-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, November 05,
2004 6:01 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
2230 local
time Friday, November 5, 2004 (0930 GMT 11/05/04); S 19 deg 12' / W 174 deg
34'; on passage toward
A glorious
night to sail. We are underway again after more than a month
in Tonga's Vava'u Group. This is the first night of steady winds of
less than 20 knots in two weeks. We had
wanted to sail south to the Ha'apai Group but were
effectively pinned down in Vava'u by high winds and
stormy, rainy weather. Now we think the
time is right just to head for New Zealand, with a possible stop at Minerva
Reef. The South Pacific cyclone season
officially began November 1. Already one
tropical depression has received an official number (#1!). It formed and dissipated NW of Fiji. An unnumbered tropical low gave us the lousy
weather that left us and many other cruisers in Tonga boat- bound and unable to
move among the islands very comfortably.
The great game for the fleet
of cruising sailboats this time of year here in Tonga and in Fiji is to guess
when is the best time to depart for New Zealand, what course to follow and how
fast to try to go. Estrela is a
relatively slow boat and we have much less flexibility than do most other
boats. The faster a boat can sail the
more accurate are the weather forecasts covering the time period the boat will
be on passage to New Zealand. This is
for the obvious reason that a faster boat's passage will take less time and
weather forecasts that attempt to look fewer days into the future tend to be
more accurate. In timing a trip from the
tropics to New Zealand one typically seeks to sail south with the trades on
one's port beam until these winds fade out around 25 to 30 degrees south
latitude. Then one tries to catch the anticyclonic (counterclockwise) winds circulating around a
high pressure system than has crossed or is crossing New Zealand. This means first SE, then E, NE and N
winds. A boat tries to arrive on the NE
coast of the South Island (Opua, Whangarei
or Auckland) before the inevitable low pressure system that follows almost
every high has crossed the Tasman Sea and reached the North Island. In the Southern Hemisphere temperate lows
bring cyclonic (clockwise) winds, often of gale force. When a southbound boat encounters the
northern quadrants of one of these eastward moving lows that has crossed the
Tasman Sea the boat will typically experience very strong NW, W and then SW
winds, thick overcast and rain over a period usually of 24 to 72 hours and
normally with abrupt wind shifts and intense squalls associated with the
passage of fronts.
To have a better chance to
identify a good "weather window" for our sail to New Zealand Estrela
is currently planning to take advantage of an unusual piece of geography in
this part of the South Pacific -- North Minerva Reef. This is a drowned coral atoll (23 deg 36'
South, 178 deg 57' West) about 350 NM SSW of our current position. It's four miles in
diameter, a fringing coral reef that just barely dries at low tide and a
shallow (approx 30 feet deep) sandy bottomed lagoon that's great for
anchoring. A safe pass on the protected
NW side allows comfortable passage through the reef. Affectionately dubbed the "busstop" by experienced Kiwi sailors, North Minerva
Reef may give Estrela a chance to anchor literally in the middle of the ocean
with nothing around for hundreds of miles, while we collect weather faxes,
voice reports and other weather information, talk it all over with other
sailboats either via SSB radio or in person, if they too have anchored in
Minerva, and stay sane by homeschooling and snorkeling. We've heard there are a lot of sharks in the
lagoon this year! Anyway we have our
fingers crossed that the wind direction and force will let us sail to Minerva,
transit the pass and anchor there safely for at least a night or two.
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Sunday, November 07,
2004 5:37 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
2200 local
time Sunday, November 7, 2004 (0900 GMT 11/07/04); S 20 deg 39' / W 176 deg
31'; on passage to
A wave just broke on deck,
pouring water into the cockpit well and sluicing both decks. How quickly conditions can change. We sailed abruptly out of our glorious
weather yesterday afternoon. Suddenly a
dark squall blew over us bringing shrieking 30 to 40 knots of wind and hard
rain. Optimistically we hoped the squall
would be isolated. To the contrary, it
marked the beginning of a progression of squall line after squall line, some
arriving within ten minutes of the one before.
Kyle and I quickly hove-to to stall the boat and give
us a breather -- an opportunity to assess things. We shortened sail to a double reefed main and
storm staysail and concluded we could continue sailing our course safely. We made 3.5 to 5 knots right on our course to
Minerva. By midnight, though, the motion
was getting violent and more and more water was leaking into the cabin. The worst leaks came when high wind in a
squall pushed Estrela over and held her heeling on her starboard rail. The side deck filed with water. It seemed to take a long time to drain. Below, water began streaming down the cabin
walls into Eliza's bunk. Ugggh. So I adjusted sails to heave-to, sheeting the
storm staysail in tight to the windward side and lashing the tiller hard to
leeward. I was trying to stop all
forward motion and leave the boat drifting very slowly (>1 knot) to
starboard. Every boat a different
configuration of sails, tiller and sea anchor to get it to heave-to properly so
that it slowly slides downwind, with its bow pointed approximately 50 degrees
from the wind. Once one can sustain this
position, the "slick" of turbulent water directly upwind has the effect of calming the seas
that pass under the boat. Cresting waves
generally do not break over the boat as a result because the slick steals their
power somehow.
This afternoon we changed
from the double-reefed main to storm trysail.
It was the first time we had ever raised the trysail, and we're really
pleased at how it looks and at the rigging, including the new sheet leads. Then we deployed the "Sea Brake"
sea anchor on 120' of half-inch twisted nylon rode. I had never used a sea anchor on Estrela or
any other boat and we'd been meaning to try out this critical piece of safety
equipment under windy, rough conditions.
The sea anchor filled but has extended more aft than I had anticipated
it would. And Estrela continues to move
forward. I will keep tinkering in the
morning to see of I can achieve the ideal Lin and Larry Pardey
heaving-to slick. They've written a book
called "Storm Tactics Handbook" and made an accompanying DVD (both of
which we have on board), which focus almost entirely on tactics for heaving to
in varying boats.
We feel much more
comfortable hove-to and it's a lot easier on Estrela and her sails and rig,
with this wind and these rough seas.
It's also giving Kyle and me a chance to catch up on sleep. Eliza even stood watch alone for an hour
today, giving Kyle and me a chance to nap at the same time, a first for us on
any passage. The weather forecasts don't
show the winds moderating for a couple days, however. Hmmmmmm. And the longer we
remain hove-to the further to the west we'll drift, however. This will force us to steer closer to the
wind to reach North Minerva, once we start moving again.
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, November 09,
2004 8:08 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
2330 local time Tuesday,
November 9, 2004 (1030 GMT 11/09/04); S 21 deg 40' / W 177 deg 39'; on passage
to New Zealand, currently about 140 NM WSW of Tongatapu,
Kingdom of Tonga, and about 136 NM NE of North Minerva Reef. Hove-to on port tack with the double reefed
main and "Sea Brake" sea anchor; drifting 355 deg T @ 1.4 knots. Wind: SW approx 9 to 12 kts,
sky: almost completely clear with lots of stars; air temp: 75 deg F; water
temp: 75 deg F; barometer: 1012 mb; visibility:
excellent. A lovely
night at sea.
The wind and seas finally
moderated, blue skies and stars have replaced the rain clouds and we've dried
out Estrela's cabin. Tummies have
settled. Homeschool
is back in a groove and parents have caught up on sleep. How different voyaging in a small boat feels today
than it did 48 hours ago. We're hove to
now because the wind is right on our nose, and until
the last hour or so it was also moderately strong (approx 15 to 19). It seemed a waste of fuel, as well as too
uncomfortable, to motor directly into the SW breeze and chop. This contrary wind is being generated by a
tropical low pressure system that formed north of us, between Fiji and Samoa,
and is tracking just east of Tonga toward the south. It's projected to move fairly quickly and to
start turning SE. For us it's generating SW winds right now. The system is supposed to move through fast
enough to allow our wind to diminish and to shift to a more favorable direction
within 12 to 24 hours. We'll probably
start up the engine again if the wind speed drops below 10 kts
even if the direction remains contrary.
We really want to get to Minerva, drop the anchor and take a break to
prepare for the next push to NZ. Another
reason we opted to heave-to tonight is that we knew we had too far to go to
reach the pass into Minerva lagoon by dark tomorrow. So we were going to have to heave-to sometime
en route to Minerva anyway. Might as well do it when the wind is against us.
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, November 11,
2004 4:22 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
2100 local
time Thursday, November 11, 2004 (0800 GMT 11/11/04); S 23 deg 15' / W 178 deg
38'; on passage to
Great
sailing all day. We had motored much of last night and the
early morning in either no wind or a light SW headwind. Then it filled in again from the SE and then
ESE, the direction of the tradewinds that blow in
this area most of the time. It's been a
relief to return to "normal" wind conditions after the last almost
week of unsettled weather. True to form,
though, conditions changed again soon.
Though the wind stayed about the same, the sky became squally and since
mid-morning we've sailed through one rain squall after another. We must be going through some sort of
convergence zone or stationary front. The wind generally has increased about five to eight knots and
shifted anywhere from 20 to 45 degrees as we've passed under each of these
squalls. It's made for an active
day for the helmsperson and Estrela has kept a brisk pace, despite our having
shortened sail to avoid arriving too soon at the pass into North Minerva Reef.
Since it is just a reef, completely submerged at low tide, we don't want to get
very close to it until daylight, and we can only enter the pass when the light
is good enough to be able to see clearly the edges of the reef. So we have set a waypoint a few miles to the
NE of the reef. When we get there we
will heave-to and wait for daylight before closing any further.
We have a date to meet up
with another sailboat just outside the pass at 8:00 AM. The other boat has lost its engine. Its fuel lines probably became blocked when
sediment at the bottom of a fuel tank was stirred up by the rough seas and
overwhelmed the secondary and primary fuel filters. They are hoping to be able to take the fuel
lines apart, including the injectors, and clean everything out, but need the
calm anchorage of Minerva for this involved procedure. Before the wind arrived again this morning
Estrela had begun to motor toward their position to begin towing her toward
Minerva. We had learned of her plight on
an SSB radio net about 7:45 this morning.
Once both boats could sail again we resumed course for Minerva,
maintaining an hourly radio schedule just in case the wind died again. Though it now looks as though we'll have good
wind at least through tomorrow the only question is whether the wind direction
will allow the other boat to sail through the pass. We also have the tidal current in the pass to
contend with. So we on Estrela will
stand by as the other boat takes its shot at entering
the pass. If she needs assistance we
will be ready to provide a tow. This
would not be the simplest procedure for a couple heavy and unwieldy boats and
one 50 hp engine, and I don't have any experience on either end of such a
towing operation. But there's always a
first time, right? Let's hope the wind
angle and speed and the visibility are all great and the tidal current weak and
she sails through like a champ. -- Doug
PS -- Yesterday we caught a
small "little tunny," a small type of tuna,
trolling with a pink, blue and green rubber squid just before dinner. It was the perfect size for a big plate of
fish sticks. The girls were fascinated
to watch the cleaning operation, especially when we discovered the fish's
stomach was full of small squid.
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, November 13,
2004 7:49 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
2330 local time Thursday, November
13, 2004 (1030 GMT 11/13/04); S 23 deg 39.427' / W 178 deg 54.043'; at anchor
in 50' sand bottom at SE side of North Minerva Reef lagoon; wind: ESE 12 to 14 kts; sky: 100% clear -- stars, stars, stars; about two
hours before low tide; calm water with very little wind chop; air temp: 72 deg
F; water temp: 70 deg F; barometer: 1017 mb;
visibility: unlimited.
We arrived at the entrance
of the Minerva Reef lagoon pass at 0800 yesterday, ready to tow the engine-less
boat in if she couldn't sail through. It
was soon clear she would have to be towed.
Under the circumstances we might have succeeded, but 18 kts of headwind and a 2 kt
outgoing tidal current would have turned us into the "I think I can, I
think I can" little sailboat that could.
Low and behold, however, a NZ-bound 50' cruising sailboat with a 100 hp
engine and bow thrusters appeared out of the misty dawn light just outside the
pass at exactly the same moment.
Appropriately named "Friendship II," she took the other boat
in tow and powered slowly but steadily through the pass with Estrela close
behind. Once inside, the big ocean swell
replaced by a moderate wind chop, conditions abruptly felt much more
benign. We motored from the NW to the SE
side of the lagoon across clear, danger-free water 30' to 200' deep and
anchored among a dozen other boats also taking breathers from their voyages to
New Zealand. There were our friends
aboard Aegir (Norwegian), Trade Secret (British) and Water Dragon (Californian),
all cheering for us from their decks or over the VHF radio. Minutes after our anchor was set Aegir (Kjetil and Anna) presented us with a thermos of strong
brewed coffee and Water Dragon (Taryn and Graham)
picked us up in their dinghy and brought us to their cozy boat for a big
pancake breakfast. Trade Secret (Karen
and Stephen) invited us for a fish curry meal.
A little later our other new friends, who now could start working on
repairing their engine, dropped by to give us a thank-you gift of five lbs of Mahi Mahi fillets they'd just caught. They also invited us for an early dinner of
home-made foccaccio pizza and white wine. Minerva's calm water and affectionate
welcomes were the ideal antidote to the accumulated
stress and sleep deprivation of our unexpectedly rough eight-day passage from
After a great long night of
sleep and waking to cloudless blue skies and moderated winds we slowed down for
a lingering breakfast today. Amazingly,
Eliza and Abigail had just about finished their schoolwork by the time Kyle and
I got up at 8:15. Wow!! We all sat around the table reminiscing about
the passage and brainstorming about what lies ahead for us in New Zealand. Then we pulled the cabin apart to lay as much
as we could out to dry in the breezy, sunny weather. Our aim was to get Estrela ship shape and
ready to go back to sea but also to go explore Minerva's fascinating-looking
reef at low tide, around 2:00. We
expected an update on the weather situation later in the day and might be
leaving again for NZ as soon as tomorrow.
But we didn't want to miss out on this opportunity to experience one of
the most remarkable places any of us will ever visit. We walked the 1/4 mile-wide reef and
snorkeled along its inner perimeter and deeply cut channels leading out on the
windward side. It seemed wild and
healthy, teeming with fish -- many big and most unafraid of us, the water
clear. The water pouring off the inner
reef into the lagoon had been sun-warmed and made the interesting snorkeling
along the lagoon edge as warm as any we've enjoyed in the South Pacific,
despite the fact the ambient water temperature in the open ocean and within the
lagoon is now a chilly (for us) 70 degrees.
Well the weather information
arrived. It looks as though a fairly
good weather window has just opened up. We
are now planning to depart Minerva tomorrow morning for New Zealand! Several of the boats here already left late
this afternoon. Two that have been
"stuck" here by unfavorable passage weather forecasts for 10 and 14
days, respectively, are finally heading out tomorrow too. We think all dozen boats will have left by
noon tomorrow. Though we have a lot to
do ourselves to be ready to weigh anchor, including taking the wind generator
apart and deflating, packing and tying-down the dinghy, as well as refilling
the port fuel tank, we hope to depart by noon as well. To reach Opua, the
nearest NZ port, before the next nasty low and its associated fronts and high
winds reach northern NZ we will need Estrela and her crew to perform at our
absolute peak. We will need to average
110 NM per day for 7 1/2 days.
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, November 16,
2004 8:44 AM
Subject: weblog entry
0200 local time Wednesday,
November 17, 2004 (1300 GMT 11/16/04); S 27 deg 58' / E 178 deg 18'; Day 3 of
passage from Minerva to New Zealand; 295 NM SSW of North Minerva Reef pass
entrance; 485 NM NNE of Opua, NZ on a direct course
of 206 deg T. Sailing on a port tack
beam reach with full main, genoa and and staysail; making 215 deg T @ 5.0 knots. Wind: ESE
approx 14 kts, sky: clear; air temp: 70 deg F
(getting chilly!); water temp: 70 deg F; barometer: 1020 mb;
visibility: v. good; last two 24 hour runs: 118 NM and 112 NM.
We are in a race against
time and weather. We need to get to NZ
by Monday, November 22, before a nasty front hits the North Island bringing
strong SW winds for as long as a week.
It's a narrow "weather window," but we are going for it, along
with a small flotilla of other boats that left North Minerva Reef lagoon at the
same time. There is excitement and lots
of tension in the air as this fleet tries to beat the odds. Some boats are really fast big boats who will make it without a skipped heart beat, and then
there are several small boats who, like Estrela, have to work hard for every
mile covered. It is very exciting to
push Estrela and crew to new heights, and very nerve-wracking as well. I keep asking God for strength and courage to
face whatever comes our way. If we see
that we can't make it, then we'll retreat and heave-to offshore, possibly north
of 30 deg S latitude, depending on where the low is tracking, for however long
it takes the bad weather to pass, always conscious that the longer we stay near
the tropics, the closer we will get to the more active time of the SW Pacific
tropical cyclone season. "Tropical
cyclone" is what they call a hurricane out here.
To add a little more
excitement, our various food stores and water supply are not unlimited. Because NZ is very strict about what you can
bring into the country, most cruisers provision lightly for this trip and
expect to eat their way through their stores--in essence eat their way to
NZ! Estrela is almost out of the fresh
stuff and I've started to look into the bottom of the bilges to find forgotten
items--I found two packages of Twizzlers
licorice! Unfortunately, all of our
rice, a main staple of our diet, is badly infested with weevils. I looked to see what my various cruising
books say about weevils -- basically, think of the little black critters as
extra protein in your diet. Thanks a
lot! So we had a family meeting about
the rice and the girls decided to go "vegetarian" and Doug and I
demonstrated that not only is the speckled rice nutritious, but it also
actually tastes great. Most cruisers say
to add pepper so you never know the difference!
Our watermaker still makes brackish water, so
we've allotted one tank as drinkable and one tank as wash water. Basically I fill water bottles for drinking
and then switch tanks so that the faucets run with the wash water all day
long. We also use spray bottles with
wash water for hand/face/body washing, which really cuts down on
consumption. If we get low on potable
water, we have several contingency plans.
A) To add brackish water to the fresh water. B) To reconfigure the watermaker
so that it can reprocess the brackish water, thereby creating a double
processing of the sea water--very time and energy consuming. C) To
drink brackish water as long as its salinity is not over that of regular bodily
fluids--tears, sweat. Just add lots of Kool-aid!
Just
another exciting passage on Estrela . . .
:-)
Kyle
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, November 18,
2004 6:13 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
10:00 PM local time
Thursday, November 18, 2004 (0900 GMT 11/18/04); S 30 deg 12' / E 176 deg 10';
Day 5 of passage from Minerva to New Zealand; 314 NM NNE of Opua,
NZ on a bearing of 199 deg T. Sailing on
a port tack close-hauled with double-reefed main, staysail and a
handkerchief-sized piece of the genoa/yankee
unfurled; making 235 deg T @ 3.4 knots.
Wind: SSW approx 20-22 kts, sky: 70% clear;
air temp: 65 deg F (great for sleeping!); water temp: 68 deg F; barometer: 1023
mb; visibility: only fair due to waves; last two 24
hour runs: 118 NM (Day 3) and 91 NM (Day 4).
This is tough going, beating
into an unexpected strong headwind. The
steep, close-together seas combined with the shape of Estrela's hull (beamy
forward, without a "fine" entry) cause us to "hobby-horse"
and to go slowly, despite the strong wind.
Others in our flotilla of smaller boats (all around 32 to 35 feet long)
have hull shapes more suited to these conditions and are pointing closer to the
wind and traveling 2 to 2 1/2 knots faster.
At this point, though, speed forward might be a mixed blessing. We anticipate the wind shifting from the SSW
to the SSE tomorrow morning some time.
Getting too far to the west before that shift could make for a long,
slow beat back upwind to reach Opua, our destination
for making landfall and for clearing with NZ Customs and other officials.
We have been battling this
SSW headwind since about 5:00 this morning.
For extended periods the wind has blown 25+ knots, with 29 knots the
highest gust observed. As recently as
last night, our weather sources had forecast today's wind here as SSE at about
12 knots. This is a great reminder that
a seemingly small difference in wind direction and force can have an enormous
impact on ETA and comfort. If the wind doesn't shift back to the SSE soon we
will face the daunting prospect of tacking back and forth in strong wind over
300 miles to slowly claw back upwind to Opua. In these rough conditions we cannot use the
engine for long. This is mostly because
the boat's violent motion stirs up sediment in the bottoms of our fuel tanks
which would quickly clog primary and secondary fuel filters.
Amazingly, five of the
sailboats that left Minerva about the same time (we started four or five hours
behind them) are still in VHF radio range of each other, so we have all been
able to talk with each other anytime we wished, since all the boats keep their
VHF radios on Channel 16 throughout the day and night. Two of these five boats
have no SSB transmission capability, only reception. So for them, getting to talk with other boats
by VHF during a passage is a big treat.
And considering the seriousness of this passage, it gives all of us some
added piece of mind to know that a friendly voice is nearby (anywhere from 10
to 20 miles away) and monitoring Channel 16 24/7.
The latest weather
information shows we do not have to race to arrive in Opua
before the 22nd of November to avoid gale winds. It looks as though we have at least another
day as a cushion and can arrive in Opua on Monday the
22nd or even Tuesday the 23rd. We will
follow the weather very closely and will try hard to keep our speed up.
-- Doug
PS -- The Woodstock homeschool group will enjoy hearing that Eliza, Abigail and
Kyle sang the New Zealand Geography song over VHF Channel 06 at dinner time
today, to buoy any sagging spirits in the nearby fleet. These are sure great songs!
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, November 19,
2004 7:43 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
2:00 AM
local time Saturday, November 20, 2004 (1300 GMT 11/19/04); S 31 deg 07' / E
175 deg 00'; Day 6 of passage from Minerva to
* * * *
We're getting closer! The wind is diminishing and backing a little
to the east of south. We still cannot
sail directly toward Opua, our destination,
however. In fact, on our present course
we would sail right by New Zealand, passing well to the north. What we're counting on is the latest weather
forecast, which calls for the wind to moderate or even become light and to back
all the way around to the N and then NW over the next 24 hours. These would be favorable wind directions,
allowing us to alter course back to the south for our final approach to Opua. The weather
that tracks toward NZ across the Tasman Sea from Australia is often volatile,
forecasts having to be updated frequently to keep up. We really want to be snugly at anchor in Opua by the time a forecast front and associated low
pressure system(with strong west winds) arrive over the North Island. They are coming our way; we just don't know
how fast. Every few hours we download
another weather fax over the SSB radio, giving us a new picture of what's
happening now and what the NZ Meteorological Service forecasts will happen over
the next 30, 48 and 72 hours. And at
night we receive emails from NZ and Fiji with more information -- grib files showing wind speed and direction arrows plotted
on a chart of the SW Pacific (also looking out 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours), and
also a daily text descriptions of major formations such as fronts and
convergence zones. Estrela is racing to reach
Opua before the looming ugly front arrives. Time to wake Kyle for the
watch change and to shake out the reef in the mainsail. We need all the speed we can (safely)
get! -- Doug
* * * *
This passage to NZ is like a
final exam for Estrela and crew. We are
using all the skills that we have acquired throughout this past year. First of all we are really sailing her hard
(always mindful of too much stress on the rigging). That means that we are more
quick to make sail adjustments.
Mostly Doug and I do this as a team, but I'm now able to do a lot of
this myself! (Of course, Doug can single-hand Estrela.) Instead of leaving the sail configuration as
is while waiting for the wind to pick back up, we add more sail and shake out
reefs more quickly and efficiently, even at night. This means, though, that if we get caught by
some gusty conditions, we have to react quickly to decrease her power by taking
sails in, so as not to over stress the rig.
We are now seasoned enough to take the greater heeling and bumpier
motion that come with going faster. If
the wind gets really light, we crank on the engine, if the seas are not too
boisterous. A lumpy sea churns up gunk
in the bottom of the fuel tanks. If the
engine is running this crud can quickly clog the fuel filters, or heaven
forbid, the engine (which happened once on an earlier passage). We flew the spinnaker in the beginning of the
trip and Doug hand steered Estrela for a triumphant beginning, passing boats
and keeping up with our friends Aegir, Trade Secret, and Waterdragon,
all also small but generally faster than Estrela in most conditions. In the light wind and seas, Estrela's Perkins
50hp engine kept us up with the "fleet." Now we are experiencing Estrela's worst
sailing conditions, beating or "going to weather" in a choppy sea,
which means basically that the wind is right on our nose and Estrela has to
climb up the waves and then falls down off them. Because the Westsail
is so beamy for a 32 ft boat, our interior is roomy but her hull shape does not
slice through the water as efficiently.
In sailor talk, her entry is not fine.
The other three boats, with sleeker hull shapes, are
now long gone, 40 to 60 NM ahead of us.
We have also been passed over the last 24 hours by the boats that we had
earlier passed ourselves, as well as by other big, fast boats that left Tonga
well after we did. With all this talk
about passing other boats and being passed, you'd think that I'd become a
racer. Well, I guess that I've caught
the sailing bug. This is exciting!
We honed our storm tactic
skills earlier in this passage, on the way to Minerva Reef, and have endured
some pretty wet conditions. It's especially
troubling when the green water is making rivers in the cabin. But we were able to dry out in Minerva and
start afresh. We are working on our "to do" list for NZ -- the top
priority is repairing, or more likely replacing, the leaky teak decks and tracing
and plugging any other means of water entry into the cabin.
This passage has challenged
our understanding of weather forecasting.
The weather has been much more varied and complicated than in the steady
tradewinds region north of 20 or 25 degrees south
latitude. Doug, in particular, has
become quite proficient at reading all the weather faxes and grib files, making sense of all those isobars and front
lines and wind arrows. This is a new
skill for us and we have really needed it for this trip, since we truly are at
the mercy of Nature.
Galleywise, I'm mastering cooking at
an angle with flying ingredients. I'm
happy to announce that we are all well-fed.
I've become a wiz at making edible meals with canned food as well as
baking a lot of special treats. Bread
making has become a highlight. Go
figure.
The girls are thriving in
their schooling. It's taken a while to
figure out how to do homeschool when at sea and we
have actually found that being at sea is one of our best school times. Interestingly, most boats with kids, we have
learned, don't school much at sea. I
guess that we have such a great curriculum that the girls can do most of the
work on their own. Sure we have road
blocks, especially when teachers Mom and Dad are very busy with sailing and
can't help at all and/or conditions are too rough, but the girls are learning
to manage their time well. Eliza has
really helped out a lot with Abigail's work.
Eliza listens to Abigail's reading lesson, or she reads the instructions
for Abby's work, or she corrects it.
Talk about a one-room school . . . very Laura Ingalls.
Best of all, I'm handling
sea sickness much better, which is good for the whole boat.
Well, we're almost
there. We can't let up. And if we keep up our good attitudes we may
just get an "A".! ---- Kyle
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, November 22,
2004 9:40 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
11:00 PM local time Monday,
November 22, 2004 (1000 GMT 11/21/04); S 35 deg 19' / E 174 deg 07'; Day 8 of
passage from Minerva to New Zealand; Tied to Customs' Quarantine Dock, Opua, NZ Wind:
Variable, calm. sky:
75% overcast; air temp: 60 deg F; water temp: 60 deg F; barometer: 1017 mb; visibility: good; last 24 hour run: 75 NM (Day 7).
We made it to New
Zealand!!!! Estrela arrived in Opua, NZ at 7:15 PM and is tied up at the
Customs/Quarantine dock awaiting the officials' arrival in the morning. More details later re our last 36 hours --
not easy. 35 knots of wind from the
north expected tomorrow. We are so happy
not to be at sea when this gale arrives.
Boat and crew Too exhausted to write more.
-- Doug
Copyright © 2003-2009 Doug and Kyle Hopkins. All rights reserved.