New Caledonia

Miss Molly 4
Bob & Peggy Wilkerson/Geoff & Merel Pettifer
Sun 23 May 2010 12:01
22:16.85 S
166:25.87 E


We dropped anchor in Port Mosselle at 03.30 and will wait until light before heading for the customs dock to clear in.

All in all it was not a bad passage with only around 12 hours of really nasty stuff to slow us down. We had some good sailing and some motoring but as far as getting away from NZ goes it was pretty good.

Amazing how sometimes the forecast is slightly off. In this case quite a bit. We were expecting the weather to turn against us again, but the wind decided to clock further aft, rather than the forecasted on the nose. So instead of a beat we had a lovely downwind run alongside the reefs of New Caledonia. Weird how sailing in the proximity of reefs always brings this word play to mind: "Rather on my boat with a Scotch on the rocks than with my boat on the rocks with a Scotch".

Anyhow around 01.30 just as we were lined up with the pass through the reef to get to Noumea the weather improved. The rain stopped and the wind dropped from 30 to 15 kts. Most convenient as we were preparing to hang around until daylight. All systems going, radar, plotters, guide book, paper charts and depth sounder. Glad to report that the electronic charts matched up with the facts.

Now for a beer and a few hours steady sleep.

Cheers from the Molly crew