Day 10 - Roll, Roll, Roll your boat...

We woke up smiling to see sunny blue skies and a steady 12 Knots from the south. The wind slowly shifted into the SE and Ladybug sped along at 6-7 Knots, the GPS recording double digits as she surfed the swells. We poled out the jib and ran wing and wing more or less on our rhumb-line towards Savusavu. As the swells became larger, the rolling got worse, so we turned off ten degrees to the west. Our fast pace would see us arrive on the weekend, incurring overtime charges for the customs officials, so we reefed to slow her down. At 0215 this morning we took down the pole and ran on starboard tack for a while. The wind varied from 15-18K SE, so even with a triple-reef main we were averaging six knots. Before noon we took down the main altogether as it was blanketing the jib in the rolls. Our speed over ground is still well over 5 Knots.

Sometimes, especially when I am trying to keep my balance in the rolls, I just want to get to an anchorage as soon as possible so I can jump off the boat for a refreshing swim and wash. However, at other times I think we can use the extra few days to do more research on Fiji, i.e. which islands to visit. Customs require yachts to state a rough itinerary in order to issue the appropriate cruising permits and introductory letters to the chiefs of the villages. We will likely clear in on Monday and still pay overtime as it is Queen Elizabeth's Birthday Holiday. Even though Fiji became an independent republic in 1987, they still celebrate her birthday! Public Holidays also include Christmas, Prophet Mohammed's Birthday, and Diwali, reflecting an ethnically diverse population.

Our position at 3pm today was 20 33S 178 38E. We gained 139 nm in the previous 24 hours, of which 135 were in the right direction.

Why is the water out here so blue?

From Bowditch's American Practical Navigator:

Offshore, some shade of blue is common, particularly in tropical or subtropical regions. It is due to scattering of sunlight by minute particles suspended in the water, or by molecules of the water itself. Because of its short wavelength, blue light is more effectively scattered than light of longer waves. Thus, the ocean appears blue for the same reason that the sky does. The green color often seen near the coast is a mixture of the blue due to scattering of light and a stable soluble yellow pigment associated with phytoplankton. Brown or brownish-red water receives its color from large quantities of certain types of algae, microscopic plants in the sea, or from river runoff.

Shackles and Slides

Main sheet shackle issue: When we bought Ladybug, the previous owner was not on hand to answer questions and the running rigging had been disassembled and stowed below out of the weather. When I re-assembled the main sheet purchase, I made best guesses as to what shackles to use and I see now that I must have used a shackle designed for a lighter load for the main attachment (see blog from a few days ago about this shackle failing). I found what was probably the original shackle being used to attach a running backstay and have replaced the anchor shackle stop-gap with this one. So apologies for blaming Garhauer for this one :)

How a boat can be like a playground: At lunch time yesterday, we were sitting on the settee when the boat took a huge lurch in the 3 meter cross swells running at that time. I had my feet well braced against the dinette table, but Rani did not. She slid off the settee and all the way across the boat coming to rest under the table. She probably would have joined me in my laughter, for she looked just like a little girl sliding down a playground slide, except that she had been holding a bowl of salad in her left hand. This was now, of course, spread evenly over one of the carpets.

Day 9 - Finally a starry starry night!

First, excuse me for several typo's in my last post. I blame it on the angle of my stomach while typing!

The wind finally settled down yesterday evening to a respectable 15 Knots from the west and the seas were smoother at only 1.5 meters. After taking the the 5:30 pm Drifters' Net check-ins, we ate grilled aged cheddar sandwiches with salad and looked forward to a good sleep. Chris spotted a light just ahead of us to port and on the off-chance that it may be our friends on "Off Tempo", I put out a call on VHF 16. A surprised reply came from Terry of Off Tempo. However, they were 8nm to our east and a few behind, so the light ahead remained a mystery. Their autopilot had broken down but the wind vane was doing her duty. We offered to lend them Frankenpilot (our spare autopilot, assembled from the remains of other deceased autopilots), but they told us they were used to hand steering from previous passages and probably would not need it. Hopefully, there will be enough wind ahead to use the wind vane anyway.

Later on, as we were shaking out the third reef from the main, I heard another woman's voice on the VHF and jumped into the cabin just as she finished giving out her position. I asked her to repeat her info. It was the German yacht "Victoria" and they were only a mile off our starboard beam. Mystery solved! Thankfully on a clear night we could all avoid running into each other, but it would have been very difficult during the previous few days.

Our double reefed main and full jib allowed us to continue sailing during the night at 5.5-6 Knots. My initial resolve to not disturb Chris while he was sleeping did not last long as I saw sheet lightning ahead. Should I change course to port which looked clearer? Would there be squalls associated with the lightning? I hate lightning! Chris had a look and told me to relax - "It's very far and we are moving at a slow 5 Knots". There were also a few expletives which I cannot print ;) I stored our hand-held GPS and VHF in the oven in case of a strike and was afraid every time I stepped into the cockpit to tweak the wind vane. I used to live in southern Ontario and had listened to some horror stories from the terrific lightning storms over there during the summers. Curling up in the corner of the dinette settee I chanted a relaxing meditation in my head for the rest of my shift.

On the other hand, I spent my next shift,from 2am till 5am, almost entirely in the cockpit, gazing at the millions of stars above and the roll and sweep of sea below. It was also the best position to monitor the wind and adjust the windvane as required.

Our 3pm position today was 22 47S 178 05E. Our 24 hour run was 135nm with 122nm made good. We are 3 days away from landfall.

Day 8 - Squally Skies and Stormy Seas

Okay, enough of the rough stuff, we want blue skies, please! Last night was the worst one so far as Ladybug was pursued by relentless squalls. The regular wind of 20 Knots WNW would spontaneously rise to 35-40 Knots and dense fat rain drops drummed harshly on the deck. Poor Hoochie Mama could not keep Ladybug from turning into the pounding waves, so with a bone jarring shock, we would be catapulted into action. Chris stripped to his undies, climbed over the main hatch, turned us a little downwind, rolled in some jib and hopped back into the cabin. I monitored and yelled out our course and direction from the GPS and stood by to mop Chris's salty feet with a freshwater soaked cloth as he stepped inside.

When the first squall arrived I switched on the radar and only saw a mile or two of rain ahead. Then almost the entire 6nm scan went white - there was no escape! That was only the beginning as later on we sailed through six hours of tightly packed squalls over 6 hours! With only a few feet of jib unrolled and the triple-reefed main we ran off before quartering seas for comfort and stability, thus preventing damage to little Ladybug. The bigger boats ahead of us reported being almost out of the squall zone this morning, so we are optimistic that it will be over for us by late tonight. The only patch of blue skies we saw briefly today was behind us :(

One good thing about this passage is that there is lots of time for reading in between the sail adjustments, if you have the stomach it. I just finished a 930 page book that my niece Sabi recommended, "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts. The author is a self-proclaimed revolutionary, past drug addict, criminal, philosopher, poet and writer. It is a work of fiction but his vivid details of life in the slums of Bombay, the activities of the Bombay mafia and the wonderful Indian characters and eclectic ex-pats cannot all be imagined. The novel was written over thirteen years while the author was incarcerated and tortured. It is philosophical and gritty at the same time - a must read!

Our position at 3pm today was 24 17S 177 58E. We sailed 131nm over 24 hours, with 110nm in the right direction.

Day 7 - No rest for the wicked!

Well, here we are again being tossed and tumbled in a maelstrom of surf and waves - ugh!Our twelve hours of respite during yesterday are a faint memory. We ran the engine for almost ten hours and then the new low brought 20 plus knots on the nose at night. It is truly a case of feast or famine in terms of wind on this voyage. We decided to heave-to until it changed direction. Both of us enjoyed more sleep than on previous nights while Ladybug drifted 4 miles to the east as the motion was not all that bad.

One of the unspoken reasons for not sailing last night was the pain in Chris's shoulder. He can barely lift his arm past the elbow without agony. This has been a concern for three weeks but he would not wait for it to heal when the weather window opened for our departure. After cleaning the salty cockpit locker and dealing with a free swinging boom, it was more painful than he let on. Using pressure on points at the shoulder and elbow gives some temporary relief - thanks, Jo!

This morning we checked into the Drifters' Net and were encouraged to put up our sails after hearing all the other yachties' reports. The wind had also started to clock into the west northwest. Putting out a small bit of jib and keeping the triple-reefed main we set off on a course of 45 degrees magnetic at 4-4.5 Knots. Chris actually cooked crepes on a very hot roti pan while balancing at a very crazy angle as we pounded along :)

We are continuing to make progress northeast despite the building seas. The wind is now in the northwest and varies between 18-22 Knots.

Our position at 3pm today was 26 21S 176 31E. Our 24 hour run was only 69nm with 45nm made good, since we hove to for 10 hours.

Day 6 - Grass is greener

Yesterday, while running before a gale with water bucketing over our cabin roof, we thought back wistfully to our time in New Zealand. On the sea, the grass is certainly greener elsewhere - or at least there is grass - and nice solid earth under it!

As the wind dropped, today, the seas continued rough and irregular - mounds of water the size of a house throwing us around like the play-thing of some irritable child. Unfortunately our main preventer (light nylon line) broke during a violent lurch and because there was little wind to steady the sail, the boom swung violently back and forth a couple of times and a shackle at the traveller twisted and parted, leaving the boom swinging freely from side to side. I dropped the mainsail and then grabbed the boom and hung on to the dangling main sheet while Rani started the engine to keep the boat pointed into the swells. Cleating off one of the reefing lines tamed the beast, while I went through our collection of spare shackles to replace the damaged one. Fortunately a 1/4 inch anchor shackle fit and we are now progressing under motor in a rolling 2-3 meter swell.

Post mortem on the traveller shackle: The main sheet purchase is all Garhauer gear. While their blocks and stainless hardware are generally very good, the stainless shackle had bent and the pin pulled free. This is not the first time we have put sudden shock loads on the traveller, so to be fair, the shackle may have been weakened earlier. However, it looks to me like the shackle is a bit undersized. It is sized the same as the other three shackles in the purchase, which only take partial loads. This shackle takes the full load of a multi-part purchase and also must handle potentially strong side loads from the boom as it comes across. I was able to bend back the shackle and re-thread the bolt, but I will not trust it for normal duty again. I hope we will be able to find a stronger one in Fiji!

I spent the rest of today cleaning out the cockpit locker near the fridge compressor and drying everything out. A previous owner put a vent over the top of the electronic controls of the compressor, so in rough seas, water sprays the poor thing. Rather then stop working, the fridge gets stuck in the on position. I dried it out today and everything now works again, so this solves a mystery of more than a year as to why on some passages the fridge gets stuck running. I had thought the problem was related to angle of heel or continuous pounding, but it was much simpler, I think - just a short due to wetness. I have duct-taped the vent shut and hope this will help (although water will still get in around the locker seat lid in foul weather).

One thing that is hard to envision when coastal cruising is just how much water can come over the top of your boat in a big sea. Yesterday, I was lying down on my off-shift when I was awoken by a bang followed by a yelp. A big sea completely broad-sided us and Rani, who had been looking out one of the port lights when this happened, was not particularly happy. It was my turn to yelp later in the day when I was discussing the weather on the SSB with another cruiser and a similar wave arrived about 6 inches from my right ear!

Life feels a lot better today. Surprisingly, yesterday was the first real gale we have experienced at sea in Ladybug II, in over ten thousand miles of sailing . We have gone through many squalls and shorter periods of gale force winds, but nothing that lasted for 30 hours. Fortunately memories seem to be short and we are both quite cheerful today despite another low, which is forecast to reach us tonight. Rani preserved some hot New Zealand yellow peppers - a parting gift from our friends Holger and Roz and is now preparing a lentil curry to enjoy tomorrow, when cooking will be the furthest thing from our minds.

Our 3pm position was 26 53 S 175 43 E - about half way from New Zealand to Fiji. We ran 122 NMs in the last 24 hours and made good 111.

Day 5 - Beam Me Up, Scotty!

If only my heroes were around today, I would leave this washing machine in a nanosecond to sit beside Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk on the Enterprise and be whisked into space! We are still stuck in the low, with winds of 25-30 Knots and 4m seas. The sky and sea are almost uniformly gray and visibility poor. Every ten minutes or so a gnashing white wave comes chomping at the starboard port lights and any little thing that was left unsecured flies across the cabin. Nothing has broken so far as we put away almost all our bits and pieces in the cupboards after the first time this happened.

Sometimes the water finds a little chink in Ladybug's armour and dribbles onto the galley counter or the cabin sole, the pressure forcing it to curve around corners and enter the air vents or the miniscule slit between the sea hood and main hatch.

As the evening approaches, Chris has just unrolled about 30 square feet more of jib since the wind may be dropping a little bit, fingers crossed! As it is impossible to step outside without getting drenched we are confined to our nest of pillows, cushions and blankets on the port settee. We snooze, read, eat chocolates and hang on to something solid while Hoochie Mama,the wind vane, steers the boat.

Our 3pm position today was 28 42S and 175 11E and we sailed 141nm in 24 hours with 125nm made good.

Day 4 - Shake Rattle and Roll

We are on the trailing edge of a large and slow moving low pressure system that lies about halfway between Fiji and New Zealand. Boats ahead of us (most of the fleet) reported winds of 30-40 knots and 3-4 meter seas. Being late to the party has its advantages and we are experiencing lighter winds of 25 knots and smaller seas below and to the left of the low.

That being said, Ladybug is being tossed around like a play thing by short, close spaced 2.5 to 3 meter seas. She is rolling regularly through 20-30 degrees with buckets of water drenching our uphill side and an unnerving close-up view of ocean out the downhill port lights. We have only a quarter of our small jib rolled out and I lashed down the triple reefed main a few hours ago. Surfing sideways down the swells we are hitting GPS speeds in double digits and averaging about 6 knots. It is remarkable how little sail (maybe 100 square feet) is needed to push 10 tons of boat along in 25 knots of wind!

Life below is predictably difficult, but I am very glad for our reliable windvane gear that is steering Ladybug on something approaching a beam reach. Hand steering in these rough seas would be tiring indeed. Below, even the simple acts of typing a blog entry, using the bathroom, or chopping up veggies and cheese for lunch are fraught with difficulty. An analogy for using the toilet would be to try using a porta-pottie, strapped to the back of an ill-tempered rodeo bronco - ughhh.

Our position at 3pm was 30 56 S 175 14 E. We sailed 128 NMs in 24 hours and made good 119.

Day 3 - Preparing for gales

It has been a day of light winds and flapping sails. We motored for much of the morning when the wind vanished completely. The boat got a nice clean-off in a couple of showers and the rainbows framed by black squall clouds were quite beautiful. Until a half hour ago we had been sailing under full main and jib - something we do surprisingly rarely in the open ocean where there is often more wind than we need. The boats ahead of us are reporting much more wind, so we will be reefing down soon, no doubt.

Rani was a bit cranky when I woke up this morning after a chilly watch, but cheered herself up by making parathas (stuffed flat breads) taking advantage of the flat conditions. Later we prepared for a gale that is forecast to arrive tomorrow by rigging our jack lines and retrieving our personal harnesses from the lockers. We also took out the life raft from its locker under the V-berth and Rani made up a 'ditch bag' full of survival gear in case we have to leave in a hurry. We hope to see no more than 20-30 knot as we should be on the edge of the low, but it is too early to tell for sure.

Our position today at 3pm was 32 54S 175 12E. We sailed/motored 90 nautical miles in the previous 24 hours and of those 85 were towards our way-point off Astolabe Reef.

Day Two - placid but noisy!

As the sun went down last night so did the wind but it was pretty sailing under the moonlight and stars with good visuals on the commercial traffic nearby. It felt strange to be on night watch again, scanning the horizon for lights and ufo's ( unidentified floating objects ).I resisted the urge to call Chris to verify my "read" on a couple of large ships passing a mile or two off Ladybug. As they passed safely to north and south I put away my binoculars and smoothed out the worry lines.

This morning was quite placid and we burnt some diesel for six hours. We know that there will be a low following us in a few days and want to get as far away from NZ as possible. Other boats checking into the Drifters Net this morning also reported motoring in light winds. Only the guys nearing Fiji are getting the 30 Knot winds and 6 metre seas. One of the boats had two knock-downs two days ago during the worst of the high winds, which we sat out in the river at Whangarei.

This afternoon the roller furler jammed, so we were glad we had calm conditions to fix the problem. The worm set screws in the drum had backed out, causing the foil to ride up and we could not furl/unfurl after a few turns. Chris manually unrolled the jib around the forestay to take it down. We found some chafe at the top of the jib halyard, so while Chris reset the screws, I cut off the chafed area and re-seized it. It was good to feel useful. Just as we raised the jib, the wind came up, so we are now sailing again in 4-5 Knots from the SW.

There is a lot of low cumulus cloud cover over us but the pressure is quite high at 1032. It feels like an oppressive sort of day. My solution was to cook a hearty lentil and vegetable soup, with beetroot, carrots, tomato, onion and potato. We also enjoyed a crunchy salad with fresh greens from Jo's garden and some delicious local feta cheese.

Our progress during the last 24 hours from 3pm to 3pm was 104nm, 96nm made good. Our position is 34 21S 174 49E. Please join us in our prayers for a wee bit more wind this evening.

Off to Fiji

The windy wet weather has finally passed over and a high is settling in over the north island. We checked out of New Zealand at Marsden Cover and departed around 3 pm in the wake of a dozen other cruisers who are bound also for Fiji as well as New Caledonia. It is currently very dark under an intense starry sky and we are passing the Poor Knights islands - a marine preserve north of Whangarei. The boat is rolling along in a light swell and we are making about 4.5 to 5 knots under reefed main and jib.

We managed to re-assemble the autopilot mount, which had delaminated in only a year. The new mount is sealed with multiple layers of epoxy. I painted a coat of primer on the sheer stripe but had no opportunity to do the red coats, so Ladybug is all cream and white with no name on her aft end yet. We also found an engine stop cable to replace the seized one, but again there was no dry period to install this so the string running through a ring zip-tied to an exhaust hose will do for now! Also, our Pactor modem is acting up, so do not be surprised if there is a large gap in blog updates and emails.

Our position at 9pm NZ time was 35 28 S 174 47 E.

Venus Rising - Day 15

I am on watch as we coast down to the entrance to the Bay of Islands. It is 0430, Venus is rising to port and the lighthouses wink at me to starboard. I think we timed it just right :) We should see the land clearly at sunrise.

We turned on the engine for 5 hours yesterday as the wind lay down completely and the sea became glossy calm. Ladybug had 43 miles to run but as Trish on "Gulf Harbour Radio" likes to put it, we could see the barn door. It seemed a shame after all those quiet days and the lovely sailing breeze we had enjoyed during the last few days.

Maybe God was listening to my thoughts because at 2130 a light WSW breeze began to rustle the mainsail. We switched off the engine and were soon tacking up towards the north cape. It was slow going with a knot or more of current against us but the seas were almost flat.

We sailed all night, using the radar and frequent visual scans of the horizon to avoid running into any fishing boats or cargo ships. The stars and partial moon were guiding our way. I could see the legendary Maori "sail of Tainui", the Southern Cross and the Magellan nebulae quite clearly. Despite the chilly temperature in the cockpit I sat out there for a long time enjoying this last night of our cruise.

At sunrise we were almost at the entrance to the Bay of Islands and Cape Wiwiki glowed like a welcome beacon. Lots of little birds were flying around, fishing and swimming close to Ladybug. A ketch flying its full set of sails was tacking up from Cape Brett and another sailboat was motor-sailing from the east. The spinner dolphins did not show up despite my messages.

Chris woke up to enjoy the scenery unfolding as another day was born. It was wonderful to see the grassy hillsides and trees standing to attention on top of one cliff. We could smell the sweetness of the land! We had arrived!

Sadly, the wind deserted us shortly thereafter. We enjoyed a hot tea, called NZ Maritime Radio to revise our ETA and motored the remaining 12 miles into Opua. There were dozens of boats ranging from jetskis to 50 footers fishing in the bay, so we had to weave our way carefully in the narrow parts of the channel.

As we approached the quarantine dock, a couple of women shouted and waved madly from the marina club house. They were our friends Anne from "Charisma" and Deb from "Buena Vista", calling "Welcome to New Zealand!". That cry was echoed many times as other people saw us go by. What a wonderful feeling! We had truly made it to New Zealand!

Made it to Opua

We have arrived and are anchored in the bay at Opua on the north island of New Zealand. More to follow...

Day 14 - Air planes and Dried Fruit

We are now about 70 miles out of the Bay of Islands, beating into a freshening SSE breeze with a bouncy heeled over motion that makes typing somewhat difficult. Yesterday we had a very pleasant day of easterly winds on our beam. The sun came out after more than 24 hours of cloudy drizzly conditions and our batteries are once more topped up. I can now see that solar energy is not a panacea if you live in this part of the world, although it has worked superbly during our cruises in Mexico and the tropics.

Yesterday we nearly jumped out of our skins when a New Zealand air force Orion zoomed by to get a close look at us. They were down to around one thousand feet - close enough to read our boat name! This is a 4 engined propeller plane, used for coastal surveillance and I would guess they were on fisheries patrol as well as on the look out for approaching yachts. They called us and another nearby yacht on VHF Channel 16 to check our ETA into Opua. You have to email a pre-check-in document to NZ customs 48 hours in advance and then check in via radio 24 hours out with your revised ETA. These guys take border protection seriously!

Apart from the excitement of our aerial visitor, we have been busy eating our fresh produce, dried fruit, and other items that will be confiscated in New Zealand. We are doing quite well, but Rani is still worried they will take away our lentils, beans, and rice - staples in her diet. If you know Rani, you will know how much she hates to waste anything! Because we will arrive early on Sunday morning and will probably not be inspected until Monday, we still have two days to eat 7 potatoes, 4 onions, 3 kilos of rice, a kilo of raisins, and 4 or 5 kilos of assorted legumes. Rani has been threatening to make a giant rice pudding, but our tiny fridge cannot hold much more.

It has been so calm on this passage that we have been able to watch a movie each day. The Coen brothers are becoming favorites on Ladybug - we have watched two of their films in the last few days - "Bad Santa" and "A Serious Man". I love their dark, intelligent humour, even if the profanity and violence can be a bit much.

Our position at 07:45 on Saturday Nov 24 was 34 14 S 175 07 E. We made 110 miles in the last 24 hours.

Day 13 - Things that Break

Yesterday was a day of drizzle and overcast skies. We made about 120 miles in easterly winds, with the main reefed to allow our wind vane to steer more easily.

Rani baked a parrot pie for supper - no she has not given up her vegetarianism - parrot pie is made with eggs, onions, and flour. This turns out sort of like a crustless quiche and always reminds us of our friends on Blue Moon who introduced us to this delicacy on a hike in Mexico. Yummy with Mexican salsa and the highlight of a drizzly, chilly day.

I thought I would mention a few things that we and other boats have had break down on us on this passage. Jimmy Cornell, in his cruising survey, does a more complete job of this, but maybe this will help people who are preparing for an ocean passage. There are two states that seem to cause the most damage to boats - calm or light winds in rolly seas, and heavy winds, particularly squalls. We have had more of the former on this passage, but the rolling around and slatting that a boat goes through out here can cause a surprising amount of damage.

Here is my list based on about 40 boats on passage:

Broken sail slugs and batten cars - These and the webbing that ties the sails to the slugs wear quickly as the sails slap back and forth. Even a few days of this can destroy hardware and chafe right through webbing. Suggest you bring spares. One boat was forced to motor when their batten car broke at the top the mainsail, while another had a repair kit on board and carried on sailing. We had one slug break. This was our fault because we have reefed our mainsail while running in the past, which wears through the plastic sail track slugs in short order due to side loads. We now round up to reef or un-reef and will replace our plastic slugs with metal ones in NZ.

Head sail clew ring - one boat had this pull right out, presumably in a squall 'though I did not hear the details. They admitted that the clew ring webbing was tired. Suggest you restitch or renew this area if in doubt.

Head sail UV strip failure - not sure if the boat that suffered this had this happen in a squall. Apparently the sail cloth under the UV canvas was damaged and failed as well, so it was not just stitching (which is usually the first thing to go).

Staysail and jib failures - did not hear the details, but a few boats reported damage to their fore-sails in the heavier winds that the earlier fleet experienced a few weeks ago.

Auto-pilot - at least one boat had a failure of their autopilot. Not repairable on passage.

Pactor modem - we rely on this for email communications and weather forecasts. Two boats reported failures and we relayed weather to one of these boats that was in the area of a cyclone.

Wind vane steering - We heard of three boats who had wind vane steering failures. Two were repairable on passage. Bring spares for your wind vane (Monitor provides a complete rebuild kit when you buy their wind vane).

Solar panels. One boat had a panel destroyed in heavy weather. They suggested that we lash our panels down before we get into bad conditions. They went through 50+ knots of wind and seas of more than 7 meters.

Engine transfer plate - I think I have this term correct. The bit that transfers power from the engine to the transmission failed. This meant that the boat could neither motor nor re-charge its batteries. Not sure how one could prevent this. Conditions were so benign that another boat actually towed the disabled boat for a couple of days until the wind filled in!

Engine impeller followed by muffler melt-down. An old impeller (3 years) came apart and the hot exhaust melted the plastic muffler before the engine overheat alarm went off. Replace old impellers before your trip..

Our position at 7:45 this morning was 32 42 S 176 10 E. We are sailing now under sunny skies in a light NE breeze and are 160 miles out of Opua.

Becalmed - Day 12

We beat all our other records yesterday by clocking 36 miles on the odometer but arriving only 4 miles west of our previous daily position! We hove to at 11am and then took the sails down altogether to save them from slatting in the 15-20 degree rolls. There was a brief discussion about motoring for a day but we decided against it for aesthetic and practical reasons.

One gets used to being tossed around after a while but occasionally it takes one by surprise. As it did to Chris when he went to tie the preventer on the boom. A sudden jerk and he was hanging with his legs dangling in the water! Luckily he still had the sturdy line in one hand and was able to grab the stanchion at the gate. I would not have been able to pull him up with my puny muscles and weak wrists. Thankfully, as the boat came down on the next swell he was able to pull himself up. Ladybug was sailing around 3.5 knots at that time, so it is a good thing he did not fall off completely. The only injury was a scrape on his shin on the way down. On the plus side it was a good excuse for a hot shower and a glass of brandy. It was also a reminder to keep the gate closed at all times (we keep them open as they interfere with the jib sheets).

The afternoon matinee on Ladybug was "A Serious Man" from the Coen brothers with their trademark black humour. I would give it 3 stars.

Gulf Harbour Radio's forecast for the next 3 days was for light wind conditions, so we did not worry about being caught out in anything nasty while bobbing about out here. We enjoyed a glorious sunset, undulating hills of molten gold under a spectrum of red, gold and blue streaks in the sky.

Our 0745 position this morning was 31 05 S 177 14 E.

Day 11 - No wind

We have sat around most of today after a few hours of sailing in the morning. Hope for wind in a few hours...

At 7:45 we were at 31 04 S 177 18 E after a daily run of 90 miles. Hope to be in Opua on Saturday or Sunday.

Love/Hate

I don't think we are alone on Ladybug in our love/hate relationship with passage-making. Rani has told me that she regards passages as a necessary evil. I think she stayed around for this one because she felt that with her on board to watch out for me, my chances of making it to NZ in one piece would greatly improve! She admits that sailing is not a first love for her and that she would rather be hiking on some mountain trail than be out here on the ocean. For her, cruising is a rather inconvenient way to get to very cool places. Sill, she obviously enjoys aspects of each passage - the days when the seas are calm and a gentle breeze ghosts Ladybug along under blue skies and puffy clouds - the nights chock full of bright new stars - the wildlife.

I love to sail, but these long passages are a test of my endurance. I swing between being enraptured by the whole thing and wanting to sell the boat as soon as we arrive in New Zealand. I love the challenge of making progress despite light airs and rolling seas, but only to a point. After two or three days of rolling around in the same part of the ocean, trapped in the middle of a high, I have found that you must re-focus away from the goal of arrival. The alternative is to fall into a foul mood. I think that most of us cope with this by carrying plenty of fuel and motoring when things start to reach this point. And everyone has a different threshold for this.

Having 'Melody' nearby on much of this passage has helped me remain focused on the passage itself. Holger is usually in a good mood when we chat about weather and progress and gently reminds me that we should appreciate the quiet days out here. While he, too, looks forward to getting to New Zealand, Holger clearly enjoys his time on passage. This makes a refreshing change from the majority opinion in the fleet, which, at this point, is that it is high time we were all in port.

Once you start focusing obsessively on making port, you lose much of the ability to enjoy the days and nights out here. You run the diesel all day, to make a few more miles, even when there is enough wind to sail. You refuse to deviate from the straight line course and fail to take advantage of a breeze that may want to waft you a little to the east. And so on...

Day 10 - From Peace to Violence

It began as another calm day, coasting along at a respectable 3.5-5 knots with full main and jib with light NE/ENE winds. Chris was in a writing mood and composed a melody to sing to Roz and Holger on 'Melody', teasing them about leaving us behind. Sadly, we lost sight of them over the horizon and then VHF contact as our paths diverged, Ladybug pointing a little west of south while they continued more to the east.

In the afternoon we began seeing squally looking clouds around us and ahead. We listened to the weather reports from boats south of us on the Pacific Drifters Net. A few had experienced rain but no significant wind under those clouds. Nevertheless, we put a reef in the main at sunset to be ready for change in wind.

Thunder and lightning greeted us at 9pm, so we unplugged our radios and placed the secondary GPS in the oven. I have a terrible fear of lightning and wanted to hide under a blanket when the sky lit up every few seconds. Rain began and wind increased to 15 knots from the northeast. The windvane was able to cope and we were speeding along at 6-7 knots on our rhumb line to Opua. An hour later, the wind built up to 25 knots and we were doing 7-8 knots. Chris furled in part of the jib and we surfed the building waves for a while until it was more comfortable to put a second reef in the main.

Radar showed us under an extensive squall front but it looked to overtake us in another half hour. Well, the clouds disappeared off the radar screen but the winds and seas continued to build. By 2.30am we had dropped the main and had only about 60 sq. ft. of jib giving us 7 knots and more in the gusts. The seas were 2 to 3 meters by this time and closely spaced, coming at us every 5 seconds. Occasionally their force over-powered the windvane, so Chris stood in the cockpit ready to lend a hand. He looked quite wild with the tiller between his legs!

The barometric pressure had fallen 6 mb in 4 hours - not a good sign. I was monitoring the weather station like a dog in the window hoping to see an upward swing but none came. All we could do was to ride it out and let Ladybug do her thing. It was impossible to sleep as I was paranoid about running into another vessel or getting struck by lightning. Visibility was zero outside so we monitored the radar frequently. We knew there were several yachts and possible commercial traffic between NZ and Fiji in our vicinity. I found the rain and sea scatter on the radar very confusing.

To give you an idea of the wind speeds, when we jibed, Ladybug continued to sail at 4-5 knots under bare poles!

Thankfully it was all over by 9.30am this morning and now we have very little wind and bouncy 2m seas. Our happy solution is to point southeast for now with a reefed main and full jib in 6-7 knots from the north, with following seas. The sky was blue for a while with wispy fast moving clouds at high altitude but we are approaching an area of low clouds again. Friends south of us reported light and variable conditions with flattish seas.

Our position at 0745 this morning was 29 53 S 176 51 E and we ran 133 nM in the previous 24 hours.