Suwarrow to Vava'U, Tonga

Suworrow to Tonga

Position 13* 14.9' S 163* 6.5' W

0900: Anchor is up and we are leaving Suwarrow under partly cloudy skies. There were no surprises with the anchor though we did have to zigzag around a couple of bombies.

0922: Going through the pass during slack waters

0930: Raised the main with a single reef and curled out the Genoa 2/3 rds out.

Course is 300* 

Winds SE. Abaft beam reach

Speed 7.8 knots

Seas: 6 feet

We are basically traveling around the atoll to the other side where we will alter course and hopefully get rid of some of this roll once we get off the lee shore. We are still having intermittent problems with the starter which means occasionally having to lift the cover off the motor and tap the thing. We have a replacement starter but it will require some adjustments in the wiring in order to install. We are hoping that the marina in Tonga will have someone to help us with that. Apparently there is a pretty good yard there run by a couple of guys from New Zealand. The shaft also needs some attention and requires more packing - little difficult to do underway. We are seeing a little water in the bilge especially in the high following seas but we are able to stay well ahead of it with the bilge pump.

1050: Gibed to alter course to 240*

Speed: 6 knots

Winds: SE at 20 knots

Seas: 4-6 feet

Running with enough wind on the aft quarter to keep the gib full. C'est bon!

9.2 knots as we race down a wave! yippee!

Monday 08-Aug-2016 

Noon Position: 13* 14.9' S 163* 17.3' W

Speed: 6.5 knots

Winds: E at 20 knots

Seas: 6 feet

Distance to Go: 691 nm

The sea conditions remained quite brisk throughout the day. My nerves were a bit on edge as I looked aft and saw 10 foot waves breaking behind us. The occasional rail to rail roll did not help either. But I figured out what works for me - it is not the motion - it is the apprehension. So I stopped looking aft and I was fine. The same thing happens to me on a roller coaster. That first climb to the top pits me in a panic mode and I want to climb out of the car. So I just close my eyes.

Confidence can easily handle these sea conditions so I just have to have confidence in her. And David sat with me until I reached some sort of comfort zone before he went to lay down. After that I was even able to handle a couple of light squalls without waking him. And a few " slappers" to keep me awake! Occasionally we get a larger than average swell and we drop into a valley and get slapped! The wave is about to crest just as it slams against the hull, throwing spray all over the boat. This one doused the cockpit and me as it hit us on the port aft part of the hull. At least the water is warm!

Earlier dinner of premade Indian Butter Chicken. David is doing his check-in on the net. We are at 50/50 cloud cover and the moon is at 42% and directly above me. David heard from Serita and Red Thread and they are having to motor as their winds have died off. They are to the south of us. And Kinabalu is NW of us and is experiencing 40% wind shifts, squalls and confused seas. So we are quite content to be in between at 4.2 knots with just the occasional light squall.

0700: David is just about ready to climb into bed (actually was in bed) when I experienced a wind shift. This made me look back at the wind vane to see what it was doing. The line that I am pointing to controls the rudder on the wind vane. The wind shift had moved it such that the part that is often hidden in the column was exposed. It was a good thing that I looked back as it was in that moment that I noticed the line had been frayed down to the core.

So I called David up. Sun was still up and the most recent squall passed us on the port side. Seas were relatively calm. Lots of things working in our favor! I took over hand steering and David hung over the aft end and replaced the line! Within 20 minutes we were back in business. Monitor was reset and David was back in bed! Sometimes you just get lucky. The story would have been quite different if this would have broken at night during one of those squalls.

Way to Go Captain Dave! And as the Captain said: Way to go Betty-Ann for catching this! What a team!

So I stayed on my watch until midnight. The moon was at 30% for my watch and set just after midnight. So David did not have the moon but the stars were out in all of their glory and he had an uneventful night.

1000: David did get up to start the motor in order to charge the batteries. We were flashing low and he needed to do the tap tap thing on the starter to get the motor to turn over. Took a few more taps this time. Might as well hit the bilge pump while we are both up. Then we sat together in the moonlight Dan enjoyed the night for a half hour or so. Then he is back to bed. He is lucky that he can immediately go back to sleep.

David was generous with his watch so I did not get up til 0700. He was too tired for breakfast so immediately crashed until noon. Then I made a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and cheese on toast - my homemade bread - ( wouldn't Mom be impressed) and coffee for the Captain. Then I needed to crash. I may have had a long break during the night but the conditions did not allow for very long periods of uninterrupted sleep.

Tuesday 09-Aug-2016

Noon Position: 14* 17.7' S 165* 22'W

Course: 240* T

Speed 4.5 knots

Intermittent squalls with 95% cloud cover for most of the day

Total distance travelled in 26 hours: 150 mm

Distance Travelled in 24 hours: 140 nm - one of our best days yet.

Thoughts on these long passages: I do not mind going for days without seeing the sight of land. I do not mind being out here alone with no boats in sight. I don't even mind the night watches. What I do mind is the constant feeling of being tired! I am one of those 8 hour a night girls and have never acquired the back for power napping! Hopefully the seas will quiet down and we can both get into a better sleep pattern. We make every attempt to give each other

A 6 hour break at the helm but that does not mean that you sleep for 6 hours!

But we are making good time and even the rolling has not been as bad as the last crossing. And speaking of time - technically we do not pass the International Date line until we reach 180* longitude which is somewhere closer to Fiji. But Tonga is financially connected to New Zealand and has opted to adopt an artificial Date Line so they are working on the same day of the week. So when we arrive in Tonga on Sunday it will actually be Monday! In Tonga the saying is: Tonga - the land where tomorrow begins!

Wednesday 10-Aug-2016

David actually had to wake me up 0600 as I was dreaming that I was making coffee. I guess I could smell David making the coffee! 

David went to bed and then wanted me to wake him at 0730 to check in with the net. All is good with the fleet. Serita had two whales follow them for about a half hour during the night! We understand that whales have been sighted as we get close to Tonga. Hopefully we will be lucky and see one!

Winds have slacked off a bit and we are down to just over 3 knots. We may not break any records today but the seas are calm and we are enjoying the rest.

I spent the next couple of hours entering my journal into the iPad. So hopefully I will have the main part of these blogs completed and ready for publishing by the time we get into wifi country again.

Noon Position: 15* 13'S 166* 59'W

Speed: 3.5 to 7 knots

Winds SE at 12 knots

Seas: 4-5 feet

Total Distance Travelled in 24 Hours: 105 miles 

Distance to Go: 446 nm

1228: David is up and we put out the Genoa. This increased our speed to 5 knots at a Course of 242T. We are right on target!

1700: we are 70 nm SSE from the uninhabited island of Rose Rock in American Samoa. It is mostly cloudy and our speed has increased to 5.5-6 knots.

Winds SE at 15 knots.

We are on a beam reach with a single reefed main and the Genoa is 2/3 out. This is a most comfortable point of sail for Confidence and we are all smiling!

I took the watch until 0100 letting David sleep until he woke up naturally.  I spent most of the night reading.Then I went to bed and had a really good sleep until 0600.

Both of us had really good watches with the Monitor doing most of the work. Fingers crossed but so far this has been an excellent crossing. David got the weather fax and it looks like there is more of this weather up ahead. With weather like this one could sail all the way to New Zealand! 

The winds did pick up a little during the night so David furled in the Genoa to about 1/3. We are still maintaining 4.5 to 5 knots on a beam reach. Very little cloud cover. 

0415: we passed the halfway mark!

Thursday 11-Aug-2016

Noon Position: 16*15.4' S 169* 06.7'W

Course: 242* T

Speed: 5.5 knots 

Winds: SSE 15 knots

Seas: 5 feet

Total Distance Travelled in 24 hours: another 138 nm 

Distance to Go: 309 nm 

0600: Another perfect night of sailing on the big blue sea. We are pleased when we manage 120 nm a day. We are averaging a distance just shy of 140 nm and just under 6 knots. Fantastic!

0730: Sun is up

At this rate we will have to slow the boat down, meaning reduce sail, in order to time our arrival at VaVa'U for the morning. As usual, we do not attempt arrivals in new ports or anchorages in the dark.

BA scramble for breakfast. Seas are staying relatively calm so I decided to make the preparations for chicken fajitas. If things shake up as the day progresses then all I have to do is start of the frying pan!

David furled in the Genoa to slow us down but we are still managing 5 knots! 

We also got word of a SSB raid station out of New Zealand that provides a more comprehensive weather forecast for this region.

8592 Zulu

Friday 12-Aug-2016 

Position: 17* 14' S. 171* 26' W

Course: 242 T 

Speed: 6 knots

Winds: SE 18-20 knots

Seas: ESE 6 meters

Total Distance Covered in 24 Hours: 145 nm

Distance to Go: 164 nm to the entrance with another 20 nm to the anchorage.

We have had such a wonderful crossing that I do not have too many stories to fill up these pages. I guess that is good news for us but does not make for very interesting writing or reading.

Saturday 13-Aug-2016

Noon Position: 17* 58' S. 173* 14' W

Genoa is furled in. Stay sail out at 50%.

Mainly sunny.  Speed: 3 knots

Winds: SE 15 knots

As the day progressed so did the cloud cover. Just as David was getting ready to sign on to the net and I was putting on the finishing touches for dinner, three squalls appeared on the horizon, heading our way.

I turned off the burners on the stove and we went on deck to prepare for a hit. We furled in the stay sail and put a second reef in the main. Rain gear is out and on.

The first squall passed behind us. The second and their squall passed ahead us and we continued on down the alley. So we got lucky again. Rain gear off and dinner is back on.

Thanks Paul!

We did not manage to miss all the squalls in the night. Only one had a little wind in it, doubling my speed. And we did get more rain through the night. I was very grateful for my Helly Hansen jacket that my brother gave me as it kept me dry.

0600: David woke me to bring down the main and start the motor for our entrance into the harbor. We had to run back and forth at the entrance till it lightened up again. Sun was up a little after seven and we headed in.

We have arrived at VaVa'U, Tonga.