Category Archives: Locations

Places around the world

Ridge Hike on Malolo Island

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What does a ridgeline hike look like?  Well, we start at the far left end of Malolo island (left end of the photo) and hike up several hills.  We cross over the reef at low tide (2nd arrow, middle) and make it to Malolo Lailai (3rd arrow far right).

Another view of the ridgeline hike.

The Start

Sarah dropped Matt, Chris, and I off at Funky Fish Resort. This is a really cool, easy-going, surf resort with a pool.  They are super cruiser friendly. 

You hike up a hill, behind the resort to the helicopter landing pad.  To our surprise there was a helicopter.  The resort has posted signs at the beginning of the path.

Mt. Silo Gun site and Lookout

The first part of the trail is really well maintained and fairly easy to navigate.  The only issue is that it is straight up hill. 

We enjoyed some beautiful views along the way.

The anchorage looks so small from the top of the tallest mountain peak.  There are roughly 100 boats in the anchorage.  Can you spot Sugar Shack?

We make it to the Mt. Silo Gun site and lookout after an hour of hiking.  The peak is roughly 750′ elevation.

2nd Half of the Hike

The second half of the hike was more challenging as the trail was not well-maintained and requires good shoes and a machete.

It was so darn hot as we were in the direct sunlight, at the peak heat of the day. 

We ended up sliding down several slopes as we continued down a make-shift path.

The second half of the hike took almost 2 hours and was much slower going.  In part because we had to create our own path and we had to go slow on the slippery parts.

We met a lovely friend on the way down the mountain.  This beautiful horse met us on the trail and was so very friendly.

I was so tired and overheated that I stopped taking photos. 

Unfortunately, I did not even get a photo of the reef crossing or Malolo Lailai.  I know, I suck!

The Results

  • Ascent 1200′ (up and down several mountains)
  • Tallest Peak 750′
  • 1200 calories burned
  • 4.5 miles walked
  • 2:53 hours
  • 1hr of resting time/breaks or stops

Matt and Chris were in much better shape than me. 

I required multiple stops along the way.  We also stopped at the 3 lookout points. 

Evidently, according to Matt’s Garmin we had 1 hour of resting time.  Eek gads.

No Foreign Land Malolo Ridgeline hike

Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual events.  We hiked Mt. Silo on Malolo Island on 5 September 2025.

Did you read about our adventures at the World Surf League Finals in our last blog?

World Surf League Finals (WSL): Cloud Break

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The World Surf League (known as WSL) hosted the 2025 surfing finals at Cloud Break, Fiji.  Lucky for us we happened to be 6nm away from this prestigious and monumental event!

The athletes stayed at the exclusive and private island resort of Tavarua  which is conveniently located near the famous surf spot, Cloud Break. Rumor has it that clients of Tavarua Resort not only have to be very wealthy but they have to commit to surfing in order to stay here. 

We are not allowed to land on the island at all.  We tried to “walk the beach” and were promptly shooed away by security.

World Surf League  (WSL) Finals

There many famous surf spots in the world including Teahupoʻo  in French Polynesia, Pipeline in Hawaii, and Cloud Break in Fiji.  

Do you remember when I had the opportunity to watch the WSL competition in Teahupo’o, French Polynesia?

Fijians built is a permanent judge’s stand into the reef many years ago.  They add the banners to the stand each year and remove immediately after the event.

In the swarm of spectators there is a boat with the announcers.  The announcers let the surfers and their coaches know who has wave priority, what the scores are, and what is needed to move on to the next round.

The popular floating bar, Cloud 9 donates their transport boat for the competitors.  The locals wrapped the competitor boat in advertisement and outfitted it to comfortably house all 10 competitors and their teams.

The Spectators

Between 25-35 boats anchored near the reef to support and witness this great event.  In addition, there were dozens of dinghies, long boats, tourist boats, surf boats that came out to the “line” to witness the WSL competition and be part of the mayhem.

We took Sweetie, our dinghy out which was 6 nautical miles away from our anchorage.  That is a long way to take your dinghy!  We met up with our friends Chris and Sarah on Seaglub and Chris and Michelle on Beleza.

WSL Competitors

The WSL competitors have spent 7 months surfing all over the world in 11 competitions.  During the finals the top 5 men and the top 5 women compete to be world champion.

Michelle on Beleza shared some of her photos since I don’t have my phone (it died many months ago).

The waves started out slow but by mid-morning they filled in and provided a beautiful landscape for the athletes.

The wave curls around so we were only able to see about half of the surfable wave.  But still very impressive.

At times we had a 3meter swell pushing all of the boats and dinghies up and over. 

Cover photo by Ed Sloane, World Surf League

Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual live events.  We enjoyed the WSL on 2 September 2025.

In our last blog post, we finally fix the last part of our standing rigging by replacing the furler and foils on our forestay. 

The Final Rigging Repair Part III

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Our rigging work is almost complete. The last part of our rigging work is the replacement of our furler and foils. 

Our furler is 24+ years old and has been limping along for awhile.  We’ve known we would need to replace it but we were hoping to do so in New Zealand (in 2 months).

We assumed we would have more resources available to us in NZ as opposed to Fiji.  But, we’ve been pleasantly surprised.

What does a Furler do?

A furler is a mechanical system on a sailboat that rolls a sail around a stay or into a hollow mast or boom. Furlers allow us to safely and easily deploy, release, and stow the genoa from the cockpit.  This eliminates the need to go onto the deck.

Sugar Shack has a forestay rod that has a multi purpose.  Part of the furler package is 18m of foils which will go on the solid rod we use as a forestay.  The leach of the genoa sail (front end) is threaded through the foils to attach it to the forestay.  The foils turn which allows the sail to be deployed or furled. 

The shaft on the furler has worn down over the years causing the bearing to not sit properly. 

So, the furler still had a little “give” or “wobble” even though we replaced the bearing.  

Ordering the Furler

Matt wanted the C430 x 18m Profurl Furler: included link plates 55mm + SS locks C430 and a threaded pin DIA 25mm (63/64).  

We placed the order with Wichard Pacific in Australia on Friday morning. Both parcels arrived and cleared customs on Tuesday afternoon. Pretty darn impressive!

Removing the Old Forestay, Foils, and Furler

Sammy from Westside Rigging first loosened both of side stays.  This action will release tension on the mast and forestay.

Next, Sammy removed the furler (at the bottom by the bow). 

His assistant held the bottom end of the forestay where the furler is located.

Matt then sent Sammy up to the top of the mast to remove the upper portion of the forestay.

The forestay is very long – about 18 meters long. 

We had 3 people in 2 different dinghies and 2 people on board.  

Sammy slowly lowered the top of the forestay as I guided it past the port bow and down  to the dinghy. 

We slowly get the entire forestay off the boat and stretched between the two dinghies to get it to shore.

It took all of us several hours to remove the old foils (which wrap around the forestay rod). 

Evidently, our NZ rigger used 5200 (heavy-duty glue) to lock in the set pins.  The 5200 prevented us from removing the set pins and forced us to cut 3 of the foils in order to get them off.

We donated 6 of our 9 foils and their connectors to another cruiser.

Installing the New Furler and Foils

We received (9) 2 meters foils (18 meters long), connection brackets and our new furler.

Our forestay (headstay) is 12.7mm stainless rod measuring at 17.5 meters long. It is HUGE. 

We laid the forestay out on the grass and tied off the ends to allow us to pull it straight as we worked.

First the foils go on.  This can be tricky as they have to align just right to get on the rod. And on top of that they fit very snugly over the pin that at the end of the rod.

Sammy installed the connectors which connect the foils to each other.

Loctite is placed on the set pins which are used to secure the foils to the connectors.

The top portion of the furler is inserted and then it is time to work on the furler drum. 

The drum is partially installed and will be completed back on the boat. 

Took a bit of fiddling and maneuvering, but  we installed the headstay and new furler!  Yeah!

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events. 

We replaced our furler toward the end of September 2025 in Vuda Marina, Fiji.

In our last blog, we share the experience of replacing our standing rigging side stays in Fiji.