Footnotes from Water Music

Sicily to New Zealand on Water Music Wauquiez Centurion 45

Vessel Name: Water Music
Vessel Make/Model: Wauquiez Centurion 45
Crew: Stephen Foot, Grace Foot, Charlie Foot, Fergus Mutch
08 November 2019
08 November 2019
31 October 2019 | Opua, Bay of Islands
31 October 2019 | Opua, Bay of Islands
27 October 2019 | 250 miles North of New Zealand
26 October 2019 | West of Norfolk Island
25 October 2019 | West of New Caledonia
22 October 2019 | West of New Caledonia
21 October 2019
21 October 2019
21 October 2019 | Musket Cove
20 October 2019 | Navula Passage, Fiji
19 October 2019 | Muskett Cove
14 October 2019
14 October 2019 | Nanuya
12 October 2019
12 October 2019
09 October 2019 | Makongai in Fiji
26 September 2019 | Vanua Mbalvu in the Lau Islands of Fiji
Recent Blog Posts
08 November 2019

08 November 2019

And so to bed!

31 October 2019 | Opua, Bay of Islands

And so to bed

The last week has passed in something of a blur as we have put the boat to bed and sought to balance this with some more fun things to do in one of the most beautiful parts of the world.

31 October 2019 | Opua, Bay of Islands

Journey's end

When we last completed a blog, we were looking for some wind to get some respite from the mirror flat seas we were experiencing. We found it!

27 October 2019 | 250 miles North of New Zealand

Signs of life

Our position: 30.00S, 170.07E

26 October 2019 | West of Norfolk Island

Turning for New Zealand

Our Position: 26.47S, 169.21E

Crossing the line

14 April 2019 | North Pacific Ocean
stephen foot
It has been a busy 24 hours on Water Music. Starting last night Gabrielle's watch was interrupted by a series of ships and yachts that compromised the solitude of what had become our own private ocean. The ship was going to China and the yachts seem to be going to the Galapagos with us.

Once we had got over the shock of this level of overcrowding, we were joined by the nightly congregation of Boobies. Last night we numbered 7 Boobies on the pullpit and another one on the upper spreaders. We were hugely excited about all this wildlife until we saw this morning the consequences of having so many deeply free range birds overnight. It was then that we realised that Boobies do an awful lot of poohs. Today, Mark has improvised with a mop as a figure head - it doesnt do much for the Water Music's lines (& is probably not included in any flag etiquette manual), but does seem to keep Bobby & his friends away.

With a deck clean and the boat thundering along at 7.5 knots, Mark reminded us of his brother's view of fishing on Water Music. "Stephen hasnt got a clue and thinks that you can just put a line out and catch fish - ridiculous..." Well, Alistair we ignored your negativity and have just had a double Tuna strike and landed the twin yellow fin tuna. As both were small, we have kept both and had the beginnings of one for lunch as a Sashimi, accompanied by lime, ginger, chile, and horse radish (we couldnt find any Pisco). Clearly for a lunch as good as this,we hove to. Dropping the sails, we wallowed at 3 knots for luncheon.

After our coffee we put sail back up and are now speeding towards "The Line" and wondering what Neptune will exact as his payment from the three virgins who are preparing to cross for the first time. The skipper took particular precautions to ensure that all of the tuna innards, heads and tails went straight over the side to avoid any risk of them being recycled as any form of gunk that Neptune might want to use in an initiation ceremony. What would happen?

Neptune came aboard as is the custom as we crossed from N Hemisphere to the South at 1730 local time. The crew pleaded with him for safe passage for the ship, the three virgins and the one experienced member of the crew and asked what penalty would be extracted. Apart from the mandatory libation to the god, Neptune proceeded to shave the left eyebrow of the skipper as the price of allowing the yacht safe passage. This seemed a small price to pay - albeit it means that the skipper is now moving around in a somewhat lopsided way - with all the weight on the starboard leg.

After 6000 nautical miles, Water Music is in the South Pacific and all are in good health. We expect to arrive in San Cristobal, Galapagos at 0700 Monday morning. Not a bad way to start a week...
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Water Music's Photos - Main
Photos from Charlie and Fergus, from Tongatapu to Vava'u
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