Dietmar Petutschnig
11/13/2009, 40 nm to Opua New Zealand

land ho !

land !

now we see it . 09:21 AM Local 20:49 Zulu time

there it is - the land of the long white cloud !

we have crawled into merciless winds for 9 days beating at 3 knots an hour taking a bashing every 8 seconds.

a sort of crawling into an everlasting spanking ...

so overall 185,760 bashes since Minerva reef - 1 % of them hurt - those violent gasps in mid air - upon release the vessel shatters itself onto another rogue 6 - 10 foot wave - repercussions - percussions - shake rattle and roll - the bang - the roll - repeat .

this has been by far the most miserable part of the voyage thus far - it "almost" broke our spirits - a broken boom - a nasty and cold wind of 15 kts steady on the nose as high as 23 - consistent - relentless - but there on the horizon is the prize - the finish line - our home for the next 6 months.

no remorse .

new zealand - land ho !

JOURNEY

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Dietmar Petutschnig
11/09/2009, en route to New Zealand

It was a sobering sound - a loud boom and I scuttled up to the fly bridge of Carinthia. The boom was torn at the part where the preventer was attached to the last 3rd of the boom.

A simple mistake - a terrible ordeal - 700 n.m. from New Zealand in on eof the worst seas and no more methods to raise the main.

Good news - we have plenty of fuel to motor there - or so we hope - Bad news - in order to head directly for Opua we are bashing [ straight into SW waves and winds ] so we need to slow down - 2.5 - 3 knots in these high seas - so our daily average is dropping to 70 nm and even though we are "only" 300 n.m. out it will take us 4 maybe even 5 days to get there.

Every day adds the odds of a weather bomb and further slowing of the trip. So keep you fingers crossed - the waves low and the winds modest. There are currently 24 yachts on the morning Big Momma Net - vessels en route to New Zealand from Tonga -

We are the ones with the broken boom.

Good news is Sparcraft is ready with a replacement boom in Auckland so a new boom will be had before Xmas.

Boom goes the boom -

The adventure continues.

JOURNEY

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Dietmar Petutschnig
11/04/2009, Minerva Reef

Minerva Reef.

It's a mythical place. On the edge of the Southern Pacific.

A place between Tonga and New Zealand.

A shelter of sorts - an oasis to yachts in transit - a place to regroup for the final dash south to escape the

cyclone season of the winter months in the central Pacific.

3 nm in diameter a perfect reef rises out of 6,000 + feet of the ocean floor.

an oceanic castle.

sharks turtles parrot fish lobsters red skies and unforgettable clear night skies

no artificial lights other than anchor lights - 10 yachts left today -

we will leave tomorrow - a trek of probably 3 - 4 ships to get to New Zealand -

the weather looks good for the passage - although always challenging -

as the southern ocean spews up it's spring storms unannounced and in a cycle of 5 days

so you are guaranteed a whack - on a voyage of 6 days - the question is the order of magnitude .

there is nothing worst than knowing that one will suffer ...

see you in New Zealand -

whakadoodledo !

JOURNEY

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