NORDLYS - At Sea

At Sea

NORDLYS

David and Annette Ridout

Wed 25 May 2005 17:39

Sixty hours out of Opua

1930hrs 25th May 2005

Well after over two weeks of delays Nordlys and her crew managed to escape from the delights of New Zealand. For all those who are thinking that we have gone soft and did not want to go to sea all I can say is that there were nearly thirty boats waiting with us in Opua by the time we left. Some still did not go talking about another low but they were in the minority. There was a feeling of almost being part of an armada as we left about eleven o'clock. Checked out, marina fees and fuel at duty free prices paid, plus the delivery of our duty free booze. The latter stowed and off we went.

For the first hours it was something of an anti climax as we motored over a smooth sea using up our precious diesel. Motoring on a passage when one knows that one has more diesel than needed is one thing. When this is far from true then use of the engine is painful but worth it to break away from the land. It was one o'clock in the morning of the 26th before Herr Diesel was allowed to rest. At that point a gentle south to south east wind filled in. With a few variations it has been blowing ever since and is just keeping going as I write. Every time the flogging of the sails gets bad the wind comes back and the speedo climbs to a respectable level again. We have achieved 127nm the first 24hrs and 165nm the next. Now we are down to an average of nearer the former distance. This, according to the forecasters who are of course never wrong, should be the scene until Friday morning or about thirty six hours from now when we are due a blow from the north north east. We will see what happens.

Last night life was enlivened by some squalls as we went through the end of the South Pacific Convergence Zone, SPCZ. At one stage we came to a virtual stop and waited for forty five minutes as a very black series of cumulus passed in front of us. There was no flashing and banging of thunder but the radar painted a very black picture so, thinking discression the better part of valour, we waited. The rain was very cold but the wind not above twenty knots.

Annette is asleep, a full moon is out and all is peaceful. We are slowly getting on top ofthe various rattles and squeaks that always seem to be part o flife at sea after a long spell in harbour. The hull and woodwork of Nordlys herself are remarkably squeak free even after all her miles but the same cannot be said for our stowing and the numerous blocks and ropes that festoon the deck especially when three sail running. We are very lucky in that there is more moonlight than sunlight for today and tomorrow. Between the clouds it is almost like daylight in the middle of the night. After sunset today there was only half an hour before the moon rose. During that time we watched a satellite move quickly across the Southern Cross which itself stood out very clearly.

Every degree we get north the temperature rises and hopefully in a few days we will be back to living in shorts and shirts only and swimming with the brightly coloured tropical fish again.

To all those readers in the northern hemisphere we wish you a happy summer. Now the election is over perhaps the papers will even be worth reading again.

David and Annette