Passage to New Caledonia

From the Sketchbook

Did I really say that we would have nice sailing in my last blog entry?  Superstitious sailors should know better than to tempt fate!

Whew!  We made it!  Our passage from New Zealand was a tough one, in fact it was the roughest weather we’ve had consistently on a passage.  It blew between 15 and 40 knots, but was over 25 most of the time.  It grew rather tedious with big seas, regularly slamming the side of the coach-house and splashing across the cockpit.  One wave managed to come through the cockpit at just the right angle at just the wrong time.  We had the cover over the hatch open and the wave planted itself into the quarter-berth where Heidi was sleeping at the time.  That was a rude awakening and has never happened to us before!  At least this passage was relatively fast.  It took us 7 ½ days and we still had lots of fresh fruit and veg left on our arrival as our appetites weren’t up to eating much!

There’s no species list to report for this passage; Heidi didn’t pick up binoculars to look at seabirds until we entered the pass into the lagoon.  When she doesn’t feel like looking at birds, than that means things are serious!

Here’s a few stats from the trip…

Opua, New Zealand to Noumea, New Caledonia

Narama stats:
Total distance: 884 nm (nautical miles)
Best 24-hour day:  138 nm
Worst day: 103 nm
Average day: 120 nm
Average speed: 5 knots
Highest winds: 40 knot gusts
Sail changes: 6 (includes reefing, but not furling for squalls)
Sails used: between 1 and 3 reefs in the main; furling jib and storm jib
Ships sighted: 4
Engine hours: 4.6 (port to port)

Damage sustained: One bent stanchion and a cracked stanchion base (stainless).  Also, we ripped our cockpit side-covers: the bungy cords on the bottom released pressure, but not fast enough.  Oh yeah, and Heidi’s ego.