New Blog Feature!

The observant reader of this blog may notice the addition of the picture of the two dolphins playing in Rutea's bow wake.  This is actually a link to our Picasa album where you can see other photos of our trip.  Just click on the picture.  At this point, I only have a small fraction of the pictures we have uploaded.  I'm working on it and I suggest you check it frequently.  Currently, the photos are from the time we left San Diego through our arrival at Hiva Oa in the Marquesas.  I sorted through over 500 photographs to come up with those that are uploaded.  I have another 2,000 photos to sort through.  Please let me know if the link doesn't work.

We are enjoying New Zealand very much.  The people we've met so far are very friendly even if they do talk funny.  Our friend, Bob, on the McGregor 65, Braveheart, bought a minivan today so he's invited us to go see the sights of the North Island tomorrow.  We haven't gotten too far from the boat since we arrived.  I'll take more pictures and try to get them uploaded as well.

Nuku'alofa to Opua

Tonga to New Zealand in seven days, ten hours! Breezed through immigration and customs and were carried by the current in to a slip in the Opua Marina. Made wonderful, new friends instantly on the docks (it takes a village to get a boat into a slip in these currents) and immediately began to settle into life in the village of Opua (pop 500).

I have always thought that New Zealand was a little too far to fly to for a vacation.... but who in their right mind would EVER sail here?

R of Rutea
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At 10/27/2011 9:00 PM (utc) Rutea's position was 34°45.21'S 174°29.04'E

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Day 7 - Tonga to New Zealand

With less than 50 miles to go to Opua, we're having one hell of a sail with Rutea holding pretty much to her hull speed. We've got everything up but the bed sheets and everything vanged down but my pants. It's cool out but there's lots of sunshine. We hope to arrive at the quarantine dock by 1630 local time. We can't see land yet as there's a haze to the west but we should be able to spot it by late morning.

It's been a fairy-tale passage. None of the harrowing conditions that we were promised - instead we got some great sailing in. We did have to motor for a couple of days but that helped keep the passage short. Our spirits are high and we're looking forward to lots of cold, refreshing beverages.

Thanks to everyone who emailed and thought of us. I know it helped. We'll post pictures and write more soon.
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At 10/27/2011 7:02 PM (utc) Rutea's position was 34°33.35'S 174°38.08'E

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Day 6 - Tonga to New Zealand

High-Latitude Sunset

 

Corie managed to connect to the email server in Niue, almost 1,100 miles away, using our single sideband radio but the connection is very slow. I'm actually writing this as we're in the sending and receiving process; I'm typing as fast as I can so please forgive any errors.
Even though the wind is very light and we're motoring, we're having a great time. The seas are flat calm and the sky is clear. It's fairly warm, about 66 and the humidity is low. Our excitement is building as the prospects of landfall draw near. In particular, I'm thinking about a cheeseburger with a very large, cold beer (we don't drink anything alcoholic when we're on a passage).
Even though Rutea's mechanical systems continue to perform well (except her refrigeration), her exterior is in bad need of a thorough scrubbing. Heavy layers of salt cover everything and the deck kind of crunches when you walk on it. I was thinking about stowing the trysail, our very heavy storm sail that's bent onto the mast so it's easy to deploy should we need it but I think as long as it's there it's insurance that we won't need it.
My friend, Norm, on Sarah Jean II, called me yesterday on the radio and told me of his calculations that if we increased our speed by one full knot, we would arrive in Opua in the late afternoon on Friday. "Good call," I said and we increased our engine's RPMs to 1,600. Norm called back a few hours later to tell us that the increase in RPMs had put additional pressure on Sarah Jean's rudder bearing, which had been giving them trouble, and he was forced to back down. He expects this to delay their arrival by a full day.
We should be arriving in Opua, New Zealand, about this time tomorrow. The weather forecast is for more light winds. I'll be able to write with more details tomorrow night.
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At 10/27/2011 12:56 AM (utc) Rutea's position was 32°41.94'S 176°00.79'E
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Day 5 in the Southern Ocean

385 miles to go and we are motor sailing! The southern ocean is flat and a deep, rich color of blue. The horizon looks miles away. The only thing we can see other than blue sky and blue ocean is the bright white sail of Sarah Jean II about three miles off of our beam. The temperature got down last night to 59 degrees! Haven't felt that cool since last December! It made for a wonderful night of sleeping and Corie had to wake me up for my watch! She generously allowed me an extra 15 minutes of sleep! The stars were brilliant and Jupiter cast a glow on the water. I can't believe we are having such benign weather! It is really unusual to have a ten day stretch where there are no "lows" in this part of the world! I don't even care about motoring for the next two days (even with diesel being about $8.00 per gallon)! I was just looking at the weather gribs and next week (just after we arrive) there are a series of lows that are coming across the Tasman Sea from Australia and there are lots of arrows on the gribs with little feathers in bright red and orange colors! We are hoping to arrive in Opua late Friday afternoon before the pubs close! The boats that left Tonga three days after we did are going to have some serious weather decisions to make. They can always stop in Minerva Reef and let the weather pass (hopefully to the south), but the reef is two feet under the surface of the ocean and only provides so much protection from the swells.

It is a real bummer not having a fridge! The freezer is not a big deal, but we were not able to make any meals ahead of leaving Tonga (except for brownies)so our mealtime has not been the high point of the day as it usually is on a passage! However today, since the seas are so flat, Corie said she would make pizza! Whatever we make we have to finish eating entirely or throw out the leftovers! I had to throw out (or rather overboard) a bunch of stuff yesterday- salsa, cream cheese (there was a bug inside the cardboard carton..... it had never been opened....) carrots, parsley, pesto, milk, hard boiled eggs and leftover salmon loaf! Fortunately we still have a bunch of apples (which we need to eat because we cannot take them into NZ- even though they are NZ apples!). Maybe I will make apple sauce or apple pie with whatever are left over! The first thing we are going to buy in NZ is a chilly box and ice until we decide what route to take for refrig repair!

We are spending our days reading YOUR emails, reading novels and of course, our NZ Travel Guides! We are very excited about doing some land travel, some tramping, visiting our Kiwi friends, watching rugby (go All Blacks!) and of course, sailing the islands! The Land of the Long White Cloud beckons and promises a whole new chapter in this amazing adventure.

Ta,
R of Rutea
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At 10/25/2011 6:52 PM (utc) Rutea's position was 29°37.45'S 178°09.20'E

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Day Four - Tonga to New Zealand

Someday I'll learn. It's bound to happen. But, maybe not. It's not that I'm really lazy or really stupid but I'm sometimes too optimistic. Last night before sunset, Corie asked me if I was going to furl the mizzen before dark (she was remembering a previous night when I had to furl it in 20 knots of wind at midnight). I said, no, I think it will be alright. She pursed her lips and said nothing. So last night I'm on watch and a target appears on the radar - we're out in the middle of nowhere and a target - a bright spot on the radar screen - could be another boat, a ship or an aberration. This target turned out to be the formation of a squall, a series of them. So I called Ruthie up from her sleep and I fought with the mizzen to lower and furl it. Good thing I had installed bright deck lights before we left San Diego as the night was pitch black. Even though I'm tethered onto the boat securely with a heavy harness, there's only our thin life lines between me and the sea that's rushing past at 11 feet per second. Add to that a wind that blowing at about 20 knots and seas that won't stay still for a second and it can be interesting. Once the mizzen was secure, I tucked a reef into the main. This quieted the boat down, Ruthie went back to sleep and I resumed my watch duties.

We're buddy-boating with Sarah Jean II, a boat owned by a couple we met in Mexico and of whom we're very fond. Beth and Norm's Saga 43 is a beautiful boat, very well equipped and they're both excellent sailors. With a water line slightly longer than Rutea's but only displacing about half of Rutea's weight, we're almost the exact same speed. We've been within a few miles of each other the entire trip. Crewing on this passage for them is their daughter's boyfriend, Kyle.

Our conditions are almost perfect. We're on a close reach with about 16 knots of southeast wind, the seas are about 1.5 to 2 meters, the outside temperature is 65 and the sky is mostly clear. Our speed over ground is averaging over 7 knots per hour and we've already shaved an entire day off our original ETA. We just past our half way mark. In the past 24 hours we covered 175 miles. The forecast for the rest of the trip is excellent. Our spirits are good and Rutea is doing great.

Thanks again for all the supportive emails. They mean a lot.
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At 10/24/2011 10:32 PM (utc) Rutea's position was 27°39.53'S 179°26.47'E

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Day 3 - Tonga to New Zealand

It was a rather uncomfortable night with Rutea heeled at about an 18 degree angle until early this morning when the wind finally backed some. Even though I was off watch, I couldn't sleep and so I adjusted the sails which made it more comfortable. The the wind began to build which put a bone in Big Ol' Ruttea's teeth and she began to pull like a team of mules. The exciting upshot of this was that the Time-to-Destination field on our chartplotter began to actually show numbers. Previously, we had too long to go for the counter to work and once it became less than 100 hours, the space that only had dashes now had real, tangible numbers. Of course, gradually the wind lightened and the dashes returned, leaving us to wonder if we were ever going to get there. But our 24-hour distance was 156 miles which isn't too bad for a big old boat, although we did motor for about 6 hours yesterday when our speed dropped to less than 5 knot per hour.

Bob McDavitt, our weather router, writes a weekly weather forecast for the western South Pacific and New Zealand area - he calls them 'Bobgrams'. They're pretty generic but most of the cruisers in this area count on them. There's always a section on travel between Figi/New Caledonia/Tonga and New Zealand and this week he talks about how the going is good right now but to not try to arrive this weekend. We should arrive by Friday.

I don't think we've turned the iPod off since we left. It really helps the time to pass on the night watches. We've talked to some people who watch movies when they're on watch.

We could hit our halfway point tomorrow.

Our spirits remain good and we're grateful for the emails that we've received from our families and friends. Please keep them coming.
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At 10/24/2011 12:57 AM (utc) Rutea's position was 25°30.28'S 179°04.56'W

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