Passage from Opua, NZ to Savusavu,
Vanua Levu, Fiji (Saturday, April 28,
2012 to Monday, May 7, 2012)
Onboard Lardo for the passage from Opua, Bay of Islands, New
Zealand to Savusavu, Vanua Levu, Fiji were Skipper Dennis Millard, Chief Cook MaryLee
Millard and Kevin Borley, the Auckland Flash with tons of blue water sailing
experience in the South Pacific. We used
Bob McDavitt as our weather router and were very pleased with the accuracy of
his weather forecast. We checked in
every day with several nets – Nica, Russell Radio and the ICA rally.
Oddly enough the passage we were most concerned about was
getting to New Zealand from Tonga rather than the passage from New Zealand to
Fiji. Tonga to New Zealand turned out to
be a breeze with great winds and pretty calm seas (we were worried about timing
our 7 day passage to avoid weather fronts hitting New Zealand every 5 to 8 days). Going to Fiji we initially had light winds,
calm seas and mild weather for the first couple of days off of New Zealand –
this was an idyllic start to our passage.
Then starting on Monday, April 30th, the boisterous trade winds
picked up and before too long the seas did too.
We sure got our payback with this passage out of New Zealand – great
wind ranging from about 20 to 35 knots from the southeast but very confused
high seas.
On day three of the passage, we requested an update from
McDavitt - he had us turn around and go west for 75 miles. We also pulled the weather gribs each day,
hoping that they would indicate a calming of the seas but no such luck - the
sea conditions never let up for 6 out of the 9 days of our passage. Lots of stuff went flying about the cabin
including cabinet doors spewing out its contents, and a plastic storage box
with containers of cereal, sugar, and oatmeal flipping upside down – what a
mess!
Dennis and Kevin were real troopers; they did all the
sailing and night watches on this passage.
They endeared being knocked about and constantly spanked with waves
crashing over the beam. Lardo handled
the seas quite well, mostly because Dennis and Kevin chose to slow the boat to
a speed appropriate for the rough conditions.
By the end of the passage, they were both exhausted. MaryLee barely poked her head out of the
cabin while enroute and got thrown hard against the chart table. Lardo weathered the trip pretty well with a
few minor repairs that Dennis took care of in Fiji.
Summarized below is a recap of our journey.
|
Date
|
Time
(NZ)
|
Lat
|
Long
|
Course
|
Speed
|
Wind
|
Wave
|
Comment
|
|
Sat, 4/28
|
Departed at 9:45 a.m.
|
35 S
|
174 E
|
|
|
|
Calm
|
Departed from Opua, NZ (Bay of Islands) - approx. 12 sailboats left
at same time.
Checked out of customs
|
|
Sat, 4/28
|
3:20 p.m.
10:30 p.m.
|
34.47 S
34.13 S
|
174.27 E
174.56 E
|
036 T
033 T
|
6.2
6.3
|
10
8
|
Calm
Calm
|
Motor-sailed
Motor-sailed
|
|
Sun, 4/29
|
9:00 a.m.
|
33.24 S
|
175.41 E
|
037 T
|
4.5
|
3
|
Calm
|
Motor-sailed
|
|
Mon, 4/30
|
8:20 a.m.
9:00 a.m.
Noon
5:45 p.m.
|
31.39 S
31.35 S
31.23 S
31.02 S
|
177.19 E
177.23 E
177.31 E
177.44 E
|
024 T
024 T
030 T
290 T
|
6
6
5.3
5.4
|
10 NW
11 NW
9 NW
10
|
Calm
Calm
Calm
Calm
|
Motor-sailed until wind picked up around 5:00 p.m.; Afternoon - fixed
sail tear on headsail in calm sea conditions; McDavitt re-routed us 75 miles
to west and indicated that we were in for a spirited sail.
|
|
Tues, 5/1
|
9:00 a.m.
6:00 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
|
30.32 S
29.35 S
29.28 S
|
176.30 E
176.44 E
176.47 E
|
010 T
010 T
010 T
|
5.5
7
7
|
15 W
15-20 SE
15-20 SE
|
Bumpy
Bumpy
Bumpy
|
Start of ICA rally – an additional 20 boats left NZ; Put in first
reef
|
|
Wed, 5/2
|
9:00 a.m.
6:00 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
|
28.02 S
27.05 S
26.59 S
|
177.36 E
177.57 E
178.00 E
|
023 T
033 T
020 T
|
7.5
7.2
7.2
|
15-20 SE
25 SE
25 SE
|
3-4 M
3-4 M
3-4 M
|
Put in second reef; Uncomfortable and confused seas
|
|
Thurs, 5/3
|
9:00 a.m.
6:00 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
|
25.32 S
24.33 S
24.29 S
|
178.19 E
178.18 E
178.18 E
|
355 T
009 T
009 T
|
6.8
5.8
5.8
|
15-20 SE
25-34 SE
25-34 SE
|
3-4 M
3-4 M
3-4 M
|
To slow the boat, we took down main and sailed with headsail only so
that Lardo would handle the nasty sea conditions better
|
|
Fri, 5/4
|
9:00 a.m.
6:00 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
|
23.19 S
22.31 S
22.27 S
|
178.32 E
178.40 E
178.41 E
|
010 T
010 T
010 T
|
5.8
5.2
5.4
|
22-34 SE
22-34 SE
22-34 SE
|
3-4.5 meters all day
|
Nasty conditions; Crew experienced some seasickness
|
|
Sat, 5/5
|
9:00 a.m.
6:00 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
|
21.18 S
20.33 S
20.28 S
|
178.48 E
178.48 E
178.48 E
|
010 T
010 T
010 T
|
5.5
5
5
|
20-25 SE
20-30 SE
30-35 SE
|
4 M
4 M
4 M
|
Nastiest sea conditions; Inbound to Savusavu – 223 miles
|
|
Sun, 5/6
|
9:00 a.m.
6:00 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
|
19.22 S
18.38 S
18.33 S
|
178.57 E
178.59 E
179.00 E
|
000 T
010 T
010 T
|
5
5
5
|
20-25 SE
15-25 SE
15-25 SE
|
3-4 M
3-4 M
3-4 M
|
Inbound to Savusavu – 105 miles; still no letting up in sea’s
|
|
Mon, 5/7
|
9:00 a.m.
|
17.19 S
|
179.12 E
|
010 T
|
6
|
25 E
|
2 M
|
Arrived on the 9th day at 3:30 p.m.; If seas were calmer,
would have made passage in 8 days.
ICA rally – first monohull to arrive
|
No comments:
Post a Comment