S/V Rutea Sails Around the World: Decisions, Decisions . . .

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Decisions, Decisions . . .

We're having a tough time. It's getting close to the time when we should be leaving the Vava'u Group and continuing south. The days tick by and cyclone season keeps getting closer - it officially starts on November 1st but it's very rare to have one that early in the season. We've contracted with a highly respected weather router in New Zealand to prepare as safe a passage from Tonga to New Zealand as possible. At first I told him that we'd be ready to go anytime after October 1. Then I emailed him back and said anytime after October 15.

Now I've learned that there's an organized rally from Tonga to New Zealand departing Tonga the first five days of November (it doesn't start on a specific day due to weather considerations). It kind of sounds like fun to travel with a group of boats and it's something that we've never done. There's already quite a good-sized fleet underway and so far their conditions have been very good. We're monitoring them quite closely.

The next group of islands south are called the Ha'apai Group and many cruisers don't stop there as there are few protected anchorages and the passages between islands are strewn with coral reefs. Some people say the diving and snorkeling there is almost as good as the Tuamotus but that's hard for us to believe. The Tuamotus were nothing short of mind-boggling.

South of the Ha'apai Group is Tongatapu or 'Tonga' to the locals. It has the largest population in all of Tonga and provisioning there would give us a much better selection. On the other hand, boats are strongly advised to have rat guards on their lines before they tie up to the wharf to get fuel. Apparently, rats will make a beeline for ships lines to make their way on board - rat guards are like big pie tins that you fix to your dock lines and the rats can't get past them.

There is the possibility of sailing straight from Vava'u to New Zealand. We like it here. Over 40 protected anchorages. Lots of other cruising boats. Great diving/snorkeling (today we beached the dinghy on the north side of the beach on Vaka'eitu and hiked across the island to the south shore where we found a deserted beach about a quarter-mile long. We donned our masks/snorkels/fins and swam out over the shallow reef. Out about 100 yards from shore, the reef dropped straight down giving us the feeling of free falling. The cliff formed by the reef was splashed with beautiful coral and thousands of brightly colored tropical fish were darting this way and that. Large underwater ravines in the coral wind their way towards shore providing excellent places to explore. The visibility had to be in excess of 80 feet.). On the other hand, the provisioning is lousy and expensive. And visiting Tongatapu puts us about 120 miles closer to New Zealand.

For the last few days Corie has been the invited guest aboard a beautiful 80' motorsailer. The owner is a former Hollywood film producer. He has four crew members, some of who are close to Corie's age. It's been a good break for all of us to have some time apart even though we get along remarkably well.

We're going to head back to the main port of Neiafu tomorrow to study the weather closely. There might be a front moving through next week and I think I'd prefer to wait it out here than in Ha'apai.

Rutea and all of us are doing great. How are you doing?

Nofo a.
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At 10/6/2011 5:38 AM (utc) Rutea's position was 18°43.24'S 174°06.09'W

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About Rutea

Rutea was built in 1984 by Conyplex in Mendemblik, Holland. A small brass plaque says that she's hull Number 9 but on the Conyplex website www.contestyachts.com there's no mention of them building that many. She's designed by Dick Zaal, who designed most of Conyplex's earlier boats. The brochure says that she's 48' overall with a 14'6" beam and she draws 6'. Her cast iron bolted-on fin keel weighs 12,000 pounds and she is supposed to displace slightly over 37,000 pounds but she's never been one to watch her weight and, ahem, she's gained more than a few pounds since we bought her in 1996. Her ketch rig sports Profurl furlers for the jib/genoa and the staysail. The main has a very tall aspect as does the mizzen. All of her winches are made by Enkes although I did add a Harken self-tailing for the main halyard. She uses an unusual reel winch that's equipped with Spectra rope for furling the genoa. There's a running backstay on the mizzen mast and there are no forward lowers on the main mast. The head stay is Dyform.

I replaced the original Volvo MD40A six-cylinder diesel with a Beta Marine 90 and I've been very happy with it although it puts out nowhere near 90 HP - probably 70 is more like it. Regardless, it's adequate and very economical on fuel. I also replaced the original Westerbeke 6kw genset with a single-cylinder Kubota diesel that drives a 150-amp alternator. Since we switched over to 12-volt refrigeration, we no longer have any 110-volt appliances on board, other than the water heater. Since the new Beta Marine engine has two big alternators (one is 100 amps and the other 175), we have our Victron inverter/charger power the water heater when we're under power (we don't have engine coolant circulate through the water heater).

Rutea's layout down below is different from many boats of her size. Aft of her water-tight forward bulkhead is a 'wet' head, complete with two sinks. Aft of that are two cabins, both with bunk beds on either side of the boat and each has a door to the forward head. This was perfect when we cruised with our family as our 3 children had their own quarters. The main saloon occupies the area aft of the forward cabins and her dinette and settees are large enough to seat 10 people (we've had many a memorable meal here!). Under the cabin sole are two 90-gallon stainless steel fuel tanks. Under the settee seats on either side is a 120-gallon water tank, also made of stainless steel. On the starboard side, aft of the dinette is the foward-facing nav station and on the port side is the galley where we have a 7 cubic foot refrigerator and a 5 cubic foot freezer. Aft of the nav station, on the starboard side is my work shop. This was originally designed to be another stateroom but the original owner had Conyplex convert it into a work shop, complete with a heavy-duty work bench and a massive 6" vise. I sometimes spend days at a time in there. Many a visiting cruiser has eyed with envy, drooled with desire and blatantly coveted my work shop! I have access to the engines from there. On the port side, aft of the galley, is another 'wet' head. Aft of that is the aft cabin, which has a settee as well as a full double-size berth. Aft of the aft cabin or 'owner's stateroom' as it's called on many boats, is her spacious lazarette, which is where the water heater and diesel-fired boiler are located. Bolted to the back of the aft deck and overhanging the transom are her Simpson davits (I sometimes tell people that the boat was built around those davits - they're very substantial with a capacity of 250 Kgs). Resting on top of the davits are Ruthie's roto-molded kayak and above that are two 215-watt solar panels. Hanging off the davits is our Aqua Pro dinghy and it's 15-horsepower Honda outboard.

On deck, starting at the bow, is Rutea's primary anchor, a Bruce 30 kilogram that's connected to the 350' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain with a Wasi Powerball. The anchor and chain are deployed and retrieved by a Lofrans Progress II windlass. In the anchor locker lives another Bruce 20kg anchor that's connected to 50' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain and 150' of 1" MegaBraid rope. Also in the anchor locker, amongst many other things, is the 18' Para-Tech sea anchor with it's dedicated 100' of 1" single-braid rope. Moving aft is Rutea's main mast, which has double spreaders, four Enkes winches and one Harken self-tailing winch. The mast is made by Selden as are the two heavy spinnaker poles. The tracks for the staysail and the genoa are stainless steel. In the cockpit are five more Enke winches and a Harken mechanical backstay adjuster. The mizzen mast is also quite substantial and has three Enkes winches on it. The turning blocks are stainless steel. The steering system on Rutea is the Whitlock Mamba system using a torque tube and a push-pull rod. The compass in the binnacle is made by Sestrel.

Even though we try to keep up on Rutea's appearance, she's still starting to show her age. I replaced her portlights (all twelve of them) and Ruthie has taken over the job of varnishing her brightwork. In 2000 we removed her teak decks and replaced it with painted fiberglass. Much less maintenance! She's what I call a 200-foot boat: She looks great from 200 feet!

Regardless, the best part of Rutea is the way she handles. While she's not the fastest filly in the fleet, she can cover a respectable amount of distance in a day. Her sail plan allows her to be easily balanced to the point where the autopilot has very little correcting to do. Her sails are all made by North except her spinnakers are Dutch-made.

Rutea’s electronics package includes radar, chartplotter, AIS, sounder and sailing instruments - all made by Garmin. Her radios are all old but they work well. Her Icom M802 SSB has been modified to use ham frequencies.