NZ to Fiji -- Setting Off
01 July 2014 | Passage from NZ to Fiji
posted by Coral Bliss Taylor
Happy Canada Day everyone! Enjoy the Red & White festivities and fireworks! Here in NZ it's a day to miss home, and to reflect on all the good fortune and privileges that come from being Canadian.
Here in NZ the days are short and dark and while not quite winter as far as Canadians experience it, definitely not summery. Here in NZ, the question very much on our minds is this: When to leave to head North, back to the Tropics?? Most cruisers depart in May once the Austral Fall is well under way. They prefer bikini sailing, whereas we Canadians prefer the cooler temperatures of more temperate zones. We also had our wonderful long-stay visas in hand so therefore opted to take advantage of them and keep exploring NZ for a few extra months.
Every sailor's favourite Kiwi weatherman, Bob McDavitt (a pink-cheeked, twinkly-eyed Hobbit) puts out a weekly weather Mcblog advising sailors about travel in the South Pacific. At this time of year, wintery gales are a regular feature and best avoided but apparently it's ideal to leave at the tail end of a Low to take advantage of the southerly winds. Lows revolve clockwise down here in the Southern Hemisphere.
Although Bob's advice to sailors was to depart Friday (which they by and large won't do, being superstitious and it being considered an unlucky day to leave port), we decided, after checking the weather reports and grib files again and again, to leave Opua on Wednesday July 2, in order to better get a boost from the immediate southerlies. There was a gale warning still in effect for the Cape Brett area, but according to NZ MetService the winds were predicted to quickly ease to 25 knots then to 15 knots by the following evening.
The gribs, which are an excellent indication of wind but not always 100% accurate, as weather is weather and wont to do as it pleases, also showed a patch of rough seas and 35-45 knot winds farther north, a day out, but then again that looked short-lived, lasting up to 12 hours.
Beyond that, all looked good for a decent passage.
(Besides, hadn't we just sailed up from Auckland in strong and gusty winds - some as high as 52 knots?! Ahh, but then we had been on the lee shore of NZ so protected from big swells...)