Half Way to Fiji
Position 17 33 S 176 33 W
Course 290 degrees true
Speed 7.5 knots
Distance to Fiji 140 nm
Hello from the sea again. It's great to be underway and Victoria is loving the downwind sailing from Tonga to Fiji. We left Neiafu yesterday at 0900, along with most of the fleet, and we have all been making our way west with the sun shining down, and the wind and the waves pushing us along. Yesterday there wasn't quite enough wind and we were lolling around a bit, slightly in the wrong direction, and overnight we motored for a few hours, but now we have perfect conditions and are screaming along. As I write this, Angus is helming, a pasta bake is browning in the oven, and the kids are all up in the cockpit, tucked up forward in their safe places, harnesses on and tethers attached. They have been making and decorating drums this morning, made from cups, elastic bands and paper, as well as "guitars", made of tupperware and elastic bands, and singing music of the sea whilst drumming rhythms. Sailing downwind gives a very rolly motion, and Jack is definitely back in "crawling mode" as he calls it, but most of the time it's a fairly gentle roll, with just the odd huge surge and tip when a wave catches us, hence the need for everyone to be wedged in a position which allows for this. Jack was sick a couple of times yesterday, and they all decided to sleep on the floor as a precaution due to the motion, but apart from that everyone has adapted well to being at sea again.
This trip doesn't feel too huge for us, but for several of the fleet it is the first time that they have sailed a passage as a family, with wives and children on board, and no crew, so there has been quite a build up to it for some. We're all pretty close to each other so it has been fun to chat on the radio and check in with everyone. Yesterday we called up Bonheur, one of the boats near to us, to check if they were OK, as they suddenly made a huge change of course and then started heading back to Tonga. "Oh yes, we're fine," came the reply, "we've just caught a huge tuna and are trying to get it on board!" We left them to complete the job and get back on course, and then Angus was straight back on the VHF, checking what lure they had had success with, as we have not had any luck since we caught a tuna on the way up from New Zealand, although it hasn't dampened George's enthusiasm for fishing one bit.
I mentioned in the last blog the strength of the fleet community. Since I wrote that, a "give a little" page has been set up for Squander, the boat who had rig failure and her crew had to abandon ship east of Great Barrier island in New Zealand. Everyone has chipped in towards their successful salvage operation; Squander has been found and towed back to Half Moon Bay marina in Auckland. The other personal help we have received was a good lookover of our engine a fleet member who is - very usefully! - a diesel engine mechanic. He has diagnosed and given us both a short term and long term fix for an intermittent fault with our engine starting. It's never failed to start - yet - but it's not very relaxing when we sometimes have to try a few times and fiddle a few wires to get it to go, without really knowing the issue. Imagine dragging the anchor in the middle of the night and then the engine not firing up. We're all sorted now!
Tomorrow we will arrive around first light at the reefs to the east of Vanua Balavu, in the Lau group of islands, to the east of Fiji. We will clear customs there and then have a day or so to find a really good, sheltered spot to put down our anchor and a lot of chain, and sit tight for the crazy weather system that is forecast over the weekend. It looks like 35-40 knots of wind and good water tank filling possibility. Not the most relaxing thing to be sailing towards, especially with a large fleet of boats.. but at least we should have time to get prepared. We might have stayed in Tonga until it had passed, but the Rally has paid for the customs officials to fly to the Lau Group for a week so that we can clear customs there, so if we don't arrive by next tuesday we'd have to sail to the main islands to clear customs, which is another 150nm or more..
We've made good speed today, so will have to slow down a bit overnight, which could be rolly! The kids will no doubt sleep on the floor again.
Happy belated birthday to Gran (94 and just joined facebook!) and to my brother Will, and happy 50th tomorrow to Angus' brother Nicko!
Lots of love from a happy Victoria crew
xx
Course 290 degrees true
Speed 7.5 knots
Distance to Fiji 140 nm
Hello from the sea again. It's great to be underway and Victoria is loving the downwind sailing from Tonga to Fiji. We left Neiafu yesterday at 0900, along with most of the fleet, and we have all been making our way west with the sun shining down, and the wind and the waves pushing us along. Yesterday there wasn't quite enough wind and we were lolling around a bit, slightly in the wrong direction, and overnight we motored for a few hours, but now we have perfect conditions and are screaming along. As I write this, Angus is helming, a pasta bake is browning in the oven, and the kids are all up in the cockpit, tucked up forward in their safe places, harnesses on and tethers attached. They have been making and decorating drums this morning, made from cups, elastic bands and paper, as well as "guitars", made of tupperware and elastic bands, and singing music of the sea whilst drumming rhythms. Sailing downwind gives a very rolly motion, and Jack is definitely back in "crawling mode" as he calls it, but most of the time it's a fairly gentle roll, with just the odd huge surge and tip when a wave catches us, hence the need for everyone to be wedged in a position which allows for this. Jack was sick a couple of times yesterday, and they all decided to sleep on the floor as a precaution due to the motion, but apart from that everyone has adapted well to being at sea again.
This trip doesn't feel too huge for us, but for several of the fleet it is the first time that they have sailed a passage as a family, with wives and children on board, and no crew, so there has been quite a build up to it for some. We're all pretty close to each other so it has been fun to chat on the radio and check in with everyone. Yesterday we called up Bonheur, one of the boats near to us, to check if they were OK, as they suddenly made a huge change of course and then started heading back to Tonga. "Oh yes, we're fine," came the reply, "we've just caught a huge tuna and are trying to get it on board!" We left them to complete the job and get back on course, and then Angus was straight back on the VHF, checking what lure they had had success with, as we have not had any luck since we caught a tuna on the way up from New Zealand, although it hasn't dampened George's enthusiasm for fishing one bit.
I mentioned in the last blog the strength of the fleet community. Since I wrote that, a "give a little" page has been set up for Squander, the boat who had rig failure and her crew had to abandon ship east of Great Barrier island in New Zealand. Everyone has chipped in towards their successful salvage operation; Squander has been found and towed back to Half Moon Bay marina in Auckland. The other personal help we have received was a good lookover of our engine a fleet member who is - very usefully! - a diesel engine mechanic. He has diagnosed and given us both a short term and long term fix for an intermittent fault with our engine starting. It's never failed to start - yet - but it's not very relaxing when we sometimes have to try a few times and fiddle a few wires to get it to go, without really knowing the issue. Imagine dragging the anchor in the middle of the night and then the engine not firing up. We're all sorted now!
Tomorrow we will arrive around first light at the reefs to the east of Vanua Balavu, in the Lau group of islands, to the east of Fiji. We will clear customs there and then have a day or so to find a really good, sheltered spot to put down our anchor and a lot of chain, and sit tight for the crazy weather system that is forecast over the weekend. It looks like 35-40 knots of wind and good water tank filling possibility. Not the most relaxing thing to be sailing towards, especially with a large fleet of boats.. but at least we should have time to get prepared. We might have stayed in Tonga until it had passed, but the Rally has paid for the customs officials to fly to the Lau Group for a week so that we can clear customs there, so if we don't arrive by next tuesday we'd have to sail to the main islands to clear customs, which is another 150nm or more..
We've made good speed today, so will have to slow down a bit overnight, which could be rolly! The kids will no doubt sleep on the floor again.
Happy belated birthday to Gran (94 and just joined facebook!) and to my brother Will, and happy 50th tomorrow to Angus' brother Nicko!
Lots of love from a happy Victoria crew
xx
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