11/04/2008, Tongatapu, Tonga
Hey Everyone,
This'll be short. Kay and I are in the southern most island group in Tonga. We are anchored off a motu near the town of Nuku'alofa on the island of Tongatapu. There is a huge glut of cruising boats anchored here waiting for the right weather to make the leap to New Zealand. Ashore, a bar called "Big Mammas" keeps all the sailors happy and together swapping stories about weather and gear. One week ago, Kay and I decided to leave from here instead of Vava'u. Because of this, we shorten the trip to NZ by two days and get to see one more fabulous place in Tonga.
We've spent the last few days getting ready. All our "summer" clothes have been packed away and the cold weather clothes taken out of moth balls for the first time in nine months. Even though we are going into the southern hemisphere's summer, it's still early in the season and cold offshore. Little Wing is ready and able for her last leg; 1, 000 miles to Opua on the north island of New Zealand. We have been diligently checking the weather and planning our route south. The mast is strong despite our efforts to destroy it. We joke that if crossing the Pacific is like getting an advanced degree in offshore sailing, then this leg is like the final exam. This will be the second longest run of the trip, the longest leg being the first from San Diego to the Marquesas. Despite the fact that that leg was three times longer, it was all down wind. This leg, unfortunately, will have a lot of windward sailing which can be much harder. But as I said, we're ready.
So we check out of the country tomorrow and wait for the right weather window. We will be doing our "offshore update schedule" once we depart. This means position reports every 24 hours and a journal update every 48. Love to all our friends and family. We're almost there!
Crew of Little Wing Malo!
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Comments [2]
Douglas , S/V Calliste , Singapore
10/22/2008, Vava'u, Tonga
Hi Everyone!
It's true that time goes by quickly when you're having fun. The last four weeks have been full of sailing in flat, protected waters, sharing remote anchorages with good friends, swimming with humpback whales and enjoying good beer and wine in some wonderful local establishments. But now, the mood is starting to change here in Tonga as many yachts are preparing to leave for New Zealand.
Craig and I realized today that we have been here for a month. Since arriving we have met up with many of our cruising friends from the passage to-date and have made many new ones. A highlight of our visit has been our adventure swimming with the humpback whales. I have to admit, I was terrified at first, but could not resist the once in a life-time opportunity. We left bright and early with our friends Lin and Larry and two other couples (one from Sweden and one from Tasmania) on board a Beluga Diving aluminum motor cat along with our two Tongan guides. One stayed at the helm while the other swam with us in the water. After leaving the harbor it took about an hour of searching before a mother and calf were spotted on the north side of the Vava'u Group. The mother was nursing her 12 foot long, three week old calf. They would both come to the surface to breathe and then gradually descend to a depth of about forty feet to nurse. We were able to swim above and watch them rise up and down over the course of about three hours. I spent about twenty minutes swimming with the group of four other divers; but, Craig was in the water the whole time. He just couldn't get enough. These animals are spectacular. Since the water was perfectly clear, we could see the calf nursing from our position at the surface. As the calf began to come back to the surface, the mother would follow. She was enormous. It was amazing how close we were and how comfortable they were with us. Check out our pictures from the day in our latest album.
Of all the island groups we have visited, the Vava'u Group in Tonga has been the most cruiser friendly. The town of Neiafu has a variety of restaurants and bars, a cool yacht club which hosts a Friday afternoon race and many shops, bakeries etc. for buying provisions. The people are incredibly friendly. Last week, Craig and I had the opportunity to go to a Kava ceremony which is a tradition in many of the South Pacific Islands. Kava is the powder from the root of the kava plant. It is mixed with water and served in small coconut bowls. The drink tastes a bit like a cold herbal tea, but leaves you with a slight numbing sensation in your mouth and in a very mellow mood. Three Tongan musicians played traditional music as we all sat in a large circle on an intricately woven mat. The combination of the Kava, the music and the atmosphere allowed for a very memorable evening.
Our experiences have been numerous and we will definitely return here some day. However, the weather is starting to change and pretty soon we must be moving on to New Zealand. We plan to leave from here for the 1,100 mile passage sometime after the first of November. In the meantime we are preparing "Little Wing" and saying our good byes to Friends until we meet again in the Bay of Islands on the North Island of New Zealand.
Hope all is well with all of you. We are looking forward to seeing family and friends back home after the first of the year.
Love,
Kay and Craig
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09/26/2008, Vava'u, Tonga
Hello!
Little Wing and Taleisin had a grand reunion in Niuatoputapu. We met a local friend of the Pardeys and she showed us the island as only a local can. Taleisin first made landfall at Niuatoputapu 23 years ago and were the second small yacht ever to call on the island. The reef then was recently blasted away to make for a proper pass into the lagoon. They were taken in by a 17 year old girl, Keini. Now, Keini is 40, married to a Kiwi sailor and has two beautiful kids. For the Pardeys, the reunion was very special. Kay and I were glad to be a part of it.
Taleisin and Little Wing set off for the 160 mile passage south to Vava'u on a Monday morning. The forecast showed a SE wind backing to East. We said our "goodbyes" and "safe passages" heading out the harbor. Little Wing turned east around the island, Taleisin went west. After five hours beating into rising southerly winds and growing swell from the south, Kay and I decided to turn back and wait a day or so for a more easterly wind. We wanted to "sail gently", still not completely trusting our newly repaired mast. No need to hurry. That night the weather was fierce and we were glad of our decision. If not for the Pardeys reputation, we would have worried about them out there, but they literally wrote the book on heavy weather sailing.
Two days later the weather seemed to cooperate. We set out once again. Despite 15-20 knot winds and a large swell, the direction allowed us to lay the line to Vava'u without needing to tack. After 24 hours of close reaching, the weather decided to be difficult once more. The wind swung south-southeast and increased to 25-30 knots. With triple reefed main and staysail, Little Wing stoically pounded to windward into 10-15 foot seas. Each inch south to our destination was hard won. Needless to say, the mast was put to the test and passed with flying colors. We made landfall 44 hours after leaving Niua. It was evening, but we were glad to be in the lee of Vava'u. We hove to for the night with lights of another boat to our north. We guessed it was a local fisherman. The next morning we sailed in amongst the vertical rock shores of the island group...very beautiful The water was flat and anchorages abound. Neiafu, the biggest town in the group, is a cruisers paradise. Mooring balls abound, bars are plentiful and a laid back attitude is mandatory. As we picked up a mooring, friends we haven't seen since Bora Bora came over and greeted us with a hearty "good on ya!" for fixing the mast and catching up. Once settled in, Taleisin sailed in and rafted along side until another mooring ball became available. As it turned out, they were hove to near us the night before. Kay and I were surprised to see them just arriving having had a two day "head start". In true Lin and Larry fashion, we discovered, they hove Taleisin to the night after leaving Niuatoputapu. No reason, they surmised, to beat their brains out going to windward. What we did by going back and anchoring, they did by "parking" Taleisin in the open ocean. Either way, we both made it safely.
So here we are, swinging on a mooring ball surrounded by friends. We still have a few months to explore this island group and possibly two others to the south of us. It's important we leave this part of the Pacific by mid November, the "official" start of cyclone season. So many islands...so little time.
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07/18/2008, Somewhere between Bora Bora and Suwarrow Atoll
Hello from Mr. Toads Wild Ride,
It has been 48 hours of gale force winds (35-45) with seas churning at around 15 to 20 feet. Little Wing has been flying straight down wind, pinned at hull speed and sometimes greater with just a tiny piece of jib rolled out. We once hit 11.5 knots as a huge growler broke under the hull. We'd be scared, but were too busy to think about it. Actually, we have the highest confidence in our little boat, and we're nowhere near needing to heave to as of yet. We departed Bora Bora with five other boats all around 40-50 feet and four of them are still in VHF contact. Two are behind us. It's not a race, of course, but a testament to how fast the Bristol Channel Cutter can be in gnarly weather. Currently, we are passing a much larger boat. Keepin' up with the big boys.
It's nice to be able to chat with the other boats on the radio. Besides the normal routine of giving each other position reports and weather updates, we entertain each other with corny jokes and tales of food to be eaten when life regains normalcy. If the weather allows us to enter Suwarrow Atoll (we're still not sure the weather will lay down enough to go through the pass) we are planning a beach side bonfire to toast our happiness to be on land again (such as it is....Suwarrow being barely above water level).
So all is well on Little Wing...even if it is a little chaotic. We hope to be anchored by this time tomorrow. Less than 100 storm tossed miles to go!
Love to all, Craig
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07/17/2008, Underway broad reaching
Hi Everyone, Little Wing's single sideband tuner packed up so this posting is through our sat phone. I hope it works. We left Bora Bora with a heavy heart. Many friends will be heading south while we continue 590 miles west toward Suwarrow Atoll. Yesterday,we headed out with five other boats: Fearless, Blue Plains Drifter, Island Time, Argonaut and Macy. After 48 hours we are all still within VHF contact. The winds have been steadily building to 25-30 from the southeast. Little Wing is proving her stuff by keeping up with these boats all within the 40-50 foot range. It's nice to be sailing out here among friends.
We're happy to be on a long passage again. Island hopping is fun, but we started to get restless not going somewhere further afar. Suwarow Atoll is a tiny spec between the Societies and American Samoa. Besides the pioneer Tom Neal, who popularized this remote spit of land by homesteading it, Suwarrow is relatively unremarkable. The mystique, however, is how isolated it is. We shall soon see if going out of our way was worth it.
Hopefully, we can get our SSB fixed or replaced in American Samoa. Until then the sat phone is our link to the world. Hope all is well back home. Craig
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07/08/2008, Bora Bora
Hello Everyone,
Well, we're down to three days before our 90 day visa expires. The last time we reported in we had just left Tahiti for the rest of the leeward islands. Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa and Bora Bora were all spectacular. The story was always the same- perfect anchorages, great snorkeling and a cruising fleet of increasingly tight knit, like minded people. From here, however, the fleet will scatter. Basically, there seems to be three options of where to go from here- Rarotonga in the Southern Cook Islands, Suwarrow Atoll in the Northern Cooks, or the big leap straight to Tonga. Kay and I haven't decided what we are going to do yet. In fact, we may pull anchor, head out and see where the best point of sail takes us. Yesterday, we had a great "final party" on Don Pedro (you may recall, we met Don Pedro in the middle of the Pacific somewhere near the equator). Kay and I rigged up our sailing dingy "Poppit" and proposed a time trial race around all the boats in the anchorage. Attending the race were the crews of Fearless, Don Pedro and Tin Soldier. We all must be getting fantastically bored out here because we couldn't of had a better time in our dumpy little tender. We haven't laughed like that in a long while. It's amazing how we can all cross oceans, but get tangled up trying to jibe a seven foot dinghy. After the awards ceremony, we attempted to see how many people we could safely cram in the small boat and still sail. By "safely" I mean without sinking. Slowly we added one person after another, each time sailing around a bit to get used to the added load. By the time we had four people aboard, water started to flow in through the center board trunk. When we picked up the fifth person we added a bailer to the equation. Amazingly, we managed to sail around a bit without mishap...but constant bailing was a priority. With great confidence we added a sixth person. Now things were getting technical. The rail was inches from the water and everyone had to pay very close attention to their movements. One misplaced arm or leg spelled disaster. So now we had six people in a seven foot dinghy which alone weighed only 45 pounds! Once again, we sailed out 100 yards, tacked and got back safely, but one bailer was not enough...we quickly got a second. So now it was time for the record...the seventh person climbed in. We were so tightly packed in it was like some aquatic version of twister. Arms and legs intertwined to the point you lost track of who's were who's. The bailing started immediately. We shoved off the stern of Don Pedro, sheeted in and we were off. Amazingly, we were sailing! The whole crew of seven were laughing like maniacs. Emboldened, I decided it was time to tack...that's when disaster struck. Poor Poppit couldn't handle the load. Immediately, the boat sank straight down. One second we were floating, the next we were swimming. The swimming was hard due to the uncontrollable laughter. Sailing geek fun! Photos will be posted soon. So were off to new horizons. While underway, Kay and I will be doing position reports every 48 hours. Stay tuned. Hello to all our friends and family...we miss you very much. Craig and Kay
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