Vega - New Zealand Bound

New Zealand Bound

Vega

Hugh and Annie

Sat 14 Oct 2017 19:06

There is an end of season feel out here. Even though it is Spring, yachts and the whales are heading south to get out of the cyclone season which starts around the end of November. There is also a tension in the air as yachties look for that favourable nine days or so to get down to NZ. Some, like us, are using NZ meteorologist Bob McDavitt for passage planning advice as this gives a more informed view than can be obtained from downloaded Grib files (digital weather forecasts).
Within normal variations the weather patterns are fairly predictable. High pressure with anticlockwise easterly winds in the north, followed by low pressure and clockwise westerly wind as you approach NZ. The middle of the high pressure system may have little wind which could involve motoring unless you sail a longer route round the outside to the west. Very high pressure and/or low pressure can both cause strong wind, particularly where the systems converge and there is a weather front. One favoured trick is to sail for three days down to Minerva Reef and anchor there until a front passes. The approach to NZ has to be from the north or north west so that you are not battling against westerly wind.
The passage has a fearsome reputation in the yachtie community and, just like the Fastnet and other races, stories of bad weather conditions circulate and particularly amongst those that are first timers. Between now and the end of November yachties will nervously be checking their forecasts before deciding when to make a dash for it. We have changed our minds repeatedly and of the latest options to leave on Sunday or later in the week have chosen the former. This will involve a three day sail to Minerva Reef with the option of anchoring at Minerva to sit out strong more southerly winds on Thursday. Minerva reef is a submerged atoll that gives protection from big seas but not the wind (rather like Beveridge Reef, you may recall).
Prior to our final passage of this leg our outboard motor decided to pack up (again). Dirty fuel seems to have been the culprit but then in restarting the motor the impellor broke up and no cooling water was being pumped through. Ian at Trouble in Paradise had every possible size of impellor except the one we needed. Fortunately we still had the submersible Mariner in a cockpit lazarette. We got Ian to check it over, replace the carburettor with the new one we bought after the third underwater mishap and it works a treat! Then, just to keep us on our toes, the starter motor battery for the main engine on Vega gave up and we had to use the main battery bank to get the engine going. This would probably have been ok to get us to NZ but luckily we managed to find a car battery in Lifuku, in one of the ubiquitous Chinese supermarkets, that will tide us over. We also managed to refill one of the spare jerry cans of diesel we are now carrying in case of prolonged motoring en route.
So, armed with our cans of spam and corned beef that need to be eaten before we leave the boat in NZ (our choice) and the bags of pulses (banned from NZ) we will head off today. As ever there will be a daily position update on the blog......................