The end for now
South Pacific Familyadventure 2008
Claes Brodin
Thu 30 Sep 2010 06:00
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So Mårten left this morning.Since we arrived in
Noumea we cleared immigration and left for a night out in the archipelago inside
the immense barrierreef surrounding N.Caledonia(one of the worlds
largest).In Noumea has been a "Swedish colony" of 4 yachts but both Lovisa and
Panacea left for Australia this morning.
If last year was lot of oceansailing,this year has
been more focused on local sailing,especially on Fiji.We would have liked to
spend more time on Vanuatu which seems to be a very exciting
islandgroup.
When planning this years trip we choose between
sailing Tarita to Australia (Brisbane or Bundaberg -around 600-700Nm),or
bringing her to N.Zealand.The choice fell upon "Kiwiland" for different
reasons,which means waiting for the right time to sail out of New
Caledonia (weatherperpective).The window for sailing to NZ is late October
until late November(after frequent SW springgales in NZ and before cycloneseason
in the South Pacific).Waiting another month in N.Caledonia is not possibble for
me so Tarita will stay in Noumea with John living onboard,and late October Alan
Barker(Womble)will arrive and sail her to Whangarei/NZ which is about
900Nm.
After 3 seasons in the South Pacific my persistent
impression is that all these islandgroups scattered over an enormous ocean is
just fantastic,with French Polynesia(Tuamotos)on the absolute top!The
sailing/weather/anchoring and sometimes navigation(Fiji!)is more difficult than
at least I anticipated.
Tarita has behaved very well also this
year,allthough she has not been up to any real demanding weather.Our main
autopilot decided to give up when leaving Fiji,but our reserve(Autohelm 3000)has
done the job without complains.Our Icom M-800 SSB radio works well in
receivingmode,but has an impaired transmissionsignal.Avionics Radiocommunication
Ltd will have a look at it here in Noumea,since being able to communicate with
Russel Radio NZ can sometimes be essential.All other main systems have worked
well and in N.Zealand Tarita will be hauled out for some
servicejobs.
Perhaps Womble will write on the blog under way to
NZ,and hopefully I or Bertha will come back some
day................
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