Apologies all for lack of contact / update.

We arrived safely into New Caledonia a week or so ago after an interesting trip. The conditions from Vanuatu were at two extremes. The first 2 days we motored in flat calm seas and sunshine (We were even able to fix things on the boat) and the last 2 days we were beating into 15-20 knots in the pissing rain. It's probably the coldest and wettest we have been on our trip so far. We were keen to get to the Havannah Pass (South East pass and one of the main passes that leads through the reef to the mainland) in daylight. It is a wide pass and very well marked but we much rather enter a pass in some light. 

Unfortunately 50nm (around 10am)  from the Havannah Pass we lost our rig. A weld on the Starboard tie rod gave way and the mast snapped about 10ft above deck and the rig fell over the side. Neither of us were hurt, Mike was off watch and I was sitting at the wheel.

It was one of those things that happens so quickly and then you have to react so quickly. Although the sea state was only 1.0-1.5m of swell, it was confused so were then thrown around a bit with no mast / sails to stabilise us. Our main concern was the hull and not allowing the broken piece of mast and spreaders to puncture it. We made the quick decision to cut the rig free, it was too hard to try and save it and as we are only two onboard there was no way we could pull anything back onboard and avoid injury or any more damage.

This was my worst nightmare come true. It was the one thing I have always been so worried about on this whole trip. We have had the rig looked at a number of times and before we leave on any passage either I or Mike go up the mast to check all the rigging. However, the failure was a weld below deck on the starboard tie rod terminal that gave way. Unfortunately it was a weld that you were unable to inspect as it looked perfect from the outside. We are just so lucky that it happened close enough to a port that we could motor in; it could have gone in the middle of the Pacific or any number of far worse scenarios....

Thanks to my Dad's advice (stainless cutting blades do work!) and Jamie (Mike's brother for buying it and bringing it to Panama for us) we carry a battery powered angle grinder onboard. Dad had advised us to get cutting discs (opposed to the grinding discs we had) so we had them on the grinder ready incase anything like this happened. Luckily Mike had been using it the day before to grind off some rivets so it was charged and ready to use. We managed to cut the rig free in under 10 minutes. We lost the mast, mainsail, headsail, forestay and furler and backstays. When the tie rod terminal failed, all the rigging tension disappeared and nothing was left supporting the mast and sails....

Poor QM looked so sad and with the drizzle and grey skys it was a very, very sad day.  Then checked under the floorboards for any damage, tidied up the mess on deck then started the engine and headed for the pass.

We were motoring straight into the wind and swell with much less stability than before. All in all very unpleasant and a shit way to end our trip.

We made a 'PAN PAN' call over the handheld VHF as obviously the masthead VHF Arial was now 1000's of metres below us but received no response. Our situation was not life threatening but we wanted to make the authorities aware of our situation. The satellite phone was our main communication and it we used it to call Port Moselle marina and friends who had already arrived in order to alert the authorities. Marine rescue called us every hour to take our position and ensure our safe arrival at the pass. They also sent a pilot boat to meet us at the pass and guide us into an anchorage for the night. Noumea is approximately 40nm from the pass and we didn't fancy continuing in the dark and pissing rain. The boat was wet and so were we, a pretty miserable night but at least we were inside and anchored. I made us some hot soup with all the leftover vegetables that were about to be confiscated and we slept like babies. 

An early rise and we motored around to Noumea. This place really does look like Scotland, wet and miserable but gorgeous scenery and when the sun shines it is truly stunning.   We made it into Port Moselle at lunchtime to a wonderful welcoming party. Our friends on 'Ghost', 'A small Nest' and 'Go Beyond' were all on the dock to take our lines and help us tie QM to the dock.  

Everyone was so very kind and helpful and we were both very glad to have some friendly, albeit emotional faces to meet us. After starting the formalities (you get forms then they come to your boat) we had a dismasting party onboard QM and drowned our sorrows with the final bottles or should we say Jerry can of Panamanian Rum . It was quite funny watching 9 people disappear very quickly when Immigration and Quarantine turned up!

Brad and Kat on 'Ghost' have been wonderful, offered us their spare cabin, fed us and generally looked after us in every way possible. Absolutely amazing and with Gav and Akio's imminent arrival they insisted we stay with them onboard Ghost