all at sea

After a few days waiting for an intense low to pass by, it looks like a possibility to head off on Friday.  Thursday would give better wind at the start, but means sailing cloise behind the low with the likelihood of big swells; and saturday is too late to be far enough north to clear the worst of the next front coming through.  So on Friday morning I come inn to the fuel dock, top up diesel and water, clear customs, wave goodbye to Chris, and head off. 

he wind is light in the river, so we are motoring at the start, but there is enough wind to sail once we are out in the Bay of Islands.  It stays light through the afternoon and early evening, with some sailing and some motorsailing, but a good southerly comes up around 2100 and gives good sailing tghrough the night and next morning.  I get strict 20 minute rests with the alarm clock making sure I look  around every 20 minutes while Hanne Danske sails on under autopilot.  This close to the coast I cant afford to sleep longer - 20 minutes is about how long it takes for a ship to come over the horizon and get you - and I saw three ships this night.
Saturday afternoon the wind rises from around 20 knots tyo about 25, so fast sailing, but then starts to
ease up, dropping to 15 by 1800, and to 5-10 by morning - and the swell also drops to near calm - I get my appetite back (I have not eaten much so far), and with the boat sailing slowly in calm water with the AIS and radar alarms on, this would be a great time to get some sleerp - if only I could get to sleep!  Still, I did rest with my eyes shut for quiite a while.
Sunday is calm again with light winds from astern and clear sunny sky - motor sailed for a hile, sailed when I could, and got some more rest.  Sunday night the forecast from Russel radio is for strong head winds for monday - much stronger a day or so behind- as a front goes through, so got the storm jib and trisail ready just in case, and did my best to get some rest as the wind swung to the north - at first just 10 knots, but sdlowly rising to 25 by monday noon. 

Seeing big black cl;ouds ahead I hoisted the storm jib and waited for the front to come through, and saw another sail(Antipodean) behind, which caught up as the front approached. 

We had a chat on the VHF radio, and were both pleasantly surprised that there was nothing in the front - just showers, rain squalls, and another line of dark clouds followed by another and another until Tuesday at 1600 when we came through clouds and lots of rain to a clear sky and 15 knot SW wind.  With a good wind from the right direction, we are at last on our way to Fiji at a decent speed!
When I phoned Chris that night at 1700 I told her the captain was having a party that night at 1900 to celebrate reaching half way, and it was good to look forward to that celebration in good weather.  That night I celebrated with a Fry's pepermint bar, and an ice cold coke.  The frig had not been working properly in the rough weather as it got an air lock in the water cooling pipe when the intake came out of the water in waves, but I had fixed that as soon as the weather moderated and this was a fair reward.

 The breeze lasted through wednesday when it was forecast to go light, but thursday morning we got totally unforecast NNE headwinds, slowly rising until, by Thursday 1200 I hove to again in 40 knots, wwhich fortunaqtely lasted only until 1800, when a nice 15 knot sw came up.   This slowly eased around to the south, and by Friday morning a genuine tradewinds South Easterly! This increased slowly, with fast sailing until Saturday night, when I did the arithmetic and calculated we needed to slow down to 4.5 knots to reach the pass in daylight - I didn't want to go in in darkness, or to stand off near the reef in darkness if I arrived early.  So we wasted a good breeze, and sailed on heavily reefed in perfect sailing weather - and with our yellow Q flag and Fiji courtesy flags up.
I was concerned that I was very tired, and was heading towards a reef on autopilot - so I altered course away from the reef towards open water,  slowed down even more, puit on the AIS and Radar alarms, turned lights on the sails, and got an hour's sleep.  When I woke I was refreshed and alert, so came back on course, and enjoyed watching the dawn and smelling land nearby (burning sugar cane).

It was a great feeling coming in through the pass to sheltered water, and sailing in to Lautoka to anchor North of Queen's wharf.  After tidying up the boat, and fixing one of the dinghy davit wires that had broken (luckily I always tie the dinghy to the davits with a rope as well as the lifting wires, so the dinghy was Ok), I put my head down and slept from 1600 to 0800 next day!

HEADING NORTH

Ready at last!

After a lot of extra work meeting New Zealand safety regulations, and a fair bit of money spent on safety gear that is not entirely relevant for singlehanders (who will be there to throw me the dan buoy, or to search for its automatic light?  I believe cruisers should clip on all the time they are on deck offshore, and that goes double for singlehanders) we have passed the thorough safety inspection - thanks to Kevin Johnson for two trips to the boat and at least four hours of his time inspecting steering gear, chainplates, rig, flares, fire extinguishers, and everything else, and to Doyle sails for making a trysail and making, anodising and fitting a track for it in ten days.  Ready to go, and the wind is northerly 25 to 30 - straight from our first stop at Opua.  Thursday the wind goes around to the southwest, and Chris and I struggle to get "Hanne Danske" off the marina and onto the fuel dock in 30 knot side winds and showers.
a wave to Chris and I motor off the fuel dock before setting sail for Kawau 30 miles North- it was nice to have my Uncle Brian and Mary at the end of Devonport wharf with Chris to wave as I sailed past.
A good fast sail to Kawau, and up early in the morning to sail north to Whangaruru harbour another 70 miles further north.   In perfect reaching weather it was a great sail, and I had the unusual experience of being buzzed by customs in a light plane who asked me to spell boat name, home port, destination etc all in phonetic alphabet.  At dusk I could see cape Brett and considered carrying on to the bay of islands - but nearby Whangaruru was too tempting and we slipped in between the reefs to a quiet anchorage off the beach.


Next morning, with forecast Westerly 20 - 25 I headed out for the short sail to Cape Bett in sheltered water, using little danger rock as a good target to adjust the radar heading as we sailed past it.  At the cape, lots of messy steep waves and shifty winds in the shadow of  the cliffs, so I headed outside the island and found the wind blowing strongly out of the bay - dead on the nose and 20-25.  A fairly wet  bash to weather before dropping sails in the shelter of Urupukapuka island.   As I sailed in there were several yachts heading out to sea - was I missing a weathyer window to head up to Fiji?  I decided to head straight in to Opua where there would be internet to pick up the latest weather forecast.  As we anchored in the serene waters off the marina in perfect sunshine and light breeze, it loooked like the weather couldnt be better.  But the forecast showed a deepening low heading over - a fast yacht might get  north of it if they left that morning, as it seems some did - but I couldn't clear customs and head off before Sunday - and sailing handed I would not be sailing as fast as usual, so this is not the time to go.  A relief in a way - it gives me time to sort out radio scheds, setup radar alarms etc.  But it is also a shame - the weather is getting colder,  winter storms are coming on, and it is an anxious wait hoping for the weather to come right and hoping for a good trip.  How will I cope with singlehanding a possibly rough trip to Fiji?
And it is not helpful, checking out the Russel Radio scheds as yachts report in, to hear some tired yachties fed up with strong head winds, torn sails and gear, and gale warnings for the sea area to the North and West.
Hopefully I will have better luck with the weather - It was so much simpler sailing the trades in the tropics!
After deciding I was here for a few days, I tidied up the boat, and found a stowaway - a little lizard hiding under a sail track looking cold and miserable.  I took him ashore and let him go in a warm sunny spot in a rock garden.  I don,t think he would have liked the trip - especially not on deck!

So I'm catching up on some rest, doing odd jobs, and getting ready. And what a lovely place to be doing that, as I look around the still anchorage.