Tag Archives: new zealand

Voyage: New Zealand to Minerva Reef

Leave a reply

Island Cruising Pacific Rally provides very valuable resources to cruisers making the voyage across the pacific.  For those who join the annual rally you get access to dozens of discounts (from marinas, boat parts, food, and clothing).  In addition, you are provided all of the necessary documents and government contacts for arrival/departure from each country and you have access to a professional weather router, and the passage guardian.  So, someone has eyes on you at all times which is a huge relief when you are out at sea.

Viki Moore, the owner of Island Cruising, also arranged for dozens of activities at each country and a super handy guide on the Pacific.  It was really a no brainer for us to join – especially considering how apprehensive I get when crossing the pacific.

Weather Window

We were both anxious to leave New Zealand after being on the dock for over 8 months. But we had to wait for a safe weather window which took its sweet time to form.

We finally get a good opportunity to begin our voyage.  We untie off the Town Basin Marina docks and motor the 12nm down the river to the Marsden Cove Marina which is located 4.5nm from the mouth of the river.  This is where we load up with diesel and gasoline and clear out of the country with customs.

Everything went smoothly.  We were off the Marsden Cove Marina docks by 0930 and on our way to our next country.  Our voyage is approximately 814nm from New Zealand to Minerva Reef South.  Our friend, Rokas from Starlight took this photo as we departed.

Day 1: NZ to Minerva Reef

We left knowing the first day would be “sporty” with 18-20kts of wind but the seas were calm.  Keep in mind that we are flying our new sails and new lines on the boat (ropes).  So, we knew there would be a learning curve.  We opted for an extremely cautious sail plan by raising our main and the jib to only the second reef (which means less sail out).  We were so happy we did that as we made fast tracks in the high winds.

  • Distance to Go:                 631nm
  • Distance Travelled:          183nm
  • Wind:                                    18-20kts from SE
  • Seas:                                     1m, slow and following
  • Speed:                                  Average: 7.4 and Max 16.1 (surfing down a wave)
  • Broken:                                The first green reefing line chafed through while we were using it.

Lucky for us we had our 2nd reefing line set which held the sail.  We tied the damaged line down and waited till daybreak to replace the line with a new one. The main sheet also hit our IridiumGo antennae, broke off the case and the wind ditched the separator.  Lucky for us we caught the case.  It still limps along but will have to be replaced.

A nice send off by a small pod of dolphins.  They did not stay with us too long, but it was a lovely sight to see.

Day 2

The winds were pretty shifty, but we maintained a beautiful sail today.  Our new sails are much quieter than our heavier dacron sails and certainly hold a much better shape!

  • Distance to Go:                 468nm
  • Distance Travelled:          163nm
  • Wind:                                    8-12kts from SE
  • Seas:                                     1m, slow and following
  • Speed:                                  Average: 7.4 and Max 16.1 (surfing down a wave)
  • Broken:                                Nothing – yeah!

Day 3

The wind shifted and died down a lot which gave us an opportunity to fly our largest sail, Big Bertha.

  • Distance to Go:                 349nm
  • Distance Travelled:          119nm
  • Wind:                                    8-10ts
  • Seas:                                     2m, slow and following
  • Speed:                                  Average: 6.4 and Max 16.1 (surfing down a wave)
  • Broken:                                The lighter winds slowed us down, but the beautiful sail was worth it.

Day 4

Where did all the wind go?  Bummer, we lost the wind and when it did make an appearance it was right on our nose.  Had to take the sails down and motor because we could not keep our sails full.

  • Distance to Go:                 226nm
  • Distance Travelled:          123nm
  • Wind:                                    2-8kts from NW
  • Seas:                                     2m, building and hitting us side to making for a bumpy ride
  • Speed:                                  Average: 6.4 and Max 16.1 (surfing down a wave)
  • Broken:                                Nothing

Day 5

The wind shifted again giving us a different point of sail.  We put our reefed main and jib back up.

  • Distance to Go:                 118nm
  • Distance Travelled:          108nm
  • Wind:                                    30kts from NW with gusts hitting 35-38kts
  • Seas:                                     3-4m
  • Speed:                                  Average: 6.1 and Max 16.1 (surfing down a wave)
  • Broken:                                Wow what a $hitty night.  A huge storm was in our way and it brought high winds and big seas.  We dropped all canvas, changed course, and hunkered down all night.  We made 2-3kts headway in the wrong direction, but we are all ok.

I know it looks pretty, but this is one of the rare moments where it was not raining or blowing like crazy.  But as you can see, we are very cold.

We crossed the international date line again.  This time I caught the switch over on our instruments and grabbed some photos for you.  Look at the lat/long changes from 179 99.999 East to 180 00.000 West.

We are pretty tired as we each get sleep intervals of 3 hours.  You grab it when you can.  Since I don’t do well down below, we keep everything that we wear in the salon which makes it a bit of a mess.

Day 6

Our big storm ruined our daily average speed and our chances of arriving at Minerva Reef during the day.  There was nothing we could do except slow the boat down even further.  So, after the big storm, we rolled out a little jib, turned off the engines, and enjoyed a very slow sail.

  • Distance to Go:                 0 nm
  • Distance Travelled:          840nm
  • Wind:                                    8-12kts from SW
  • Seas:                                     3m, still big seas preventing us from putting out too much canvas.
  • Speed:                                  Average: 6.4 and Max 16.1 (surfing down a wave)
  • Broken:                                We grab sleep whenever we can.  The salon is full of blankets to keep us warm.

Our voyage ends with our arrival at South Minerva at dawn.  Using tracks from a fellow cruiser, we went through the pass, dropped the hook, and took a deep breath – we arrived safely.

Matt gave the boat a fresh water rinse as she was covered in salt.  I used ospho to clean all of our stainless around the boat which was also draped in layers of salt.  Then a wee bit of cleaning, a late breakfast, and a nap.  All in all it was not a terrible voyage, but it certainly gave us a run for our money with the shifty winds and huge storm.

This image shows you where Minerva reef is in relation to New Zealand and Fiji, and Tonga.  A 6-7 day voyage in total.

Minerva in the middle of the Pacific

Minerva in the middle of the Pacific

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred in early July.  Did you read our last blog post on “Sweet as: New Zealand?”

Sweet As….New Zealand

Leave a reply

New Zealand, specifically Whangarei, has been our home for the past 8 months.  We have had an amazing time exploring this beautiful country, meeting new friends, and getting lots of much needed work done on our beloved Sugar Shack.  As our Kiwi friends say, ‘sweet as’ time!  “Sweet as” means “good, right, ok, excellent, great… in Kiwi”

Sugar Shack spent most of her time tied to the dock at Town Basin Marina while she got her make over.  Many locals knew us by Sugar Shack as she was a constant for so long.

Lots of Work Done:

We managed to get a lot of work done on Sugar Shack.  The boat was under construction and in complete chaos for nearly 6 months.  

  1. (2) New Lithium House Batteries
  2. (5) New windows on the cabin
  3. Rebedded all of the other windows and painted protective covering
  4. New Dinghy and new chaps to cover her
  5. New Interior cushions
  6. New Exterior cushions
  7. New Cockpit enclosure
  8. New Main sail and Genoa (by North Sails)
  9. New Stack pack
  10. New Stainless Steel countertops
  11. New Ceiling panels and new interior lights
  12. New artwork and pillow covers

She looks like a new boat….almost.  Just a few more things to do when we come back.  Sweet as!  You are probably thinking…what “come back?”  Yep, we decided to come back to New Zealand next season (which is just a few short months away).

Next Season

New Zealand has the expertise and resources to work on Sugar Shack.  So, we decided to come back to replace our bottom paint with copper coat.  This requires highly skilled workers to apply the copper coat properly. We are also considering a wrap around Sugar Shack to make the side of the hulls look better.  Still in the researching and contemplating stages on the wrap.

Hopefully, we will come back, haul out for a few weeks, then spend the rest of our time sailing around New Zealand as opposed to sitting at the dock.

But with a nightly view as sweet as this…who can complain?

Our blogs run 10-12 weeks behind actual events.  We left New Zealand in early July.  

New Zealand Quirks & Oddities

1 Reply

Every country is full of funny quirks.  Of course they are not quirky to the locals, just to the foreigners.  I thought I would share some of the quirks that stood out the most to us.

During our month-long road trip I mentioned the narrow, windy two-lane highways.  In fact, I would venture to say that 90% of the roads in NZ are 2 lane (one lane each way), windy, narrow roads. The pay off is that they all have spectacular views of mountains, glaciers, valleys, hillsides, rivers, or pastures.

But what I did not mention were the numerous one-lane bridges.   Usually one side has “right-away” but most times the cars just proceed ahead and hope that there is no oncoming traffic – it is frightening and amusing.  Matt calls these “shoot out bridge” because in Texas the biggest vehicle would have right away or the smaller one would be shot.

Adventure or Quirk?

Pedestrians do not have the right away unless they use a rare and very specific, designated cross walk (which are far and few between).  These beauties are hard to find and are not located in most intersections.  Maybe this is not a quirk but rather part of the adventure of being a New Zealander?  Here is one of the elusive “proper” cross walks with orange dots and white cross lines on the street.

Kiwi’s risk their own lives each time they get on a bicycles.  So many locals ride bikes on these narrow, windy roads and there is no bike lane or shoulder.  They share the road with cars.  And if there is no passing lane, you are stuck behind the bike until you can safely pass.  It is super surprising to me that they don’t have bike lanes for all the adventure loving bicycle riding locals.

It seems that all New Zealanders are adventurers. I am sure it is not “all” but seriously we run into locals all the time doing something heart stopping and thrilling.  I love that they are very outdoorsy, fun loving, and living life fully.

An Everyday Quirk?

We stayed at over 25 different hotels ranging from backpacker motels to 4-star hotels.  Every single one had a mini fridge with milk stocked in it.  Most of the hotels had heated towel racks which I love!

There are a lot of men, boys, and teens with mullets!  Not just one or two here and there, but a lot!  I was told that mullets never really went out of style in NZ and that there is a huge resurgence now.

All of the plugs have on/off switches.  Took some getting used to frankly as I was perplexed why our devices were not charging while plugged in. You have to plug in and turn on the switch.

All eateries, cafes, bars, fancy restaurants have a “pay at the bar” system.  We’ve sat and waited for the check at many places only to be told to go to the bar to pay.  Slightly embarrassing, but we are learning.

It is absolutely “normal” to go barefoot into a grocery store, market, or restaurant.

A lot of New Zealanders own classic cars.  Not really a quirk to most.  But what was a quirk to me was that they actually drive them and get them out on the roads and truly enjoy taking them out for a spin or showing them off in the parking lots.  Americans tend to keep their classics locked up to be admired not enjoyed.  It was great fun to see all of the classic cars on the roads.

Really Funny Quirks

We saw a lot of really funny, quirky signs around New Zealand.  They like to post signs that “talk to the drivers on the road” but I missed most of them as we drove by.  I saw a lot of signs showing the proper way to sit on a toilet – do you think this is a quirk?

On New Year’s Eve, most of the bars and restaurants were closed by 10pm.  Kiwis celebrate on the beach or the few places that stay open in Auckland.  When we asked why they were not open it was because the cost to employ people to work on NYE was too high.

I am sure many of these “quirks” are absolutely normal to New Zealanders.  But to me, they are lovely little quirks that make me love NZ that much more!

Our blog posts run about 10-12 weeks behind actual events.  Events from this blog post occurred during our 6-month stay in New Zealand (Nov.2022-May.2023).  We unveil our brand new high tech North 3Di Sails in our last blog – did you read it?