23 to 26 Sep 14

Passage to Savusavu

The forecast winds for the next few days were some 15, perhaps 18 knots East or South East; that would do for the passage to Fiji. We set off mid morning and carefully followed the navigation marks and sight lines across the lagoon. The sun was mostly shining and the hazards were clearly visible. The wind was blowing though, a strong South Easterly and we had to constantly correct for drift. All in all, though an easy navigation. We lined up on the reef channel and went for it. The current was 2 to 3 knots with us and there was some turbulence. Half way through the channel we realised the wind was pushing us to one side, much closer to the reef. A quick correction and more power applied soon corrected this. As we neared the end of the channel the outflow of water met the ocean swell and set up a very choppy patch of water. We did not mess about; full power and Tai Mo Shan forced her way through into the ocean. We do not like reef channels and even with the excellent marks this one was no exception. Still, we were on the open ocean again.
The 15 to 18 knot wind was somewhere, just not here. We had 20 to 25 knots, with the consequent rougher sea. Despite the wind being side on and Tai Mo Shan being capable of travelling at over 7 knots we had to reef and slow down to keep control and the ride bearable. And that was that for the next 2 days, a controlled ride but still with quite a bit of movement; sleep was possible but not easy. The only change was that the amount of cloud in the sky gradually increased, so the nights were dark.
Thurs morning at about 7.30 am we spotted Fiji, well grey lumps in the grey clouds. Fiji was positively gloomy in the low cloud. Still the wind had started to moderate a little, and the sea had settled. That said we still had the occasional wave crash into our side. The collisions felt like we had hit something solid; bang! (we even looked for the first few!). Fortunately it was only water, and no damage done.
We crossed 180 degrees and watched what the GPS and chart plotters did with some interest. They had to calculate first at 179 degrees 59.99 minutes West and then at 179 degrees 59.99 minutes East. The Furuno had the smallest headache, a few beeps, and the display slide over really quite smoothly. The computer chart plotter did a full change as the boat icon fell off one side of the world and reappeared on the other (the globe is represented as a big flat chart). Our Navman had a bigger headache. It took several minutes as the GPS calculations took it around the world through 0 degrees and back to 179 degrees 59.99 minutes. Still that eventually came back on line; we were relieved.
Closer in and it was clear we would not reach Savusavu in daylight, so a hard decision, we had to slow down. It is quite difficult to sail a broad reach (i.e. pretty much downwind) slowly. We did not want to drag ropes or similar things in the water behind the boat; the risk of a tangle, especially if we had to start the motor or manouvre quickly was too much. Still reefing down the Yankee got us to about 4 knots. Even better, a reefed Staysail got us to about 3.5 knots. And so that was it, a very small sail, tight on, and still we made 3.5 knots downwind. Still a few calculations showed that at this speed, with an aim off of some 7 nm (i.e. a point 7 nm ff the direct line) we would get to Point Reef at the entrance of Savusavu bay at about 6am, or daylight. So more restricted speed sailing. Overnight, the low cloud made for a very dark night. We knew land was fairly close by (within 10 nm) but we could not see it or any lights; sailing like that is always disconcerting. During the night we heard a metallic bang. Had we hit something? This was not the sound of a wave hitting us. We looked around and could see nothing, no damage, no water coming in, so sail on into the inky black night.
Daybreak had us where we wanted to be, some 5 miles of so from the Point Reef. However, day break also revealed the source of the bang in the night. Our Staysail stay had broken clear of the mast. The staysail halyard was all that was holding it up there; not good! We rapidly put the staysail away and got sailing on Main and reefed Yankee. Closer to the point and the wind dropped; time to put the sails away and get the motor on; just as a large cruise ship the ‘Dawn Princess’ loomed up behind us. They swooped past us at a graceful 10 knots or so, we merrily chugged along at 5 knots, happy for the cruise liner to show us the passage between Point Reef (a large reef off Lesiaceve Point) and the Sybil Rocks hidden some mile or so off the reef.
At 7 am we called Savusavu Port Control. The only answer was from another yacht, Tribe, who told us that Port Control come in about 8 am, or so. We motored on to just outside the harbour (river) entrance, past the now anchored Dawn Princess and at about 8.10 called up again. The Copra Marina answered and told us they would send out someone to guide us in. Sure enough at 8.20 we saw Simi in his dingy who waved for us to follow him to the mooring buoy. At the buoy he welcomed us and lifted the ropes out of the water for us, big smiles all around.

Stats: 388 nm in 2 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes. An average speed of some 5.4 knots, which reflects our fairly fast start (reefed to hold us to 6 to 6.5 knots, and our slow finish)

Photo: Caught on camera – the cruise ship that followed us all night long … perhaps he was not sure of the way!