Safely in Whangarei at the Marina

Hi all,
We got in to the marina yesterday and had a full, full day washing the top of the boat (you would not believe the salt caked on it) and had a really, really fun BBQ party at the regular Sunday night BBQ here at the marina with some old and new friends.

Also got our car delivered and that was great. Rented a big storage unit to start pulling stuff off the boat so we can work on the insides (varnish, etc.). Also looking at interviewing for some jobs here, one this week and some possibilities. We'll see if that makes sense or not. Going back to work will be hard but the cruising kitty is getting bare.

More later when all settles down. We are so happy to be here.

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209 Nautical Miles to Go to NZ

We are motor-sailing, really just motoring since the light wind is dead on our nose, but with light seas, also almost on our nose. I recalculated fuel and it looks like we can get in on fumes if the wind does not pick up, which it might. We'll go to plan B then which is to tack off to sea and back again to get in to refuel in Opua at the Bay of Islands. The B of I is one of the premier cruising grounds in NZ and we have not been there. We are on a schedule (hate that word!) though as we need to get to Whangarei asap. I actually have a job interview lined up with an electrical company that wires boats. I got this through emailing a specialty recruiter while in Vanuatu. Not sure what will happen with that.

We had a bit of a scare yesterday but all is well right now. I thought I found a leaking through-hull which would be a hazardous to your health situation. If it had failed entirely or if we could not keep up with the leak we might have had to abandon ship. Not a pretty thought. And, to make life more interesting still, our main day-to-day bilge pump failed. The bilge pump takes any stray water out of the bilge where it collects and dumps it over the side. We do have a bigger backup pump which we call our high water pump. It works but I have it rigged up to only go on manually but it does have a high water alarm that goes off if the water gets high, which it did. That will put the fear of all that is mighty in you. Not good especially when you have an active leak, which we did have, just not the t-hull.

When we lost the water pump belt the other day, I did not notice the belt broken so checked the raw water pump impeller. The impeller is a rubber pump vane that does wear out and I have had to replace it a couple of times over the last three years. But when I found the impeller OK I put the cover back on it but it had some salt encrusted on it and prevented a good seal, or at least it started off sealed but leaked later, badly. That was the source of all the water in the bilge and led to me thinking the t-hull was leaking. Water was sloshing around in the bouncy, bouncy of the wild seas yesterday and I was looking under and over with a flashlight on my knees and thought the worse. Last night we took turns turning the bilge pump on and off manually every 15-30 minutes else the alarm would go off. The worry of course was that the leak would get faster than the pump or that the pump would fail. We like to have backups up and running at all times for stuff like that.

Today, with calmer seas and no wind, I looked in and found the water leak source, double-checked the non-leaking t-hull and found a fuse gone on the main bilge pump which probably overstressed the fuse from running constantly. All is working now and if we don't run out of fuel, or the winds don't get too nasty again, we will clear in with Customs at Opua in two days, refuel, then head on south to Whangarei if the weather cooperates. This has definitely been one of the more challenging rides we have had. The 3000 mile trip from Mexico to the Marquesas was a cake walk compared to getting from and to NZ. It is famous even out here and some people avoid it. That is why most of our American buddies refused to come back and headed off to Australia where they report it is VERY expensive. Oh well, you choose your poison. We are too broke so are suffering with the rest of the Kiwis coming back home.

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Better Progress Today

Last night at 2am the wind suddenly shifted from the SE to more S, allowing us to tack from our course going SSW to one going ESE, a much better course. This would take us over the top of Norfolk Island although we had no plans to stop there. We were changing watches and it was Cindy's turn and I was much tired and may be a little grumpy so didn't really want to do a major sail change when the bunk was calling me. But you can't ignore something like that as it doesn't just go away because you are a little tired.

It was blowing about 22kts at the time but the seas were not too bad, but it was still difficult to get the bow around to the new tack. We dealt with getting the main boom over to the center, then reefed in the jib, then tried to turn the boat but she refused to go around all the way despite full rudder. I turned on the engine and let it warm a bit (not having actually tested the new belts out yet so a little nervous about that) before putting on the power to help turn us around. It still was balky but made it. All of a sudden we lost steerage though and we were going in the completely wrong direction. By the way, there was a little scare during all this as one of the other boats in the group that left on the same day from Noumea all of a sudden appeared out of the dark on an almost collision course with us, crossing in front of us already on the new tack we wanted to go on. They did not have a good watch out and we could have had a collision on the very lonely wide open seas after 400nm of sailing. Go figure. We called them on the radio and they finally answered and said "how nice it was to see us" as if it were an every day event.

In any case, we had to jibe the boat instead of tacking again to get it around on the new tack. It was great to be going in more of the right direction for NZ as our previous course would have taken us to Tasmania and no where near NZ. We thought the wind would change but not until 12 hours later so it was early. We got the sails squared away and I laid down for a well-earned sleep and then couldn't being all keyed up from the activity. I am still tired now the next afternoon.

But, we have had a great day of sailing, on a good course, crossing very near Norfolk and leaving it behind. We cannot point in to the wind as much as we would like, or as much as the boat we almost hit, so will take longer than they will to get there. It is about 340nm to the northern cape of NZ and then another day to get to the river up to Whangarei, so about 4 days off still provided the winds are favorable. I think they will be some of both so who knows. At least the sun came out and we are making good progress. I may even sleep tonight. If I could only shake this nagging seasickness. I don't seem to get over it very easily, but Cindy is doing fine.

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Wet Boat (or why Gentlemen don't go to Weather)

We are three days out and totally wet. I have even changed my foul weather gear as the first set got too wet. There is a saying (and may be a book by that name) that gentlemen don't go to weather. Going to weather is sailing towards the direction the wind is coming from. You can't sail directly in to the wind but you can sail some that way and it depends on the boat and the sea state how much. Maggie Drum is not a great weather boat with her full keel but there are times when you need to go that direction. Well, this is one of those.

The down side is that it is hard on the boat and crew. Why? Because the waves normally go with the wind and that means you are powering in to waves which tend to then break on top of the boat and pound the living daylights out of the hull, crew, fixtures, bulkheads, other stuff. It is noisy down below. In fact it sounds exactly like the boat is breaking up in to little, bitty, teensy weensy pieces. It shakes, booms, groans, grates, squeaks, etc. You get the idea. Outside you have mountains of water hitting the hull on the nose and on the sides. This water tends to cascade in to the cockpit and descend on the hapless crew on watch trying to stay dry. We have a dodger to give some protection but when a big wave comes over it goes over the dodger and then dumps behind it in to the last half of the cockpit and then the backdraft of the wind sucks the drips in to the front half of the cockpit. Like I said, very wet. The other reason gentlemen don't go to weather is that it heels the boat over so much that life is pretty miserable down below but I think we have mentioned that before.

We are making progress though although motoring a lot. It costs a hundred dollars a day to motor so we don't do that lightly but if we actually want to get to NZ before Christmas we need to some. We are hoping that a high pressure system will fill in on the west and move this way, bringing more favorable winds, but that looks like two days away. So the plan for now is to try and make as much good towards NZ (i.e. not go backwards) and wait for the easier sailing. To top everything off, it has been raining since we are in the middle of a low pressure system. At least it is a weak one but one of the other boats out here had to hove to last night because of 50-60kt winds. Yikes!! We have never seen that kind of wind and really don't want to. We hope they made it. Must have been a little localized cell of high wind.

If all goes well we will be in port by the 16th or 17th.
P.S. I wrote the above earlier in the day and did not send it. Since then we had the water pump belt break and the engine overheated setting off the alarms. I spent several hours up and down getting a new one on. I won't go in to the miserable details but it was a lot of fun. I will start it up in a second soon as my stomach settles down. On a good note, the winds have died down but still in the wrong direction.

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Off (Again) to New Zealand

We are about 5 miles out of Noumea harbor right now and clipping along at between 6.5 and 7 knots on a beam reach. Very small seas since we are still inside the barrier reef around New Caledonia and headed for the exit to the outside. We are headed towards Norfolk Island which is between New Zealand and Australia. The forecast is not great but nothing has looked perfect for weeks now. Several other Kiwi boats are headed out in just a few minutes so we will have lots of company around us (Stelite, Wind Chase and Cartref/Cardref). The idea is to go south and see what the weather does. There may be a bit of a nasty blow in about 3-4 days but that could all change by then. We'll see. You can anchor on the north side of Norfolk is you need to wait for some bad weather to pass by and some good to come along so we may well do that.

It is bloody hot down below here since the engine has been on and Cindy was making banana nut bread before in the oven so I will sign off. We may be to NZ as early as the 15th (local date) or as late as the 19th but we will certainly update the blog and Yotreps as we go. Wish us a good passage.

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Patience is a Virtue - Waiting in Noumea

Patience is a Virtue if you are not the one waiting!! We are parked in Noumea, New Caledonia, trying to cope with not speaking or understanding French in a very French speaking country. Luckily many do speak at least a little English and pointing and smiling gets you through most other things, although sometimes you are just stumped and don't get very far. Speaking of getting very far, our little tootsies are worn out from walking and walking and walking. Not having a car you get to do that when you are parked in a sizeable town/city.

Noumea is like a mini-version of a European city, but with a Pacific flavor. Of course, there are many natives (the Kanak people) around but they have been beat up and squashed so many times over the last hundred and fifty years by the French they are understandably not terribly friendly to white people. That is a generalization of course, but true nonetheless. Having come from Vanuatu and Fiji with their friendly outgoing people, it is a stark contrast here. It is friendlier than in French Polynesia here though and the anglo speaking people like us are tolerated and welcomed mostly. There are some distinct advantages to the French side of things here though. The daily baguette is going to be hard to leave, as is the town market with all its fresh vegetables and fruit just a block away is great. The strong smell of sewage in the harbor takes some getting used to (we haven't yet) but it doesn't smell all the time, just sometimes.

The town has some fantastic museums, even one dedicated to the main French antagonist, Tjibaou, who was assassinated by the French, or French supporters, in 1989. He was a peaceful person, an ex-priest, who dedicated his live to improving the status and well-being of the Kanak people vis-a-vis the French. In 1984 he survived a previous assassination attempt that killed 10 people, including two of his brothers. The parties who did this, white French men, were tried and found not-guilty in a rigged trial in 1986 or so. But they did name and dedicate the new Tjibaou Cultural Center after him, and it is a wonderful blend of history and art museum set at an idyllic site on a beautiful ocean bay outside the city center. Noumea is built and spread out on numerous bays, islands and peninsulas. Much of the land has been reclaimed from the ocean, including that next to our marina, which is nice and clean and well-run, if too expensive.

One of the reasons the French have wanted to keep hold of Caledonia is the large reserves of minerals in the land here, especially nickel. One of the world's richest nickel mines is here and it has brought much money and development here. Another reason is the pure beauty of the big island (Grande Terre) and the surrounding other islands, including the famous Ile de Pines and the Loyalty chain just north and east of the big island. There are many different clans (tribes or tribu) of natives here with many different languages and they never developed a unifying language like the ni-Vanuatu have with Bislama. French is therefore the common lingua franca so to speak. The town is buzzing with cars, trucks, motorcycles, buses, etc. all the time, with a mix of third-world and world-class stores. The grocery stores are big and clean with excellent deli sections well-stocked with the finest cheeses and French wines. There are some very tony clothing stores and the women around town, even the Kanaks, dress nicer here and wear perfume and makeup more than any place we have been since the US or the nicer cities in Mexico. However, like the French in France, there is too many people smoking with only lip-service paid to non-smoking areas. It is truly very smoky here.

We do have Wifi at the dock here so that is my (expensive) entertainment here. It is $10/hour, or $30/8 hrs, or $70/month-unlimited. After buying two 8 hour cards having stayed longer than we thought, I bought the month card this morning so we can download weather files to our heart's content. Speaking of weather we also finally broke down and hired Commander's Weather which is a US company that many yachts use out here for weather forecasts and routing advice. We actually wanted to leave today after looking at the weather files, but they recommended not, but cannot give when the next time will be. They will update it on the 11th or 12th when the next High pressure system has come off of Australia and will (may be) give us the winds we need from the right direction without monster seas. If we had left today we would have been bashed by a monster High system building and moving off the southern Tasman Sea on the 8th and 9th. Other boats are patiently waiting here with us so there will be a mad exodus when it is time. And we will be ready.

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