It's Time to Go! Passage. Day 1 to New Zealand
01 November 2016 | Tonga
Jeanette
We have left Tonga to embark on our passage to New Zealand. We plan to head to Minerva Reef first which should take us about 2 days and then re-evaluate the weather and make a decision to continue on straight away or to wait for a while (maybe 5-7 days) in the protection of the reef. We are both on edge at the moment about this passage, but it won't take too long before we get back into the routine of watches, lack of sleep, bowl and spoon meals, radio checkins etc.
We hope to get to New Zealand in time for the All Point's Rally which starts on November 16. The rally is about celebrating the passage to New Zealand and the end stop for crossing the Pacific which to me if I survive this passage will be well worth celebrating. The rally is also about welcoming us to NZ, introducing us to what services are there, the culture and participating in fun events and activities very similar to the Pacific Puddle Jump Rally and the Bluewater Rally in Vava'u. Being involved in those two rallies were some of my best days this year, so I am looking forward to the rally as I can celebrate with friends and it will mean we have achieved our goal of sailing across the Pacific. It is also about saying farewell to many people we have met along the way and we hope that we can meet them in another place, in another time.
I am not sure what the conditions will be like for us on the way to New Zealand and we are getting advice from weather gurus to help us sail in the most comfortable conditions that you can going to New Zealand. I have said to Neil for a long time that I will not be out at the helm if it is really rough on this passage. I might do what Amanda does, when it is rough, she says she hides under a quilt downstairs. I might not stay downstairs, but I have said if the waves are really big, I do not want to stay in the cockpit by myself. Neil can sleep in the cockpit with me and our seats are long enough for us to do that. If it gets really bad, I might lay on the cockpit floor, harness myself to our cockpit table, wish for time to go quickly and cry!
The weather the last couple of hundred miles north of New Zealand is the real issue and on Monday afternoon we held a weather meeting at Big Mammas to go through different weather models and discuss everyone's thoughts. My issue is with the wind being on the nose and the wave height predicted close to NZ when we should be there in that area. Waves around 3m, but it is the predicted short wave period of 5-7seconds that is the bigger issue. Those waves are very close together and makes it tough going when you are pounding into it. Most people are very worried as the weather window is not great, but we received an email from Bob the NZ weather guru who said that there is now a chance of a cyclone developing in Futura north of Tonga and will be passing Tonga around November 15. That is only two weeks away and the thought of being caught here in a cyclone is not good. It also makes us wonder how the cyclone will affect the normal weather systems and then leaving here might be more difficult. So many of us decided that we would leave Tuesday or today as that is the time frame suggested by Bob, Dave from Golf Harbour NZ and John Martin from the All Point's Rally.
The big problem is that we have been told not to arrive around the 8/9 th of November and not to arrive later than the 12th of November as there are fronts across NZ at that time. The fronts are very close together. It only leaves us with a 2 day weather window (10/11th November) to get to NZ after sailing around 850nm from Minerva. This is why when we get to Minerva Reef, we may wait and let these two fronts pass. What we need is for a really big fat high to start going across NZ just after this second front passes. For us the optimum is for us to leave Minerva just after the front passes (12-18 hours after so seas can settle) and sail down on the back on the high as then we could get winds from the north and west, so they will be behind us. As soon as the next front starts coming the winds and waves will be from the SW and then we will be going into the wind, which is what we want to avoid. We need to reach NZ before the next front starts. So we need a big fat high that will last over NZ for about 6-8 days which would give us that time to get to NZ before the next front starts. We don't have a big fat high at the moment and the fronts are very close and so very annoying. So all you people in NZ wish hard for some really fine weather to last for a week and that will be what we need to get us there in better conditions than what we are currently likely to get. I also said to Neil we have a bottle of rum we can open and have a toast to a good trip and give some to the sea to keep the wind gods happy.
It took us a while today to get the final things done. We got fuel, went to the hardware and grocery stores, did our immigration check out, made water and lifted the dinghy onto the deck where it will stay until we reach NZ. It is hard for me to see over the dinghy, but it is the safest place for it to be on this passage. We have about 270 miles to get to Minerva Reef and our current position is 21 degrees 06.548 minutes South and 175 degrees 07.388 minutes west. We are motoring to get out from all the islands around the main island of Tongatapu (Nuku'alofa) at 4.2 knots (conserving fuel). The sky has 20% cloud cover and is fine. Wind is from the east at 20 knots.
We have heard from others on the way that it is very cold close to NZ, so it looks like only a couple of days more to wear shorts and then we will be rugging up. I even got out Neil's beanie and balaclava for him to wear. I have taken my sea sick tablet, tied off my computer to the navigation table to be able to get the weather and write my blog, so let the journey begin!