Crossing an ocean without sails (but with a budget)
Discussion
Wow, we left anchorage at 7am and are now safely anchored in a beautiful lagoon inside the island of Hunga. If you only looked at the charts (Navionics) you would think there was no way of entering but some local knowledge gave us a plan.
The opening in the rocks is approx 15m wide (we are 7m) and we were told it was best to come in at high tide on a calm day. In we came, over solid green on the charts (reef) and saw a low of 3.6m on depth sounder.
Its pretty cool in here, pics will follow.
The opening in the rocks is approx 15m wide (we are 7m) and we were told it was best to come in at high tide on a calm day. In we came, over solid green on the charts (reef) and saw a low of 3.6m on depth sounder.
Its pretty cool in here, pics will follow.
Yesterday I dinghied ashore with all our empty jerry cans, 47 actually and I found 2 still full onboard.
That took 3 trips as its only a 3.1m dinghy.
I sat waiting at the Boatyard for the servo truck to arrive but at 10.30am gave up and walked the km or so to them. The lady I had organised this with saw me walking towards her and suddenly remembered what was supposed to be going on.
Next thing I was sat on the back of an old Mitsi Dyna heading down to pickup the jerrys.
A couple of hours and 957 litres later we headed back down to the yard and unloaded on to the grass next to the boat ramp where I had left my dinghy.
Boat ramps are slippery !
It took 5 trips this time to get nearly a ton of fuel back to LS, my poor wife was waiting to accept the cans each time and shift them while I went back for more.
Eventually they were all put away in their places, we showered and went ashore to have beers with a couple of friends (one is on the hard there having a motor rebuilt now).
We slept well last night
That took 3 trips as its only a 3.1m dinghy.
I sat waiting at the Boatyard for the servo truck to arrive but at 10.30am gave up and walked the km or so to them. The lady I had organised this with saw me walking towards her and suddenly remembered what was supposed to be going on.
Next thing I was sat on the back of an old Mitsi Dyna heading down to pickup the jerrys.
A couple of hours and 957 litres later we headed back down to the yard and unloaded on to the grass next to the boat ramp where I had left my dinghy.
Boat ramps are slippery !
It took 5 trips this time to get nearly a ton of fuel back to LS, my poor wife was waiting to accept the cans each time and shift them while I went back for more.
Eventually they were all put away in their places, we showered and went ashore to have beers with a couple of friends (one is on the hard there having a motor rebuilt now).
We slept well last night
Back to main story/adventure -
Craig and Aron on REAO had organised parts and shipping but were now restless, they had only been in Fiji a couple of months but had been stuck in Cuvu or Musket for most of it. We were heading up the Mamanuca and Yasawa island groups and asked if they wanted to come with us on LS. Aron was in but Craig was worried about leaving REAO but after speaking with other boaties who would not be leaving Musket during cyclone season who were prepared to check in on her each day he agreed.
We dinghied over to REAO and collected them and, what seemed like, an unbelievable amount of groceries. It turned out there was a huge amount of crisps, biscuits, sweets for Craig and a few boxes of beer for Aron.
I was tidying up some ropes at the front when I was summoned to the flybridge, ‘the starboard motor isn’t working’ I was told. I looked at the gauges and they were all functioning except the rev counter, switching the motor off and on again fixed the issue and we all joked about what a jinx Craig is.
It was pretty choppy and the wind was picking up so we called in to Mana and dropped anchor, as we dinghied over to the beach bar at the backpackers we spotted two more boats coming in. Finally some of the allegedly intrepid boaties had left the safety of Musket/Denarau and come to join us.
The weather calmed the next day but we were all having so much fun we ended up staying there for 4 more days. Aron had bought a wakeboard the week before and was keen to give it a go. I gave her some tips but she said she wanted to watch someone before trying herself. Its been at least 3 years since I’ve boarded and I never had in the ocean, only lakes and rivers. We had a go at getting me up with our dinghy but the 15hp Yamaha wasn’t up to the job. A quick stop at WAIKAMORI and we had the use of their 4m w/50hp 4str Yamaha, first attempt and I was up ! A few carves and a little jump had me face planting the water though but at least Aron got to see the basics. Having seen me crash she had decided against trying so it was left to us guys to all have a go. We dragged poor Craig around and around trying to get him up but eventually he tired and had to admit defeat. Dion (from SV MAYA) strapped himself in and was out of the water first go, he then proceeded to make me look like an absolute beginner landing a series of jumps before letting go of the handle and sinking gracefully into the water awaiting pickup.
I wont bore you with further description of the islands we visited as we have covered them all before (Mamanucas and Yasawas) but this was the visit to Navadra that our epic video of black tipped reef sharks was made. Sonya and Aron were in the water with GoPro’s and Craig was acting as shark spotter but they were keeping their distance. S swum over and suggested to me that I throw some tuna pieces into the water and 5 minutes later I had a bowl of tiny tuna chunks and started throwing them into the water – sharks are fast ! The footage was amazing and some of the sounds from those in the water were pretty good too. Craig screamed like a girl when I hit him on the head with a piece and a metre long shark snaffled it up quickly after. I never was much of a Health & Safety guy.
We came back into cell cover and Arons phone started buzzing, their parts were in Fiji – hurrah ! We started heading back towards Musket knowing we had a couple of days before they would be released by Customs and delivered to the mechanic.
Obv we were awarded the contract to tow them from Musket to Vuda where they would be hauled out, it was a beautiful day and the conditions could not have been better. We took the opportunity of booking a couple of days in the marina for provisioning, fuel and some maintenance.
Whilst strolling through Lautoka I spotted a sign above a small store “Generator Parts Supplier’ so in I went. After 15 minutes and 4 members of staff I finally got what I wanted , an Automatic Voltage Regulator. I had a couple coming from NZ but not for a month so thought it would be a good idea to see if it was going to fix the genset issue. I think I wrote about this at the time somewhere up there ^^^. It did fix it but only for a few months and when it went wrong it did it in style and took out the 4 way rotary switch that selects Inverter/Shore/Genset/Off. You wouldn’t think that would be a major problem but Fiji . Sooooo, no one knew what I was talking about and when I did find someone he just laughed when I asked if he had one. Forced to do what I do best, I bodged it (rewired) so the genset now runs off the shore power setting. I do now have a new switch thanks to a couple of very good friends in NZ, one is a sparky who got it wholesale (250nzd instead of 700 retail) and another who was flying to Denarau for a weekend. Obv I am yet to install it, mainly because I would rather it was done by a pro and we bailed out of Fiji in a hurry as the weather window was too good to miss.
Anyway, technically we were still in cyclone season and there were still very few boats on the water despite the (mostly) wonderful conditions. With a little bit of arm twisting WAIKAMORI said they would join us in another trip up the Yasawas as they had only been to Blue Lagoon once and hadn’t stopped at any of the islands on route.
We both pulled out of Vuda but as I was on deck putting the fishing lines in I saw them start to turn. Knowing it wasn’t my lines putting them off I radioed them to see what was wrong. Apparently their stabilisers had stopped working and for Delwyn that was a big no no, she needed them functioning if she was going anywhere that wasn’t like a pond. Dean assured me it would be a quick fix and said they would catch us up. It wasn’t and they didn’t get back to us for nearly a week and lots of $$$$.
Hmmm, how can I put this ? I would love the space of a 65’ motorboat, the trawler style and the 8kn cruise speed of the 250hp Cummins would work for me too but boy have they had some issues. LS is a very simple boat compared with many and it works for us very well. We don’t have stabilisers, no fly by wire throttles/gearshifts, aircon, etc so , unless it’s a catastrophic failure, I have a good chance of getting things bodged/working again. Now I’m not saying if I won the lottery (or had worked a little harder) that I wouldn’t own a much flasher/more modern vessel but it would always be in the back of my mind that the places we wanted to go parts and labour would not be readily available. I mentioned before I believe that I am so happy the Yamaha salesman talked me out of a 4 stroke outboard as he said parts could/would be an issue and that any mechanic/fisherman in the islands can fix a 2 stroke.
Sonya worded it perfectly a while back – LS is not our dream boat but it’s the boat that allows us to live our dream.
Anyway, lots of fun, drinks, fish, etc for the next couple of weeks then it was back to good old Musket.
It was now the end of April and cyclone season was coming to an end (on paper anyway), we were both getting a little bored of cruising up and down the islands on the west side so started making plans for some more adventurous trips. We were only hanging around in Fiji now as our mate Dave who crewed for us last year on passage to Fiji was bringing another boat up and other friends were flying in for a week onboard in July.
Kadavu was somewhere we had omitted from our travels, a large island to the South of Viti Levu which we all pass by on our way into the country but (apparently) rarely visit. There was a weather window coming up in about a week that looked good for the 120 mile trip so we lounged around waiting. The day came and it wasn’t looking flash but the forecast for the next day was great, why don’t we leave now and tuck in at Cuvu for the night before heading straight to Kadavu ?
Well that wasn’t our best decision ever, it was a very uncomfortable 6 hour journey and the wind/swell combination overnight made sure that we were both pretty grumpy the next day. Conditions were meant to improve but neither of us fancied being out in (very) open water so we decided to hug the coastline and go to Beqa (Benga) then slip into Kadavu the next day via the Astrolabe reef system. Our anchorage overnight at Beqa was good, we could hear the wind but were protected by the island so got a good nights sleep. Anchor up and off we went, coming round to a reef pass we had not negotiated before and the sea state outside looked horrible. Further online checking showed the wind was shifting and it would not be a comfortable trip so we canned the idea of leaving and found another anchorage. We went up an estuary which turned out to be a wonderfully protected spot that we have returned to.
The next day I was doing my usual bilge check and noticed a few inches of water on stb side, I guessed by the level that a bilge pump had been working which made me concerned. I ran the engine and found a pin hole leak on a raw water intake pipe, when I leant down to touch it the whole pipe came off in my hand – ENGINE OFF !
These were just about the only parts of the raw water coolant system I hadn’t replaced as they were no longer made by Volvo but the clown who had done the initial works to LS when we first bought her (and who ripped us off massively) had replaced the seacock they were plumbed into and failed to mention the condition/corrosion.
I seated the pipe back into its flange with some silicon tape (the stuff you pull tight which then grips itself) and wrapped more around the pin hole, would it get us to Suva 30 miles away ????
Yes it did and is written about in more detail up there ^^^ somewhere , including a pic of the lovely new stainless pipes we had made my SEAMECH if I recall.
Another week at the RSYC where cheap drinks rule and it never stops raining
Craig and Aron on REAO had organised parts and shipping but were now restless, they had only been in Fiji a couple of months but had been stuck in Cuvu or Musket for most of it. We were heading up the Mamanuca and Yasawa island groups and asked if they wanted to come with us on LS. Aron was in but Craig was worried about leaving REAO but after speaking with other boaties who would not be leaving Musket during cyclone season who were prepared to check in on her each day he agreed.
We dinghied over to REAO and collected them and, what seemed like, an unbelievable amount of groceries. It turned out there was a huge amount of crisps, biscuits, sweets for Craig and a few boxes of beer for Aron.
I was tidying up some ropes at the front when I was summoned to the flybridge, ‘the starboard motor isn’t working’ I was told. I looked at the gauges and they were all functioning except the rev counter, switching the motor off and on again fixed the issue and we all joked about what a jinx Craig is.
It was pretty choppy and the wind was picking up so we called in to Mana and dropped anchor, as we dinghied over to the beach bar at the backpackers we spotted two more boats coming in. Finally some of the allegedly intrepid boaties had left the safety of Musket/Denarau and come to join us.
The weather calmed the next day but we were all having so much fun we ended up staying there for 4 more days. Aron had bought a wakeboard the week before and was keen to give it a go. I gave her some tips but she said she wanted to watch someone before trying herself. Its been at least 3 years since I’ve boarded and I never had in the ocean, only lakes and rivers. We had a go at getting me up with our dinghy but the 15hp Yamaha wasn’t up to the job. A quick stop at WAIKAMORI and we had the use of their 4m w/50hp 4str Yamaha, first attempt and I was up ! A few carves and a little jump had me face planting the water though but at least Aron got to see the basics. Having seen me crash she had decided against trying so it was left to us guys to all have a go. We dragged poor Craig around and around trying to get him up but eventually he tired and had to admit defeat. Dion (from SV MAYA) strapped himself in and was out of the water first go, he then proceeded to make me look like an absolute beginner landing a series of jumps before letting go of the handle and sinking gracefully into the water awaiting pickup.
I wont bore you with further description of the islands we visited as we have covered them all before (Mamanucas and Yasawas) but this was the visit to Navadra that our epic video of black tipped reef sharks was made. Sonya and Aron were in the water with GoPro’s and Craig was acting as shark spotter but they were keeping their distance. S swum over and suggested to me that I throw some tuna pieces into the water and 5 minutes later I had a bowl of tiny tuna chunks and started throwing them into the water – sharks are fast ! The footage was amazing and some of the sounds from those in the water were pretty good too. Craig screamed like a girl when I hit him on the head with a piece and a metre long shark snaffled it up quickly after. I never was much of a Health & Safety guy.
We came back into cell cover and Arons phone started buzzing, their parts were in Fiji – hurrah ! We started heading back towards Musket knowing we had a couple of days before they would be released by Customs and delivered to the mechanic.
Obv we were awarded the contract to tow them from Musket to Vuda where they would be hauled out, it was a beautiful day and the conditions could not have been better. We took the opportunity of booking a couple of days in the marina for provisioning, fuel and some maintenance.
Whilst strolling through Lautoka I spotted a sign above a small store “Generator Parts Supplier’ so in I went. After 15 minutes and 4 members of staff I finally got what I wanted , an Automatic Voltage Regulator. I had a couple coming from NZ but not for a month so thought it would be a good idea to see if it was going to fix the genset issue. I think I wrote about this at the time somewhere up there ^^^. It did fix it but only for a few months and when it went wrong it did it in style and took out the 4 way rotary switch that selects Inverter/Shore/Genset/Off. You wouldn’t think that would be a major problem but Fiji . Sooooo, no one knew what I was talking about and when I did find someone he just laughed when I asked if he had one. Forced to do what I do best, I bodged it (rewired) so the genset now runs off the shore power setting. I do now have a new switch thanks to a couple of very good friends in NZ, one is a sparky who got it wholesale (250nzd instead of 700 retail) and another who was flying to Denarau for a weekend. Obv I am yet to install it, mainly because I would rather it was done by a pro and we bailed out of Fiji in a hurry as the weather window was too good to miss.
Anyway, technically we were still in cyclone season and there were still very few boats on the water despite the (mostly) wonderful conditions. With a little bit of arm twisting WAIKAMORI said they would join us in another trip up the Yasawas as they had only been to Blue Lagoon once and hadn’t stopped at any of the islands on route.
We both pulled out of Vuda but as I was on deck putting the fishing lines in I saw them start to turn. Knowing it wasn’t my lines putting them off I radioed them to see what was wrong. Apparently their stabilisers had stopped working and for Delwyn that was a big no no, she needed them functioning if she was going anywhere that wasn’t like a pond. Dean assured me it would be a quick fix and said they would catch us up. It wasn’t and they didn’t get back to us for nearly a week and lots of $$$$.
Hmmm, how can I put this ? I would love the space of a 65’ motorboat, the trawler style and the 8kn cruise speed of the 250hp Cummins would work for me too but boy have they had some issues. LS is a very simple boat compared with many and it works for us very well. We don’t have stabilisers, no fly by wire throttles/gearshifts, aircon, etc so , unless it’s a catastrophic failure, I have a good chance of getting things bodged/working again. Now I’m not saying if I won the lottery (or had worked a little harder) that I wouldn’t own a much flasher/more modern vessel but it would always be in the back of my mind that the places we wanted to go parts and labour would not be readily available. I mentioned before I believe that I am so happy the Yamaha salesman talked me out of a 4 stroke outboard as he said parts could/would be an issue and that any mechanic/fisherman in the islands can fix a 2 stroke.
Sonya worded it perfectly a while back – LS is not our dream boat but it’s the boat that allows us to live our dream.
Anyway, lots of fun, drinks, fish, etc for the next couple of weeks then it was back to good old Musket.
It was now the end of April and cyclone season was coming to an end (on paper anyway), we were both getting a little bored of cruising up and down the islands on the west side so started making plans for some more adventurous trips. We were only hanging around in Fiji now as our mate Dave who crewed for us last year on passage to Fiji was bringing another boat up and other friends were flying in for a week onboard in July.
Kadavu was somewhere we had omitted from our travels, a large island to the South of Viti Levu which we all pass by on our way into the country but (apparently) rarely visit. There was a weather window coming up in about a week that looked good for the 120 mile trip so we lounged around waiting. The day came and it wasn’t looking flash but the forecast for the next day was great, why don’t we leave now and tuck in at Cuvu for the night before heading straight to Kadavu ?
Well that wasn’t our best decision ever, it was a very uncomfortable 6 hour journey and the wind/swell combination overnight made sure that we were both pretty grumpy the next day. Conditions were meant to improve but neither of us fancied being out in (very) open water so we decided to hug the coastline and go to Beqa (Benga) then slip into Kadavu the next day via the Astrolabe reef system. Our anchorage overnight at Beqa was good, we could hear the wind but were protected by the island so got a good nights sleep. Anchor up and off we went, coming round to a reef pass we had not negotiated before and the sea state outside looked horrible. Further online checking showed the wind was shifting and it would not be a comfortable trip so we canned the idea of leaving and found another anchorage. We went up an estuary which turned out to be a wonderfully protected spot that we have returned to.
The next day I was doing my usual bilge check and noticed a few inches of water on stb side, I guessed by the level that a bilge pump had been working which made me concerned. I ran the engine and found a pin hole leak on a raw water intake pipe, when I leant down to touch it the whole pipe came off in my hand – ENGINE OFF !
These were just about the only parts of the raw water coolant system I hadn’t replaced as they were no longer made by Volvo but the clown who had done the initial works to LS when we first bought her (and who ripped us off massively) had replaced the seacock they were plumbed into and failed to mention the condition/corrosion.
I seated the pipe back into its flange with some silicon tape (the stuff you pull tight which then grips itself) and wrapped more around the pin hole, would it get us to Suva 30 miles away ????
Yes it did and is written about in more detail up there ^^^ somewhere , including a pic of the lovely new stainless pipes we had made my SEAMECH if I recall.
Another week at the RSYC where cheap drinks rule and it never stops raining
Yesterday (Wed) was the big race and we were invited onboard SV Shine (47' Nautitech Cat) for it.
Patrick (owner/skipper) had put his back out a few days before so wasnt in the best condition for the Le Mans type start from Mangoes bar after the briefing .
We were not aware this was how the race would start but some (yes Parlay Revival I'm looking at you) had obv been enlightened prior.
Anyway, it was a great day and we stormed past a number of boats ending up second (I believe) in the Cat class. One grumpy Swede made an official complaint about us going the wrong side of a channel marker but it wasnt upheld.
Oh yes, to complete the race a crew member had to jump in the water and swim back to Mangoes. It was easy to choose who. Patrick had bought the services of a Volvo Ocean Race winner at a charity auction the night before who didnt really help in the race just drank a load of beer, so in he went !
Patrick (owner/skipper) had put his back out a few days before so wasnt in the best condition for the Le Mans type start from Mangoes bar after the briefing .
We were not aware this was how the race would start but some (yes Parlay Revival I'm looking at you) had obv been enlightened prior.
Anyway, it was a great day and we stormed past a number of boats ending up second (I believe) in the Cat class. One grumpy Swede made an official complaint about us going the wrong side of a channel marker but it wasnt upheld.
Oh yes, to complete the race a crew member had to jump in the water and swim back to Mangoes. It was easy to choose who. Patrick had bought the services of a Volvo Ocean Race winner at a charity auction the night before who didnt really help in the race just drank a load of beer, so in he went !
Voldemort said:
Saw this: thought of you.
[
Haha, nice one ![
Unfortunately a yacht was dis masted last week about 250nm from Fiji, I gather the skipper died and two crew had quite bad injuries. A cruise liner, Fiji Navy and Michael Hills (famous NZ jeweller/celeb) The Beast all attended/helped.
We have seen two yachts arrive in Tonga dis masted since we have been here, one has just rigged up a temp sail and bought up as many jerry cans as poss to get to Fiji on the next weather window.
tr7v8 said:
Sail boat owners are known as WAFI's
Not heard of that one, please explain.I use the term 'wind thieves' on occasion but mostly things are fine between the different boat types.
I suspect this will change the closer we get to or in to French Poly where the hardcore hippy sailors hang out.
NNK said:
tr7v8 said:
Sail boat owners are known as WAFI's
Not heard of that one, please explain.I use the term 'wind thieves' on occasion but mostly things are fine between the different boat types.
I suspect this will change the closer we get to or in to French Poly where the hardcore hippy sailors hang out.
NNK said:
tr7v8 said:
Sail boat owners are known as WAFI's
Not heard of that one, please explain.I use the term 'wind thieves' on occasion but mostly things are fine between the different boat types.
I suspect this will change the closer we get to or in to French Poly where the hardcore hippy sailors hang out.
We spent the last week back in Hunga lagoon, the only boat there, which was lovely.
Yesterday , Friday, it was time to pick up anchor and head back to Ne'Afu for a charity dinner (breat cancer awareness). We suspected we would be hooked around something from the occasional grinding noises overnight.
It took about 40 mins of manouvering to get the anchor up, my wife had just put mask on to go in and guide us when I gave it one last try - lucky.
All good practice for FP where anchoring is, allegedly, very tricky. Better start practicing 'floating' our chain with buoys/fenders.
If any of you make it to Tonga , be caeful of the rum punch at Kraken bar - its lethal
Yesterday , Friday, it was time to pick up anchor and head back to Ne'Afu for a charity dinner (breat cancer awareness). We suspected we would be hooked around something from the occasional grinding noises overnight.
It took about 40 mins of manouvering to get the anchor up, my wife had just put mask on to go in and guide us when I gave it one last try - lucky.
All good practice for FP where anchoring is, allegedly, very tricky. Better start practicing 'floating' our chain with buoys/fenders.
If any of you make it to Tonga , be caeful of the rum punch at Kraken bar - its lethal
Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff