Tag Archives: journey

6 Days at Sea

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Matt and I left Marsden Cove Marina on a beautiful day.  We cleared out with Customs and had to leave immediately after fueling.  No time to dilly dally.  The passage from NZ to Vanuatu was scheduled to 8 days according to Predict Wind (using our customized boat polars).  Ugh…being at sea is my least favorite part of being a cruiser/sailor.  Sounds ridiculous right? But we are only at sea about 20% of the year and the other 80% is truly enjoyable.

Our first day started out rather nice. We had consistent, medium strong winds (18-20kts) on the beam with a 1m swell both coming from the SW.  Pushing us along really nicely.  In fact on the first 24 hours we averaged 8kts and we made the elusive 200nm day.

Alas, it is still super cold so I find myself bundled up and hiding from the wind.  A few of you have inquired as to what we are wear during these cold and chilly passage days at sea.  Long under garments (merino wool), pants, and my foul weather overalls (plus socks and rain boots). On top I have 2 merino wool long sleeve shirts, a jumper (sweater), and my foul weather jacket plus ear coverage.  Matt has long undergarments, jeans, 2 shirts and his dry suit on.

The moon is almost full and lighting our way at night which is lovely.  

First Breakage

Day 2 found our first breakage.  Our pretty new Harken jib car lost a nut and the piece broke off.  We had to do a “make-shift” solution until the sun came out and we could fix it properly.  Of course our jib sheet is under a lot of pressure as the wind is howling!

There is a lot of pressure on the working jib sheet which then gets transferred to the jib car.  Now she has a backup line in case she decides to quit on us again.  Which she did the following night.

With so many storms came lots of rainbows and even a moonbow at night.  Night 2.

Night 2 at sea

Night 2 at sea

Doing our daily dance with the squalls all night.  At least it is a full moon so we can see to the horizon and prepare ahead of time.  The two photos on the right are from sunset night 3 and the one on the left is the beautiful moon at daybreak on day 4.

Day 5 at Sea

Somewhere in the early evening of night 4 we lost the wind and could not find it anywhere.  We knew this was coming as it was on our weather models but it still was a bit disappointing.  We had such great conditions and boat speed for almost 3 days.  Running the motor has its pros and cons.  Pros: still gives us forward movement and it gives us a good night shifts as you don’t have to worry about constantly trimming the sails.  Cons: it is loud, vibrates the boat, costs money and we don’t go as fast as when there is wind in our sails.

We flew both our 125m2 and 175m2 parasails to see if they could fly in the light winds and the answer was not really.  So not even enough wind to keep our light sails full.   This is our brand new ISTEC Parasail and she is gorgeous!

Day 6-6.8

The wind tried to come up several times.  Each time we would unfurl the genoa bring back the engine and give it a whirl.  It would last for a few hours and then the wind would disappear again.  This went on until our last night.

On our last night the wind picked up!  At first we thought it was a massive squall but to be honest we were not sure.  We were seeing 30-35kts of wind and 3.5 meter seas.  Absolutely horrible conditions.  We really wanted to arrive after day break so we kept furling the genoa (the main was already down).  Finally around 3am we rolled up the genoa and turned on the engines and kept them in neutral and we were still making 6kts! Crazy.

We had all of our equipment on using them for navigation into this new pass.  (2) iPads, (2) computers, Garmen, B&G, and my phone.  Each had a different chart of the same area.  This ensured we stayed safe and off the reefs.  Lucky for us, the winds calmed to 20-25 kts and the seas came down to 1.5-2 meters.  We had a safe entrance and are anchor down.

Vanuatu

Port Resolution is on the island of Tanna.  It is famous for Mt. Yasur a very active volcano.  As we approached the island we could see the bright red and plumes which was so very cool.  On the top photo you will see the volcano and the little nook (far right) where we anchored.

Passage Stats:

  • Total Moving Time:      6.8 days (marina to anchorage)
  • Total Miles Sailed:      1,030 (only had a 17nm cross track)
  • Estimated Miles:         1,013
  • Max Speed:                 14.7
  • Average Speed:            6.4 (first 3 days average speed was 8kt)
  • Sails Used:                  Working sails (main & genoa), 125m2 & 175m2 parasail
  • Hours Motors:            Port: 30 hours & Starboard:  34 hours

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual events. This passage at sea took place the  few weeks in May.  In our last blog post you can read about formalities clearing out of NZ and clearing into Vanuatu.

A Journey: Tuamotus to Gambiers Part II

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We originally started our passage from Tikehau with the hopes of making it all the way to Gambiers.  However, if you read “A Journey: Tuamotus to Gambiers Part I” you will see that we were thwarted and had to stop in Amanu for 10 days to wait for more favorable weather.  This blog post will be the second and final part to the Tuamotus to Gambiers passage.

Continuing our Journey to Gambiers

Matt and I left the South East anchorage at Amanu around 0930 on a Monday morning.  We needed to cross the Amanu lagoon, head out the pass, and travel down the atoll which added 16nm to our 450nm passage.  As we approached the pass to exit the lagoon, we noticed we had a 2kt outgoing current.  It turned out to be no problem for us as we exited.

The weather routing gave us four routes.  All of which had us turning left out of the pass and going between Amanu and Hao as it was the shortest distance.  However, that was a huge mistake.  We should have turned right, motored the extra 8-9nm and rounded the NE side of Amanu.  It would have given us a much better wind angle and prevented the horrible washing machine effect.

As we rounded Amanu, we encountered 3-meter waves coming from every direction.  It was a mess.  The waves were trapped between the two atolls creating a really uncomfortable start to our passage.  It lasted the entire length of Hao which is 33+nm long!  Rotten way to start the trip.  Especially because I never recovered from that moment forward.  I stayed in a state of sea sickness the entire trip.  Not my worst trip, but certainly not my best.

The first day we tried to make as much easting as possible. We were pinching (heading as close to the wind as possible) which forced us to constantly trim the sails to keep them full.  Sunset on first night.

First 24 Hours

  • 134nm Miles travelled over all
  • 337nm Distance to destination
  • 7 Max Speed
  • 6 Average Speed

Beautiful sunrise on day 2

On day two, we had calmer seas.  They dropped from 3-meters to 2-meters and were primarily on our forward quarter panel.  Still a bumpy, crazy ride.  Our course for the first 1.5 days was about 140-150T with an average of 12-18kts of wind from North of East.  We had to adjust course to avoid hitting a small atoll called “Tureia” in the middle of the night.  We had lots and lots of beautiful stars as the moon did not rise until 0100.

48 Hours

  • 290nm Miles travelled over all
  • 156nm Travelled in the last 24-hour period
  • 181nm Distance to destination
  • 4 Max Speed
  • 2 Average Speed

We were waiting on a wind shift to make our actual heading to the Gambiers.  Finally, during the 2nd night it started to shift a bit after Matt dwelt with 2 big squalls.  We finally had a course of 120T with winds at about 15-18kts from NE and 1.5-meter seas.  Our cross track was at +47 and we needed to widdle that down.  Happy to be heading directly to Gambiers with decent winds and smaller seas.

Matt took this really cool photo of the moon and sky as the sun was trying to rise.  If you zoom in you can see we are making 8kts of boat speed in 16kts of wind.  Pretty impressive.

72 hours

  • 466nm Miles travelled over all
  • 176nm Travelled in the last 24-hour period
  • 6nm Distance to destination
  • 6 Max Speed
  • 6 Average Speed

We entered the Gambiers pass with a reefed main and jib.  Normally we would take our sails down, but the wind was coming from the right direction and just pulled us nicely into the pass with no problems.  All in all, it was a decent trip.  We were able to sail the entire passage without the use of the motors (yea, save money on diesel).  Had it not been for the horrible beginning I probably would have felt better the rest of the trip. But, what can you do?

Final Passage Details

  • 73 hours travelled for entire passage – anchor to anchor
  • 481nm Miles travelled over all
  • 10.6 Max Speed
  • 6.6 Average Speed

Arriving at the Gambiers pass

Arriving Gambiers

Arriving Gambiers

Did you read “A Journey: Tuamotus to Gambiers Part I“?  Find out why we stopped and had to continue our journey 10 days later. 

Events from this journey occurred around the 2nd week of December, 2020.  Our blog posts run 8 weeks behind our adventures.

We all have our vices.

Journey from Las Perlas to La Playita

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Up and away we go, time to leave Las Perlas.  We have a 45-mile journey back to the next anchorage, La Playita.  It was eerily quiet, with flat, flat seas and a strange haze all around us.  Our wind indicator pointed to our location which meant we had no sails up. But, with 2000 RPM’s we were averaging 7 knots of boat speed.

Eerily still and hazy on the way to La Playita.

Eerily still and hazy on the way to La Playita.

A small pod of 5-6 dolphins came to play with us for a while.   They did not stay long on our journey, but they made a big impression.

Dolphins swam with us on the way to La Playita

Dolphins swam with us on the way to La Playita

I took this picture of my reflection in the water while we were underway, that is how still the water was on this trip.  I am laying down on the tramp, you can see the mast behind me.  Pretty cool.

My reflection on the water while underway.

My reflection on the water while underway.

We were all enjoying the large amount of wildlife around us, tons of birds, dolphins, sting rays, turtles, fish, and whales.

Heather enjoying the wildlife in the Pacific.

Heather enjoying the wildlife in the Pacific.

As we approached La Playita, we were accosted by huge cargo ships, car transports, and mega yachts.  The commercial vessels are waiting to transit the canal or they just transited the canal.  And evidently, La Playita is home to many, many mega sport fishing boats and mega yachts.

Large cargo ships & yachts in La Playita anchorage.

Large cargo ships & yachts in La Playita anchorage.

There is a beautiful view of Panama City as you approach and leave the La Playita anchorage.  Bottom photo is La Playita anchorage.

View of Panama City and La Playita on the bottom

View of Panama City and La Playita on the bottom

There was no wind when we arrived to the La Playita anchorage so all of the boats were facing every which way.  Great!  We found a spot close to a few familiar boats and dropped the hook.

We enjoyed a little leisure time, each doing our best to cool off as it was stifling hot with the lack of wind.  Not getting much relief, we headed to shore to grab some lunch.

On the way to the dinghy dock, we saw Barry from “White Shadow” who told us which restaurant had the best wifi.  Now we have a destination, which is always good.  We easily found the dinghy dock, unloaded, and went on our way.  I stopped by the marina office to pay the dinghy dock fee ($50 per week-OUCH) and met the others down the road.

We walked by a mini market, Abernathy (chandlery), and a few tourist traps before we found the main road.  There is a row of restaurants, but we headed toward a pizza place called La Eskinita, where we enjoyed a cool breeze while overlooking the marina.

We did a little window shopping as there are tons of tourist stores, found a great ice cream parlor and a café with decent wifi.  All the important things in life.  We ran into Johanna from “Iriss” and she showed us another place with decent wifi called Hacienda.

We all have our vices.

We all have our vices.

It was late in the day when we headed back to the boat.  On our way, we stopped by “Kokopeli” (Brian and Mizzy) who were hosting “Nomad” (Tom and Susan) for sundowners.  We chatted a bit and headed on.  We had not seen these boats since Portobello.

Since we ate so late in the day, we were not hungry for dinner, so we served cheese and crackers and left-over pizza.  It was a rolly night as the fishing boats, tankers, and pangas go by at crazy fast speeds.

The next morning, Heather, Michael, and Wayne packed.  It was time for them to head back to the states.  We transferred Heather’s great photos from her camera to our phones, made breakfast, and chatted until we had to make our way to shore.  Omar, the taxi driver who picked up Wayne would pick up our group and take them to Tocumen airport.  It has been an amazing journey and we were thrilled to have them on Sugar Shack.  Always sad to say “goodbye.”

Matt and I wandered around the little town to get the “lay of the land”, headed back to the boat, did some laundry and tried to stay cool as it was a hot one.

Wildlife in the Pacific Seen in First 2 Days:

  • Whale spouts
  • Dolphnis
  • Stingrays
  • Jelly Fish
  • Variety of Birds
  • Turtles