Gau

With a brisk northerly wind gradually changing to northwest throughout the day we made our way south to Gau. This meant running wing on wing most of the way. Early on, just after I’d put my toast on, we hooked a moderate sized mahi mahi. Postponing the toast I attended to the line. Unfortunately the fish got away near the boat. The mahis tend to jump a lot and nearer the boat this can get them off the hook. Next time I have a mahi I’ve decided to let it run for a while and tire itself out. There seems to be a relationship between toast and catching fish. Perhaps it’s the smell. More likely we all like to eat at the same time.

We decided to put the line away for the first half of the trip. Any fish we’d catch would go in the bucket to be given away whole. We decided we didn’t want a stinky fish on the boat for the whole trip. Later, when I put the line in, I had one bite but it didn’t catch.

Towards the end of our sail the weather got little squally and the winds gusting and variable. Not the best conditions for wing on wing. We put the boat on a broad reach and jibed the last few miles to the pass before lowering the sails and entering. Our caution on approach was unnecessary (not that we’ll stop doing this) as the northerly pass we entered was wide and very visible as was the middle pass to the south. We made an approach to the village of Sawaieke but being on the NW side of the island facing the prevailing weather the shelter from the outlying reefs was insufficient.

We put up the head sail and motor sailed south. The next bay down looked ok but wind shift to the west, which is expected today, would make it a mess so we headed on south and rounded the corner into Nawaikama Bay. Here the winds came howling down over the ridge but as we approached the shallow water at the north end of the bay, the waters calmed as a result of the short fetch. Here we dropped the anchor.

We had hoped to go ashore and do the formal sevusevu at the village of Waikama but the water was too choppy. We may have made it south to the village but we’d have been swamped on the return. We hope they understand.

The winds continued into the evening and through the night. The evening skies were clear so we had the heavens on show. The wind meant we did well on the wind gen overnight.

This morning the heavens have opened. The front is truly upon us. The boat is getting a good wash which is good. We’ll just sit it out. It looks as though we could be in this weather for 24 hours at least.