Day 4 to Minerva Reef and Tonga

The wind dropped more today and the seas have flattened out to long swell less than a metre. Very comfortable under motor but we would rather be sailing.

Have calculated our speed to arrive at Minerva Reef at a suitable time when the sun is high to navigate into the reef and get anchored. Fortunately we can do it on one engine and at less than full cruising revs so less fuel burn and less noise than running both engines at normal revs.

We will arrive Friday morning and probably only stay a couple of days as the weather is looking good Sunday to do the passage on to Tonga. However, the forecast could change by Sunday, so as always we will wait and see and be flexible. But it would be a shame to get to the reef and not be able to spend a few days there exploring it. Hopefully the forecast will hold.

Day 3 to Minerva Reef and Tonga Update

A comfortable day motor sailing today. The swell has dropped to about 1m with only a little bit of chop. The wind is dropping right out tomorrow and is forecast to stay light all the way to Minerva Reef. Looks like we will be motoring for the next 3.5 days. Just as well we took on maximum fuel in NZ. Some of the other yachts will be struggling to motor the rest of the way as they have limited fuel capacity. They'll have to make the most of the light winds when they can.

We can motor on one engine and still arrive at Minerva at a suitable time to enter through the reef entrence. Motoring in calm sees won't be unpleasant and maybe I can troll a fishing line out the back although the freezer is still fairly full so might leave that for closer to Minerva where we can share the catch.

Crew have got there sea legs today but may have also got my head cold. A stuffed up head isn't good for balance at sea so hopefully it will clear up quickly.

Day 2 to Minerva Reef

The first night of ocean passage is alway a bit tough as you are getting your sea legs and getting into the rhythm of night watches.

A bit of excitement we didn't need happened at midnight during the handover when Ann was coming on watch. The sound of metal landing on the deck. Fortunately it didn't go overboard and we found the offending piece. A bolt in a car on the main sheet traveller had seared so we had to get the main sail down to take pressure of it. Taking the sail down at midnight while we were still getting settled on our first night wasn't part of the plan but it all went well.

I have spare bolts to repair it but need to dismantle quite a bit of the traveller system and can't risk losing bits overboard so it looks like a job for Minerva Reef.

Fortunately we are sailing straight down wind so the loss of the main sail isn't a major blow to us at this angle of the wind. So it is spinnaker during the day and motor sail with the genoa at night. The wind is dropping out in a couple of days so we will be motoring anyway.

We put the spinnaker up today and thankfully there weren't any boats near us to see the mess we got into. The spinnaker can be a handfull at the best of times when it is just the 2 of us and it has been awhile since we used the spinnaker and neither of us had had much sleep. The sail started to open before we could check all the ropes and sure enough I had ropes in the wrong places. It was a struggle to get it sorted with this huge sail half deplored flapping around out the front of the boat and ropes slapping about with great force. With good team work we were able to fixed it without getting the sail in the water and driving over it and no breakages nor injuries.

It was worth the effort. The spinnaker is a great sail for down wind for both speed and comfort. Once the spinnaker was set the boat motion is much smoother and it was a very comfortable sail for the next 5 hours.

Underway Finally

We have finally got a weather window to get underway to Tonga from NZ.  3 weeks late but we should have a good trip if the weather holds to forecast.

A lot of boats have been waiting for the right weather.  Several boats that left earlier have had uncomfortable passages and damaged boats so we are happy to have waited.

14 ICA Rally vessels cleared Customs this morning plus about another dozen non rally boats.

Unfortunately no wind so we are having to motor out of the Bay of Island

Overdue update just before departing NZ

A quick update to restart the blog after 6 months.  A lot has happened since we arrived in NZ early November last year.

The first 3 weeks were spent in the marina at Opua getting boat things sorted, meeting fellow cruisers from all over the globe and attending activities put on by local businesses in the marine precinct to promote their services and products.  This was part of the Bay of Islands All Points Rally which is to promote the region as a destination for cruising yachts from the Pacific Islands.  Very informative, great socializing, free beer & wine plus numerous sausage sizzles.  The final day included many prize draws for the participants.  Guess who won the major prize…!  Not that we needed it but someone came and offered to buy it before the event was over.  A great outcome.

Time to head out into the Bay of Island to explore the many great anchorages and islands with National Park walks.  Unfortunately fate dealt an unexpected hand and on day 3 Cran is experiencing serious abdominal pain so off to the doctor.  The next day back to the doctor’s for a follow up and Cran is in an ambulance heading to Whangarei Hospital and Ann is left with the boat at anchor at Russell and needing to get the boat back into the marina at Opua on her own.  Thankfully she was able to contact a fellow cruiser we had met who came up in his dinghy and helped get the boat back.

The next day Cran had surgery for a twisted bowel and was in hospital for 2 weeks.

Fortunately Ann was able to base herself at Lyn’s, an aunt of Cran’s, not far from the hospital.  We also had the use of Lyn’s place after Cran was discharged from hospital and was convalescing for a couple of weeks before coming back to the boat. This was over Xmas, Lyn was in Sydney with family and we had Cran’s sister and cousin, Sherrie & Rhonda over for Xmas & New Year.  Xmas was at Lyn’s and New Year out on the boat.  Cran was on light duties only for 6 weeks after his surgery so our boat was a motor boat during that time, no working the sails.  What frustrated Cran most was going fishing with Rhonda and being restricted to only baiting hooks and taking fish off hooks as he wasn’t able to do the heavy winding in of fish.  Although he reckons that's normal when fishing with Rhonda.  ;-)

After Cran had been back to out-patients and gotten the all clear from the surgeon, we were able to get out and enjoy some great cruising around the Bay of Islands, Great Barrier Island and visit friends at the Coromandel Peninsula where we experience the locals up close and performing and caught some great fish.

Matthew and Patrick, 2 of Ann’s brothers, joined us 3 May for a planned departure to Tonga on 6 May.  Unfortunately, Cyclones Donna and Ella plus several other major Pacific lows delayed our trip and the guys had to return back to Australia as we had run out of time for their return flights from Tonga and commitments back home.  In the 2 weeks they were with us we managed a couple of days out in the Bay of Islands on the boat plus a couple of road trips to explore the northern NZ region.  In between trips we put them to work on boat jobs getting the boat ready for the trip – we really appreciated their help and owe them big time as they couldn’t get to do the trip.

We are doing our Pacific circuit trip as part of the Island Cruising Association Pacific Rally and after 2 weeks delay the Rally finally has a safe weather window to leave tomorrow for Tonga via Minerva Reef.  Will post progress on passage via our satellite email.