The home run: Fiji – New Zealand – 1100 miles
Friday 28 October – off we went, leaving the lights of Fiji behind us as we sailed into the night.
I made a big chilli con carne, and it was calm enough for us all to sit outside in the cockpit and eat dinner together before splitting up to sleep before watches. Whilst I was on mine a loud alarm went off, Geoff rushed out and turned off the engine. The engine that had been worked on yesterday due to its overheating and costing $1,000 in repairs, had decided to overheat again – 4 hours after we had left Denarau! So that’s now turned off.
The seas got lumpier and lumpier, and it wasn’t long before Peter reappeared finding it too difficult to sleep in his cabin as he hasn’t quite got his sea legs yet. My turn for bed at 9pm and off I went, I’ve started another good new book so have got good company!
Saturday 29 October – we’re still bouncing around - I managed to get a breakfast prepared but we had to eat inside, it’s lovely and warm and sunny but we are getting the odd wave across the roof so have had to bring in all the squabs and it’s tricky getting the cuppas up the galley steps!
We had a lucky escape when the topping lift, which is essential to reefing the mainsail of the boat when the winds increase, became frayed to the point where it would not carry the load. It had to be changed so we could reef the boat when the winds come up. Chris and Geoff managed to get onto the roof and pull it through having fastened a new line to the end, so that was another crisis averted!
Sunday 30 October – a very bouncy night last night. The bed in the cabin I am sleeping in is one of two over the flat of the middle of the catamaran and the waves smash upwards right underneath it, I’m getting used to the movement and jolts and noise of the waves now, but some of them are very loud. Have a look at the photos below – these are taken from the window under the bed, and you can see the window on the opposite side of the replica cabin. The water is a gorgeous blue and you can hear it gushing and swishing all the time.
The afternoon wore on and the sunshine disappeared and as forecast, rain clouds started to appear around us. It got bumpier and lumpier and by the time I got to bed it was rough, the force of the waves crashing underneath me occasionally jolted me off the mattress. Not too long afterwards, and before I could get to sleep, the lightning started.
All around us, forks going into the water. (a prelude to Halloween scary-ness?!). Geoff was beside himself with worry about the boat getting struck again. We were sailing too fast to use the metal anodes as they would have smashed against the side of the boat. The only alternative was to put wet ropes from the side-stays into the water, thereby giving any lightning charge a direct route to the sea.
All laptops and mobile phones were unplugged just to be on the safe side. The lightning lasted several hours but the real worrying time was when you could see the bolts coming from the sky to the sea and these were only a few miles from the boat. We had our sails up and the motors flat out and eventually we out-ran the lightning and it crossed behind us. Not the best of nights!
Monday 31 October – certainly no sunrise this morning, maybe that is the last of the gorgeous ones we will wake up to? It’s grey and the sea is a gun metal grey colour to match. The waves have abated a little but it’s still hard to move around the boat. We’re definitely out of the glorious weather.
When I joined this boat for the start of the trip in Colombia in March, I never intended to sail on this last leg as it is renowned for being difficult. I was going to fly back from Fiji when Geoff left and because of this, I never brought any warm clothes with me. However, as I gradually got my sea-legs and got used to the odd bit of banging about I changed my mind, as having finally sailed over 8,000 miles, I thought it would be a shame not to sail into NZ on the last sector. I have two thin sweatshirts and a pair of gym leggings, so they will have to suffice and, if necessary, an over-sized rain jacket – there are plenty of them on the boat.
The boat is damp and dank, and messy! Under the table in the salon there is the outboard motor from the dinghy, the sea anchor and all the damp cockpit squabs. We have a handbasin in our cabin and although we keep the plug in it, the force of the water pops it up with a spray, so the cabin floor and surrounds get wet, along with our towels and mat. It’s hard to keep it organised and clean with all the bashing about, just trying to get around the cabin and cockpit is a trial, so doing my Sadie Cleaning Lady act is definitely out of the question for now!
11.30am and the heavens have opened, it is absolutely hosing down and the sea is heaving grey with white caps, more lightning around too – what happened to that lovely blue South Pacific water of a few days ago? It’s heavy weather gear on to go out into the cockpit, seems so strange after being in shorts and tee-shirts for so long!
By around 4.30pm the rain stopped and miraculously it has started to calm down, we even got a tiny bit of sunset tonight too. I managed to knock up a decent chicken, vegetable and cashew nut curry, which I served with dhal soup, roti, rice and raita, slightly missed the Diwali celebrations, but not by too much!
Not bad when there is only one decent hotplate on the kitchen stove. It’s a question of cooking in the order of what will stay hot the longest in the saucepan or in tin foil once it’s off the stove!
The seas have calmed down immensely now so I think we will all get a decent bit of sleep tonight as long as there are no ghosts, witches or ghouls appearing in the portholes!
Lucky Peter, he saw Elon Musk’s satellite string arc right across the sky when he was on his watch, he reckoned there were between 50 and 80 satellites – that would have been worth doing the awful 3.00am – 6.00am watch!
Tuesday 1 November – 9 calendar months today since I left Auckland for Colombia for the start of this amazing journey!
It’s an absolutely stunner of a day, blue skies, cobalt blue sea and warm sunshine, hopefully I spoke too soon about needing warm clothes. Very pleasant sitting in the cockpit this morning and we are rolling along at a lovely pace with no big heaving seas today. We’ve got all the squabs and cushions out so we can get rid of the damp and freshen them up in the warm sunshine.
Time to get some more jobs done, Chris and I have vaseline-d all the rubber around the hatches, Geoff has put more oil in both gearboxes and he and Chris have fixed a ripped baton pocket on the mainsail which caught and broke the baton last night. Meantime, I put my apron back on and have got lunch sorted for us all and it’s so sunny we can sit outside and enjoy it and pretend we are still on holiday! A perfect day, I finished yet another book and just before dinner there was a glorious sunset.
Wednesday 2 November – another sunny morning to wake up to, the sailors aren’t so happy as there is not much wind, but I’m as happy as Larry! We’re 232 miles from New Zealand. Chris told me that Immigration in NZ is obviously very strict, we already know this from when we come through the airport.
Apparently, we will have to disembark the boat and remain in quarantine whilst Customs Officers and a sniffer dog come aboard to give it a thorough check for any contraband, and the usual MAF requirements of no fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, food, plants, etc. Fortunately, we have done well on this front and have eaten through our freezer quite efficiently (hmmmm, must be due to the expert skills of the Chief Provisioner and Galley B***h, take a bow Ro, ha ha!!!). Needless to say, we’ll be stuffing our faces over the next 48 hours and trying to eat up as much as we can, don’t want to be found guilty in possession of a paw paw! And on that note, we have just enjoyed a delicious hamburger with all the trimmings for lunch, which will be followed by steaks on the BBQ, Italian roasted potatoes and home-made ratatouille!
Thursday 3 November – 134 miles to go!!!! Due to various winds and weather forecasts, we are now bypassing Opua and heading straight to Auckland and will do our Immigration etc. there. It’s our last full day of sailing today as we will likely arrive in Auckland in the early hours of tomorrow morning, when the Customs and Immigration Office has closed.
We have to complete the formalities in the office located by Z Pier in Westhaven, so when we arrive, we will anchor outside flying our yellow flag and wait for our 7.30am appointment. Unfortunately, there seems to be a bit of a mix up with the berth Geoff booked at Westhaven and we may not get into it until Sunday. So, we’ll have to see what happens and where we end up, maybe just sailing around and anchoring in a few bays!!!!
It’s a lovely, sunny day and we have a great breeze, the sails are up, and we are all very excited! Later on this afternoon it clouded over and went very grey and miserable, this was followed by a fair bit of wind and rain, so we bounced around a bit. Hopefully it will brighten up for our arrival in the morning, I can’t wait to see my kids and grandkids. I’ve done all my bits and pieces for the Customs, sorted all the fridge out, thrown out some vegetables, frozen some nice leftovers, so we’ll see how ruthless they are tomorrow!!!!
Friday 4 November – 0516 hours – we’ve arrived in downtown Auckland!
Look out for my final blog tomorrow!
