Sunday 21st October

At Sea

19 46.069 S
148 18.118 E (at Midnight)

The night passed quietly, the weather was a little warmer and we weren’t being thrown around as much as we had been for the past few days. Neither of us slept particularly well overnight – the excitement of being almost there had really kicked in and we had to force ourselves to go to bed rather than watch the Queensland coast approach. Funnily enough only 2 more boats went past us during the night – both on Gerry’s watch. As the day light broke through we were seeing more and more small islands, most of which I had never heard of! The day was quite uneventful and pretty boring. The wind died away and we started up the mechanical wind and motor sailed for most of the day. It was close to lunch time before we started to recognize the islands that we were going by – we had hit the Whitsunday passage (which we know quite well having cut our sailing teeth around this area). I’m also happy to report that Airlie beach turned the sun on for us, we had glorious sunshine as soon as we were in sight of the place. For those of you who have ever seen the Queensland tourism adverts we thought that they should change the catch phrase from “Queensland, beautiful one day, perfect the next” to “ Queensland crappy one day, perfect the next” as this was what we were experiencing. The sea also changed colour off of the Whitsunday Islands; it became a clear pale aqua green – very pretty. It took us just about all day to clear the Whitsunday Islands, by late afternoon we were just off of Hayman Island – the last in the chain when a very large super yacht British defender roared out from behind the island and cut across in front of us. If we had been moving a fraction faster at the time we would have run over the dinghy that it was trailing behind it! This was one of many yachts that were out for a Sunday afternoon sail and we didn’t even pretend to be racing against any of them, after all we had just come from the other side of the world to here – we didn’t have anything to prove! The sun began to set just after we had cleared Hayman Island – it set over the land and was a beautiful sight for our last sunset at sea but there was no green flash – it is official guys – it does not happen despite all the stories we have been told. The night seemed never ending; we were now so close to home that we could taste it. We tried our best to sleep and even managed to for a while but we both seemed to have caught our second wind and just wanted to be up on deck until we arrived in Townsville.

Saturday 20th October

At Sea

21 12.903 S
150 12.491 E (at Midnight)

As the night continued it became increasingly colder – what’s going on here? This is supposed to be sunny Queensland guys; we resorted to wearing tee shirts, sweat suits, fleecy tops and our wet weather gear all at once to keep warm and dry, and for the first time we even got the beanies out to keep the wind out of our ears! Dawn brought little relief, it was cloudy and we had rain for about an hour soaking everything. With the wind still coming from behind at 12 -15 knots we were rolling (literally) along at 5 knots, the good news was that the swell was beginning to drop. At 10.30hrs we reached a point where we had to change tack in order to maintain our course,throwing the main across went very smoothly BUT as we were now heeled over on the opposite side a whole lot of books and drawers fell out down below and scattered across the cabin floor. Gerry lost it, he began throwing things around down below instead of leaving it for me to pick up as is the norm. I got him to calm down and then went below to pick up and tidy away the flying debris – it didn’t take long but it’s not easy chasing stuff around the floor when you are being thrown from side to side. I cooled off by having a shower before going back out on deck, where Gerry was now quite calm and civil again. We began to see the small islands that dot the Queensland coast as we headed further north. The swell was all over the place and the wind kept gusting at odd times; our speed was anything from 4.5 knots to 10 knots, we even saw it reach 12.5 on 2 occasions - it’s not good sailing like this as it is so inconsistent; however we are at least heading in the right direction. We had the jib out for a while in the afternoon but soon put it away again as it didn’t have a great deal of effect on our progress. The sun set behind islands, yet again we were cheated out of seeing a green flash! We were now well and truly in the shipping lane for the Queensland coast and at 22.00hrs we saw the first of a series of container ships coming at us from the north – it wasn’t going to be a night when we could take our eyes off of the horizon for long.

Friday 19th October

At Sea
22 26.649 S
152 20.730 E (at Midnight)

It was just as well we did reduce the sail area as the winds grew again for the rest of the night and we were having sustained wind of 27 knots and gusts up to 30 knots, needless to say we were moving along pretty rapidly. We finally saw a sign of life other than the 2 of us this morning - a cargo ship appeared out of the clouds on the horizon 6 miles in front of us; it crossed our path and vanished back into another cluster of clouds. Soon after spotting this ship a huge wave hit us side on and managed to get under the canvas and Gerry got soaked through, I escaped as I was down below getting us a drink at the time. The wind began to drop and once it was down to 20 knots we turned the engine on to try and steady the rolling; it didn’t work too well as Gerry tried to cook up some sausages for breakfast and the pan ended up on the floor when the boat gave a violent heave to one side (they were disgusting sausages anyway!). It did make Gerry appreciate what I normally go through to put a cooked meal in front of us when we are underway. We turned the engine off mid afternoon and unfurled the jib , we managed to sail for at least 2 hours before the wind dropped aft enough to cause the sails to flap annoyingly; at this point the jib went away again – its certainly getting a good work out! At around 22.30 hrs we reached the end of the Great Barrier Reef at around Rockhampton and began rounding the bottom of it to head back north and towards home. As we turned to head north the wind was now directly aft of us and maintaining our course was increasingly difficult. The auto pilot kept dropping out and the boat kept trying to round up into wind, it was a very frustrating night. Sleep was difficult but at least we had half a moon and plenty of stars even if they did keep disappearing behind the clouds.

Thursday 18th October

At Sea

22 31.333 S
155 02.320 E (at Midnight)

By the time the third watch was beginning the wind was blowing a steady 21 knots and we decided to furl the jib away and put the 2nd reef in the main. It’s not our favourite thing to do at night as it means Gerry has to go out on deck in the dark to secure the reef, with the sea swell steadily growing along with the wind it can be quite dangerous but we figured that it was a necessity. With just the main out and both reefing points in place we still roared along at 7 knots. Dawn arrived and we thought we would try a small amount of jib to see if it would add some stability to our sailing however the wind began to veer around behind us causing the sails to flap so we reduced the jib to pocket handkerchief size and sailed for the rest of the day like that. The wind and sea swell continued to increase during the day with the wind speed now a steady 26 knots and the swell up to 12 feet – some of those waves coming at us from behind were taller than the boat when we hit a trough and we were lucky not to get pooped! It didn’t help that we seemed to be getting swell from 3 different directions, which is alright when each direction hits on it’s own but when 2 or 3 different direction waves hit at the same time the boat gets tossed about like a cork – thank goodness we bob up quite well. We tried to grab some sleep during the day time to make up for the lack of sleep during the night but we are both quite tired and in need of a decent stretch of sleep to keep us from making stupid mistakes. As 16.00hrs approached we were just about on top of the sleep problem, the sky clouded over and it began to rain – oh joy! We were now wet as well as tired; luckily it didn’t last too long. The sun (what sun?) set behind a bank of clouds – still no green flash! As we began the night watches the wind dropped a little to 24 knots and we were making 7 -8 knots speed, good speed but it was very rolly and quite rough. Finally at 23.00hrs we furled the rest of the jib away to reduce our sail area for the night.

Wednesday 17th October

At Sea

22 24.543 S
157 50.833 E (at Midnight)

After dropping the main at midnight we motored for the rest of the night making an average of only 4 knots per hour. We cooked breakfast and then hoisted the main sail again as the wind was beginning to pick back up, ever cautious we left the first reef in place. A very short while later we let the jib out about half way - there still wasn’t enough wind to prevent flapping if we had it out all the way, with both sails partially deployed we motor sailed until lunch time when we thought that there was enough wind to turn the motor off and just sail. It worked for a short while and then we became frustrated with the constant struggle to prevent the flapping so we turned the engine back on at about 15.30 hrs and furled the jib back away. The on going saga continued – jib came out again at 17.30 hrs, we ate dinner and then turned the engine off, this time though there was enough wind for the sails to hold there shape. The wind continued to increase and by 19.00hrs we had a steady 14 knot breeze with a few gusts reaching 20 knots; we were managing to do a steady 7 knots speed which kept us happy. The sea for some reason was flat calm so it was fairly pleasant sailing. The moon came out and was a little bigger tonight – all the better for seeing you with and there were hundreds of stars twinkling in a relatively clear night sky. Surprisingly the night was a bit warmer than last night and we didn’t need our wet weather gear for the night watches.

Tuesday 16th October

At Sea

22 26.085 S
159 57.800 E (at Midnight)

Happy anniversary Dale and Lorie, enjoy Ruth’s, wish we were there!
Another day of unexceptional sailing followed. The day’s forecast was for 10 – 15 knots of wind and for once they were pretty close to the mark. Our speed dropped with the decreased wind and we were now doing less than 5 knots. The knock on effect was that the sails began to flap and bang as there wasn’t enough wind to keep them full. We poled the jib out in the hope that it would keep some of the flapping at bay – it worked for a while but the wind then began to veer around to directly from behind which is not our best point of sail. I tried to type up the blog at about 14.30 hrs but after being below in the nav. station for 20 minutes I felt quite ill and had to make a quick dash topside to part with my lunch over the side rails – the first time since beginning this trip! I gave up typing and went to sleep for the afternoon instead –a much better plan! By 17.00hrs the jib pole was redundant as the jib was flapping even with the pole in situ .We took the pole off and furled the jib away, leaving just the main to flap and bang at will and occasionally fill and push us along. We ate dinner hoping for a decent sunset – it vanished behind clouds, I am convinced that there is no green flash as it seems there are always clouds at sun set. The night watches began and at 21.00hrs the wind was down below 8 knots and our speed was dropping to 2.8knots; Gerry had enough and turned the mechanical wind on to increase our speed to 5 knots. A short while after there was a huge black cloud which extended for miles down our port side but according to the radar showed no rain in it; it did however affect the wind, bringing it round to the starboard side and at around 22.00hrs we had to tack to keep any wind in the sail. The change in direction didn’t affect the speed though we still needed to motor sail. If anything the wind became lighter and at times seemed to veer from one side to the other. The flapping continued until we finally gave up trying to sail and dropped the main, motoring became the only way to go!

Monday 15th October

At Sea

22 24.516 S
162 02.462 E (at Midnight)

The night sailing turned out to be the sort that we both hate – there was only the smallest sliver of a new moon which only stayed in the sky for a couple of hours, the stars were mostly hidden by the clouds and it was pitch black, making the horizon difficult to see. The up side was that there were no other boats anywhere for the entire night. The wind gusted up to 25 knots on and off all night, the swell was 6-8 foot and caused waves to slap against the hull, the pitching and rolling was not necessarily the worst we have experienced but we could have happily lived without it. As dawn approached (very early I might add at 04.30hrs) the winds began to die away and by 07.00hrs they were down to 10 knots and we shook the 2nd reef out of the main to keep us moving along. The forecast said that the wind would be light (5 knots) and variable for the day – it was certainly variable but at 10 -15 knots, which was fine as it meant we could do at least 6-7 knots all day. Our day was unexceptional, we saw no boats, no whales, no dolphins, in fact nothing at all. I didn’t even bother to put the fishing line in the water as we have enough food for the entire trip, with some left over I’m sure. We took turns in catching up with sleep, being on watch and reading. As the night closed in around us we were surprised at how cold it was, we both had tee shirts, track suits and fleecy jackets on to keep warm and even then we were complaining of cold! The stars were out in force tonight and the sliver of moon put in a brief appearance – it would be so nice to have a full moon sail so that we could see around us.

Sunday 14th October

At Sea
22 28.104 S
164 40.354 E (at Midnight)

At last the leaving day arrived. We were up fairly early as we had a couple of last minute things to do before we could leave. Gerry topped up the water tanks and stashed the hoses away and then we hauled the dinghy back on the deck and strapped it into place for the passage. Next, and most important thing was to have breakfast, we walked across the road and ate with the clown – well it would be the last chance for a week or so and we had to use up our last few coins! After eating we wandered back to the marina office which was now open and paid our bill and returned the bathroom key. Finally we were ready to leave. At 09.00hrs with a little help from our dock neighbours we slipped the dock lines and motored out of the marina. The day started well with bright sunny sky and wind at 15 knots on the beam. We motored for about an hour to get us out clear of the reef and then turned into wind to hoist the main with the first reef in play, the jib quickly followed but again we didn’t pull it all the way out as we were moving along quite well with only half of it out. The weather lasted until lunch time and then the clouds filled the sky and it began to spit with rain, the wind blew a bit harder and the sea swell turned lumpy – not so pleasant. Unfortunately for us this was to be the pattern for the rest of the day, it left me with a horrid headache which I just couldn’t shift and made both of us feel very lethargic. We didn’t bother fishing as we have enough prepared food to last us until we reach home, but even going below to heat some of that up proved to be a major undertaking. By 15.00hrs the wind was blowing 25 knots and we decided that putting the second reef in the main would probably be prudent for the night. The night watches were, as usual for a first night, pretty painful – neither of us managed much sleep as the motion was too violent, still we can always catch up as we go along.

Tuesday 2nd October

At Sea

22 21.614 S
166 38.002 E (at Midnight)

Through the rest of the night the wind remained the same and we struggled to maintain forward motion at times. By 07.00hrs we had had enough and we started up the engine, put it at low revs and began to motor sail. The jib remained away and the preventer remained on as the wind was now coming around to our aft. We put the fishing line in the water, buoyed by yesterday’s catch (it was pointless though as we didn’t get a single bite all day). We took turns to catch up with some of our lost sleep during the day and read in the cockpit for the rest of the day. The sun did a little better today and managed to show its face a few times but by 15.00hrs it had turned quite cold and we were wearing fleecy tops. Gerry said he could see land at 15.00hrs, I think his imagination was in play as it was still 40 miles away. By 17.30hrs we were close to the entrance to the reef which runs along the side of the island, we turned into wind and put the main away then returned back to our course and motored to the entrance of the reef, the sun was setting over the land as we negotiated our way through the reef entrance and made a pretty backdrop.
Our destination, Noumea, was still 50 miles away from this point and we continued to motor through the night doing a sedate 4.7 knots. We had hoped to arrive at the harbour in Noumea during daylight hours but this obviously wasn’t going to be the case now – it would be another dodge the boat at anchor scenario when we arrived.

Monday 1st October

At Sea

21 43.094 S
168 45.788 E (at Midnight)

The wind began to drop during the early hours of the morning and along with it speed dropped. As soon as daylight appeared we shook out the 2nd reef that we had put in the main and put the preventer on to stop it from flopping across when a wave hit us side on. The jib began to collapse with the larger amount of sail now in play and we soon got fed up with the constant slapping of the block on the side of the cabin sole; away went the jib, we still managed to do 7 knots with just the main flying so that was OK. We put the fishing line in the water – perhaps today would be the day! The sky was cloudy with the occasional blue patch and once in a while we spotted what we think was the sun trying to shine through. As the afternoon wore on the wind began to drop and was now 10 -15 knots, funnily enough this was the prediction – they had got it right for once; unfortunately our speed also began to drop but at 5-6 knots we were still happy with it. I went below at 14.30hrs to type up the blog and I’d been typing for about 15 minutes when the fish alarm went off –surely not! I closed down the computer and went on deck to find Gerry reeling in a rather large Mahi Mahi, I took photos and then grabbed the gaff ready for when it was close
enough to reach; this fish certainly fought hard, it was leaping and thrashing all over the place and just as Gerry got it to within arm’s length it managed to slip the hook and darted away- damn that was probably the only fish we would hook this passage. I went and finished typing and then went for a nap, I’d been laying down for 25 minutes when I heard the fish alarm go off again – surely not. I shot out of bed and took over reeling in the fish – another Mahi Mahi. This time we actually managed to land it – hooray fish for dinner! It was a good size, we got 10 fillets off of it (well I did, Gerry just watched) It was messy to say the least, this fish just didn’t want to die but boy did it taste good for dinner that night. The night watches were uneventful but the wind speed dropped right off during the next 5 hours, it got down to 5 -10 knots and our speed was now struggling at 3-4 knots – what a difference a day makes!

Sunday 30th September

At Sea

20 48.349 S
171 19.098 E (at Midnight)

The night sail remained fast and we were quite excited by the speeds we were reaching however as dawn approached the sky became cloudy and grey, the sun rose behind the clouds and remained out of sight until about 10.00hrs. We spent the morning fiddling with sails as the wind gradually dropped and along with it our speed, though we were still doing a respectable 7 knots. Once the sun was out it turned into a pleasant day and we again put the fishing line in the water to see if we could catch dinner (we didn’t). By 15.00hrs the sun vanished behind an ever darkening sky, the sea swell increased and we began to roll around with each successive wave – not so pleasant now! As we began our night watches Gerry muttered that maybe we should reef the main down to the 2nd reefing point, after a short discussion we did this – in the pitch black as the moon was a no show tonight. With the main now reefed right down and just half the jib in play we still hurtled along at 7+ knots. The wind continued top build and was reaching 25 knots before midnight; we were glad that we had put the second reef in. Again when I did the midnight stats we were surprised to find that we had covered 172 nautical miles in the 24 hrs – we were more than pleased with this. At the present rate we should be anchored in Noumea by the 3rd –Yippee!

Saturday 29th September

At Sea

19 48.206 S
174 02.774 E (at Midnight)

Happy anniversary Lee and Gaz (did I get the right day?)
A very happy birthday Lorraine, hope you have a good year.

The remainder of the night passed without problem, apart from us both having difficulty sleeping – it must be the excitement of being so close to home – which doesn’t bode well for the remaining 1000 odd miles! I surfaced from my last sleep time at around 08.00hrs and was greeted by a glum faced Gerry;
Him “I think we might have stuffed the generator up again”
Me “what? How?”
Him “well I ran it but forgot to put the blower on”
Me “what damage would that cause?”
Him “well the engine would be running hot so the bearings may need to be replaced”
Me “how long did it run for and was it long enough to do the damage?”
Him “I realized after about 20 minutes and turned it off and now I’m waiting for it to cool down and then I’ll try running it again and see what happens”
Me “Oh”
At this point the conversation stopped, you’ll notice how restrained I was – didn’t shout and call him names as he would have done if it had been some blonde, half witted scatterbrained female that had made the “mistake”. In fact I think I deserved a medal for not laughing out loud or making snide jokes about it; I might be a little scathing in the retelling of the conversation but hey I’m not stupid I know how much I can milk this “mistake” for; the diamond is now the size of a football! Once the generator had cooled down Gerry started it up again, sure enough there is a strange noise that wasn’t there before – thank goodness we are experts at removing and replacing the generator – and we have just one more place to take it apart before we reach Australia and that would make it almost every place we have stopped in the thing has needed attention! We got on with the day’s sailing after breakfast, the sun was shinning the wind was blowing 17 – 18 knots and we were breezing along very nicely. I put the fishing line in the water and that’s where it remained all day – didn’t get a single bite. In the late afternoon Gerry decided to take the casing off of the generator and see if he could locate the strange noise, he reappeared on deck holding a handful of mess which he said was part of the sound deadening material- the glue holding it in place had apparently melted when the generator heated up and it had become stuck in the motor – this apparently was the cause of the noise. Hopefully Gerry has managed to get it all off of the motor and there won’t be any other repercussions from his momentary lapse of reason. Nothing else startling happened all day and we began our night watches as usual, the wind picked up at night and we hurtled along reaching speeds over the hull speed of the boat for almost the entire night but as the swell was small it was still pleasant sailing. When I did the stats at midnight we were delighted to find that we had broken our record, we had sailed 191 nautical miles in the 24hr period – smoking! If we could only do the same amount of miles for the rest of the trip we would be there before we know it!

Friday 28th September

At Sea

18 40.552 S
177 04.487 E (at midnight)

Happy Birthday Mum, we are thinking about you as we make our way to Noumea.
Happy 25th birthday Daniel, hope it's a good one

As soon as it was a decent hour to go ashore Gerry dinked in and caught a taxi to the port authority (he was probably banging on the door waiting for them to open). I began the tidy away and lock stuff down process ready to leave as soon as possible. Gerry was a surprisingly short time and was back in time for some breakfast and to help with the last of the stowing gear away. The dinghy was hauled up onto the deck and tied down and the life jackets and headsets donned- we were ready to leave. Hauling up the anchor took a while, it was firmly entrenched but it did come up eventually and we began to motor out of the harbour at 10 15hrs. Once we were clear of the anchored boats we turned into wind and hoisted the main sail with the first reef in place, then turning back on course we unfurled the jib half way, the wind was blowing at about 17 knots as we cleared the harbour and switched the engine off- it was nice sailing to begin our trip. The sky however was grey and overcast, we were prepared for rain at any moment, happily it didn't eventuate and we sailed all day without any real problems. I felt a little wobbly at first- nothing too bad but enough to make me stay on deck and not want to venture below very much. We crept out between the Fiji islands; dodging the reefs and had cleared the very last island by 19.00hrs. We ate dinner and began the night watches. The entire night was good as far as sailing went, the wind picked up to 19-25 knots but the swell remained pretty constant at around 6 feet, we roared along doing between 7 and 9 knots all night. It was a good start to our trip.

Monday 17th September

At sea

18 26.364 S
178 53.110 E (at Midnight)

The remainder of the night was dark and lumpy sailing. Gerry had a small amount of jib out when I went out on watch as the wind had died away again and he was also running the engine to keep us moving along – talk about one extreme to the other! I took over and by 01.15hrs the wind had returned and was blowing 15 knots on the beam, off went the engine and for the next hour we sailed. Of course it didn’t last and I ended up turning the engine back on again; at the same time the jib was flapping and back winding the main so the jib got furled away. Our next bit of excitement was Gerry spotting a strobe in the water – attached to a fishing float leading to a string of floats and finally a fishing boat, luckily we missed them all. By dawn the wind had dropped to under 10 knots and the swell was down to 2 – 3 feet, we were 5.5 miles off course but this was OK as we had to skirt an island that laid between us and Fiji by at least 5 miles. We put the fishing line in the water – well sooner or later we will catch something! I went back to bed at 07.00hrs for an hour and a half and in that time we hooked a fish and Gerry went to reel it in but it slipped the hook, in fact it bent it so far out of shape that he had to change lures. This was of course the only fish that we hooked all day. By mid morning we managed to sail for a while but it wasn’t to last very long as the wind dropped to 5 knots and we ended up putting the jib away and switching on the motor. Now you may have noticed that our Long/Lat at the top of the page now shows an E; at 12.05hrs we reached a milestone on our trip – we crossed the 180o line – the true international date line. We felt a slight bump as we crossed from the West to the East heading (I think that was where we fell off the edge – YES the world is flat!) anyway we are now counting down the Easterly degrees as we head towards home.
If you look at the photo you might think that I’ve lost the plot as far as the time goes but I haven’t. We have encountered a strange phenomenon with our chart plotter clock – it changes according to GMT or UTC by adding or subtracting hours that you set; now I guess you’re thinking that we didn’t set the hours right – wrong! The + or – only allows you to alter the clock up to + or – 11 hours and Tonga has a time of + 13 hours which our plotter just won’t allow us to do so we have to try and remember to add 2 hours to the time shown. Unfortunately it doesn’t get better in Fiji as the time difference there is + 12 hours, we have to wait until we cross the 160o East line before we can put the clock right at + 11 hours! So all you boat owners with chart plotters does your clock do the same thing check it out?
For the rest of the day and night we motor sailed as the wind didn’t pick up enough to do anything else, it was boring but with the music blaring loudly we managed to pass the day in relative comfort.

Sunday 16th September

At sea

19 28.724 S
178 54.484 W (at Midnight)

At dawn the sky was overcast and by 08.00hrs it was raining, the weather forecast for today had been for 15 knots – huh it blew 22 – 28knots on the beam. We put the jib out (reefed) to try and steady us as we were rolling badly; the swell was 10 feet and quite uncomfortable. For the entire day we saw nothing, no fish, whales, ships or sun. I would go as far as to say it was a miserable day of sailing however by tea time it had calmed right down to 15 knots (well they got it right at last!) and the swell had died away to 1-3 feet, it felt almost eerie. I went off to bed at 19.30hrs as Gerry took first watch; half an hour later he was screaming for me to come and help him on deck, I raced out in my sleep attire (!) as he threw the jib sheet at me and said we need to get the jib away. We were being hit by a squall which was gusting up to 25knots. Gerry was having to hand steer as the preventer was still on the main and as the wind picked up speed going forward of the beam causing the main to flap and try to crash across to the other tack; George couldn’t adjust quickly enough hence the hand steering. At the most crucial moment our wind indicator failed – we had no read out of the wind speed or direction then it flashed back on again, then off, then on – it was playing its own stupid game of chicken and we had to guess where the next gust of wind was coming from. Once we finally got out from the squalls the wind indicator settled back down and behaved perfectly. We think it may have been something like lightening or ozone in the clouds going over that affected the operating of the wind indicator, we were not impressed though. Gerry had to steer us off course to keep the wind on our beam and we ended up being just over 4 miles off track by the end of the squalls (yes there was more than one). Once there were no further squalls on radar I tried to go back to bed but was back out on deck within 15 minutes to help out. Eventually I went back to bed and slept for an hour and a half before Gerry woke me up needing to sleep himself.

Saturday 15th September

At sea

20 26.508 S
176 31.994 W (at Midnight)


At last the leaving day arrived; we checked the grib early in the morning and it looks like we have a small window in which we can get to Fiji. The wind is supposed to be 20 knots for the first 24hrs then drops to 15 and by the third day it is meant to be 5 – 10 knots. We are never 100 percent convinced by the reports but we have to have faith in something so we decided to head off. At 09.15hrs we donned the life jackets and headsets, hauled up the anchor and motored towards the waypoint. As Tonga is surrounded by reef it took us a good hour to clear the reef, the wind was about 18 knots so this was OK. As we got towards the last bit of the reef Gerry said “look Nick, there are whales blowing over there”. Sure enough out to our starboard side there were the tell tale plumes of spray every once in a while, suddenly they began to broach and crash back into the water – quite a spectacular sight, unfortunately they were just a little too far away to get pictures of. I had the camera at the ready just incase one got nearer but the closest one was at least 200 yards away and from what we could tell they were humpbacks and just juveniles, none that we saw were very large. I was a little sad that Abigail wasn’t with us as in the month she spent with us we didn’t see a single dolphin or whale and here we were surrounded by them. Anyway it was a good start to our passage. Once we cleared the end of the reef we turned into wind and hoisted the main with the first reef in place and then poled the jib out on the same side to give us a bit more grunt. The wind was blowing 15 – 20 knots on the beam – we were happy and hoped it would stay that way. Our only problem for the moment was that George was requiring topping up with hydraulic fluid every 15minute (we were getting through about 10mls. of hydraulic fluid in that time); fixing George is most definitely on the top of the list for jobs to be done in Fiji, Gerry is going to see what they are capable of doing before deciding whether to have the existing cylinder resealed or the new on installed, either way something needs to be done. The fishing line went in the water and we had one huge fish on the line at around 16.00hrs unfortunately it leapt into the sky and dislodged the hook – these darned Mahi Mahi are slippery suckers to land! Of course that was the only bite we had so there was no fish for dinner. We had a pleasant sail for the rest of the day but as night approached the wind came aft of the beam and we ended up taking the pole off the jib and putting it away and then putting the preventer out for the main to stop it crashing over to the other tack when the wind gusted behind us.

Monday 3rd September

At Sea

20 58.301 S
173 24.199 W (at Midnight)

At around 03.0hrs Gerry and I changed watches and whilst we were both in the cockpit a huge wave hit the side of the boat making it lurch unexpectedly. It caught me off balance and hurtled me across the cockpit, I hit the side of my face and jaw on the winch and my leg on the table as I fell – the bruises were instant, anyone would think I was battered if they saw my jaw line. Gerry couldn’t sleep for worrying about me in the cockpit so he ended up staying up with me until dawn which remained overcast but with a few patches of blue sky. I tried to sleep for a couple of hours once dawn broke, just to get rid of the thumping headache that followed my collision with the winch, by 09.00hrs I was up and making coffee for us all. There was a gradual improvement in the weather during the morning and by midday it was good enough to unfurl the jib fully again and put the fishing line in the water. I went back to bed in the early afternoon as my headache was persisting, it didn’t help when Gerry turned the engine on at 15.00hrs (the wind was now not moving us along fast enough to arrive at Tonga in daylight). At 16.00hrs Gerry yelled from the cockpit for help, there was a fish on the line! First Abigail and then I went to assist; we reeled in a tuna which was big enough to get good size fillets for us all for dinner. By 18.00hrs we furled the jib away and prepared dinner – the tuna tasted good after no fish for so long. The night watches began with us motor sailing; I started the second watch at 22.00hrs and then the wind began to increase as it has every night. By 23.00hrs I had turned off the engine and was flying along with the main only as the wind had reached 26 knots and was aft of the beam again.

Sunday 2nd September

At Sea

20 47.716 S
170 45.86 W (at Midnight)

We furled the jib away as the winds increased to 30 knots and the swell got back up around the 12ft mark. We made sure that the preventer was in place, neither of us wanted to move away from the safety of the cockpit to do anything; it’s amazing how long you can put off going to the toilet when you are under pressure! We were glad when dawn came around even if it was still cold and overcast, at least it was a bit lighter and we could see the waves coming at us. We were all cold and tired so I thought that it would be a good idea to bake some fresh muffins – it was difficult but worth the effort as it brightened us all up and helped us get through the morning. In the afternoon the wind dropped to a steady 20 knots on the beam and we ran with just the main up until 17.0hrs when Gerry thought we should try flying the jib out on the pole for the night; out it went on the same side as the main ad we flew along for a while with it there. Dinner followed by the start of night watches ensued; not long after I went to bed for the first watch I heard the commotion that accompanies the pole breaking free from the jib, it was to remain just attached to the mast for the rest of the night as none of us was game to retrieve it in the dark, the jib flew without the pole just fine. During this time the auto pilot did a great job of keeping us on track but it was leaking hydraulic fluid at an alarming rate, we had to top it up every hour, but at least it was better than having to hand steer all the time. Of course it rained during the night and was freezing cold;
we ended up getting our wet weather gear out and were bundled up in the cockpit like Eskimos!

Saturday 1st September

At Sea

20 36.210 S
168 10.254 W (at Midnight)

After midnight things got even rougher, the wind picked up even more to 25 knots and gusts up to 30 knots; at times it sounded like a train was coming at us down a tunnel, we certainly got our money’s worth out of the wind generator! At around 03.30hrs we heeled over so far that the gunwale was underwater and the wash along the deck collected in the lee cloth and broke all the cable ties holding it in place except for 3. I was on watch and had to cut the remaining cable ties off in order to save the lee cloth from being lost overboard; this was all very well but now I could see the waves and the sea rushing past us at deck level whereas before it had been hidden by the lee cloths – it made it so much more scary. The other thing that happened was that the water collected behind the lee cloth had nowhere to go except into the cockpit and even managed to get underneath the strata glass curtains which were secured in place, I got a little wet! We continued to hurtle onwards until dawn which broke overcast; the sky was a horrid grey colour. Finally at around 10.00hrs the wind dropped to 19 knots aft of the beam and the swell dropped to around 6ft; Gerry checked the latest grib chart which showed that we should be getting up to 20 knots of wind – they were close for once! We pulled the jib half way out and put the preventer out on the main. The sun began to show signs of peeping through the clouds and a few patches of blue sky began to appear, at last it looked like we might get a decent day. Shortly after lunch the wind dropped even further – now down to 16 knots with a 6 ft swell, we were still roaring along at 7.5 knots but it was getting more comfortable (or we were just getting used to it). Mid afternoon we encountered another small problem, Gerry went to do something with water and found that there was none; we found this hard to believe as we had used next to none and we were full when we left port. A little investigation showed that we have a pump problem, Gerry fixed it but succeeded in breaking off the handle for the switch over to the other tank (he said it was corroded but who knows!) At least we still had water. The rolling continued and picked back up again as sun set approached, we decided to brave the MREs for dinner (that’s meals ready to eat or army rations for those of you who don’t know). We let Abigail select 3 packs and proceeded to delve into them, and experience what the Army guys live on whilst in combat zones, all I can say is thank goodness that they don’t know before hand what they are getting themselves into! The meals were a great source of amusement, the best things in the packs were the toilet roll sheets and the little Tabasco sauce bottles, the rest leaves a lot to be desired! As night fell the winds began to pick back up and return to the aft of the beam, around midnight we were doing 7 knots with wind speeds of 18 – 20 knots.

Friday 31st August

At Sea

20 24.024 S
165 19.440 W (at Midnight)

As the night wore on the wind never recovered and we wallowed along doing low speeds and causing the sails to flop around. In the end it got so bad that at 01.00hrs we furled the jib away and turned the engine on – just to 1500 revs which increased our speed to 5.5knots. We motor sailed for the rest of the night and by dawn the winds were still light and the swell was almost non existent. Our forward head had decided to fill with sea water very time we heeled over so the prime job of the day was to change out all the seals on the toilet pump – definitely a boy job! As the weather was so light Gerry did the awful job in next to no time and we have a fully operational forward head again. Everyone managed to have a shower today as we were upright enough in the water not to fall over every time the boat lurched. After breakfast we threw the fishing line in the water – well it keeps us amused if nothing else! Gerry pulled a grib chart off the satelite which showed that the winds were increasing to 15 – 20 knots, gradually we saw 12 – 15 knots and poled out the jib and turned the engine off again. The afternoon proved to be good sailing with us doing an average speed of 6 knots, the sun shone all afternoon, the swell remained small and the sailing was reasonably comfortable – it was time for us to make a decision as to whether to go to Niue or straight through to Tonga from where Abigail had to catch her home bound flight. After much discussion we decided to head straight to Tonga – it meant being at sea for a couple of extra days now and making sure we get to Tonga with plenty of time to spare rather than getting in to Niue and then having to make a frantic dash to Tonga if the weather held out for us. Having made the decision we altered our way point and began to head straight for Tonga; as the afternoon turned to early evening the wind began to increase and when it began to reach 18 knots we took the pole off of the jib and reefed it in a bit. The sun set was quite spectacular (no green flash though) and the sky turned all sorts of dark brooding colours. By 18.00hrs the wind was reaching 21 knots and Gerry went out on deck to put the second reef in the main sail. Of course the swell increased at the same time so we were now hurtling along and being thrown around a good deal. The night watches began roughly with none of us able to sleep very well; the sky was cloudy and the stars were few and far between, the moon only managed an occasional appearance through the cloud cover and then it began to rain – a memorable night all round!