New Zealand to Fiji 2016
After six months of enjoying all New Zealand has to offer (and it’s amazing how wonderful this country is!) we are more than ready to leave. Tracy wrote an article about our experience here. New Zealand will always have a warm spot in our hearts as we met so many wonderful people here, so enjoyed touring around and seeing the specular scenery and loved the food, wine and cheese. Someday, we’ll be back for sure…
A special call-out to Duthie and the team at Asia-Pacific Superyachts. They have taken such good care of us and our needs while in New Zealand. If you are heading here, please contact them and let them help make your visit as effortless and they made ours. Thanks Duthie!
However this brief post is about us beginning our winter sailing season in the tropics of the Pacific. Specifically, starting with Fiji. It’s about 1100nm away from us and, for the past few weeks, has been inaccessible. The winter weather has arrived in New Zealand bring fierce cold fronts across the Tasman Sea one right after another. Only 6-12 hours in-between one low and another. We feel bit like the migratory birds who have waited a little too long to go south (or north as it is in our case being in the Southern Hemisphere). Our excuse is that we’ve been sorting out some last mechanical issues that cost us a couple extra weeks. Weeks that, unfortunately, have allowed the winter season to set in.
However, our patience will be paid off this coming weekend as we see a good weather window that will allow us to escape the evil clutches of winter (I always wanted to say that!) and flee north to the warm Fijian paradise. We are prepared, provisioned, stocked with spirits, wine and beer and have our swimming suits standing by for arrival in Fiji by this time next week. Between now and then will be a week of cold night watches and ‘full-on’ ocean sailing. Should be fun (not the cold part…)!
If the winds go as planned we will have a rather boisterous start to our passage with 4m+ seas and 20-25kts of wind for the first day or so. The forecast calls for this low to pass off to the east and a short period of reasonable weather to set in before the next low blasts into New Zealand. All we need is 48 hours to get 400-500nm north and we’ll be clear of the storms.
We have a new passage crew member, Bryce, who comes to us from Doyle Sails in Auckland. He’s an experienced coastal sailor looking to get some serious offshore experience and I think this trip will fit the bill for him (!). He’s been invaluable so far is running all over Auckland picking up parts we’ve ordered or have shipped in over the past few weeks. Tomorrow (Saturday) he arrives to integrate with us all and we’ll have one last crew dinner at The Duke of Marlborough here in Russell to get use all in the 'passage mood'!
So, come Sunday we clear out from Opua, Bay of Islands, and head north. Follow along on our first passage of the winter season in the Pacific and our second year along our world circumnavigation. Lot’s of fun ahead! We’ll have the YellowBrick tracker on so you can see what we’re up to. Fishing gear will be out and our resident ‘Samurai Fisherman’ (Andrea) will be working hard with me to get us a nice tuna or mahi mahi.
Yeah baby, we are heading north and Feelin’ Great!