Generally speaking, most people have some sort of loose plan concerning their activities, especially over the near term and certainly for big events. I am not jaded enough to think what we are doing is not a big event, nor do I think having a general idea of where we are going over the next few months is frivolous.
Sailing is however an activity that demands a certain amount of flexibility, like the wind is not blowing, or coming from the wrong direction, or the waves are bigger than I like or this is a lovely cove to be anchored in so why rush? There are literally unlimited reasons to not plan where to go or when and just a few reasons that make some planning essential.
For example, our insurance company is risk averse when it comes to hurricanes and tropical cyclones, so they lay out boundaries in my insurance policy that for instance state that I promise to be south of 25° South by November 15th in order to be away from the most probable locations of Pacific Cyclones.
That tidbit goes a long way in explaining why we are headed for New Zealand to spend the summer there. The point of this is to also provide intervening information, like where are we going on the way to New Zealand.
Well this morning I finished a spreadsheet with dates, locations, distances, start and finish times and days ashore which takes us up to mid November when we expect to arrive in New Zealand. Sorry to disappoint that I can not share the spreadsheet in this post but I can tell you about it.
The next two islands we will be visiting are Huahanie and Raiatea, each for a couple of days, before a five day stop in Bora Bora. When we leave Bora Bora we will be leaving French Polynesia. We will have sailed a couple of thousand miles across French Polynesia, covering a very small percentage of its area.
After Bora Bora, actually about 540 NM downwind, we will reach Rarotonga, where we will also spend about five days. A bit over 600 NM later we will arrive at Nuie for an additional five day visit. I know only what I have read or heard about either island, but if nothing else has been learned on this voyage I have come to believe that the superlative descriptions of people and places are understated so this next group of islands should be awesome.
After Nuie a short 250 NM sail will deliver us to the Kingdom of Tonga, one of the few countries on earth controlled by a Monarch. We plan to spend about 21 days there, then we sail to Fiji, only about 380 NM away. My impression of both Tonga and Fiji is they are the essence of the South Pacific. Though most of the classic films about the South Pacific were filmed in Moorea or Bora Bora (or elsewhere with background from these two islands) it seems to me that their names alone conjure up what many think this part of the world is like.
From Fiji we head for New Zealand which is a 1200 NM sail with few, if any, places to take a rest stop along the way. Twelve hundred miles used to seem like a really long trip, but not so much anymore. A little perspective may be in order. Back in the old days I used to sail this boat from Ft Myers to Mystic, CT in the spring and back in the fall. That trip was about 1200 NM each way and the conditions were not always pleasant. On January 1st this year the log read 5945 NM less than it does today. When we arrive in New Zealand it will be more than 9000 NM beyond the beginning of this year. To me, that is a hell of a good start on this adventure, and wherever it takes us next. More later.......