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Unbelievable Sail from Fiji to NZ

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We finally found a “decent” weather window to sail to New Zealand.  This was after waiting several weeks. Two rounds of boats left and they did not have the most pleasant sailing experience.

We left on 16 October, 2025 and anticipated a 7-7.5 day passage from Fiji to New Zealand.  

Our friend Chris (from sv SeaGlub) has joined us on this journey.  Having a third person onboard allows us to have 6-hours in between our shifts (as opposed to 3-hours).  Whoop whoop!

The first 3 days of our trip were very “sporty.”  We had strong, consistent winds blowing 18-22kts from the ESE and gusts up to 28-29kts.  The seas were pissy with Sugar Shack rolling in at 2.5-3.5 meters on the beam.  

It felt as if the boat and the sea were trying to outdance one another. This made it a very uncomfortable trip.

Total of 1082 nautical miles to Marsden Cove

Day 1 (first 24hrs)

  • Course:   192T
  • Average Speed: 8.1kt, Max Speed: 11.8
  • Winds:  20SE and Mad 26kt
  • Swell: 3 meters
  • Engines:  P:  5391 and S: 5544
  • Miles to Go: 897
  • Miles Traveled (VMG) 185, Miles Traveled: 192

What is the difference between Miles Traveled (VMG) and Miles Traveled?  Miles Traveled is the total number of miles we sailed.  But it does not necessarily mean those miles were toward our destination. Sometimes the wind shifts and causes us to go a little off course.

Miles Traveled (VMG=velocity made good) means the total miles traveled to our destination (on course).

Every passage has two different numbers unless it is a complete motor in flat seas with no wind.  Then you just point the boat to where you need to go and motor to it.  Not much fun and not “sailing.”

We managed to pass the 3 boats that left before us.  They left early Thursday AM and we left after lunch.

Menu: 

  • Fresh baked cheesy garlic bread and salami for lunch
  • Enchilads and Mexican Rice for dinner

Day 2 (48hrs)

  • Course:   186T
  • Average Speed: 9kt, Max Speed: 13.1
  • Winds:  22Skt SE and Mad 28kt
  • Swell: 3 meters
  • Engines:  P:  5391 and S: 5544
  • Miles to Go: 703
  • Miles Traveled (VMG) 194nm, Miles Traveled: 198nm

We made good progress toward our destination today.  The ride was not super comfortable, but we covered a lot of ground.

Menu:

  • English muffins, salami, egg, and cheese sandwich
  • Eggplant Parmesan for dinner
  • Gingerbread cookies

Day 3 (72hrs)

  • Course:   185T
  • Average Speed: 8.5kt, Max Speed: 13.6
  • Winds:  16-18kt SE and Mad 29kt
  • Swell: 2-2.5 meters
  • Engines:  P:  5391 and S: 5544
  • Miles to Go: 485
  • Miles Traveled (VMG) 218nm, Miles Traveled: 220nm

We had an excellent day and celebrated 2 milestones for this passage sail.  The first is we passed over the 1/2 way mark!  Yeah.  The second is that we had a HUGE VMG day topping at 218 nautical miles in one 24 hour period!  This is huge for us and a rare occurrence!  

We join a group of 22 boats that left Fiji the day before we left.  We looked at that weather window and decided not to take it for various reasons.  The main reason is that most of the boats had to head pretty far west before heading south.

Somewhere around early evening we passed the last boat the group that left the day before us!  Go Sugar Shack

By the late hours of this 24 hour sail we passed 2 more boats in that group that left 24 hours before us.

Menu:

  • Garlic Cheesy bread and salami lunch/snack
  • Steaks for the boys, chicken for me and homemade coleslaw

We passed over the half way mark!  After leaving the tropics we got cold pretty fast.

Day 4 (96 hours)

  • Course:   189T
  • Average Speed: 8.5kt, Max Speed: 13.6kt
  • Winds: 6kt ESE  
  • Swell:  .5-1 meters ESE
  • Engines:  P:  5393 and S: 5551
  • Miles to Go: 287
  • Miles Traveled 198 (VMG) , Miles Traveled:  200

We found a big blue hole where our winds died.  Around 4:00am we had to turn one of our engines on to maintain a 6kt speed.  The dull roar of an engine is a rude awakening compared to the beautiful silence of a sail,.

On one hand it was a relief to not be bashing into the waves.  However, on the other hand it was disappointing losing our speed.  Always a catch 22.

Menu: 

  • English muffins, salami, egg, and cheese sandwich
  • Chicken Salad with cilantro, carrots, and cabbage
  • Caramel ice cream and brownies

Day 5 (120 hours)

  • Course:   182T
  • Average Speed: 6.7kt, Max Speed: 13.6kt
  • Winds:  12kt NNW
  • Swell:  .5-1 meter NNW
  • Engines:  P:  5413 and S: 5569
  • Miles to Go: 114
  • Miles Traveled (VMG) 173 , Miles Traveled: 173

Menu:

  • Breakfast burrito with egg, onion, and salami
  • Chicken enchiladas with Mexican Rice
  • Chocolate pumpkin cookies

Flying our beautiful new Parasail for a whopping 2 hours.  The wind shifted to N (coming in from behind).  It was “light” enough for us to prep and hoist the sail.  But within 2 hours the winds filled in making them too strong to fly our girl.

So, we dropped and stowed the parasail and set our main sail and genoa for a downwind run.

Day 6 (144 hours)

We arrived before day 6 began!  Check out the change in clothing as we cross over 20 degrees latitude.

Overall Passage Information:

  • Total Miles Traveled: 1,192
  • Average Speed: 8.5kt
  • Max Speed: 13.6kt
  • Engines:  P:  5418 and S: 5559 (total of 27 hours motoring / motor sailing)
  • Total Time Traveling: 140 hours or 5 days and 20hrs 
  • Time moving is from hook to hook (includes 2.5 hours leaving the marina to the pass in Fiji and 1.5 hours from the pass to the marina in New Zealand

We had some beautiful sunsets and sunrises.

Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual live events.  We did the sail from Fiji to New Zealand from the 16-22 October 2025.

Don’t miss our Fiji Day adventures.

NZ Bound #3: 124 till the long white cloud appears

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Aotearoa the land of the long white cloud, the original colonial name for NZ which appears on everything, from drinks to passports.

At daybreak the winds were light and we brought out the spinnaker. Who would have thought a voyage south to NZ would get a kite ride

Setting our Parasailor spinnaker

The spinnaker makes for a quiet and fast run down wind, the things are very powerful and get difficult to manage as the winds increase. As the wind increases we monitor them closely and douse (take it down) well before it gets unwieldy. we only ran it for an hour or two before swapping back to working sails.

All good, made huge breakfast burritos and just let the boat work its way towards our destination.

Unfortunately the long white cloud might be hard to see as it will be dark as we arrive, we are timing our arrival for the Whangarei Heads at day break, high tide is 8ish and we should still ride the current up the river to the marina with the quarantine dock. Them is the plans as they stand, well I also didn’t want to negotiate the marina docks in the dark like we did the first time we arrived.

Almost there but one more sleep till the board shorts have been replaced by jeans, t-shirts by long sleeves, flip-flops by jandals (NZ for flip-flops).

NZ Bound #3: 210 till entering the world of pies

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Pies are the like tacos of Texas or Mexico, pie competitions are fierce. The best filling to crispiest (but not too crispy that it makes a mess) and getting the just right savory to dough bite is serious business.

We are still knocking off the miles and that is good, still on track to beat the next cold front hitting New Zealand. We have 2 more sleeps at sea before clearing into the country

The bad news is that we are using a bunch of dinosaurs 🦕 🦖 juice to get it done. A dreaded blue hole materialized on the weather forecast, it was predicated and then not and then again, and yup it happened.

No big deal, we sailed with the engines on for a while. The wind started coming out of the north so we broke out a big kite to play with and let it pull the boat toward NZ. After getting it all set up and talking through the procedure, the wind nearly died. Not enough wind to blow out a candle. So on came the noise makers and we have been motoring nearly all day and will continue through the night.

One huge bonus, we rinsed off all the Deep Water Salt for the startup business, there were not enough people interested in Deep Water Salt Margaritas. Oh well. Also made water and filled the batteries. And.. it was warm enough to get a shower on the back of the boat

Penultimate sunset of this voyage came complete with a little green flash

Penultimate a cool word that doesn’t get worked into everyday conversations nearly enough. When was the last time you said one before last?

There may be a little bit of wind coming in tomorrow to finish the last day under sail, one can always hope.

All well onboard.

Quickie of the sunset

Cheers.