Every one of you boat owners (even in the sound dad) should get AIS..
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I stopped here to tune and modify the rig which was a little loose. It is all awash at high tide and very flat. Myself and some friends had lots of fun taking Secret Agent Man and four tenders out to the pass one day for spearfishing. There were very big fish, including sharks, and the Tongan Navy came in while we were all swimming in the pass.
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Algae from underwater volcanic activity in the Hapai group, Tonga.
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Nieafu harbor at sunset.. Rantanplan is the orange hull on the left..
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11/25/2011, New Zealand
Eric arrived in Opua, Bay of Islands after sunset on the 20th. He reported an "epic" sail through the islands, hand steering and getting to the quarantine dock just at dark. His final two stormy days on the passage from Tonga were very tiring. However, after a good nights sleep, he is a busy sailor sorting out a boat that has been away from a multi-service boating center since San Deigo, in September 2009. His autopilot has been shipped to Ray Marine, his four large windows are out and being remade or resealed, the dodger is off the boat getting re-sewn, the new lower shroud is being made, the large jib is at the loft getting repaired from the tear developing during the final two days bashing upwind. At the dock, while taking the jib down and off the furler, the forestay chose that time to part at the upper swage, bringing the foil and sail crashing to the deck. All strands, broken at the swage !! Nice that it didn't fail at sea.
Eric is now the owner of a bicycle and has the only unexpired drivers license amongst the cruiser friends at Opua. Today he drives a car (on the left hand side of the road) with other cruisers to Whangeri to bike around, check out the town and boat yard. The eventual haul out and hull repair of Secret Agent Man is a ways off. Overall lots going on and lots to still accomplish. Hopefully he will add the next blog note himself with a photo.
As Eric would say ..."Cheers"
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11/16/2011, South Pacific
Nov 16th - Just spoke with Eric over the Ham radio phone patch via Florida. When the Ham "propagation" is ideal he can raise an amateur radio host in the US who can patch the call through the landline to Tacoma. Tonight he is motor-sailing in light breezes about 350 miles north of New Zealand and expects to make landfall at Opua on our Sunday (his Monday) the 20(21) th. He has had some vigorous sailing and made an unplanned stop at Minerva reef which lies about one third of the way from Tonga to NZ. Here's his e-mail.
"I stopped into minerva reef. Mostly for some rig repair. The leeward spreader
was moving quite a bit and I was worried about it. I got in this morning at 800
and already have it fixed really well. The problem was the spreader's ability to
move back and forth quite a bit. I fixed that with some iron wood wedges and
lots of rigging tape. Ill have to explain that later. I am looking at the
weather right after this and may leave tomorrow. I caught the biggest mahi mahi I have ever [caught] and am eating lots of fish and some guys and I are going to catch some lobster tonight. Sleep now."
The following day Eric organized a spearfishing expedition with five of the dozen anchored boats, using Secret Agent Man as a mothership for five inflatables and crews lingering in the atolls pass for an afternoon of diving. As he sails out of the tropics, he notes the water and air temperatures are starting to fall and the sleeping bag, unused for the last twelve months, has come out of hiding and is being used at night.
With the refrigerator restocked he was back to sea leading to 7 days of brisk SE breezes slowly heading in direction and easing. As the wind slowly veered to the south and SSW he eventually made the tack onto starboard last night at 0200 hrs, now pointing more directly to the Bay of Islands. The predictions are for varied wind and wind direction but in the end should enjoy a westerly for the last 36 hours into port concluding this 1200 mile passage from Vava'u and starting the New Zealand chapter of this saga.
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11/07/2011, South Pacific
Eric left Tonga bound for NZ 1200 miles away on Friday Nov. 4 He might average about 100 miles a day so perhaps by the middle of next week the Bay of Islands and Opua, NZ should be coming over the horizon. This is a weather sensitive passage with the dependable trade winds staying behind in the tropics. Here are some excerpts from his e-mails so far .........
Nov 4// I am at sea bound for Minerva reef. My departure was delayed by both my
autopilots failing right when I was ready to go with the whole boat put away. It
took a while to fix them and yesterday was friday here so I left this morning.
All is well onboard.
Nov 5 // The last 24 hours have not been
stress free though. I sailed through the hapai group last night because I saw a
big header coming and I wanted to stay east. So I only managed a little sleep.
Today I had a haircut and shave and bath just in time. I sailed into a massive
field of Algae. I have never seen anything like it and got some good photos. At
first I thought it was a volcanic eruption. Boats have run into pumice fields
here from underwater eruptions. It was as far as you could see for about 20
miles brown algae.
Nov 6 // I just had a very stressful situation situation on board. It is kinda gnarly
right now. It picked up a little and lifted which is great. The sea is very
confused so there are rouge waves about. I was on the radio with the pacific
seafairers net and got hit by a wave that you would not believe. It was the
hardest I have been hit in any boat. It broke over the whole boat on the beam. I
checked the windows and sails to make sure they were OK. My piece of junk
autopilot failed, again. I just fixed it. So I am hand steering trying to
hardwire it thinking it is the plug. Wasnt. Go to get the other one but had
already taken the plug apart so basically had to do some major rewiring , hand
steering with waves breaking over the boat. I was able to hook the old one up
and it works. Hopefully I can fix the newer one. There is a lot more to the
story but in summary it was one of those situations that is so serious, you dont
panic, and your thinking becomes crystal clear and methodical about how you are
going to solve the problem. It seems to happen at least once a passage. Now,
looking at weather, there is a possability that I am going to skip minerva and
use this weather window that is developing to get south. Only 960 miles to Opua.
Nov. 7 // What a difference the weather makes in a sailors happiness! Today turned into a
dream sail. It is still in the low teens but has lifted a bit. The sea also
mellowed out which makes a huge difference. Today I bailed all the water out of
the boat. It ended up being about 6 or 7 gallons.
So hopefully less drama ahead in the little boat in the big blue ocean. (Dad)
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When we sailed from Tonga to Fiji, we sailed through miles and miles of the stuff. I'm pretty sure it is caused by deep sea hot water vents near volcanic activity. Cheers from Australia!
Hello all,
I am getting ready to sail down to New Zealand from Tonga. Many people have left this last week as this is the prime time of the season to make the passage. I have several weeks left on my visa and am happy to not be in a huge hurry to get down there. I have been fixing my jib by hand for the last few days. I ripped about four feet of the leach line out sailing in about 20 kts of wind last week. As I was fixing that I noticed a lot of other areas of stitching that had had it or were sketchy and I am redoing them by hand. It is not that hard because there are already holes in the Dacron, but it takes a long time. I am glad I did it here and can fix it well in a calm anchorage instead of having to do it at sea or just not having the furling headsail which is very nice to have. The photo is the other thing I found. I have been getting some mistery water in the boat on the last few passages. I think this is the source. What you are looking at is the hull on the starboard side under the diesel tank for the diesel heater. It is about a six inch crack in the hull or part of the hull lay up. I have not yet witnessed it leaking but I really think this is it because if water comes in there it can get into all the compartments that have been getting water in them. There is no visable crack on the outside of the hull... So, Dad, and Steve, I think that this is related to the leak I fixed really well in mexico and that a plane of glass in the hull has slowly developed a leak around the really good fix, and I am going to be able to see something when I grind the paint off in NZ. I do fear that this will be a major root canal. What do you guys think? People besided Dad and Steve can give opinions too. If you dont want to post send to wde9169@gmail.com.
THanks,
Eric
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It is hard to draw a conclusion from the single photo. It could be single ply delamination which probably isn't too bad since it isn't leaking. However, one must ask what caused the crack?
Hello all,
Greatings from vavau again. Nieafu is epic. The bay is super clear and clean which is very very nice. It makes a huge difference in the quality of life onboard if you can jump overboard to cool off or clean up any time you want. It is also town which means the internet and stores which is good in its own way. This last weekend was the rugby world cup semifinals. It turns out that is will be the All Blacks vs France in the final next weeken. Australia got worked by NZ, and Whales had a crushingly close loss to france the day before. Secret Agent Man had a nice harbour race on friday evening. A bunch of friends came including Dave and Sherry from Soggy Paws, Jim from Chesepeke (An Outbound 46, sweet!) Tom and Marry ellen from Aphrodite (Amel, also sweet) and Ross, a sailmaker from NZ who, incedentally, put in a third reef point in my mainsail which I am keen to try out. Nothing much else new. I am about to get out of town and sail around Tonga heading to NZ. However there is a "squash zone" possible for the end of the week. That means you dont want to be out in it and have to be careful and watch it at anchor.
Cheers
Eric
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Racing in Vavau. We had a good start and a lane which was the plan but both these guys got away from us...
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This is the FV Lesila. Shango picked them up and brought them back to Nuiatoputapu and I took the Captain and his mate back out to their boat. Photo by "Soggy Paws"
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everyone involved in the rescue is in this photo.
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I think it's so wonderful to have such an awesome adventure.
Also wanted to tell you how handsome you are!
Have fun,
Sara
Hello all,
I am in Vavau, Tonga. It is epic. Very much like the san juans but tropical. It is a hub and main stop for everyone sailing across the pacific so there are people on yachts from all over the world. The trip here from Nuiatoputapu was eventful. My friends on Shango, Chesepeke, and Soggy Paws (all Americans) picked up a pan pan call and ended up taking the captain of a disabled fishing vessel and his mate back to Nuiatoputapu. I organized some locals to pick them off of Shango in the middle of the night. The next day they had fixed the piece of their transmission that they had brought with them and I took them back out to their boat. They were unable to get their engine sorted and I stood by them all night on the radio with the police in Nukualofa trying to get them a tow. They wanted me to tow them but it was windy and there was no way. They did not want to leave the boat. I sailed away the next morning having set up a radio sched with them and the authoraties. As I sailed away I was very worried about them, though they were not worried at all. It was on my head. I was able to get regular positions of their boat and guide the Navy to them. Yesterday I spoke with the commander of the Tongan Navy and was able to confirm that they were found and under tow. The passage was rouigh. I am super happy to be in a safe harbor and that my tongan friends are safe as well. Today, myself and some friends are going to race Secret Agent Man in the harbor race. It was great motivation to clean the bottom which needed it. I hope you all are well and happy and making a difference.
Cheers
Eric
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