Back From Hiatus 2015

Close to three years since our last blog posting we are back again. The intervening time has seen us reposition and reclaim life ashore. Regrettably Musketelle has only been sailed briefly in the Hauraki Gulf during this time compared with her earth girdling endeavours.  But she is in view every day parked on her home base mooring in front of our residence on the Tamaki River.  The day before Christmas she got her long promised haulout at Halfmoon Bay Marina.  The picture shows her on the hard in exactly the same spot she occupied in 2006 before the circumnavigation.
We have lifted in numerous boatyards around the world but Dean and the team at Halfmoon Bay take the honours for operating the smartest tidiest hardstand and boatyard operation we have come across.
Check it out at www.hmbmarina.co.nz

Jan 2013 WAS IT ALL A DREAM

January 2013

Was It All A Dream?

As our dream circumnavigation has come to an end our thoughts of returning to the realities of life ashore are sort of daunting to say the least, but deep down we are looking forward to returning to some basic home comforts, family and stable high speed Internet to name just a few. 

Living aboard Musketelle since shifting aboard 1st February 2007 has in hindsight been a bit of a surreal experience.  Whilst we carry passports we have been sort of stateless souls floating around the world removed from many of the realities of the land-lubbers lot.  The things that have consumed us have often been ship keeping issues like generating our own power,  waste management and disposal, water-making or sourcing ashore, buying fuel,  systems maintenance and operation, security, communications, navigation, weather etc etc.

Likewise normal housekeeping issues take on a new dimension because you are continually on the move through different jurisdictions.  Simple tasks like finding an anchorage, contacting a marina to rent a berth, sourcing food, cellphone coverage and the ever essential wifi internet access take on new meaning.

We feel like we have been the sole residents of ‘Planet Musketelle’ as a floating micro state entity within the world.   It’s all about self governance as there are no safety nets, no government assistance and no common reference points as in your own community, so you’re literally on your own, which is exactly the challenge we sought in the first place.

There are a plethora of issues affecting just us, largely unrelated to living ashore.  Issues can vary in importance from the extreme of piracy at sea to simply finding a safe anhorage or the hassles associated with coming alongside a town quay not to mention dealing with the multiplicity of banal bureaucracy often complicated by language difficulties.    

Accessibility is a real issue in some major ports with cruisers relegated to less salubrious areas of a waterfront when we are there to spend money but instead hosts unwittingly simply increase our chances of being mugged.  We are often made to feel like second class citizens, which in reality might not be helped by the very small number of cruisers who are out there ‘nickel & diming’ taking advantage of situations and the frequent goodwill of host ports and their citizens that leaves a bad taste and potentially taints all cruisers, but thankfully they are the exception. 

Getting on the Green Bandwagon

With wind as our primary form of propulsion we are genuinely green, leaving a very small carbon footprint yet we do not get any credit or recognition, rather we are seen as another revenue take option and often lumbered with unrelated taxes.  There are so many cruisers out on the high seas we really are deserving of recognition for our contribution to helping the planet as we are the omni-present independent eyes and ears of those high seas that cover 2/3rds of the planet. Most seafarers are at sea for commercial reasons whereas blue-water cruisers are out there by choice. Take it from us, the deep sea fish other than the dolphins seem to be reduced in number and the dolphins might be next.  The seabirds also seem to be checking out of the eco-system at a noticable rate with reduced numbers sighted.  With the majority of the temperate ocean fishery areas pillaged to near death no wonder the last frontier, Antarctica is under threat.

Random  Observations

Random one-liner observations and reflections from 66 months 2007/12 visiting and immersing in 30+ countries and meeting common folk in a way only cruising affords…….

*The world is going through a 20^th to 21^st century correction * global economy meltdowns will continue unabated  * the Arab world sunsets and new dawns was a major event  * the hubris of political leaders, global business leaders and bankers continues on queue * transparent corruptive practices reign in more countries than less * the wireless technology phenomenon is changing everything everywhere * robotics and technology is eliminating jobs in concerning numbers  * with many employees the job appears secondary to spending work time social networking    * Quality freshwater and food security will become paramount  * Every country has its chosen import workers who do its dirty work that unemployed state funded locals consider beneath them  * Those  countries with honest workable tax systems succeed whereas those without continue to suffer  * Most container ships on the high seas are coming from or going to China * A surprising number of countries rely on financial survival from ‘donor’ countries *  Planet sustainability is fragile at current rates of resource depletion * Palm oil is not helping diets or the environment (or the Orangatans)  * Everyone blames someone else for everything  * The value of economic migration is questionable to the new host country as the real costs are of relocation are never factored * How long before obsession with living on the planets coasts sees a return to inland locations  * $2 shops are the biggest retailer on the planet, not Wal-Mart  * Dictators and Presidents must all go to the same finishing school  * Foreign Aid projects by richer nations helping poorer nations seem designed to miss targets * Everyone wants to come and live in under populated NZ or Australia  * Building super cities and depleting regional areas is a global model    * Relocating people from their own traditional environments to other cultures helps neither  * The arrival of the 7 billionth world citizen got world attention.....for a nanosecond  * As the Internet evaporates borders nationalism is fading fast * Packaging influences food purchasing rather than nutritional value.   

That’s our ‘A’ political un ‘PC’ take on the world we passed through these last 66 months.  

Random Things We Did Not Miss from NZ

*Inane social commentary by so called celebrities * NZ television  * The new Super City *  The Treaty  * Politically Correct nonsense * Dumbing down and the Nanny State  * The Blame game
* Talkback Radio * Being told NZ is world leading in whatever *  Blaming the exchange rate on everything * The DPB industry * Obsession with Australia  * Ineffectual central government - just how  difficult is it to govern a population smaller than Sydney and 500 other major cities around the globe * Media asking patsy questions * Weeping heart stories posing as news  * Worrying about what the rest of the world will say or think * Bowing to foreign investment demands and seeing our land go into foreign ownership *  Foreigners being able to buy residential property over the Internet without actually being residents here *  Local Bodies getting involved in non-core business * NZ cow-towing to the rating agencies * Disbelief a flawed immigration policy is not recognized as the cause of the housing crisis we have returned to…….. but hey not withstanding the above comments we are still pleased to be home in the greatest little country on the planet, but don’t count on it remaining in that position if we don’t all start some honest dialogue and understanding of not just economic but social sustainability.

Our Favourite Places

Without doubt our stay in Turkey was the highlight of the voyage with over 2 years criss-crossing the Aegean Sea between Greece and the western Turkish Riviera area with its focus on sailing, ancient historic sites, more Roman history than Italy and countless ancient civilizations to keep the exploration juices flowing.    If it was not for the skipper injuring his back we would not have returned for the second year to base ourselves out of Sogut inland from Bodrum, where we found a real little slice of heaven.  We would have stayed in Greece for the back recuperation but the country was going through its first economic meltdown, the people were on edge and it did not feel like a nice place to be, so back to the friendly industrious Turks we sailed.

Cruising the Med is the stuff cruisers dreams are made of and we loved everywhere we sailed and stopped whereas the Caribbean was nice in parts, but for us nothing special overall.   The Caribbean and Pacific coasts of tropical Panama could take a year to explore and look stunning, although security can be an issue. 

French Polynesia comes out tops for us as a tropical destination.  But then we are forgetting our favourite Asian country Indonesia and the hot arid Red Sea area. Hey, all 30 countries get the nod for one reason or another and we would not change a thing.

How We Stopped

Musketelle stopped a total of 437 times on the entire 66 month voyage free anchoring on 391 occasions, using laid moorings 9 times and stopping at 37 different marina’s.   In round percentage terms we were at anchor or moored 75% and in marinas 25% of the time.  We hauled out to re antifoul on 6 occasions in Australia, Thailand, Turkey twice, Spain and Panama. We had to get professional divers to disengage our anchor on just three occasions when it got snagged on the bottom, each in deep water way beyond our capability; in Kupang Indonesia, the filthy wasters of the Port of Aden and around a coral head in the lagoon at Manahi Atoll, Tuamotus in French Polynesia. The Aden diver used dilapidated scuba diving gear that had us worried more than him and involved complex negotiations that involved the divers interpreter seeking an open ended price depending on the complexity of the unseen tangle below, but us smelling a rat and insisting on a fixed price of USD$100. We prevailed and guess what, he dived over and resurfaced in 90 seconds to inform job done !!! Just like we were done !!!  We had to laugh.

Anchoring is Fundamental
On B’s insistence we carried 4 anchors for the voyage, a Bruce, Delta, Guardian and a Fortress, the last 3 being brand new and we only used the 40kg Delta.  The Delta held us in a number of 40/50 knot blows but the length of chain has a lot to do with that.  Anchoring in weed, mud or rocks were the only occasions we had difficulties but that can apply to any anchor. Our primary 100 meter long 10mm anchor chain was replaced with new chain in Turkey and we carried another 50 meters of new chain and 200 meters of new heavy anchor rode as backup but thankfully neither was used.

The Cruising Market Opportunity for NZ

Auckland is renowned as the City of Sails but compared with many locations around the planet it is anything but for the cruising yacht.   There may be more boats per-capita in NZ but the ability to tie up to town docks for brief visits and essential shopping is pretty much non-existent such is the revenue gathering prowess of local councils and commercial marina companies that have all the best access points under control.  This concept of sterilizing prime waterfront for just the super yacht contingent is a major concern for NZ if it wants to access a larger share of the ever increasing number of cruisers who are sailing west across the Pacific each year.   There is a honey pot opportunity for NZ but many cruisers will continue to bypass us to the north and not come south to summer over for 6 months from November to April if we do not up the game. 
We are a first world country renowned as a maritime nation but we are not delivering first class access to entice cruisers to sail around the country and visit our attractive hinterland ports and harbours.   Each seaside town and city once owned and maintained wharves and jetties but these have largely been sold off or allowed to rot away as coastal shipping disappeared.  If not already done now is the time to rejuvenate and revitalize these assets and give them and the areas they are located in a new lease of life.  The vibrancy of redeveloped town and city waterfronts is renowned worldwide but it is sad to note the very use waterfronts were created for has been conveniently hijacked by other activity interests when redevelopment has taken place and boats and yachts get turfed out.  Promenading along boat laden docks in Europe is the ultimate summer evening activity but we know better and more often than not convert these areas primarily for cafes and restaurants and relegate the floating attractions to marinas behind security gates.

The suggestion is not that town docks should be free parking places for boats but a place bonafide visiting yachts can pull alongside and pay a fair and reasonable charge for a short stay or to park their dinks when they need to go shopping.  User pays is accepted and facilities can be created  which can only enrich our waterfront areas.

Ports that we visited that can claim credit for getting it right include most Greek ports, Martinique and St Barthelemy in the Caribbean and Papeete which is embarking on further improvements.   In NZ Whangarei comes closest to reading the marketing opportunity with its magnificent town basin redevelopment and there may be others, but the reality is worldwide many major port towns and cities miss the mark completely, so NZ has an opportunity to consolidate its nautical reputation and make changes that will draw increasing numbers of cruisers to not just its traditional entry ports but the country as a whole.

With improvements in the accuracy of weather forecasting sailing around NZ is a more viable opportunity for more sailors than it was previously so get the revitalization projects underway and the cruisers who act like reef fish will come in numbers, year in year out.   

We Had Luck On Our Side

It helped that we designed our circumnavigation to cobble together the equivalent of 12 summers in a row and yes we had luck on our side without any major catastrophies,  but there are a few events that come close…..…

The Back - 
P injuring his back lugging water jugs when he should have expanded the size of the watermaker with the kit we were already carrying for the purpose.  Needless to say when the back came right the watermaker was rebuilt with those parts and production leaped from 30L to 90L per hour thereafter…what were we thinking not doing it sooner.  The costs and time associated with the back debacle changed our 2010 year, changing our plans to cruise the US East Coast.

Two Groundings - 
We had two groundings in 28,000 miles sailing which wasn’t bad in the scale of things but all groundings are unplanned and avoidable so they really upset us as our floating home is critical to our survival with the hull the only thing between us and the murky depths.    Coming to a horrific grinding halt transiting the northern end of the Levkas Canal in Greece when we were seemingly on the correct side of the channel marker bouys was our biggest and most serious grounding.  Turns out the channel side marker buoys are all tethered by lines to big square concrete blocks underwater to hold them in place, but this particular line was too long meaning the tide had pushed the buoy too close to the shore and  we came along with our deep 2.5m draught keel thinking we were well inside the channel and clonked the concrete block. On getting out of the channel P dived on the keel to view a chunk of fiberglass sliced away from the leading lower edge of the keel.  Buggar.  Thankfully not structural damage but it required a costly unplanned haulout in Spain when we had just completed a haulout in Turkey a month prior, which was meant to last 2 years.

Our second touch on a coral head at Manihi Atoll in French Polynesia was thankfully not serious but the result of a sequence of events that saw us make the wrong decision to depart into a setting sun due to a delay caused by the anchor snagging on a coral head requiring assistance from an ex French Foreign Legion diver to free it at 16 metres. We did not want to stay another 24 hours so when the anchor was freed we gave a bottle of Blanc d Blanc to the friendly Frenchman and went for it.  Poor B was on the bow on lookout and saw the coral head appear out of nowhere and uncharacteristically froze watching it like an unavoidable train crash with the coral crumbling but making cosmetic grazes the length of the leading edge of the keel.

One Unplanned Kiss - 
We had one kiss or more accurately a hull crunch, with a super sized tug boat in Aden Harbour that came to our rescue when we were having starter motor problems with our engine and said tug came alongside promptly destroying a section of teak caprail which required costly replacement in Turkey. 

One Major Near Miss at Sea - 
Picture a beautiful clear sunny mid morning, 10 knot breeze all sails up sailing hard on the wind comfortably healed over slipping over the flat surface of the clear blue waters of the Red Sea (no its not red) in a humidity free 25c degrees….just heaven on water.  B is down below at the nav station on the computer and P up top on watch.  She calls him to come down and look at something on the screen so he quickly scans the horizon and goes below.  After 5 minutes he pops his head up to see that all is well to see a huge orange fishing trawler ship and we mean huge bow to bow about 30 meters off  obscured by Musketelle’s headsail with a handful of fishermen looking down upon us from a great height waiting for the inevitable crunch if one of us does not immediately change course.  Well it clearly was not going to be them judging by the anticipated entertainment value these guys were waiting for, so P swung the helm hard over to port so that we slid by each other starboard to starboard with just a 10m separation.  Whew what a heart stopping moment that was !!! and all our fault due to slack watch keeping. No excuses but we had not sighted another vessel for days.  The cursory horizon scan was clearly not enough.  A big wakeup call that scared the living daylights out of us. (we reminded ourselves of the importance of double checking under the headsail from now on when scanning the horizon)

Storms and Gales

What storms,  because luckily we avoided major weather throughout the voyage.  We put this down to being ultra cautious and not hesitating to use the Satellite phone at sea whatever the cost to regularly download weather reports and prediction graphics to get early warning and avoid bad weather.  This was part of our self insurance and preservation plan, and yes we were lucky, but from the start B was committed to analyse weather because she had a pre-disposition to 'mel de mer' and this was the best way to keep busy, plan avoidance and minimize affects.

Sure we hit some shiggy on occasions but overall nothing worse than Wellington or Cook Strait can muster on an average day. On a couple of occasions weather tired us out with P doing 12+ hour stints at the wheel to hold Musketelle on the most comfortable course but we knew we had the right boat to do the job and at no time did we feel great unease or concern.  We reefed down regularly but the storm sails were never required on the entire circumnavigation.

Thunder and Lightning

Of all the weather extremes we faced out there thunder storms were among the most feared.  Luckily we only experienced these a couple times each year at sea whilst sailing but more frequently adjacent to the equator, in Singapore when we were in a marina and Panama whilst we were at anchor.  They always seem to occur in the middle of the night and the flashes seem more acute. It’s the forked lightning that has us worried, rushing around switching off electrical systems and placing laptops,  handheld VHF radios and GPS’s in the oven and in metal containers in an attempt to mitigate damage if we take a strike.  We regularly learned of yachts getting hit that required major rewiring and costly electronic equipment replacement. To lose your electronic navigation system is a major but we had both done the celestial navigation course for this eventuality so the hard copy charts would have been rolled out and the sextant removed from its case and our grey matter put to the test to take sights.  We are thankful we escaped the direct wrath of this force of nature and got round unscathed.

Food

We like our food.  Why wouldn’t you like something that we all have to do a couple of times a day,  every day of our lives.  On the yacht things seem to revolve around food possibly more so than on land for a number of reasons....  Its not like being ashore where you go off to work, on the yacht the galley is always close by,  travelling at sea level certainly tunes up the taste buds second only to clean clear mountain air, when the weather is cold and rough getting food into the system energises like nothing else, when the weather is perfect there is nothing much to do so having a cuppa and cookie or cake is nice, sundowners and a nibble never goes amiss either, a mid-watch snack at midnight or 3am is essential .  So there you have it food around the clock.  

Buying food in different countries became one of the big exploration exercises up there with the local attractions and in quick order we could hunt out the local best buys and local delicacies.  The interesting thing we soon picked up on was the handful of monolith global corporations that control the global diet.  We are either all eating the best nutritious food or we are all unwittingly believing the advertising and slowly eating ourselves to extinction.   We have been forced to read labels thoroughly with a multi language dictionary for so long now we are experts programmed to picking out cruddy products….. ‘made from local and imported products’ is a universal clue.

Musketelle Did The Job

We cannot let it pass without making mention of the floating platform that served us so well.  She is not a young lady coming out of the plug in 1986 but she is extremely well built and found with strong solid fibreglass hull, deep encapsulated fin keel and skeg hung rudder.   The core things we selected as the best for a fast and comfortable ocean passagemaker hull.   Her cutter rig is tall for a cruiser but then Ron Holland did design this model as a cruiser racer.  The conservative masthead rig has 3 forestays and runners plus hydraulic backstay and boom vang so we always had confidence in the rig.  The fully battened mainsail with 3 slab reefs by Neil Pryde is a gem with the non overlapping blade headsail we had made by Fyfe Sails in Auckland before departure our special weapon for upwind work in high winds.  We both found helming Musketelle a breeze with controllable comforting weather helm in all but the gustiest conditions.  After the first 6 months aboard we had ironed out most of the niggly little things you find on any boat that require attention, like deck prisms that leak, stern gland that requires nibbing up just so, how to ventilate below decks in all conditions etc etc  The things that did let us down were systems and equipment failures that go hand in hand with all marine gear irrespective of age. 

Sailing around the world on a yacht is all about self resilience and being able to handle the next system failure so its no wonder our blog appears to be more of a what we were repairing interspersed by cruising in paradise prose.  

The most fantastic bit of kit on Musketelle was the autopilot to the point we were talking about it and marvelling at its performance particularly on the Atlantic crossing. That was until Panama when it decides to prove us wrong just as we are about to set out on the 7000 mile passage home across the Pacific !!  We did everything we could with the official service agents in Panama including buying backup components they recommended but it failed again within days of departure requiring us to hand steer most of  the way to NZ, but that’s another story that will only be resolved in Auckland when we get round to it.  

Cannot also pass the opportunity to mention "Henry" our beaut 90hp Ford Lehman Engine which after a small hiccup off Townsville and some overheating issues in the Indian Ocean never let us down.  For the availability of parts and ease working on, we would opt for a simple old fashioned marinised tractor engine every time.

We will harbour nothing but good thoughts and memories of Musketelle even if at times the best systems and equipment threw some curved balls at us to keep us on our toes, but never once did we think of throwing in the towel.  On the contrary a sit down, a cuppa and a look at the manuals or a quick email to shore supporters for another opinion always got us sorted. 

Accommodation down below is one of Musketelle’s major attributes.  No matter what the weather stepping down below was always calming, warm and quiet.  Designed with an excellent forward facing navigation station, large galley safe in any weather and big aft cabin with a big double bed comfortable and secure whatever the seas.  Most importantly at 16 metres the boat is big enough for 2 people to have their own space when required.  The watermaker once refurbished to give 90L per hour helped quality of life aboard as did a galley with gas oven, microwave, extractor fan ventilation, fridge freezer and all the normal kitchen electrical gadgets. Two toilets and two showers, air conditioning with reverse cycle cooling and heating was a luxury as was the electrical capacity to run all the toys and tools we carried for every eventuality.   

Topsides the large and dry center cockpit was where we spent most of our time as the hard dodger protects in all weathers.  The bimini sun and rain cover only came down once in 6 years…..when  a mount came away in a blow on the first leg from Opua to Tonga, otherwise it was up the entire voyage.

So that’s it, thanks Musketelle, we could not and would not have done it without you.

As an aside back in 2003 when we sold Lion we were desperate to get back into another yacht to fulfill our dream to circumnavigate.  But we could not readily find what we were looking for so P flew over to Cairns to drive down the east coast of Australia to Sydney to find the perfect yacht.   But yachts meeting our wish list options at that time were surprisingly limited but in the meantime B found her right under our nose.  On his return B marched him straight down to Westhaven to show him Musketelle and the rest is in the blog.  So it was the Navigator that found her.

The Crew Component

Today you can use a smartphone or tablet computer with the right in-built GPS to navigate a yacht around the world using Google Earth, with questionable stability and security of performance but it can be done. 

Pic  I.Touch with chartography

Pic  All our furled Charts 

In contrast back in 2003 when we started  planning this adventure we were bringing together all our hardcopy charts (350 in total) and off to nautical night school to both brush up on courses that B selected as essential covering subjects that P had blundered through as a gungho self-taught racing yachtie since 7 in a 7 footer.   We both learned a lot covering  Mechanical, Radio, Medical and Navigation with us both gaining our Ocean Yachtmaster certificates.  The NZ Coastguard run courses were thoroughly professional and confirmed our capacity as a couple to safely take on the global challenge.  For us sailing 2 handed throughout on all the ocean passages was never in question as right from the start the core objective was to sail round the world together as a couple.  We saw it as the ultimate thing we could do at this stage in our lives and we made a conscious effort to get everything in order for us to sail off to achieve that objective.    Now we are home it’s a great feeling that this has been ticked off and we can get on and do other things whilst head, health and strength are still intact. 

The Cat Factor
WiFi the Turkish wonder cat slept most of the time at sea but whenever she was up and about she kept us on our toes and alert to ensure she did not fall overboard.  For a cat she became noticeably responsive to orders recognising intonation in our voices, becoming obedient like a dog, which she is certainly not.  She became ever confident in all but the roughest conditions and had multiple cat napping spots throughout the vessel depending on conditions. Whenever it was really torrid she would make her way to either of us and snuggle in close for reassurance, otherwise a cuddly ball of fluff  this wild one is not. Her regular forays onto the side and fore decks for fresh air and on occasions the chance of some wildlife could not be denied her but when she did it in the middle of the night we often thought she was a goner.  She would slink around under cover of darkness and give us the slip all the time as is a cats way at night.  She is a very deep sleeper that goes out for the count and she has to be touched to waken.  Consequently we would often lose her aboard and call out to no avail eventually locating her hidden somewhere curled up snug be that below decks or sometimes up in the boom sailpack even when we were under way.  If anyone thinks it has been a tough road for WiFi just remember she was a wild dock cat and she would now be in cat heaven from one of the regular cat clean up operations back in Yatmarin Marmaris.  She simply loves boats as evidenced by her preference for wandering around marinas hopping on and of boats rather than high tailing it ashore whenever we tied up anywhere. WiFi has been great company aboard being playful and making us laugh and we admire her survival instincts. Talk about quick to recognise opportunities and capitalise on a situation, she is one smart little animal.  

Doing a Victory Lap..... of a Kind

Any journey is no more than a fine line on the map and a lot of country or water is passed unseen beyond the horizon either side whether it’s from a car, plane or sailing on a yacht.  It’s impossible to see it all unless of course you are in space orbiting, but even then there are still limitations.  Literally in reality there may be a better way…..

Technology is moving so fast that maybe we will not have to physically do the trip next time but simply nominate our chosen route, load the waypoints, the specific anchorages and marinas we wish to stop at and let Google Earth take us on a Virtual Circumnavigation, for a small fee……and maybe earn FlyBuy points in the process!!   It would conveniently remove the sleep deprivation, salt in the face and avoid the rock and roll, but whether you would experience real satisfaction is questionable to olde salts like us.    But then again kids today play ever real virtual reality games and seem happy so what the future holds is up for grabs.  

Thanks to our Blog Followers
Finally a big thanks to those of  you who have been along for the 6 year voyage resulting in over 10,000 hits to the site from its inception.  It started out as our personal daily diary and log and morphed into this blog in the public domain.  

Signing Off
If anyone wants to communicate please email :  
To Crew     musketelle@gmail.com     or to WiFi      wifinz@gmail.com
  

Dec 2012 RE-IMMERSION & INTO QUARANTINE

December 2012

Re-Immersion

P’s sister Deb comes north from AKL to welcome us home and the first night we immerse in the moment of being home with a great yachtie meal at the top little Opua Yacht Club where most arriving cruising yachties land.

The next day we drive to Waitangi and do the tourist thing on the Treaty grounds before heading for Keri Keri and it all feels just so great driving through the parkland that is NZ, on superb roads.  We cannot help noticing it’s a first world country, the first we have been in since leaving Europe with the possible exception being parts of Puerto Rico.

The green green grass of home - Keri Keri Bay of Islands

Walking into a supermarket and recognizing all the labels of honest to goodness food is not half bad with the dairy products and fine NZ wines standing out plus marinated green lip mussels says P.

One of the first things we do when we arrive in a new country, we get a simcard for the cellphone but in this case as we are home for good its ‘his & her’ simcards, noting that NZ is the most expensive country on the planet for mobile telephony with the competing systems using  gross obfuscation via costly advertising campaigns to tell unknowing Kiwis they are getting superior services, not.  Nothing has changed on this front.  Next we need WiFi data connectivity and its no different to the cellphone just more expensive and far and away the most costly of the 30+ countries we have visited.  

Opua is a great little spot for cruising yachties but its isolated from everything other than boating services with the supermarket and retail shopping in Paihia 7km distant, but no public transport, so all the cruisers are buying cheap Jap imports from a car dealer that has conveniently set up shop near the marina to service just cruisers. The deal is buy a car and use it for up to 6 months until around April 2013 when the cruisers all sail away and this dealer will guarantee repurchasing the vehicle paying 66% of the initial purchase price.  So budget minded cruisers are buying a cheapy for $3k driving around the North and South islands for 6 months for just $1k !!!  whilst big spenders are spending $6k and doing it for $2k. The guy must have sold 250 cars in the last few months and he seemingly even repairs or swaps the duds if buyers not satisfied.

We thought it all sounded too good to be true but there was just something that did not ring true when the guy did not seem interested in dealing with us when he established we were Kiwis.  So, like a zillion others we bought a car on TradeMe and now we are mobile which is a nice feeling after walking and riding bikes for 6 years, but we better watch the waistline, particularly P.

Xmas

We had promised family we would sail to Wellington for Xmas and we accordingly asked the Quarantine Services for approval to relocate from Opua down to Wellington and this was agreed provided we tied to pole mooring at the Seaview Marina so WiFi can not get ashore.  Booked the pole mooring and then waited for a weather window…. but you guessed it the weather window never came as the first half of December variously blew and drenched the month to tethers.  So we vacillated on the merits of not sailing and convinced ourselves that it would be our luck we would get hammered on either the southbound or the northbound passage after sailing right around the planet, so why would you.   P has memories of always getting hammered off the Wairarapa coast or Cape Palliser so we decided to stay anchored off Opua with P driving down to spend time pre-xmas with grandchildren and B flying down later.   

As it happened the weather in the week before Xmas stabilised over Wellington with sunny hot swim every day record temperatures whilst another  tropical cyclone that had hammered Samoa and Fiji turned down on Northland with severe gales and 45knot winds centered over the Bay of Islands until the morning of 24 December.  As we are only anchored due to all the moorings being taken it was decided B would change her flight and she finally departed on the afternoon of the 24^th with the stormy conditions still hovering but predicted to moderate that night.  We took a punt and she departed leaving a fellow cruiser to visit the boat each day to check the anchor situation and to feed the quarantine bound WiFi. This is the add we prepared to hunt for cat sitters.

MEOW

CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME…....

                            

Hi my name is ships cat WIFI and I am in a spot. My owners are desperate to fly away for a week 21/28 Dec.  So I need some kind person to look after me aboard your yacht or mine at anchor in Opua. 

I am low maintenance and come with my own food supply and water plus my own easy care toilet with odour-free crystals.   Being a long term live-aboard circumnavigating lady feline I am a breeze to look after as I sleep 23 out of 24 hours. 

If you can help please give me a signal on my personal email

wifinz@gmail.com

or txt/phone 022 320 4973 to talk to my owners Barbara and Peter.

Meow WiFi

The low remained over the Bay area for the bulk of the time between Xmas and New Years Eve dropping large volumes of aqua pure, thankfully without wind, as Wellington sweltered.   We returned 30^th Dec to a very happy cat and a boat externally all fresh and clean from the rain.

New Years Eve

The weather cleared on que during the last day of the year and we saw out the old year with the cat minders Canadian Colin and Mercedes his Spanish lady, aboard their monster 55ft long by 30ft wide catamaran “Segue” anchored between Paihia and Russell with a grandstand view of the most magnificent little fireworks display on a still clear cloudless night silhouetted by a near full moon. The international flavor aboard Segue was complimented by a wooden boat aficionado American and his Panamanian wife.  

Happy New 2013

Nov 2012 TONGA TO OPUA & HOME !!

November 2012

Weather Watch in Vavau

For the first two weeks of November in Vavau we are looking at the weather systems roaring across the Great Australian Bight into the Tasman and onto New Zealand,  because this is where the weather that affects the South West Pacific originates.   We are specifically looking at the volatility and intensity of the spring equinox gales that should start decreasing over southern latitudes from mid November so we can commence our passage south to make landfall in Opua. 
  

Sadist Sailors we are not.  If we can use technology and weather predictive software to our advantage we will, because getting there in safety, comfort and in one piece without outside assistance is half the fun for us. 

At this time of the year there are literally hundreds of yachts from round the world either currently on the water en route to New Zealand or in the starting blocks in Tonga, Fiji and New Caledonia assessing weather data and sharing their thoughts on the 1000 mile nowhere to hide open ocean passage south, with a reputation for ever linked to the Queen’s Birthday.  Irrespective these cruisers have selected New Zealand over summer as the place to avoid the cyclone season in the Pacific as they split time and budget between working on their boats and sailing or driving the length and breadth of the country, before they start heading back up to the Pacific islands in April to continue their mostly westward cruising around the planet.

In Tonga, Fiji and New Cal pre-departure inter-vessel communication is mostly in group huddles in the waterfront bars and cafes or literally in the public domain over the VHF and SSB Radio frequencies and it’s the ultimate in live reality entertainment going.   The same weather broadcast can be interpreted in dozens of ways by dozens of different cruisers with the resulting misinterpretation becoming misinformation in short order.  Cruisers are prone to act like reef fish swimming every which way depending on who has the gift of the gab on the airwaves.  Well that’s how it sounds to us.  We feel it’s more ‘Caveat Emptor’ let the sailor beware; select your weather source, make your own call and stand by it until further updated information is available for analysis and interpretation. 

Compared with just five years back there are countless weather prediction websites, software programmes, professional weather routers, government agencies, satellite system providers, weather fax, pactor modem and good old radio operators out there vying for business.  Some are free and others only a credit card or PayPal debit away.   Either way the cruisers challenge is to find the most user friendly and lowest bandwidth method for downloading data whilst at sea.

Notwithstanding the humour generated listening to the cruisers, the reports of Hurricane Sandy pushing 14ft tidal surges into New York harbor and downtown Manhattan this week confirms the importance of heeding weather warnings and getting interpretation correct.

Underway

Finally we decide the time is right to up anchor so we visit the authorities to clear out of Vavau for Opua, top up the fuel tanks with duty free diesel and head to Port Maurelle our favorite anchorage at the western end of the island where we can operate the watermaker, scrub the hull and have our last swims in the tropics in crystal clear waters.  There are a dozen yachts in the anchorage all with the same plan prepping to sail for either  Opua, Whangarei, Auckland, Tauranga or Nelson.

Pic 1 At anchor Port Maurelle

False Start

Sitting at Port Maurelle we learn of a possible cyclone, maybe the first of the season developing north of Vanuatu which looks like it may track southeast over Fiji, Tonga and then toward NZ over the course we are planning to take to Opua so we defer our departure and return to Vavau to anchor in the shelter of the landlocked lagoon and clear back into the country until the system passes.   A small number of other cruisers surprisingly make the decision to press on from Port Maurelle and sail south to NZ with dire consequences in one case, for a yacht named “Windigo”.

Meanwhile back in Vavau waiting for the next Weather Window

Sitting back in Vavau waiting for the cyclone to materialize all we got was a bit of rain and a few hours of 20+ knot winds with the worst passing to the west on a southerly course to affect the yachts en route to NZ many of which either weathered it in Nukualofa or at Minerva Reef or toughed it out at sea. 

SSB Radio listeners soon picked up on the aforementioned “Windigo” rescue unfolding and were counting themselves lucky they were not out there.  

Meantime the local Vavau Radio VHF  airwaves were alive with amateur weather forecasters to entertain us with their take on the weather until news of local intrigue took precedence.  A yacht was reported high and dry on the reef to the south east of Vavau and all cruisers were asked to refrain from going out to look or help as it was a police matter, but they asked if any cruisers knew of any small white stock European yacht overdue from crossing the Pacific this season.   This got the cruiser net gassing and it was subsequently announced that there was a body in the cockpit but no other details were being released at this stage.  All and sundry cruisers were trying to recall who it might be because in the course of sailing across the Pacific you tend to recognize yachts from different ports of call.

Being a single male in a small white yacht we immediately thought of an elderly Kiwi gent from Tauranga we had met in Panama who had not responded to an email we sent him from Tahiti.  So P trundled up to the Police Station to ask if it was this particular yacht.  Instead of being helpful the police sort of interrogated him without answering his request and simply asked that he leave his mobile phone number and he left rather confused with the police informing they would be in touch.    Later the same day on checking out for the second and final time as the weather was now coming right we asked the Customs officials about the yacht on the reef and they had no trouble advising us it was definitely not our friend.  Phew what a relief!!

To add to the intrigue, we later heard the boat on the reef was loaded with illicit drugs and the subject of a major trans-national border control collaboration that was tracking the yacht across the Pacific from South America enroute to Australia, until it came to grief on the reef.  

Off Again

So off we go again from Vavau out to the Port Maurelle anchorage, where we wait for another few days until the swell left from the passing weather dies down. When we finally get out its still rough and blowing 15/20 knots so we tuck in a reef to power through it sailing for 6 hours at 8knots but then the primary GPS that drives the main navigation system fails and we have to connect a backup system via a laptop chart system, which is ok but not really satisfactory.  To fix the problem we  decide to stop the night in an anchorage at Nomuka -Iti  in the Hapaai’s, where we had previously stopped back in 2007.  

B to her credit remembered reading something about this problem and hunted out some notes.  Turns out the GPS aerial has a small miniature battery that speeds up satellite acquisition and if this battery fails the system simply needs to be turned off and rebooted to acquire in a slower manner.  That’s all it took so we stayed the night had a good sleep and did not subsequently turn the system off again until we reached Opua.

Pic 2 Sailing Pic Departing Vavau,   Pic 3 At Anchor Nomuka-iti

From the Hapaii’s we sailed south for 36 hours to spend a night at anchor inside Minerva Reef North which is a strange experience literally at anchor inside a low near round reef about a mile in circumference in the middle of the ocean sheltered from the ocean swells outside.

Pic 4 Minerva Reef

The 5 day sail from Minerva to landfall at midnight off Cape Brett and subsequent berthing on the Quarantine Dock at Opua at 3am was the end of an uneventful often calm but at times a typically gutsy sail particularly as we neared the NZ coast. 

Home at Last

That’s it back at the point of departure…deal done, loop the loop, threesixzero, circled the bubble.  Time for some shut eye until the border control people wake us with the Customs Patrol reality television show people in  tow !!!   But guess what, they are not coming aboard Musketelle with their sniffer dogs because we have a certain Turkish national feline on board that will disrupt their precise sniffing role, so we get the low profile no less thorough no camera treatment by the same official who checked us out back in 2007, and that suits us and WiFi just fine.

We cannot go into the marina and are required to anchor off until the border officials can give us more information about how they are going to handle WiFi.  We anchor in clear water and are pleasantly surprised when our former yacht ‘Lion New Zealand’ aka ‘Phantom of the Straits’ that we owned for 10 years takes her mooring next to us.  Talk about 6 degrees of separation with our two Ron Holland designed babies side by side, that brought back some memories.

Pic 1 Lion NZ Opua

We are subsequently informed that WiFi is required to be quarantined aboard Musketelle at anchor either off Opua or anywhere else we nominate for six weeks until 11 January at which time she then goes ashore to a land quarantine facility at Takanini, South Auckland for 10 days before becoming eligible for liberation to terra firma NZ.   We promised her this outcome in Marmaris way back in 2009 when she said she wanted to come all the way to NZ with us.  What were we thinking, many thousands of dollars later this wild Turkish Kedi is about to become a Kiwi Kat.   Turkey to Takanini to life on the Tamaki…..what a story, we cannot wait for her book.

The Windigo Rescue Saga

The 38ft yacht “Windigo” en route from Port Maurelle to NZ is ultimately hit by the predicted heavy weather south of Minerva Reef and its crew of two knocked around in the dead of night resulting in them requesting rescue, which involved another yacht electing to sail back to assist, multiple flights by both RNZAF and New Caledonian rescue aircraft, a container ship diverting and the RNZN frigate Otago which steamed at full speed from Auckland for over 30 hours to reach the scene.   The couple were initially rescued by the container ship and then transferred to the frigate Otago for return to Auckland.  Clinically efficient and on the surface a credit to all concerned in rescuing a couple in distress on the high seas.

But maybe not……

The decision to proceed with the rescue was no doubt predicated on the initial call for assistance from Windigo which may have been premature but that is the role of professional rescue experts to ascertain before setting the full rescue mission in motion.  Subsequently watching television footage of the rescued couple merrily disembarking RNZN Otago in Auckland and looking at other media reports had some cruisers obviously concerned that this very costly rescue effort was maybe due to misjudgment and misinformation by the crew of Windigo.  Worse the decision by the rescue co-ordinators to allow the yacht to be left drifting as a hazard to other vessels in the knowledge that tens of cruisers would be sailing from Tonga and Fiji through the same waters in the weeks following, never mind its fate beyond.   Apparently the rescued couple naively harbored plans to reunite themselves with the yacht at a later time, so they requested the yacht not be scuttled and the rescue authorities obliged!!! 

Musketelle on the last leg of her circumnavigation was one of those following yachts and we were not impressed with the lack of knowledge and whereabouts of Windigo, with Taupo Maritime Radio requesting details of any sighting position to be reported.  Not at all comforting.  

We departed Vavau, Tonga with the yacht ‘Follow Me’ and indeed this yacht became entangled with one of the liferafts dropped by the RNZAF Orion, and after diving over to cut away the tangle then knifed and sank the liferaft on instructions of NZ authorities.  It could have easily been Windigo that ‘Follow Me’ or any number of us could have collided with possibly requiring another rescue, so ‘Follow Me’ decided to guesstimate the drift factors then went looking for Windigo, successfully sighting her happily drifting on her waterline with sails neatly furled and after 5 days the diesel engine still idling away.  This was not a disabled yacht.  

The fact is Windigo was knowingly sailed into the path of a possible cyclone resulting in a no doubt bad but not life threatening experience for its crew but also a costly multi craft rescue effort that was probably not necessary.   There were numerous yachts in the greater area of water en route to NZ at the time Windigo called for assistance, most of which had departed before the cyclones path was accurately predicted and they all got through the same weather system and seas with known discomfort and tension associated with open ocean passage making, with individuals on other yachts also getting physically knocked around.   

NZ registered yachts departing NZ are required to comply with the at times contentious safety requirements of ‘Section 21’ which involves costly safety and communications equipment with an emphasis on accessing weather reports.   Incredibly during our six years circumnavigating we regularly listened to some cruisers lacking the most basic adequate equipment instead relying on other cruisers for relaying weather forecasts and conditions, which is the equivalent of nautical Russian Roulette that relies on others covering the cost of mopping up the collateral damage.   The cost of an SSB Radio is often sighted as the reason for inability to source weather at sea but in recent years the more reliable alternative, the SatPhone has brought the cost down markedly. Unfortunately many yachts that have satellite phones hold them exclusively for that last resort emergency call without researching the options to source and download compressed weather data in all its various on-screen formats.  

For the hundreds of ocean cruisers sailing the planet that go out of their way to dig deep to fund training and maintain the systems and safety equipment required to survive at sea this sort of high profile rescue might make for good social media footage but that’s all.  Notwithstanding any sailor wants to be caught out and be hit by heavy weather there is an absolute necessity to plan for the worst, have storm sails and contingency plans to ride weather out.  There are today countless weather prediction programmes freely available at little or no cost to avoid and minimize weather impact so it is not unusual to meet cruisers who circumnavigate without ever unfurling their storm sails.

Windigo was a retired charter yacht from the Caribbean being repositioned to NZ by its owner to be imported on arrival and such vessels are renowned for being built for purpose and minimally equipped for off shore sailing.   Adding solar panels, a wind generator and a satphone as a last resort backup for emergency calls do not make a bluewater cruising yacht.  Ironically if Windigo was to have reached NZ safely and then been used to depart offshore again as an NZ vessel she and her crew would be required to meet the onerous Section 21 safety and training requirements alluded to. 

Making that emergency call was an easy get out of jail for the Windigo crew,  but the ramifications are far reaching,  not to mention in this case a major financial loss to her owners with the yacht at last reports still drifting out there as a major hazard to other mariners.

Little wonder this rescue is being thoroughly analysed because to the genuine cruising sailor the Windigo saga grates as it impacts negatively on cruisers, and the reality is this weather system was not much more than a gale. 

Oct 2012 STILL WESTWARD HO

Oct 2012

Westward Ho.

We leave French Polynesia behind departing from Bora Bora and head for the NZ protectorate of Niue a distance of 1100 miles.  The breeze has us passing close by a number of small atolls one of which is picturesque Aitutaki in the Cook Islands group and another NZ protectorate. We decide to make a small detour to port to make a stop at Aitutaki for the renowned Friday night festivities but the anchorage is rolling and with current sweeping round the island we were not happy at the prospect of leaving Musketelle anchored off the reef whilst ashore.  We drifted around from arrival 0400 in the approaching dawn light until we could raise the Port Captain at 0800 and get more information. That information confirms with our deep draft it is impossible to enter the channel to the shelter of the lagoon so therefore stopping is not viable.  We continue on the remaining 570 miles to Niue having an amazing ride in enhanced trade wind conditions.

Idyllic tradewind sailing

We come across a massive flock of seabirds the largest we have sighted. The birds are massing around ducking and diving down to the water with a surprising number on the surface feeding on bits and pieces resulting from the dive kill activity.  In places the water is white with the interaction of fish and birds meeting.  We can only imagine the size of the bigger unseen fish below causing these smaller fish to stay on the surface for the lesser evils of the unseen flying peckers from above. Nature at work on an impressive scale.  Amateur pics’s never seem to catch the excitement and enormity of the moment like Attenborough would.

Mid ocean seabirds conducting mad feeding frenzy

Niue Island

A  0200 arrival in the dark without any moon to show the way but that’s fine as this is an island without an outer reef and lagoon and with deep water right up to steep cliffs.   We approach from the east with wholesome southeast winds and enhanced swells but once we round the southern end of the island we are quickly in the lee and the swells dissipate.   In pitch dark we drop sails and motor with radar overlaid onto electronic charts on the chart plotter to locate one of 20 mooring buoys laid close to the shore by the NYC (Niue Yacht Club).  The water is too deep to anchor without getting too close to the narrow slither of coral that surrounds the island.  In the light of morning Niue reveals itself to be a pancake flat rock sitting 20/30 meters above the sea with lush vegetation atop surrounded by unwelcoming cliffs.

Niue open roadstead deepwater anchorage off Alofi township

We go ashore to complete quarantine, customs and immigration formalities with locals that have a cute kiwi twang in their island speech that has us acknowledging we are nearly in our own backyard again.  But that is jumping forward because landing on Niue involves timing the constant ocean swells to position the dink adjacent to a crane lift out pulley hook that you must tie the dink to then jump onto the concrete wharf and push the buttons to activate the electric motor to lift  the dink on to the wharf away from the energised swells that continually ply the coast.  This is the only way ashore and if the wind decides to come from the west then it’s time to high tail it off Niue or risk being pummeled on the coral and cliffs.

The Yacht Club promotes itself as the biggest little yacht club in the world with 1600 odd foreign members when the island only has 1400 inhabitants.  Although in reality it’s not a real yacht club as it only provides the moorings and the social aspects.

Navigatoress outside NYC with local member

The NYC is located below the backpackers lodge and is the nexus for visitors by air or sea and the central point for guidance and information over a coffee or a beer.  Within an hour we had the obligatory where how and when questions answered and also a local Kiwi by the name of Jim from Motueka had offered to run us around the island the following day to show us the sights.

Next morning the swells were tame as we came ashore and off we went in Jims clapped out Mazda Bongo van now accompanied by wife Patricia.   

Patricia alongside their Bongo van……note Port passenger side window

They spend 8 months of the year on Niue running a string of Kiwi style bach self catering cottage stays and we visited one of the properties in a magnificent situation with spectacular cliff top reef and ocean views with access to a private reef swimming spot below plus its own network of caves beneath the grounds. To top it off paw paw and mango were growing wild everywhere.

 Kiwi style holiday bach “Clifftop Fale” with ocean and reef views

By 1000 Jim was offering refreshments in the form of NZ brown ale from the chillybin so you can visualise the laidback style of the island with just 40km to drive around and only 1400 people including children, and being a midweek morning we seemed to have the place to ourselves.

Jim with “brown can sandwich” for morning tea driving us round Niue

Zero traffic on a mid week morning

Interesting village hall usage sign....read line 5

You can park your outrigger canoe inside or outside

Stopped along the way to walk down some of the ‘Sea Tracks‘ to excellent swimming and snorkeling spots on the reef with pristine waters, not to mention the numerous caves. The eastern coast is windswept whilst the west more benign.

Stunning coastal vistas

On return to the NYC mid afternoon we were somewhat pooped not just by the physical tour but by the volume of information we had been given by our enthusiastic hosts including their take on the current politics, economy, tourism opportunities and overall future of the little island.

Avatele Village Show Day…and more

Each of the 6 major villages on the island has a Show Day to exhibit its cultural, cuisine and handicraft capabilities providing an opportunity to outdo its neighbors.  This was the Avatele Village show day at their village located on the southeast side of the island.   We had hired a car so we could make our way nice and early as recommended for the traditional food.  The day dawned typically fine and sunny although we noted the swell was running as we made our over way to an American yacht whose crew who we had offered to take along in our rental car.  They were anchored closer to the wharf and had been monitoring the swell situation and they reluctantly declined to come to the show sighting concern about getting ashore.   So we pushed on alone monitored the swells for a few minutes and then gunned the 15hp Mercury outboard to time the swells to perfection and get on the crane hook and  ashore in a lull in the swells without major drama, but yes it was a bit hair raising. We get to the show early for the colourful action……..

Handicraft and traditional food including Uga (big crabs)

Colourful cultural scenes at the Avatele Show Day 

We have a memorable time at the Vaitelle Show until lunchtime when we motored back into the main settlement to check the dink at the wharf and we were concerned to now see waves practically breaking on to the wharf which is about 3 meters above the normal water level. 

Waves all but breaching the top of the landing wharf

We decided to move our dink up to a higher ramp area above the dock further away from the wharf proper.  Aussie cruisers, Scott and Karin who we had just met at the show also decided to shift their dink at the same time. 

Drama Time

Later that afternoon we  were having a beer at the NYC when the Commodore came rushing in to say there was mayhem at the wharf, which saw everyone scarper the 500 meters to the wharf to witness kids body surfing on waves surging across the top of the wharf and one of the 2 dinks plus the club’s trolley gone.    And yes it was Musketelle’s dink that was nowhere to be seen. Phew what a calamity....until a local lad Oscar who turned out to be the local dustman informed the Commodore that he and two other local kids (children of the Government Treasurer) had rescued a dink from the foaming surges and wrestled it over the reef to a rocky cove beyond the surging waters.  In no time we all scampered after  Oscar and we were reunited with the sad sight of our half inflated dink full of water with the 15hp Mercury outboard slumped inside the hull but still padlocked by chain, the fuel tank floating and oars still lashed. 

Sad sight of Musketelle’s beached dink and removal of outboard motor

Within 30 minutes we had the outboard and tank up at the yacht club and a combined effort had the motor flushed with freshwater, plugs removed and cleaned and the carburettor stripped and cleaned and in no time the engine was running again.   

Resuscitating outboard back at the NYC and getting sprayed in the process

The rescue of the actual hull was left until next morning when conditions had moderated somewhat with Scott and Karin giving us a hand to retrieve the damaged but repairable now leaking hull.  The clubs launching trolley was also recovered the following day. We made a contribution of $50 and the Club $25 to the young people who had helped out. Thanks to Oscar and friends and to the NYC.

We observed that this all happened on the 13^th, we were tied up to buoy 13 and it was the skipper’s birthday !!!  

Next Stop Vavau Tonga

We head off west on the 250 mile passage to Vavau Tonga and for once it’s a magic sail in a stable 15 knots Southeast in 1 meter seas that has us reaching at 7.5 knots the entire way with the only hiccup being the fact our autopilot is still not holding course on a port course when it holds perfectly on starboard.  We have another request for information and help into the Raymarine Tech Desk.

Westing to End

17 Oct was our last full day sailing east to west so we savoured our last Sunset on the bow, for from this point on we turn to Port and head south for NZ which will see us with sunsets on starboard. Likewise dawn 18 Oct we have our last Sunrise over the transom before we arrived off the entrance to Port Refuge at the northern tip of Vavau, Tonga. 

Last westbound Sunset over bow and last Sunrise over transom before turning South

Big 360 Achieved

0700 18 Oct 2012 off Port Refuge, Vavau, Tonga after sailing over 28,000 miles Musketelle crossed her outgoing wake from 2007 so completing her circumnavigation. Done Deal !!

It was a perfect morning and following a congratulatory peek on the cheek we took pics to record the event which is momentous for us as a sailing couple although looking at the half asleep faces in those pics you would never know. 

Vavau Tonga at dawn

 The 360 Moment

We had both been up all night both willing Musketelle over that line and silently worrying something might stop us even though we were in clear waters in benign tropical conditions.   Ironically the last 20 miles were self imposed  tough because we were running dead downwind with the prospect of gybing challenging ourselves to not change course to ensure we got around the northern tip of Vavau, and we did.

When got into the protected waters of Vavau we proceeded to anchored in the hurricane hole of Neiafu town and completed the same old border control formalities which in Tonga include Customs, Health, Quarantine and Immigration all of whom work independently of each other, without any changes since 2007.  With in excess of 400 yachts coming through each season coming up with a simplified system would be a good PR exercise.  The following morning we tuned into the vibrant local cruisers VHF radio net and when the coordinator asked for any new arrivals B still excited got on and announced Musketelle and added our circumnavigation milestone here at Vavau.   A few listeners said congratulations and that was that.   We are not normally big on such public consumption stuff like but it’s not every day you circumnavigate….but so what.   However since then numerous cruisers have rocked up to us to say wow! Congratulating us.  Most of these cruisers are seeking the same outcome and we wish them well telling them it’s a breeze……all you need is time and a bank balance that can live with negative gearing for the duration.  

Circumnavigation Cake

Its a time for momentary reflection as we revisit what we have achieved on this loop of the orb readily recalling the good times and experiences and conveniently forgetting the not so good.  Looking again at those pics as we arrived off Port Refuge we are reminded we respectively had a 4 and a 5 in our ages when we were last in Tonga, and now we decidedly do not  !!

We have had a celebratory Kiwi roast lamb dinner swilled with a nice Turkish White followed by peach melba dessert.  To continue the celebration B has promised a ‘Circumnavigation Cake’ and Cookies.

Vavau Worklist

Celebratory reflections aside the near landlocked lagoon of Neiafu is the perfect place to cull the worklist in sheltered conditions without the Pacific swells.  

Musketelle at anchor early morning calm off Neiafu town, Vavau

We currently have a  short list with the dink repair following the Niue incident now the most pressing so we will try to hire a dink whilst we repair our dink on the aft deck.  Three or four days should see us sorted. Then we have to drop the mainsail on the deck to repair the section damaged on the top spreader before we head south into more boisterous conditions. Finally on the mechanical side its change engine oil, filters and anodes.

Sadly October is the last full month of our voyaging, in fact the 66^th month of the voyage and as if time has momentum of its own this month has literally flown more than most. Musketelle has a sniff of the finish line, not to mention WiFi who says enough is enough is enough.                                                   

We unashamedly acknowledge we have been chilling out swimming, reading, imbibing and dining and savouring our remaining days in the tropics in the knowledge of our pending return to more the volatile temperate climate of NZ.

Yes the end really is in sight as October closes.