga) but I may not leave till Monday….or Friday. Who knows. I am done with the paperwork and I paid. In my eyes, it’s done. There are people anchored within a few yards of me who checked out 2 weeks ago in Vava’u and here they sit. Others checked out for NZ when they left Apia, Western Samoa back in September. They use radio channel 16 code names like “Sweet Caroline”, “Bambi”, “Barbie”, “Salt Peter”, “Heavy Breathing”, and “Adios Pantalones.” We came up with “Marge Barge” as our code name for Dosia. Sounds good to me though I see no reason to use it.

    So we’re checked out. We could possibly leave tomorrow. We are prepared. The weather looks decent for a short 270 mile jump to Minerva reef. It’s another “pause moment” in the 1200 or so mile trip from Vava’u to NZ and it cuts the final leg of the trip down to about 700 miles. Previously, Margie and I decided we’d only stop there if the weather forecast for the remainder of the trip called for a stop. It looks like it may do just that. We are provisioned for a little over two weeks. We have fuel for 800 miles of motoring. No one can lie here. This is potentially the worst passage of an entire circumnavigation. In the last month on this passage, our friends have battled lost rudders, fuel shortages, autopilot failures, rig failures, and more. The Tasman Sea is notoriously nasty like Cape Hatteras near where I grew up. Sometimes I wonder if Hatteras realizes it world-wide fame as “trouble spot” but I don’t question the Tasman. It’s fickle. If it was appropiate, I’d use another “f” word to describe it but I think you get the point. When a low forms in the Tasman, you get out of the way. You don’t mess around in this area of the world. The tanks are full, the oil and filters are changed, the rig is tuned, and the heart is ready. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us pull out of here tomorrow afternoon. We’re part of the All Points to Opua Rally…and race or not, I’m thinking first place sounds nice. Let’s get this one over with. Dosia is ready and it’s time to put our game faces on.