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Where the wind blows (or doesn’t) – Naqara

by KC2RIY, on August 4th, 2011 (Fiji, Imagine, Jackster, Osso Blanco, Sea Mist)

The day started with a dilemma. The skies were gray and it was drizzling. The weather forecast called for the northerlies to turn into southerlies later in the day and for the weather to improve. However, the northerlies had already turned to southerlies and the anchorage was getting rolly. Perhaps this meant the weather would soon improve. We wanted to see the mantas but not in poor light so we decided to wait for a while and see how it played out.

As the morning progressed the chop picked up but the weather showed no sign of improvement. On the first sign of queasiness aboard we set off heading for Naqara on the north side of Ono. The prediction was for several days of southerlies so this was our best bet. We set off and as Sea Mist and Imagine had much the same idea, off they went too.

Naqara had not been on our list of possible places to go but this is how it goes. The weather often dictates our actions and that can bring surprises. It wasn’t far to go so soon we were anchored in a tranquil bay, protected from the chop and swell.

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Ashore we could see a few buildings but there were hints of more behind. It was now late morning. The three vessels agreed we should do sevusevu but decided to go a little later in the day.

Aboard dignity we rested and relaxed. I did a little handlining and caught a small grouper which was eventually released once all had seen it was possible to catch fish.

After lunch we all (including Sea Misters and Imagineers) all headed ashore to see if there was anyone with whom we could offer our respects via sevusevu.

It turned out there was village of 60 tucked behind the palm trees. We were greeted at the beach by one of the locals, Siwa, and taken to the community hut where we gave sevusevu to the chief via his head man. Here the ceremony was taken quite seriously with long speeches in Fijian followed by the formal welcome into the village in English.

We were then taken around the village by Siwa. The real highlight was visiting the school for the 6-12 year olds. 60% of the students were from Naqara and the remainder from the next village having to board each week. Some of the children were taking a maths exam so we quietly left them to it. In another block the teachers organised the children to give us a presentation. We all shared our names and backgrounds with the children and each of them, in turned, shared theirs. Some were bold, many were nervous. It was all good character building. Then the children sang two songs for us which was a wonderful surprise.

For their efforts Anne handed out the sweeties which were welcomed. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the beach. Along the way we made arrangements for the next day, at least the morning. We have a hike planned to the cell phone tower at the top of the hill. In the afternoon we may go to see the mantas.

Back at the beach the locals were collecting coconuts for us. One chap was up the tree tossing fresh ones down and others were cutting the tops off and giving them us to drink. We’ve not had this done since Tonga so this was all a nice surprise too.

Soon we were off back to our boats. On the beach we met the Jacksters and Ossa Blancos who had just arrived with the same need to shelter from the southerlies. It was nice to greet them again. We’ll be meeting up soon.

Back on the boat Anne and John tried out some fishing. John almost landed an octopus but Anne did well catching three fish with the fishing line. Four if you count the rock fish she hauled in which looked remarkably like a lump of coral.

As the sun was setting I took Anne ashore to give the fish she’d caught the last fisherman to go ashore. The fisherman appeared very pleased with the extra fish as he didn’t have too many himself.

We had a quiet dinner aboard followed by cards which didn’t last very long due to tiredness.

The new day has started with better weather. The water is very calm. The skies are a little cloudy which is perfect for our walk. Should be a good one.

Buliya

by KC2RIY, on August 3rd, 2011 (Fiji, Imagine, Jackster, Sea Mist)

In predawn light we slipped our lines and were off out of Suva. We had light northerly winds and hence had to motor south hoping for something stronger as we got further away from the mainland. Fortunately the seas were fairly light which had been a worry for us with respect to Anne and John and this being their first sail with us. Anne did try reading at one point and found herself very disturbed so had to pull back from that.

The winds did pick up coming from more or less right behind us. We had the headsail out for a while to get a bit more speed while we assessed how much the wind may strengthen. It didn’t get any stronger so we furled Helen’s favourite sail, the Code Zero. That allowed us to shut the generator off but we still used the electrics to make a half decent speed south. Then we were overtaken by some very wet weather with very variable winds so we furled the Code Zero and went back to motoring. By the time the squally weather left us we were close to the pass through the reef so we only used the headsail to carry on to our destination.

The best surprise of the day was to hear Sea Mist on the VHF hailing Jackster (but not getting through). We were soon in contact with each other and soon realized we were heading for exactly the same spot. Not only that, Imagine were not far behind. It didn’t take long before we’d agreed a pot luck aboard Dignity that evening.

Needing protection for the evening against the continued northerlies we had all chosen the southerly side of Buliya to anchor and there we did.

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We heard later from Jackster who were also heading this way but hadn’t the time to make it to Buliya before the light dropped.

John and Stuart had already been ashore for sevusevu so we all piled into the Dinghy shortly after arrival to head ashore to offer our sevusevu. We were taken to the village elders by a big chap called Bill (we learned later there was someone else called Big Bill) who were sitting in a house quaffing cava. They accepted our sevusevu with much formality. I got the feeling they were more into something else, perhaps the cava, but maybe some discussion so our treatment was brief. We told about the mantas they can take us to for which they charge a fee. It’s a little unusual compared to our recent experiences but we can’t deny people a chance of an income. We said if the weather permitted we’d like to see them.

Bill then took us round the village. We were surrounded by about 10 small children eager for the small sweets I’d brought. They held our hands and swung from our arms when we let them. We had to wait out some rain before returning to the dinghy. Kidding around I offered the last round of sweeties to them if they heaved the dinghy into the water. Surprising all of us they managed it. I do like to encourage a good work ethic and they earned it.

By 6 O’Clock we had everyone aboard for a very jolly evening. Except for bumping into Sheila in Savasavu once, we hadn’t seen the Sea Mists or Imagines since New Zealand so it was great to catch up – especially to hear first hand Imagine’s harrowing experience getting to Fiji.

By cruisers midnight we were all pooped and retired to our various vessels.

Overnight the winds have reversed and the anchorage is getting bumpy. The weather is not promising for today. The obvious thing to do is to head over to Ono and take protection on the north side. I think this is where Jackster is. We’ll take a view on whether or not to do the mantas today in poor light or try for later.

Leaving NZ?

by steve, on May 6th, 2011 (Blue Penguin, Boree, Callisto, Curious, Imagine, New Zealand, Paleides, Passages, True Companions)

Another forecast. Another decision. Our general plan of leaving NZ is simply to get out of Dodge when we can, make some distance north and east then take each day as it comes. Even if we have to sit there for a day or two. As long as it’s safe to do so.

So here’s today’s local forecast.

Squall warning. Waves may rise rapidly during squalls. Friday: Northeast 20 knots rising to 25 knots gusting 35 knots this morning. Changing northwest 20 knots this afternoon, then easing to 15 knots this evening and to 10 knots tonight. Squalls of 45 knots possible until evening. Moderate sea becoming rough for a time this morning, then becoming slight this evening. Poor visibility in rain, with some heavy and thundery falls until evening.

If we were out at sea and had no choice and this came down on us we could deal with it. We wouldn’t like it but we’ve done it before. Does it make sense to leave land with this happening? Easy answer. No. In all good conscience I cannot set sail into possibly dangerous weather while we are close to shore.

So we probably won’t leave today. We’ve got to let this one pass. We had planned to fuel up and check out early morning. I will at least delay this until we get a longer read on today’s weather but as I said, chances are we won’t leave today.

Looking out to tomorrow it’s not looking so good either. The low pressure system to our SW is now projected to come a little further north than yesterday’s forecasts were suggesting. This puts a more northerly component into the winds we can expect over the next couple of days. We would have to sail extremely close to the wind to make some decent northing. Yesterday the seas were flat. We know this from the folks who motored up from anchorages on the coast. I don’t mind sailing close hauled on flat seas but not those kicked up by squally weather. So, if tomorrow’s winds remain just west of north (as they are currently predicted to be) tomorrow won’t look good either.

But this is all on a hair trigger which is this low to the SW. If it stays a little further to the south that is all we need to kick us up northwards. So now it’s a waiting game.

That was the weather. Now the news. I’ll summarize.

Customs were notified of our probable departure today. Paul arrived. We borrowed a car from Phil and drove to Opua for lunch and fresh food collection. In the evening we went ashore for dinner at the yacht club. A few more of the puddle jumpers have arrived. Two new comers to Opua were Callisto and Boree. Nice to see them. Everyone was talking about the weather of course and possible plans for leaving. There were many opinions and all were good to listen to. Also there were Imagine, Passages, Paleides, True Companions, Blue Penguin, Avante, Curious and many others. I totally violated my no drinking night before passage rule. It doesn’t seem to have mattered.

The countdown counts down

by steve, on May 5th, 2011 (Imagine, New Zealand)

We’re still on for departure tomorrow.

Yesterday we did have plans to go sailing but given the latest reversal in the weather we stayed put and did some final, final prep. A brief bullet list of what we did :

Laundry
Vasalined dodger/sail bag zips
Inspected all shackes and cable ties (preventing pins unwinding)
Inspected and marked shrouds (to detect possible unwind of screws)
Filed down rough edges on old main halyard (now the topping lift) clamp
Lubricated sail cars
Tested the electrical propulsion (chargers, fans, etc.) All ok.
Organized car for final, final provisioning today.
Sealed stern rail.
Continued (compulsive) internal reorganization.
Cooked additional food for trip.

I spent a couple of hours aboard Imagine in the morning helping out Stuart while he performed some work atop the mast. It was nice to chat to Sheila while we provided support to Stuart. He was changing bulbs on his anchor / tricolour lights and found some corrosion in the wires which needed fixing.

There really isn’t a great deal more to be done today. We will surely think of a few things but generally we should get a chance to relax. We will do one final supermarket pass today for fresh veg.

Based on the very latest forecast we’re aiming to refuel and check out of NZ tomorrow morning with a view to set sail around midday. We may have to motor up the bay before the winds turn but that’s ok as we need to get into clear water to run the water maker and top up before we leave. The bay here is still brown from the run off from the recent deluge. Not the sort of place I want to run the water maker.

Finally, we received some form of entertainment yesterday watching a small yacht being salvaged. As a sober reminder of the conditions we experienced last weekend, this smaller vessel had been overwhelmed by the conditions and had sunk with just the top of it’s mast showing. A floating crane was used to bring it to the surface where a strong pump was used to pull the water out of the insides and float it.

Friday, Friday

by steve, on May 4th, 2011 (Callypso, Delos, Imagine, New Zealand, Passages)

Have I been spending too long looking into the tea leaves? I’ll spout my weather musings, as usual, at the end of the blog so you tell me then. And if you get the pop-culture reference in the blog title I can only say “sorry.”

Tuesday it was sort of back to normal in a way. I managed a fairly typical 2 hour run to drop off trash and pick up a package from the chandlers. Typical in that it really should have taken 10 minutes but I kept bumping into folks and “hello” leads to “bloody weather” and then time flies. With a reasonable part of the day left we tackled a few important issues. Two were leaks made apparent during the recent deluge. Gone now is the leak via the mount on the forward starboard shower hatch. Gone now is the leak from the handles to the stern locker hatches, the starboard one in particular being, I believe, the root cause of the bilge alarms last weekend. Last job was to mount the man overboard pole securing it to the horse shoe float. That way, if someone goes overboard we can throw it in the water. The swimmer can see the flag/pole and find the float. Those left aboard can see the flag/pole and find the swimmer.

In the evening was a pot luck dinner for the fleet of cruisers stuck in Opua. We ended up sat at a table with the Imagines and Callypsos joined later by John from Passages. All good company. We left quite late.

So. The bloody weather.

The model forecasts available yesterday provided no inspiration at all. The huge high pressure system well to the east of us seemed immovable and creating a traffic jam of systems out our way. The Delos boys are stir crazy and have a notion to leave today and head east before heading north. A bold and brave move in my opinion but I can understand the move.

Knowing the models to be in a volatile state demands close attention to how the solutions are evolving. And this morning I see a glimpse. Perhaps a chance to leave on Friday. Low pressure systems are doing the tango south and west of us. One of them is now looking to take and hold a position just off the west coast on NZ bringing northwesterly winds Friday afternoon followed by westerlies. If we left then we would get a day and a half of good sailing before encountering a line of high pressure spots with confused and light winds. This would require careful threading through and maybe a little motoring. Beyond this we would be into south easterly flows which would put us back into decent sailing conditions. The final obstacle would be a low pressure system over Tonga way which could cause a combination of opportunities or problems depending on your destination and how it evolves. My overall synopsis is that its looking good for those heading to New Caledonia, perhaps a good chance for those Fiji bound and a bit chancy for those bound for Tonga.

In about 3 hours we get the next model output. I’ll shake the cup and read the tea leaves again then.

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Where the wind blows (or doesn’t) – Naqara

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The countdown counts down

Friday, Friday