We are rolling around in our new home off a mooring ball next to the capital of Niue, Alofi. We arrived here after a sleepless night at sea clawing our way through 5-6 meter seas and winds between 30-40 knots and occasionally hitting 50 knots (100 km per hr).

It started around midnight on 30th and with what appeared to be an innocuous cloud just to the south of us. There were other storms around but miles away. Our observations and the forecasts indicated they were all moving SE but not this one. We had been sailing wing on wing with the pole on the port side but reefed in. We also had a reef in the main as a precaution. I had been taking micro sleeps with the watchman and woke to see a distant light which we tried to trace with the radar and AIS to determine its course. We could not find it on either which was worrying. Then all hell broke loose. The wind went SE and started howling, rain pelted down and saturated the bimini. The cockpit was a mass of drips and suddenly the autopilot alarm came on and all the console lights died. Iolea swung towards the wind but it was so dark and the rain so hard we couldn't at first determine where we were - and there was another vessel out there. Fortunately, Roger, the first owner had installed a handheld autopilot which is completely independent of the console and so we were able to get her back on course and under the autopilot again. By this time we were seeing 40 knots plus and sustained winds of around 35 knots. We were on a course to the west and expected this "storm" to pass over and head south. It didn't. We were being knocked quite heavily by the growing seas on this course and so decided to head more north hoping to get away from the storm and running with the swell which was less alarming. We were under engine since we could not bring out the staysail because the pole was still out (from now on it goes up even if we plan to use it an hour later). Both of us were saturated and cold. Paul changed into wet weather gear and harnessed himself in the cockpit. I hadn't slept as yet and was frankly frightened by the now huge seas and so went below and secured myself near the nav station and got an uneasy sleep. By 7am the next morning the winds were still around 30 plus knots but started to subside to a calm 25 plus by 8am. We were 40 miles from Niue.

There is a famous Japanese woodblock of a tidal wave. Its just a peak really but that is exactly what the giant waves look like. Three swells all swollen by wind collide and the boat literally sits for an instant on a peak before falling off its back or being pushed aside.

A skill that must be learnt to land on Niue is the dingy lift. The swells here make it impossible to leave your dinghy in the water so each one has to be lifted onto the dock and parked while you are ashore.