A day of rest

Posted on September 6, 2010 by KC2RIY

That’s mostly how I’d describe the rest of Sunday. On and off naps recovering from the night before, a little reading and some internet struggling. In theory we were supposed to be able to get an internet connection by giving the yacht club a login and password. In practice it didn’t work for us nor any other vessels around. I even tried going over to Trim to try things out there but to no avail. While I was off the boat Ben went for a snorkel and saw a couple of the legendary sea snakes of Niue. On the way back from Trim I popped over to say hello to Kerri and Andrew on Mariposa. Despite the amount of sleep during the day we were all off to bed before 8.

Today we’ll be going ashore to check in and check out the island. We plan on hiring a car tomorrow – perhaps for a couple of days – to explore the chasms.

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A pounding passage

Posted on September 5, 2010 by KC2RIY

Given the information we had available to us and what transpired for us and other vessels in the vicinity, our decision to leave at 9:30am yesterday seems to have been the right one. However, being the best option available didn’t make it a lot of fun. The forecast was for 20-25 knots of wind. What we had was 25-35 all day and night long.

We had the main double reefed and the head sail reefed in too. We had the regeneration on all day and night just to try and control our arrival time, hopefully making it in after dawn. Given that the distance was over 140nm it was a struggle to keep Dignity from doing the distance in under 20 hours.

The seas picked up to between 3 and 4 meters in height which gave us a pounding. At the best of time it was a wild ride. At times waves would crash over and sometimes it felt like we were being hit by a bus.

During Helen’s late night shift the head sail managed to get wrapped around itself back winding at the top and getting a bit tangled. I was sleeping in the cabin in case of any issues so I got the call. In 35 knots of wind and crashing seas I sorted out the head sail. We agreed we needed to get the main down which we’ve never done under such conditions. We managed it although it was a bit of a struggle. Afterward, with just the head sail out, the running was much more comfortable.

Dawn found us screaming around the corner of Niue where the seas picked up further. At one time we sustained a 16 knot surf down a huge wave. As we rounded the corner the winds subsided and the seas flattened. We contacted the officials to let them know we were arriving and we contacted the yacht club for a mooring. As it is Sunday here we can’t clear in but we can sit here for the day. I’ve had a few hours sleep to catch up on the little I had overnight. After all, we have nothing else to do. We’ve arranged for an internet connection but it’s taking time to set up. I think we may end up being lucky to get one today.

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A few boats we know or at least have spoken to are here: Trim, Ile de Grace, Freezing Rain, Joule, Mariposa. Hopefully we’ll get to see some of these folks over the next few days. We’ve spoken to Ken on Trim and he’s already eaten at the one and only Indian Restaurant here. He says it is good so we’re now committed to going there on Helen’s birthday on Tuesday.

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A day in the middle of nowhere

Posted on September 4, 2010 by KC2RIY

Low tide was around 9:40am local time so we chose then for all three of us to go out and snorkel the reef. The thinking being that at low tide we would have minimal current coming over the reef which turned out to be correct. We first headed over to the nearest section of reef to pick somewhere where Ben and I could go out snorkeling after dusk. We found a suitable spot and made a waypoint on the GPS. We then headed over to the wreck of the fishing boat liberty which stands out on the reef to our NE. As we reached there it began to rain a little. Ordinarily this isn’t so bad but we realized that we’d left the hatches open. As Helen normally leaves the water well before Ben and I she opted to dinghy back to close them. One her own the dinghy travels about 3 times faster so this was not too big a distraction.

Swimming around the wreck one could see a tangle of netting around the propeller. Perhaps the vessel fouled on it’s own nets and lost power and ended up on the reef before the problem could be resolved. The wreck had attracted a lot of fish even though the water around it was only a couple of feet deep at low tide.

Helen returned and was soon in the water. She also marveled at the clarity of the water and how far we could see.

Back on the boat we rested out the morning. After lunch Ben and I put on our wetsuits to clean the growth off the bottom of the boat. Our paint is now practically gone and I’m surprised we were going anywhere as the growth was extensive, even after just three weeks or so. I think the cost to us on our passage here must have been much more than the half a knot I first estimated. We’ll see when we next sail.

In the evening we watched the movie ‘The Zodiac Killer’ which was a long one. This didn’t finish until after 8pm – a good time for us to go out. One of the reasons we chose to come here was for the ‘abundant’ lobsters and a night swim was our last chance to find some. Wet suits on again we dinghied out to our waypoint and went into the water. At night everything looks quite different. There are fewer fish and those that are around are quite skittish. The parrot fish are asleep in their nooks and crannies under the coral. The urchins are out and about. Strange critters are on the move too. At one point we saw some sort of slug about 5 inches in diameter with four tentacles/antennae at the front. It had a flat rear sloping off at 45 degrees with a back side that looked like a small rocket nozzle. It had a groove along it’s top disappearing into a hole about a two thirds of the way along it’s body. Unlike most sea slugs and squirts it was quite mobile. Alas we saw no lobsters despite a cold hour in the water. Nevertheless it was a great experience.

We’ve made the decision to leave here today and head to Niue. Another front is due over around midday. We debated sitting out the front itself and leaving tomorrow. However, behind the front are 2-3 days of 20+ knot winds starting from the S but clocking round to the ENE. On the balance we don’t want to transit the pass out of the reef in strong weather so we’ve decided to weather the near edge of the front out at sea and arrive in Niue tomorrow. In our favour the initial southerly component (forecasted) of the wind will make for a better sail than ENE which will right behind us.

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Beveridge Reef

Posted on September 3, 2010 by KC2RIY

We approached the reef from the north tacking our way in against the wind which was now beginning to clock round to the ESE. On the way in we were hailed by one of the two vessels in the reef, Ile de Grace. We learned that both they and Trim, who we’d met in Palmerston, were anchored in the middle of the reef, presumably to give them room to drag through the recent heavy weather. Our plan was to motor on through to the east side of the reef and anchor on the sand. We learned they were planning a fish supper which we agreed to join and would make plans throughout the day. We had plenty of choice where to anchor and picked a spot in about 10ft of water.

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Shortly after arriving we were met by John and Jenny from Ile de Grace on their way back from snorkeling on the reef. They wanted to say hello. They were interested in the hybrid boat as I knew was Ken from Trim so we suggested having the fish dinner aboard Dignity. Not long after, Ken and Laurie popped by on their way out to the reef and we had a quick chat with them too.

We spent the rest of the morning resting and catching up on some needed sleep.

After lunch, Ben and I headed out for a snorkel on the reef, Helen deferring her swim until she’d heard from us. We were out for about an hour. The water was a little cooler than we’ve been used to and their was a bit of a current coming over the reef. All the same, the water was crystal clear. We could see for a very long way. There were plenty of fish to see, often quite large, and we had a reef shark cruise along with us for a while. We had hoped to see some lobsters. Ben spotted one that looked a little ill and shot it. We discovered it was just a hollow carapace – no wonder it didn’t look it’s best.

At 5pm local time we all met aboard Dignity for dinner. Everyone had cooked something different and it was all good. There was some excellent curried mahi mahi, some grilled wahoo and some mahi mahi pasta from Helen accompanied by freshly baked bread and followed by lemon cake and cookies. Delicious.

Wanting to get into the new timezone and realizing we have another two hours to shift in Tonga we stayed up to watch a movie. Helen didn’t stay a wake for too long but Ben and I made it through. Here we were, miles from anywhere, anchored on a pinnacle of rock rising from the floor of the Pacific watching Kill Bill with the stars shining over head.

We plan to stay here today and, if the weather permits, leave for Niue tomorrow.

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3rd day to Beveridge Reef – Weather

Posted on September 2, 2010 by KC2RIY

Our third day has been somewhat dominated by the weather. We had been expecting some sort of front to come over but it came upon us much earlier than we anticipated. Suspecting a line of clouds ahead of us I checked the radar to confirm a wall of rain ahead. We put two reefs into the main and head sail and plunged in. The winds increased to about 30 knots and the cold rain fell. The winds shifted well into the NW which was what we had expected.

This didn’t last long as suddenly the wind dropped to about 8 knots. I was just figuring out what best to do when they resumed at 25 knots from the south and stayed there. We quickly tacked and kept moving now off course. Sailing close to the wind with confused and changing seas was no fun. Nor were we heading in the right direction. All my planning to head north to get a better heading in the NW wind had now set us too far north to reach Beveridge Reef on a single tack. I knew the southerlies were coming but the GRIBs suggested we’d be on our anchor before that happened. It might have been ok except for a northerly current adding another 30 degrees to our course over ground.

Our hope was to to plod on regardless hoping the easterly trade winds would assert themselves and bring our course further south. Plan B was to abandon hope of reaching Beveridge Reef and go straight to Niue.

The winds shifted a little throughout the night leaving us about 10nm to make into wind by the time my morning shift started. With the reef seeming to calm the seas and lessen the current I began tacking in. And that is where we are – inching our way towards the reef. With our clocks set back an hour in line with Niue we should be in around 10am which is about right for the light.

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