18 September 2022 | 08 16.9'S:116 39.6'E, Bali Sea
22 July 2022 | 05 05.0'S:131 02.6'E, Banda Sea
08 July 2022 | 10 34.2'S:142 03.3'E, Torres Strait, Arafura Sea
01 June 2022 | Coral Sea, East Coast Australia
11 April 2022 | 32 14.9'S:152 41.2'E, Tasman Sea, East Coast Australia
10 April 2022 | Newcastle, Australia Tasman Sea
24 December 2020 | Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Newport, NSW, Austrailia
05 June 2020 | Ku-Ring-Gai-Chase National Park, NSW, Australia
21 March 2020 | Sydney Harbour
15 March 2020 | Tasman Sea
15 March 2020 | Port Arthur, Tasmania
12 March 2020 | Port Arthur, Tasmania
10 January 2020 | Prince of Wales Bay
31 December 2019 | 42 53.0'S:147 20.15'E, Hobart, Tasmania
29 December 2019 | 41 06.6'S:149 49.8'E, Tasman Sea
28 December 2019 | 39 42.26'S:149 58.0'E, South of Bass Strait, Tasman Sea
27 December 2019 | 36 59.9'S:151 04.4'E, Southbound Off the Coast of Australia
26 December 2019 | 35 17.3'S:151 23.5'E, Southbound Off the Coast of Australia
25 December 2019 | Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Sydney
17 December 2019 | Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Sydney
Timing is Everything
05 July 2017 | South Pacific Ocean
Larry Green
This, the last 24 hours or so, can be the most challenging part of a passage through this part of the Pacific. The reason is timing your arrival at the atoll. Why, one might ask is that different than arriving at an island or any other landfall. As noted previously atolls are lagoons surrounded by reefs. The objective is to get inside the reef and anchor in the crystal clear waters of the lagoon. Oceans can have large tidal changes and lagoons often have limited ways for the tide to ebb and flood. Rangiora, where we expect to be Thursday morning has a circumference of more than 100 miles, it is about 40 miles long and 17 wide. The reef is made up of about 240 motus separated from each other by tiny passes. Except for two, which are navigable and which let all that water in and out. I have no idea how much water flows through those two passes every six hours or so to raise or lower the depth by a couple of feet, but it is a lot. So much that rip currents and short steep waves are a regular occurrence and tidal currents can run up to 5 or 6 kts. Islands with big bays and open anchorages don't have those issues. All that brings me to the point about timing. Ideally we want to arrive about a half hour after high or low tide, and in daylight. It is easier to slow the boat down than to speed up or wait a few hours, so that is what we did last night. Low tide tomorrow is about noon, so if we do it right we are there shortly after that, if not....More later