Last Photos From New Zealand

Following are a few photos from our last weeks in New Zealand.

Possum visits Ladybug in Docklands 5 work yard

I shooed it away, but it came back to see what the fuss was about. Photo taken inside our cabin looking out with possum looking in.

We enjoyed a last weekend with Holger and Roz at their lovely farm.

Fresh veggies - some from the HomePort gardens

Rani picks hot peppers with Roz.

Rat Bag frees herself from the navigation buoy she dragged onto one windy night in the river near Whangarei. 

Annie Hill visited us and I asked her to sign my much-read copy of her fantastic book - "Voyaging on a  Small Income"- our cruising bible.

Annie Hill's 26 foot junk-rigged boat - ''Fantail'' was anchored just upstream from us.

André Schwartz - Singlehander

I thought I would post another note on single-handers, since our neighbour here in Fiji is an interesting chap. This post is dedicated to two of our favorite single-handers - John Spicher and Randall Reeves

André is from Hungary but claims Canada as his base, most recently in and about Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Since 2000, he has been on an extended voyage, sailing his Benetau Oceanis 390 (39 foot) boat from Vancouver to Alaska and then down the coast of the Americas all the way to Cape Horn. From there he sailed across the Pacific to the Galapagos islands and then on via French Polynesia to Fiji.

André arrived here in January, completely blind in one eye and with only 20/100 vision in the second, due to cataracts. It is amazing that he managed to work his way through Fiji's reefs in this state, as by his own account he could not even make out the somewhat substantial tower that marks the reef off our bay. American doctors brought in by local missionaries operated on his eyes earlier this year and his vision is now good. However, his propeller fell off during the passage and he has been working on replacing this and on re-aligning his engine before he moves on from here.

André was not shy about telling us his story and clearly enjoyed having an attentive audience (at least in me - Rani nodded off after an hour or two). A man wearing many hats, he is certified in 14 trades including (ironically) optician, as well as Zen master, martial arts instructor, and counsellor. He is proud to be an iconoclast and clearly sees himself as different from the crowd. He told us that most people are sheep ambling blindly and comfortably towards death. André realized he was different from an early age, recalling an argument with a friend when he was 11. It was raining and he told his friend that it was not raining in the spaces in between the drops. His friend insisted that it was raining and was very upset by the idea that it could be both raining and not raining. I was tempted to suggest that looking at things using probabilities might also be useful, but did not want to get into an impossible to conclude debate.

He is also an authour with one book out and another in the works. His tomes are philosophical and address human and societal failings. The second book has "lots of sex because that is what sells". André seems to be a libertarian, regarding society as something to be used only as necessary - not something to be a part of, and he told us he could survive just fine on his own. We pointed out his recent cataract operation as something he could not easily perform himself and how one would have to mine and smelt ore to make the scalpel, etc. To this he replied that he would have been healthy without the doctors, just blind. He did agree though that society has some uses, but that most of us depend far too much on others - we should try to do everything ourselves.

As a sailor, André likes to sail on his own, unlike some single-handers who take on crew for longer passages. His autopilot and wind vane are not working, so he hand steers. At night on passage he sleeps for 15 minutes at a time and wakes up for 5 minutes to check for ships and reset the course if needed. This waking up happens automatically, when on passage, without a need for an alarm. He uses a car radar detector to warn of nearby shipping and stays fit by doing isometric and martial arts exercises.

More on André's book, "Oceanborne Madness???", can be found here  

Fiji - First Impressions

We arrived here four days ago, cruising for a whole day and night through the islands to the little port town of Savusavu. The harbour is crowded with yachts, mainly from Europe and the US. There is a Canadian boat anchored just behind us - Symbiosis - with a single-hander on board named Andrei. He was based out of Vancouver and Maple Bay for a while and we will have drinks with him tonight or tomorrow. Andrei is not too popular with the local marinas because he is anchored on the edge of their mooring field and not paying for the privilege.

Another Canadian boat came to grief here a while back when it caught on fire and was abandoned. The story is not entirely clear, but it appears that the owner may have got on the wrong side of some locals and the fire was no accident. The steel boat, about the size of Ladybug, lies on its side just up the river - a reminder that we are guests here and need to watch our step.

Savusavu reminds us of a small Mexican town. The people are even friendlier and almost everyone we pass says hello, or 'Bula' (pronounced "mBula". Many people walk, the buses are cheap (40 cents), and the stores are small and mainly family-run. There is an excellent market everyday with decent fresh produce. The population is 50% Indian - mainly from south India. Rani is happy to be among people of her nationalìty and we are looking forward to some great street and restaurant food at reasonable prices.

The check-in process went smoothly with visits from Health and Customs/Immigration. EVeryone came on-board and we baked a mango upside-down cake to serve with coffee and tea. Even though there were 14 boats that had arrived that day, the officials were relaxed and friendly and in no hurry to move to the next boat. We filled our forms in before they arrived (delivered to our boat by Aseri, a Fijian boatman who works for the marina) and there was no inspection of the boat. Costs were quite high at about 170 Fijian dollars for the health visit and 80 for the bio-security chap, whom we visited at his office on shore. That amounts to about $150 Canadian. It could have been a lot more if the officials had come out on Sunday when we actually arrived, since overtime is charged. By the way, Fijians do not celebrate the Queen's Birthday any more, contrary to our old cruising guide information.

We are on a mooring operated by the Waitui Marina, which costs about $6 Canadian a day and includes use of a toilet and a slightly grungy shower, dinghy dock, and water. We elected to pay an extra few dollars a day to the rival marina (Copra Shed) to use their nicer showers - it keeps Rani happy! The marina moorings are helix moorings - a giant screw is twisted into the sea bed and they are supposedly suitable for sitting out a cyclone.

Many of our friends are moored nearby and we had Heather and John from 'Evergreen' along with our newly married friends, Bob and Ann off Charisma for an Indian dinner last night. Evergreen is out of Boston and we first met them in Samoa where they were alongside the same jetty. Heather and John jeep their boat in immaculate condition and are an inspiration to those of us with less talent in that direction. Charisma is from San Francisco and Bob was one of our rescuers when Ladybug dragged anchor in Huahine last year. Other neighbors include Charlotte, with Sue and Stefan on board. They hail from Northampton in the UK. Stefan was a full-time shepherd - surely an uncommon former occupation for a circumnavigating sailor! Rani is currently in town with them attending a seminar put on by one of the local ex-pats.

We will likely remain here a few more days and then start exploring the nearby islands.

Day 12 - On a mooring in Savusavu

We are at rest tonight on a mooring at the river mouth in Savusavu, Fiji. Position: 16 46.47 S 179 19.90 E. The anchorage is charming - a few small stores along a quiet road, Fijians walking in small groups, and 30 or 40 yachts from all over the world. Mangroves line the shore and the sun has just set behind the distant volcanic peaks of Vanua Levu. And it is calm - the first peaceful day we have had since we left New Zealand. So nice to be able to write this note without having to brace my body against the pitching and rolling!

We arrived at Noon, sailing all the way to the river mouth in a southeast breeze. Our friends Bob and Ann from Charisma helped us find a mooring and Bob came over in his dinghy to take our lines and secure Ladybug. Charisma had an even rougher trip than we did and are in the middle of engine repairs (due to sea water-contaminated fuel). We will compare notes after we have checked in and can leave the boat, tomorrow. We plan to spend about a week here, exploring, cleaning up the boat, and doing a few projects that we did not complete in New Zealand.

Stats from the trip: Total nautical miles: 1300 with 1192 in the 'right' direction. Time: 11 days, less 3 hours. Average speed 5 knots. Engine hours: 22 @ < 1500 rpm (about 36 liters of diesel consumed). We motored at 3-4 knots during the calms to keep from rolling too much as well as when we left the marina in NZ and on arrival at Savusavu. We sailed with un-reefed main and jib for a few days, but most of the trip was under 2 or 3-reefed main and partially furled jib. The last few days were under furled jib only in 15-30 knot following winds.

How to avoid the 'Cruising Bug'

This illness seems to be most prevalent in middle aged males, but it can strike anyone of any age. Often diagnosed as a form of escapism, symptoms include endless surfing of boat for sale ads on the web, subscriptions to cruising mags, obsessive following of cruising blogs, and an unhealthy interest in all things nautical. I propose two approaches to dealing with this disease - one preventative and one curative.

First the prevention: I call this the 'Cruising Simulator'. It is a room 10 by 20 feet containing a mock-up of a cruising sailboat interior, In fact, my first model of this will use a hull from one of the many cruising boats abandoned by terrified and inexperienced crews during their first storm at sea.

The cruising simulator will use a combination of NASA and fun-fair ride technology to simulate the motion of a boat at sea in a wide variety of sea conditions and wind directions. The device will be capable of rolling, pitching, and yawing through 50 degrees every few seconds. The climate of the simulated cabin will be controlled to provide realistic temperature/humidity combinations from Arctic to equatorial. A variety of simulated smells will also be available including 'diesel in the bilge', and 'hot sick'. Finally, digitally sampled sounds of wind and wave in addition to the thumps, squeals, and groans of a boat at sea will furnish a suitable audio background.

Individuals and couples suspected of developing the cruising bug will be locked in the simulator for 3 hour sessions and given a variety of tasks to carry out under typical open ocean conditions. Tasks will include cooking a warm meal from scratch, bleeding a diesel fuel line, drinking from a full cup of hot liquid, plotting a position on a chart, reading a book, using the heads, etc. There will, of course, be an enormous cost for each session in order to provide a completely realistic simulation of the cruising life.

Should the preventative 'medicine' fail to have the desired effect or be refused by the patient, I propose a straightforward cure that will also save on search and rescue costs. I call this the 'Get me the %#^$ out of here' box. Resembling an ordinary EPIRB locator beacon, the 'Get me the %#^$ out of here' box can be used when the patient(s) reaches a point where he/she/they realize that the dream does not match the reality and they just want to get the heck of the boat. Activating the beacon will summon a rescue helicopter to retrieve the patients and place a professional delivery crew on board. The crew will return the vessel to the patient's port of choice where it will be cleaned up and listed for sale with a yacht brokerage. Further curative options include assistance in buying a home to replace the one just sold to finance the cruise and psychological counselling.

Day 11 - Land ho!

The consistent SE trade wind of 18-20 Knots blew all night and Ladybug swept along at 5.5K to 6.0K with a partial jib. We sighted land, the mountain slopes of Kadavu Island, shortly after sunrise and celebrated with a glass of cold fruit juice. The sky was finally clearing and rays of sunshine warmed us through the portlights. At 0800 hours we reached our initial GPS waypoint and debated whether to check into Levuka, the old Fijian capital, or Savusavu where most of our friends are at this time. Plus, we would not have to heave to at night if we carried on the extra 60nm to Savusavu.

The conditions are still very uncomfortable and we sometimes wonder why we are doing this. I was reading Robert Service's poems from the Yukon Gold Rush days and found a verse which goes like this:

" There's a race of men that don't fit in,
A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain's crest.
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don't know how to rest."

Our position at 3pm today was 18 22S 178 57E and we achieved a total of 136nm.

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.

Meeting interesting people

One of the joys of this lifestyle is meeting interesting people along the way. Last night, we had the pleasure to meet up again with friends on "Barefoot" whom we last saw in Tonga. Barefoot is an attractive aluminum boat of about 40 feet. Designed by Greek designer, Angelo Lavranos (who coincidentally lives near here), "Barefoot" was built in Gibsons, B.C., just across the water from Vancouver. Her owners, David and Roslyn are charming and highly experienced cruisers. They like to follow the path less trodden and have just returned from a three month circumnavigation of New Zealand. They sailed as far as Stewart Island, well below the south island, and spent weeks poking around the fjords on the west coast. David fitted out the interior of this boat, doing all the carpentry, wiring, etc. Such a project is not for the faint of heart. It took David four years of hard work, but the results are stunning. The boat is lovely below, finished in a warm figured African mahogany and David's attention to detail is evident everywhere. Even the wiring harnesses, hidden away behind the electrical panel are works of art.

Just before we met up with Barefoot, a woman rowed over to thank us for going to the aid of the schooner that had dragged the night before. She arrived in a little yellow punt and told us she was off the small junk-rigged boat, "Fantail", anchored just upstream of Ladybug. Apparently she and her partner had been on board the junk when they noticed "Rat Bag" heading down the river on her own. Her partner had rowed out into the dark and stormy night to re-anchor the schooner. We got to talking about boats and, because her boat was junk rigged, I mentioned the book "Voyaging on a Small Income" by Annie Hill and asked if she had heard of it. She said, "I am Annie Hill".

Now "Voyaging on a Small Income" is the closest thing to a bible for the type of cruising we do and I felt like I was in the presence of a true guru. We had a good chat about about cruising, Nova Scotia (which she has visited 6 times), and what had brought her to New Zealand. And of course I asked her to sign my copy of her book. Much water has passed under her boat's keels since she wrote the book back in 1993, and we look forward to hearing more when we visit her and her partner for drinks tomorrow on Fantail.

Wet and windy

This time last year we had just arrived in the Tuamotus. Sunshine, clear water, corals, coconuts, and tropical fish, strolling along palm lined beaches. It all seems like a dream now as we huddle under blankets, while anchored in the river at Whangerei. The wind howls in the rigging and rain patters on the coach roof. We curse ourselves for not leaving earlier, but family comes first.

We did have a bit of excitement last night when "Rat Bag", a classic wooden topsail schooner dragged past us heading down the river in a rain squall. I ran on deck and fired the air horn to notify her owners if they were on board. A voice yelled back that he knew that the boat was dragging, but it was not his boat and he could not figure out how to work the anchor windlass. I yelled across that we would help and Rani turned on the engine and we hauled up the anchor. Getting underway was no easy feat in 30 knots of wind with a strong current added in. We motored down to the schooner, which by this time had stopped dragging, having narrowly missed a channel marker. The fellow on board was a friend of the owner who lived nearby and had gone out to see if the boat was ok. Luck was on the owner's side both for having such a friend and for the direction in which "Rat Bag" had dragged, for it appears that her anchor had caught around the same starboard channel buoy that she had narrowly missed.

At this time of year, system after system swirls over the north island of New Zealand, bringing strong northeast winds, which back to strong southwest ones. We will likely leave on the back of one of these lows and run before the wind, north to sunshine and calm seas.

Back in the water

We splashed a couple of days ago with new bottom paint, polished propeller, and new zincs. Due to the rain we did not have time to finish painting the sheer stripe.

There was an area on the skeg (the appendage that secures the rudder under the water) where water had got in below the outer laminate. I peeled this off, dried it out, and relaminated a layer of mat with epoxy and then another layer of thickened epoxy to even things out.

We are currently back in McLeod Bay on a mooring waiting for a weather window and finishing up last minute projects.

A few recent pictures

I thought I would pop a few pics up for a change.

The first is of my little three year old niece Claire whom I visited in Vancouver along with my brother, his wife, and my parents.

My adorable niece, Claire

I visited Sidney on the way back to Vancouver from Victoria.

Public art in Sidney, BC.

Ladybug has been on a mooring in front of this house in McLeod Bay since January.

The new house/yoga retreat that our cruising friends Jo and Rob Woollacott {s/v Blue Moon} are building at McLeod Bay. Rob worked 12 hour days with a local builder to erect this building . It took them just six weeks to get her to this stage {building on a foundation/lower level they had previously constructed}. Wow!

Jo and Rob at Ocean Beach, near Whangarei Heads

Ladybug with sanded and primed bottom. Hauled out at Dockland 5

Haul-out

Those of you who own larger boats already know how much 'fun' a haul-out can be. You get to play with dangerous substances in a dusty boat yard full of toxic noise and air. At night you retreat up a ladder into your boat, where you can no longer use the wash room or drain water down the sink. Needless to say one wants to limit the days spent in such a position.

I arrived early on Monday after motoring from McLeod Bay the day before and anchoring a kilometer down the river. The boat was hauled out promptly at eight thirty on a large travel-lift. They used only two of their six straps to lift Ladybug and place her gently in a strong steel cradle. I was glad to see how robust the cradle was because we had heard that a friend's boat had collapsed with considerable damage when the supports buckled under her.

In the last two days I have sanded the bottom and applied primer to the bare spots and a coat of paint - 2 coats over the primed spots. The bottom was quite fouled with slime and some coral and barnacles but a good power washing took most of this off. I also cleaned and polished the propeller in the hope that it will be less attractive to growth if it is nice and shiny. Other projects under way include painting the sheer stripe and resealing and painting the ice box/refrigerator.

It is time to climb down the ladder and get to work...

Back on Ladybug

I am back on our boat After 42 hours of elapsed travel - flying to Los Angeles, Tahiti, and Auckland, then buses into Auckland city center and on to Whangarei, car to McLeod Bay, and rowboat to Ladybug. The last legs of the journey were a bit tiring as I staggered around with two heavy backpacks and a light one, trying to find bus terminals and buying groceries for a few days isolated on the boat.

Have you ever tried to go shopping wearing three backpacks? I know a little of what homeless people feel now as I pushed my shopping cart, piled high with the packs around the aisles of a crowded supermarket. Later I waited with my packs and groceries on a park bench for my friend Jo to finish work, so I could drive with her out to McLeod Bay. It was dark now and I was seated near the town basin marina in Whangarei. Groups of cruisers walked by, the families avoiding this stranger seated on a bench with all his possessions. One mother, passing nearby, explained to her children about some people being less fortunate than others. I could only smile.

Ladybug had weathered a month of sun and rain and even a storm bringing sixty to seventy knot winds to the bay. Jo and Rob, on the hill above, had a fence blow over during the storm, but the only sign of this on board Ladybug was a few books on the floor and empty water containers in strange places. One port light showed signs of having leaked a little, but the computer fan and dorade vents combined to keep the interior clean smelling and almost entirely free of mildew. In a wet, climate, this is a real concern when leaving a boat completely shut up for so long.

I will sail up the river on Sunday and haul out first thing on Monday. Rani will join me when she returns from her niece Sandy's wedding in the UK. As I type this, I can see my breath, for it is now winter in New Zealand. Most of our friends have sailed for Fiji, although I talked with Craig on 'Gato Go' yesterday who plans to sail within a week. I look forward to joining them there in a few weeks.

Cruising under sail is not that expensive until you stop

I often tell people that our lifestyle is not that expensive, so long as we are on the boat, cruising and anchoring at night. All this changes when one enters a port where the temptations are many. Add to that the  need to paint and repair the boat every couple of years and an airfare or two half way round the world, and this whole thing does not look like such a bargain.

I am heading back to the boat today, flying out of Vancouver to Los Angeles and then across the Pacific via Papeete, Tahiti, to Auckland. What took 8 months last year on Ladybug is compressed into a long day. In my bags are spare parts and replacement clothing and shoes to last us for another year or two, hopefully.

We bought an AIS equipped VHF radio so that if I sail Ladybug home on my own, next year, Rani will have some peace of mind. The AIS system provides a warning when commercial shipping is within a certain distance of our boat and sounds an alarm if a collision is possible. Most commercial ships are now equipped with AIS transceivers by law. We held off on buying one of these units because they used to be expensive and required a separate VHF antenna or a splitter. Standard Horizon now makes one for under $350 including the mail-in rebate - with free shipping out of Ontario.

We ordered a new membrane for our water maker. These are quite cheap in the US ($160), but not easy to find in Canada and very expensive in NZ ($450). Ours is a 21 inch long 2.5 inch wide membrane that should allow us to make about 25 liters of nice fresh water per hour. The two old membranes were installed in 2003 and were producing water that was slightly too salty to taste good. I will remove one membrane and pressure vessel from the system to keep things simple and improve the overall water quality. From what I have gleaned from manufacturer's specs, having a second 21 inch membrane in series with the first, yields only 6 liters more per hour at the low flow rate achieved by our electric pump. It also increases the dissolved solids by maybe 15 percent, plus you have the extra membrane cost and the complexity of high pressure (800 psi) plumbing.

The membrane had a tortuous journey from California, via my friend Kurt's house in Northern California and then by 'First Class' USPS mail (which I discovered has NO standard of service!). The membrane took a couple of days to make it to Kurt's house and three weeks to get to Richmond BC from there. If you do plan on using USPS for a parcel from the US to Canada, probably go up a level and pay for tracking and guaranteed delivery within a finite time.

We also purchased an Olympus 820 underwater/tough camera to replace our aging and quirky Canon point and shoot. We hope to take some underwater snaps in Fiji, where the corals are reputed to be even better than Tonga. This model is discontinued, but on sale now at Futureshop and Best Buy and seems like a lot of camera for the money.

Our final large purchase is an 11.6 inch notebook that is just a hair bigger and a lot faster than the netbook we bought a few years ago for Rani. My 5 year old 7 inch netbook has a quirky keyboard and sometimes refuses to turn on, so we thought it would be prudent to have two decent small computers since we now rely on them as our primary chart source. This new computer is fast enough to process our home movies from the Sony videocam and I produced the penguin video on the blog using it. Our old netbooks could not even display the videos from the videocam, let alone edit them.

Video of Yellow Eyed Penguins

Video of yellow eyed penguins at Curio Bay.

Visualization of our crossing from Mexico to Marquesas

My friend, Lars Grammel, who recently completed his Phd in Computer Science at UVic, made a visualization of our crossing from Mexico to Hiva Oa in the Marquesas that you can find here. It consists of a map of the Pacific on which each day of our crossing is shown as a circle. If you click on the circle a web page will open with the corresponding blog entry. Note that this works in Chrome browsers and in the later versions of Safari, but there is currently a problem viewing this in IE and other browsers.

Away from the boat

As you may have noticed, we have not posted much in the last month. Rani and I are back in the UK and Canada, respectively. Rani is visiting with her family and will attend the wedding of her niece, Sandy, in May, and I am spending time in Vancouver with my family. We will be back on Ladybug in mid-May, when we haul her out for bottom painting and annual maintenance.

Windigo Update

The yacht Windigo was abandoned on a crossing from Tonga to New Zealand. When we last heard, it was drifting NE from the position at which it was abandoned, so it came as a surprise to learn that the boat washed up on the coast of Australia, well to the west.  Here are a couple of links to articles: ABC Coffs Coast  and NZ Herald

The couple who owned her were surprised that she had been stripped of her valuables before they reached the scene, but this is not surprising. The same thing happened to a friend of ours who's boat was washed ashore during hurricane Jimena in Mexico. I was interested in the issue of ownership of an abandoned boat and this article has a skeleton outline of international law. Interestingly, it seems that the ownership of the vessel remains with its owners even if they abandon it and that this even extends to articles that float free or are jettisoned from a wreck. Unfortunately, in reality one must stay with a vessel or post guards on a wreck to prevent looting or salvage claims.

In the news - New Zealand Conservation

This piece from the Whangarei Times of April 1, 2013:

Lord of the Rings fans are up in arms over the New Zealand Department of Conservation's decision to use over-sized stoat traps to control the increasing population of Hobbits on the North Island. A spokesperson for the department stated that "Despite similarities between our country and Middle Earth, Hobbits are not endemic to New Zealand. They have no natural enemies to control their population. and they compete with native species for both food and space to build their hillside homes."

D.O.C. is using over-sized stoat traps to control the Hobbit population on the North Island.

The Whangerei Times has recently learned that during the filming of The Hobbit, at least eight Halflings went missing from the set in Hobbiton. In the last year there have been more than a dozen sightings of Halflings. Some believe that they may even have crossed the Cook Strait to the South Island, most likely as stow-aways on the inter-island ferries.

A statement posted on the website of the Auckland Lord Of The Rings fan club reads: "Putting Hobbits in the same category as wallabies, stoats, and possums as introduced pests is ridiculous. Hobbits breed slowly and take at least 40 years to mature. At the very least, they [the New Zealand  D.O.C.] should make use of live trapping and relocation..."

Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings films and most recently, The Hobbit, declined to comment.

Mt. Ruapehu - The Dome and Crater Lake

We were determined to bag one more peak before returning to Ladybug, so we chose Mt. Ruapehu in the Tangariro National Park. Well, we didn't actually hike up to the summit of Mt. Ruapehu as it requires alpine skills and crampons, but we did get up to the Dome and Crater Lake. This is recommended as a guided hike due to lack of a signed trail. However, with some directions from the D.O.C. and other avid hikers, we were able to navigate to the rim of the Crater Lake and the Dome Emergency Shelter. We were prepared for adverse weather, carried a good First Aid Kit, a compass and warm/waterproof clothing. There were no warnings of volcanic activity when we checked at the i-site on the night before our trek, so that was a good sign.

Below the Waterfall Express Chairlift, Whakapapa Village

Chris and I went our own way but we both arrived at the same place 

Mist rising from the valley threatens to obscure views of the crater 

Chris hiking on the crater rim

Emergency shelter 

Crater Lake and galcier below us

Beware of volcanic hazards!

Brrrr! The wind began to blow at the dome

On the way back - the dome in the background

Thick ice in this crater camouflaged by covering of silt 

Chris below one of the private club huts on the ski slope

Arthur's Pass and miscellaneous photos

Chris almost caused me a breakdown when he slipped off a rock at Castle Hill, bouldering while I was not looking. As the weather forecast for Arthur's Pass was a bit gloomy, we decided not to hike up Avalanche Peak but continue up the coast towards Nelson. Thankfully, Chris's ankle was not sprained. It didn't stop him from criticizing my driving, anyway!

Castle Hill - Arthur's Pass 

Rock sculptures at Castle Hill

Surreal landscape 

Paekakariki beach at sunset 

Pancake Rocks 

Some places reminded us of home - timber shipping operation at Picton 

Rani in her hot pants at Otaki Beach - Kapiti Island in the background

Organic reflections in a stream

A photo for our friend Chris Mills, a former lighthouse keeper:

 Nugget Point 

Mount Somers, Canterbury Plains

We stayed two nights at the Mt. Somers Domain campsite, a very reasonably priced campground with good facilities located close to the Mt. Somers Track. There are two huts on this track and it is recommended as a two day hike. However, due to lack of time, we planned to see the best of it in one long day. We started at the Sharplin Falls carpark, went up Staveley Hill, summitted Mt. Somers (1687m), crossed the tussocky ridge, then followed a scree trail down to the saddle above the Pinnacles Hut, joined the Mt. Somers Track to the Pinnacles Hut and finally arrived at Sharplin Falls.

It was not an easy hike as the trail was washed out, muddy and slippery in many places due to recent rain, overgrown in other areas and required good footwork and lots of stamina. However, we enjoyed the challenge, the views of the valleys below us and the fleeting glimpses of the snow-covered Southern Alps whenever the clouds drifted away.

View of the Canterbury Plains from Staveley Hill

The clouds are rising from the valley, just in time to obscure the view from the mountain top

Chris, if you look really carefully, you might see Mt. Cook! 

Somewhere over there is a trail down to the saddle, we think!

Limestone rock columns above the Pinnacles Hut

Pinnacles Hut

Rani decided to wash her hair along the way