23: 31.4 S

177: 09.7 W

 

Distance last 24 hours:             150     nm

Distance since Nuku’alofa:       205    nm 

Distance still to go:                919    nm                                                 (All distances are in nautical miles:  1nm = 1.8km)

 

12h00 New Zealand time:

 

Well, as forecast,  the wind swung around to SE around midnight, and we were woken by anchor chain growling on the coral in it’s new lay. This was the sign we needed to know there were no more debates, what if’s etc, were would be leaving soon after waking yesterday morning. But for the moment it was time to try and get a last good six hours sleep on anchor.

 

I awoke, with that normal restlessness, got up, went on deck, and whoopsie, it was completely overcast with a very fine rain falling. Well as Ruth said: “At least we have the wind, one can’t expect everything!” It felt time to leave, and as the sun rose the bleakness seemed to give way to a new dawn of adventure.

 

We pulled up anchor around 7am, the chain really had shifted into a tortuous path back to the anchor which was nicely buried in sand. It required some focused navigation to get out of the gap in the huge barrier reef that runs down the west side of the Tongatapu island group.

 

Soon the sails were up, the wind across the deck 17 to 23 knots and ALLONE was soon kicking along at 7 knots. There was a bit of a swell from the south, left over from the days before, but it all felt so good to be sailing again, and this time on track for New Zealand. WE saw only two other yachts around, the one a fast 80 footer heading for Australia, and the other seemingly not going the route we were, but probably heading for a stop over at Minerva Reef, some 240 miles away. So it looks like we were first out of the starting blocks, and the only ones so far on a direct to New Zealand route.  Our decision not to go to Minerva Reef, is because one can ending up a sitting duck there, ‘trapped’ in the atoll with bad weather approaching and no where to head to..... The other reason is that I believe that doing the NZ passage in one shot, rather than having to stop and start, confuses the mind and doesn’t allow one to enjoy the passage or the stay at the reef. Waiting at the reef is all about the uneasiness of when the next weather window will arrive again. Anyway, my theory...

 

The first day and night at sea on a passage like this is always a bit difficult as one switches from the relaxed life style on the anchor to the rigors of watches and all the unknowns that fight a routine.  The slightly confused sea state also does help the stomach settle down!

 

The clouds had lifted by late morning as we finally broke free on this Inter Tropical Convergence Zone, a fairly recent development linked with the El Nino effect, that causes confusion with the normally stable trade wind belts. Essentially the Australian High Pressure starts ‘bullying’ the trade wind zone, and the result is sometimes cloudy and unstable winds. We have experienced it’s impact a lot in the last 4 months.

 

The evening was almost perfect except for a moon....! Los of stars, twinkling on the waves and almost giving enough night light, that we didn’t need the moon. The moon came up around 2 am on Ruth’s watch,sadly it’s in waning phase, and so as we get closer to New Zealand we will see even less and less of it. Black nights, with confused seas are the sailor’s dread... Like many of you reading the blog, I have had many of those, and have never grown to like them!

 

Ruth and I are doing three hour watches, she is on from 18h00 to 21h00, and then my three hour starts, and so it goes on with sleep a priority once we come off watch, so it’s not exactly couple sailing as many manager. We hardly see or talk to each other! Ruth is doing all the navigating, and seems to be well suited to the discipline.....

 

It’s now almost noon on the day after we left, so 24 hours down and we made it through the night. Right through until 1 am, the wind was great at 15 – 22 knots SE, and we had a great, almost 7 knot average. Then while I was off watch the wind died, and around 2 30 am Ruth shouted out that she wanted to start the engine....

 

Well the engine has stopped since then as we are caught in a very localised HP system that is squashed between the system over Tonga and the NZ system. I was aware of the risk of this, but our rapid progress took us right into this calm patch. Hmmm, as I have said before, I hate everything about motoring on a sail boat, except of course the progress to destination.... So at the moment, I can’t report tranquil, South Pacific, sailing conditions..... It’s noisy with the engine on, and the motion is not great. Anyway, this is what we have been dealt, and we are managing it. Further priority for using the engine is due to the forecast for the next low from New Zealand now being brought forward a day or two to Sunday, 23 November. WE need to be in Opua, New Zealand, before that, so no hanging around, swimming and relaxing, like we did on the way to Rarotonga!

 

Before starting writing this blog, I put out my new fishing line, lure, and hooks, and so there is 500 lb breaking strength line being towed behind ALLONE, and tomorrow’s blog will report the outcome!

 

Otherwise all well, and settling into passage life.....

 

More tomorrow