Tasman Island to Tatoosh Island - Leg 2 - Wellington NZ to Raivavae French Polynesia

Tuesday, 24 April 2012 (for the 2nd time. We crossed the dateline last night)
Lat 42 44 S Long 174 00 W
On Sunday we checked out of Wellington NZ with the friendly customs officer who came to the boat. As the boat pulled out of the berth, he took a photo so Search and Rescue can identify the boat if we were to made a distress call later. Nice touch....

As we motored into Cook Strait, a frisky pod of dolphins swam along with us. As they frolicked in our bow wave, some were mating. They don't even slow down swimming and really quite shameless about it. Shocking.

Light northerly breezes were predicted as a wide high pressure system spread across the region. The wind actually picked up nicely and we have been reaching under a double reef on a balmy northerly for 3 days. A low pressure system (gale) looks like it will cross our path, so we've slowed down for a day, although there seems to be some current pushing us along. We considered diverting the Chatham Islands (NZ) to the south, which would have been nice. But we'd rather save the time for French Polynesia. So we're plodding ahead. As the winds calm, we can see and feel the long low SW swells from the southern storm track that have almost always been present since we left Hobart. And here we also have long low N swells from winds up north.

To see our weather and wave conditions,in living color you can go to passageweather.com, click on South Pacific, and select Oceania.

There are almost always 2-3 albatrosses, a gannet and smaller birds wheeling around. When the water is rough, small squid are washed aboard for us to find each morning, leaving little black inkspots on the deck.

Mark Lincoln is with us and is a great help and crewmate. We are well provisioned and with the calm weather we can prepare nice meals and have the appetite to eat them. The cool weather allows the unrefrigerated fruits and vegs to ripen slowly and puts less demand on the refrigerator to keep cold.

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Auckland by Air

April 3, 2012. We flew to Auckland. It was pleasantly warm and balmy when our kind friend Marian Harkness picked us up at the airport and took us to her lovely home for a few days. Two days later, Brian kindly picked up Mark Lincoln at the airport early in the morning and dropped us off at RAYC.
Mike Webster picked us up on Northerner for a 4 day Easter weekend race/cruise. Mark was brighteyed and bushy tailed on the start line a few hours after getting off the plane. We had a fabulous 4 days aboard Northerner racing and cruising with Mike. He's a terrific host and catered to our every need (almost).

Mike Webster rowing to victory in the singlehanded, singleoard race.  Northerner in the background

Graeme Colle

 We were able to rendezvous with Gloria and Michael on Paikea Mist, for a goodbye visit. They are headed north for another season before returning to Vancouver. We hope to see them there again in a year or so.

A couple days later we flew back to Wellington to prepare for Leg 3 - Wellington to Raivave. It was sad to say goodbye to our special Kiwi friends. We hope they'll visit us in Seattle. Wellington is a lot colder than Auckland. But Mark had brought a heater part so Bill was able to fix our heater and get the boat warm in Wellie's cold weather. Of course,he also had to fix the refrigerator, so we could have cold too.

Unfortunately, while we were away, another boat had hit and damaged Jarana. So there was a bent stanchion to repair. There is a big supermarket just across the street from the marina, so we made daily trips for provisioning.
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Back in New Zealand again

Sunday, March 18, 2012, Passage from Hobart to Nelson, NZ, cont'd
We rounded Cape Farewell, a huge curving sandspit at the north end of NZ South Island under a painted sunset. We motored slowly south down Tasman Bay in order to reach Nelson in daylight.

A pod of dolphins welcomed us making Disney-sparkly phosphorescent trails around the boat in the dark smooth waters for a long time. Their rapid exhalation-gasps as they rapidly surface and descent sound spooky in the dark..

The quarantine was the most thorough we'd seen yet. The officer even emptied the vacuum cleaner bag, to get any seeds that might be there. (I had emptied it in Hobart, so I got the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. Hah! I usually channel Phyllis Diller. Kathi)

Nelson was a great stop. Our jib got some much needed, just in time repairs.
Restless, with Mark and Brandi from the Seattle area were near us on the dock, as were a couple Aussie boats that left Hobart before us and got the really rough weather. It was good to see them safe and sound and unfazed.

After few days in Nelson,we had a awesome sail up to French Pass, hitting 14kts reaching down a steep swell in Tasman Bay under sunny skies. . Whoo Haa! We had great sailing on the turquoise waters under sunny skies everyday in the sounds. What fun!

We spent just a few days in Pelorous and Queen Charlotte Sounds en route to Waikawa to meet up with friends Pam & John (Passages) on a land trip and Jackster and Inspiration Lady. Passages is heading north for another season before getting back to Vancouver in the next year or so. We'll be counting the days until we see their smiling faces again.

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Tasman to Tatoosh - Leg 1.1 Crossing Cook Strait

Saturday, March 30, 2012 Waikawa to Wellington
It's only 46 miles across Cook Strait between NZ North & South Islands, but it can be really treaturous . First you have to exit Marlborough Sounds via Tory Entrance which is very narrow, used by freighter and giant ferry traffic, AND has very strong tidal currents.

We left Waikawa in the wee hours and motored the rest of the night almost all the way to Wellington. Bill took the whole watch and Kathi slept through most of it.

hmmmm no dolphins this time. But at least there was at least a brass band playing and friendly folks on the dock to take our lines as we pulled into Chaffers Marina. We were delighted to see our sistership Coel Mor, Restless and Navire there. Navire belongs to Wellingtonians Janet and Dave we met 2 years ago in Tonga. When we passed through Wellington last year with the Stillmans we were really disappointed not to have time to see Janet & Dave and the Coel Mor family. So we were expecially happy to have a second chance.

Also, last year, we were in Wellie on Bill's birthday. Susie booked us at the Chalie-Bill restaurant. Unfortunately, our Bill was sick and couldn't enjoy the great meal. So our third treat was to have dinner again at Charlie-Bill. It was just great.

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Tasman to Tatoosh - Leg 1 Passage from Hobart to Nelson NZ

March 9, 2012, Bill's Birthday: Homeward Bound
We left Hobart in sunny and calm weather. In the Derwent River, dolphins cavorted around us. Next the Mumm36 Bill had crewed on escorted us further down the river. Our friend Zack had it set up as a "drinks trolley" for a gaggle of friends. It was a nice send off, and made it all that sadder to leave.

Drinks Trolley, goodbye Zack!

We motored past spectacular Tasman Island and its rafts of giant seals around sunset at 2030. Bill was thrilled with his lavishly birthday gift of M&Ms. Actually, he got a really nice foulie jacket too. Anyhow, the northerly wind came up and we reefed. We had the usual long low SW swell and the steeper N windwaves.

Most of the passage was light air. In 9 days, we motored 90 hours. No complaints here. A number of other boats were caught in the NZ weather bomb hundreds of miles apart, so we were very happy with our lot.

Calm crossing

Our only moment of near-drama was finding screws on the deck under the gooseneck. It had been badly worn and Bill had it repaired in Hobart but had trouble getting the right fasteners He managed to remount it but has permanent souvenirs of the job in form of tefgel spots all over his new "couture" jacket. Oh well... It was pretty for a few days. It still seems to keep the water out.

Albatrosses and gannets were our constant companions across the sea. NZ is 2 hours behind Tasmania, and one issue in setting the clocks forward, was: on whose watch would we set the clocks ahead. That watch would be 2 hours shorter.

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Catching up on our travels

Our last post was from Denarau Island in Fiji, last September, we've visited Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania in Australia. We had a wonderful time everywhere and no serious mishaps..

So, to continue in brief, we spent a couple idyllic weeks in Fiji's Yasawa islands.
That was some of our best cruising: turquoise waters, benign weather, great snorkeling and we even caught a fish!

On September 21st, we checked out of Lautoka for an uneventful sail to Port Vila on the island of Efate in Vanuatua. We really enjoyed our 3 weeks there.
We spent a few nights at Havanah Harbor, Port Resolution on Tanna Island, and several lovely days at Aneityum

After 3 weeks in Vanuatu, we checked out of Aneityum and left after dark. Bad idea....But we managed OK and the rest of the passage was easy and uneventful passage,, we arrived in Noumea, New Caledonia and enjoyed some lovely anchorages and French food there. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the Loyalty Islands or Isle des Pins.

Our friend Seth Seigal joined us for a great 6 day beam reach to Bundaberg, Queensland in Australia. (Seth found the best Black Forest cake EVER at the local patisserie! )
We arrived in Bundaberg November 10th.

We spent a few weeks cruising the Hervy Bay and Moreton Bay, stopping at RQYC in Manly for awhile. Brisbane is a great city with terrific museums, especially the Maritime Museum.

Traveling south, we stopped in Port Stephens and met Jim and Barbara Cole from Seattle. Jim is one of several Boeing employees working at a nearby Aussie Air Force base.
They showered us with hospitality, even taking us to the office Christmas party in Newcastle, which was very nice indeed.

We did manage a short stop in Pittwater, a popular cruising ground just north of Sydney.
We arrived in Sydney December 20th. What a fantastic place. We spent 10 days and lots of money at Cammeray Marina with Totem. We were able to watch the start of the Sydney-Hobart Race from a tall bluff. The boats came quite close and the big boats' mastheads were higher than us. What a sight.

On New Years Eve, we anchored with friends in sight of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge for the fireworks. What a show! It's incredible, and warm!!!!

We spent 10 days anchored in Blackwattle Bay in Sydney along side Don and Bonnie on Minerva and really enjoyed the city. And Costco! Yay!

On January 20th, we sailed south to Jervis Bay, Eden and Tasmania. Tassie has spectacular scenery, great anchorages and very friendly people. We had a wonderful time visiting Howard and Lorraine Smith of Nomzamo who lavished us with fine food, drink and a cozy bed in their beautiful home. Three weeks in Hobart flew by and we were really sad to leave.

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Lautoka and Denarau Island Marina

Fiji is divided into several customs districts, and we are required to file a cruising itinerary with each one and to check in and out with customs at each district's main port. The west side of Viti Levu is under the jurisdiction of Lautoka. Lautoka is a commercial port with one big wharf for freighters and a decent anchorage for yachts. After checking in at Lautoka, we went to Denerau Island Marina and Resort. There are lots of restaurants there (some pretty disappointing), but we were able to eat out (pizza and ice cream). Denarau has a number of marine businesses: chandleries, canvas/sailmaker, electricians, haulout facilities, etc. There were some really big yachts there. Also, a number of island ferries, tour boats and cruising sailing ships. Denarau Island itself is a big development with big hotels and a big golf course. We hadn't seen anything like this in Fiji (or New Zealand). Our friends say it's like Florida.

Nadi, a busy Fijian town with all the normal businesses you would expect, is a short bus ride away. The buses run frequently and the Fijians also use an informal jitney system. Riders just flag down passing cars for $1 F, same as the bus fare. It was great.

We originally planned our trip to Denarau because our batteries were failing, and Bill got some advice from the manufacturer about equalizing them to recover their function. Because Fiji AC power is 240v and our boat is wired 110v, we needed a transformer. Bill got several quotes ranging from $330, $600 and $1700 (Fijian$), all for the same item! We got the $300 one and Bill made some modifications. The equalization (slow charging for 24 hours) worked, so that was a big relief. However,.....burned out... Our mainsail had been really falling apart so we ordered a new one. Doug Christi in Seattle designed it and sent the deisgn to Lidgard in in Auckland to build it and ship to us in Fiji. Doug had just done a sail for Jiminy, a sister-ship in Seattle, so he was familar with the rig. Bill, of course, made thorough measurements and was able to properly specify the sail without the sailmaker needing to visit the boat. It only took a couple weeks to get the whole thing done, and overall the cost wasn't much more than getting it all done in Seattle.

It takes a village...

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The sail was delivered to the boat and went on OK, until the bat cars were attached. They new cassettes didn't fit the existing cars properly. Doh! Bill removed the new ones and attached the old ones and that worked. The headboard wasn't drilled quite right, so Bill had to fix that as well.

bending on the main, it's.. a big job

it looks a lot smaller now

The new sail is dacron and is cut quite flat, compared to the old, stretched out sail. But it works well.. Several weeks went by before we had the right trade wind conditions the sail was designed for.

The first few times we used the sail, it was reefed.  So it was a while before we could really see how it looked in action.




Jarana was berthed at the end of a long dock that was also used by a couple large, tourist ,sailing ships that came and went most days.  At night some of the crews and night watchmen would have a kava circle on the dock.  They would just sit down next to the boat, prepare kava in a plastic washtub, and play guitar and sing.  They always welcomed us to join them.  On our last night, we stopped for a while and brought some kava to share.  They seemed really pleased at the gesture and we had a wonderful last evening with them.  Many of the guys are from the remote Lau group.  Although, some of them are related, they all miss the  their large, extended families far away.  Bill gave them our old mainsail to use for a canopy.