1999 New Zealand to Australia

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, decade, century and millennium. Ha Ha we saw it first. We regret the delay in getting this letter done and sent. Our computer needed service and it required more time, 6 weeks, than was originally expected. At least this way it won’t get lost in the rush with all of the other letters. We also now know that Y2K was not the epidemic previously believed. Our cards still get us money.

Jean’s highlight of the year was her return to Minnesota for the month of July. She so misses the closeness of friends and relatives. Keep the cards and letters coming, we both look forward to news from home. I really missed her for the time she was away and anticipated her return. We have not been separated for this amount of time in the ten years we have been together.

As we age time gives us more challenges. Our families are reduced by death and expanded by births and marriages. One of our greatest regrets is that we miss these times of gathering to be shared. This is difficult given the distance we are now from home, friends and family. We suffered the loss of my Uncle Hardy and Jean’s Aunts Verona and Evie, they will be missed. I now look forward to being a great uncle.

The beast, AKA Riley, has pretty much accepted his new way of life. Just the same he dislikes the first few days of passages and all rough weather. He is not shy about telling us when the boat motion is greater than he would like. He will stagger up and look you right in the eye and howl, then go back to bed, usually in a different spot, hoping the motion will be less. He also has been required to accept different caretakers. We must find someone else to care for him when we travel by land as he is an illegal immigrant and is restricted to the boat. He immediately ignores anyone different, until he discovers we don’t return at the end of the day, then he will acknowledge, then become friendly with the new face. Cats are so predictable and amusing.

After last year’s Holidays we traveled around NZ by car, with guests, family and friends. For such a small country it presents many geographic faces. We saw mountains with glaciers, flat plains raising agricultural products, hills being logged, yellow eyed and blue penguins, seals, albatross and of course lots of sheep. To see the illusive Kiwi Bird you must go to a reserve, where they are kept in a dark house. Being nocturnal they must be fooled into thinking day is night, where they can be viewed by we diurnal critters. Jean almost enjoyed her first helicopter flight, we did fly over the glaciers, however, I think she would prefer to keep her feet on the ground. NZ has small to medium towns and only a few cities. It seems they don’t have a single road without a curve every 5 miles.

NZ also has a tree the early exploiters found to be a valuable resource. The Kauri. Similar to Teak in its ability to resist water and rot. Growing to diameters of 18 feet and a height of 150 feet, with branches only at the top, they are impressive indeed. This was found to be a natural for ship building. Early loggers clear-cut these magnificent trees to the point of near extinction. The smaller ones became masts for British ships. The larger ones were used for planking, furniture and to a lesser degree homes. They are now protected in National Parks similar to our Redwoods. With the depletion of and protection of these trees the supply for furniture has now been relegated to digging up trees and stumps. Many of these were buried, by earthquakes and floods, thousands of years ago. When dug up the wood is in perfect condition. Carbon dating has established some to be more than 40,000 years old.

We did a white water rafting trip that was, well it was almost white in places. Our guide made the trip enjoyable by joking, encouraging tipping the raft, my favorite, and swimming. Many other adventure package attractions are bungy jumping from bridges over deep gorges, jet boats up narrow, shallow, boulder strewn rivers, horse back riding and 4 wheel drive offroad tours were available. We didn’t do any of these things, but, we did watch a few. NZ has a population and land mass about the same as Minnesota. They are very industrious and successful people for such a small country. The one reoccurring question is how are you enjoying New Zealand. They are very proud to hold the America’s Cup and look forward to defending and retaining the crown jewel of sailboat racing.

Whangarei was our port for the whole of our time in NZ. They don’t allow boats with animals to move from the port of entry at which they arrived. With inspections to assure the government that the beast, a threat to national security, was indeed on board. The inspections were weekly and entirely at random. This makes planning difficult as we never knew when they would be there. We were fortunate to have friends that would care for him in our absence. Riva’s Restaurant provided the venue for weekly exchanges of information, with reduced drink prices what cruiser could resist stopping for a pint.

Our sailing travels covered much less distance this year, about 3,500 miles, was more relaxed and certainly entertaining. We remained in NZ until May, spent May to August in Fiji, August to October in Vanuatu, a short stay in New Caledonia then on to Australia in November. We encountered high winds on only two days of our cruising season, the first and the last.

Our 1040 mile crossing from NZ to Fiji required just under 7 days beginning with blustery conditions. The first 24 hours we had sustained wind of 30 knots with gusts to 52, from behind, we needed only 4 feet of headsail poled out to keep us in a straight line at 8 to 10 knots, surfing down 25 foot waves at over 15 knots. This gets real spooky at night because of all the noise. The wind howling, the wind generator howling, large breaking waves everywhere and the sound the boat makes at these speeds. Oh well, it can’t last too long. At dawn, 14 hours later, we were 140 miles north and out of this system. The wind was dying quickly to southerly 25 to 30 knots.

While in NZ we purchased a small, extra heavy spinnaker to use in just these conditions. Up it went and for the next 2 1/2 days we made 180 mile days, never touching a sheet. Now this is sailing. Except for the left over large, 12 foot southerly swell, from the storm we left behind, this swell stayed with us until one day out of Fiji. I refereed to this as our lumpy, bumpy and grumpy crossing. Even the ships I talked to were complaining about it.

Geographically Fiji and Vanuatu are very different. Fiji was raised from the ocean floor by volcanoes long before Vanuatu. Therefore, it is much lower in elevation, don’t misunderstand, it is still high enough to cause substantial raising of the airmass driven onto it by the trade wind. This rising air cools and causes large amounts of rain, frequently. Ma, nature, likes to pile things up, with earth quakes, volcanoes and shifting tectonic plates. She also likes to knock down high things with wind and rain. The remains of old hills are evident still in Fiji, but not spectacular. The coral that has grown around Fiji for all this time has produced impressive and dangerous reefs in all of the country. Only an absolute idiot would consider navigating around Fiji at night. Even during the day it is not always wise. Not all of the reefs are shown on charts, many have grown or been moved by cyclones, also with the high amount of rainfall, the coastal areas have poor water visibility. Only with good light can you see the things that will jump up and bite you. Many of our friends “ bumped something “ in their time around Fiji.

Back in the infancy of sugar cane growing the British Government, which was in control at that time, brought labor from India, another British colony, to do the hard manual labor of cane growing. In the last 150 years their population has steadily increased until now they have a voting majority. In 1987 they elected an Indian government, which was promptly overthrown by a military coup. Again in 1999 elections were held and again an Indian majority was elected, this time no coup. Interesting to note, nearly everyone votes, there is a F$ 50. fine for failing to vote. This process lasts for 1 week with travel to your home village required. One politician that lost by 4 votes requested a recount, the result of which was he won by 900 votes, makes you wonder. Talking with the locals gives a wide range of opinion as to how the country will progress. With this background we find it very interesting how the different areas have very different feelings concerning their country. In the cities the Indians own and operate nearly all business and service, the Fijians own nearly all the land and on the outer islands and rural areas they populate in small quaint villages. We found very interesting the question of land ownership, work ethic, industry, wealth management and ongoing racial tension.

The western group includes the Yasawa group, the most traditional and driest of all the areas with protected anchorage’s. The water is clear for great diving, snorkeling and reef avoidance. We visited many islands in this group. It also made a great place to take our guests. However, it has no towns, only very traditional small villages, so it is very remote. Again, their greatest asset is the people. Very friendly. I keep using this word, but you can’t imagine how people, that have so little, by our standards, will bring you fruit and veggies only so they can talk to you. Yes, there are entrepreneurs, but they are in the minority.

The 510 mile passage to Vanuatu took 4 1/2 days. The first 3 we were between a cold front to the south and a convergence zone to the north. This gave us little if any wind, mostly around 5 knots from every direction, we motored through an undulating sea that resembled a bowl of half set Jello. The wind filled in on the morning of the 3rd day, right after I hauled in a 28 pound Dorado. Of course it built to 25 knots on the nose. This lasted only a few hours, when we crossed the cold front the wind switched quickly to the south then built to 35 knots as it backed to the southeast. This is what we expected the whole way. Friends that left 1 day ahead of us flew spinnakers for the first 3 days, then hit the headwinds. O’well that’s sailing.

Vanuatu is geographically much younger than Fiji resembling the Marquesa Islands in Polynesia, high rugged mountains causing tropical showers anytime, with the resultant water rushing down the hillsides in spectacular waterfalls. It is also the home to several “ live “ volcanoes, islands under construction. It offers the same Melanesian culture as Fiji without much of the European influence. For the traveler that wants to see the traditional custom dance, of men dressed in only a banana leaf appropriately wrapped and women dressed in only a grass skirt, this is the place. The diving has been mixed. The water clarity is excellent, fish life abundant, underwater structure is mostly volcanic, however, the land is so young and the fresh water draining from the high islands has minimized the coral growth. The lack of coral reef growth combined with the deep water beginning only a few yards from shore makes navigation easy, finding an anchorage isn’t, they are here, only not everywhere. The finest we have had was Lolowai Bay, it is inside an old volcanic crater accessible only at high tide, high vertical walls, dense flora, totally sheltered made this an excellent place, that is used as a cyclone hole by local work boats. We met and enjoyed a tour by the hospital administrator. He showed us the hospital, then walked us to the top of the crater for a spectacular view of the anchorage.

Other diving has been interesting with the ever present sharks. I attended a shark feed with a dive operator. They take a canister of fish down and hand feed the sharks that come to eat, there are plenty and they have horrible table manners, it is impressive to watch. There were white tipped, black tipped and gray, all dangerous if you are not careful. It also makes you think when you are spearfishing. Almost guaranteed, within 10 minutes of spearing a fish there will be a shark checking to see if it is for him. You must get your catch of the day out of the water immediately!!! The shark will come into range and slowly swim around sniffing the blood in the water, then will usually come within 10 to 20 feet wondering if you are lunch, you best keep your eyes on him until he leaves. Most have been small, 4 to 6 feet, however, some have been larger, maybe 8 feet. This is more difficult when spearing lobsters at night. You can’t see the shark until they are very close. One night I had one come so close I could have kicked him with my fin, good thing he was only a 5 footer. We have seen more sharks in Vanuatu than anywhere else we have been. One anchorage called Port Sandwich on Malekoula Island, there are so many tiger sharks, one of the most dangerous, where you are advised to not even swim to check your anchor, for fear of being lunch.

At many of our stops we try to attend church service in the village. This will often result in an invitation to someone’s home for lunch. Once with the Chiefs family, she invited us through an interpreter as she doesn’t speak English. Yes the Chief was a she, so much for diversity being established by modern society. This has begun many valued friendships. The early missionaries made every attempt to convert, change from local traditions and force them to put on some clothes. This brought us to one of the most rewarding of our tourist stops. Through the cruisers network we learned of a village, in Southwest Bay, Malakola Island, that intended to renew a ceremony that had not been performed in 60 years. They had to get into the heads of many of the old hats, they even consulted with the preserved skull of an ancestor, on the island to perfect the ceremony. It lasted 4 days and was attended by the anthropologist and a film crew hired by the Vanuatan Museum and by 23 boats of cruisers. That’s it. No tourist accommodations, so no tourists. We needed to climb a steep hill, up to the traditional spirit ceremonial area. A permanent boys club is located there, with masks, walls, poles and yes, skulls. The ceremony was deeply religious for the participants as it involves the advancement through the 28 grades a young boy must pass to become a Chief beginning with circumcision, therefore, for us too. The men and women are separated during the rites, which included the killing of pigs, offering of yams and other foods, lots of dancing, chanting and drumming. We did enjoy our involvement. If ever in Port Vila, visit the Cultural Center, you may see us on film.

One cause of problems on the passage to New Cal is that it is due south of Port Vila. The prevailing trade wind is southeast. This presents a passage that is on the wind the whole way. Depending on the wind strength this can be very uncomfortable. Some of the boats 3 weeks ahead of us had up to 40 knots the entire passage. We waited for the backside of a high. This should give us wind more from east or even slightly north of east. This time we called it just right. After a 280 mile uneventful passage we spent 14 hectic days in New Caledonia. This was by design. Partly because of my prejudice against French controlled areas and we had planned to be there only until a weather window presented itself. When the weather is right we go. We had a re-repair to make on the trampolines. It is so frustrating to have projects done, that due to poor workmanship, need to be done again in short time. We did find time to do some sight seeing with friends, dining ashore, pizza and trying to remember the few words of French we know. New Cal looks like a wonderful cruising area with many small islands and reefs for anchoring. The swimming is marginal as the water temp is in the mid to low 70s, burr, wet suit temps, rather than the low 80s of Vanuatu and Fiji, but, still warmer than Minnesota. We must be getting spoiled, I used to swim in Superior with no wet suit, but, not for long. Noumea is the largest, most progressive and upscale city we have seen since leaving New Zealand. Jean really likes the cities best.

Most of our 770 mile passage from New Caledonia to Australia, on a heading of 234 degrees magnetic, went as planed. While the passage to Australia does not have the same foul reputation as the passage to and from New Zealand it can and often does provide challenges, particularly on the later approaches to the Continent. We waited in Noumea watching the weather faxes for the best window of opportunity. While we watched a large high pressure system move from the west to east coast of Australia, about 6 days, we did our provisioning, small repairs and continued being tourists. This high, centered south of Sydney, held promise to provide settled weather for the passage. The flaw in this logic is you can not predict when a low pressure cell will develop over land, move offshore and interrupt the circulation around the high. It only takes 2 days for this to occur.

We were 70 miles from Australia when a front arrived, 1400 local, with a wind shift to the south at 20 knots. And was it cold? This wind is coming from the land of penguins. We had double reefed our sails, a little too deep, but now the forecast was for 30 to 40 knot gusts, then tacked in anticipation of the wind shift. We were making good time, sailing at 8 to 9 knots, with the wind at 60 degrees apparent, on reasonably calm seas. You see it takes several hours for the sea to build with high wind from a new direction. The previous many hours had little wind, so a slight residual swell. The problem we would now face is that we will make landfall after dark!

At 0001 local, we were only 20 miles offshore, triple reefed sailing 5 knots with sustained wind over 40 knots and gusts to 49 at 90 degrees apparent, clawing over 8 to 12 foot seas. We contacted Brisbane Radio for advise on entering what is known as North East Channel our closest, being advised they do not recommend using this channel. Our other options were to use the North West Channel, this is the one ships use, or heave to for the night. As Northwest Channel lays north to south, requires motoring south account its narrow width and is 25 miles of open water with no place to stop, is affected by tide flow, up to 2 knots, and the wind was howling at 40 to 45 knots from the southeast we didn’t feel this was an option. I have not tried to motor into 40 knots of wind, but we have great difficulty motoring into 25, I could see us motoring into the wind but traveling backwards with the current. At 0130 we hove to 10 miles offshore. Heaving to involves configuring the sails to backwind the headsail, turning the rudder to windward, this allows a sailboat to sit still, making no way and allowing the waves to slowly pass by.

The next 5 hours we sat quite comfortably in building, up to 14 feet, steep and breaking seas, with the wind backing to southeast at 35 to 45 knots. We moved less than 2 miles towards shore. We were also in a shipping lane, this required keeping a constant watch, contacting each ship as it came into sight to advise them we were hove to, not making way and requesting them to avoid us. Each of them did. This was the only time we have taken a wave into the cockpit. I was in the cockpit watching for ships when I looked to windward, up, up, in the moonlight I could see an extra large wave coming toward us with a large white cap sliding down toward us. These contain several tons of aerated water sliding down the face of a wave. It hit us with tremendous force, splashing many gallons of water up and over us then into the cockpit. The scuppers quickly drained the water out, but we did take some into our cabin and the saloon, as it sprayed everywhere in the high wind. At first light we continued into the protection of Morton Island, remaining anchored there for the next 36 hours, before continuing into Scarborough.

After land cruising in Australia we intend to begin moving north in April. Taking in the Great Barrier Reef and offshore islands until July, then crossing to Bali, Indonesia, onto Singapore and Sri Lanka, then across to the Red Sea and into the Med. That takes us beyond the next year. If any of these places interest you, come see us. Hope to hear from you soon. With love we wish you the most sincere Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year.

Bruce, Jean and Riley, crew of RPhurst