Current Position: 18 39.529’S 173 59.003’W; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 0 kt COG: N/A; TWS: 11 kt; TWD: 160; Distance to Waypoint (Vava’u): At Anchor; Total Miles Sailed: 5750 nm;
Comments: By 16:30, the wind had backed to the W enough that it was no longer possible to close haul due W and I started to sail south of the latitude for the N end of Vava’u. Since I do not know how long it will take for the wind to back to the S, I will tack in about 3h and regain some of the latitude. The course plotted by PW says the wind will be about 200 at midnight. So, if I head S for 3h and then tack and head N for 3h, I should be at the correct latitude and can reach W until aI arrive at the waypoint. Since I should only be 25 nm from the waypoint then (midnight), I will likely shorten sail to time my arrival after dawn. At 17:00, an hour before sunset, the TWD was 300 at 15 kt. When the direction reaches 270 or so, I will be heading almost due S. At that point I will tack. Depending on the wind conditions and how far I am from the waypoint, that may be a good opportunity to shorten sail. I couldn’t let the thing with the charger go. I ended up working on it for an hour. First, I wired the old charger to power and confirmed the settings. Then I transferred the settings to the replacement charger. It stated it was charging but the current wasn’t flowing through the shunt. I double-checked the correct negative wire was connected and I measured voltage coming out of the charger to the Li battery bank … only that is not what I was measuring. I was measuring the back voltage from the Li bank to the charger. Once again I was done in by a bad connection at a Victron device. Once properly connected, it worked fine and I put a charge on the battery bank. In the meantime, it is 22:00 and I am still sailing. I have 49 nm to go to the N end of the island., doing 5 kt on a 248 course (waypoint is at 267). Wind is 15 kt from 322 and I am sailing a close haul on this approximate heading for 2h more, when I will tack. I am guessing I’ll reach the latitude of the waypoint (18 30S) about 1:00 and will be about 32 nm away. At that point I should be able to sail due W and with an average speed of 4.5 kt I should be at the waypoint by 8:00. I will probably loose the wind in the lee side of the island and will have to motor the 15 nm or so to the entrance if the convoluted channel to the harbor. Navigating the channel will probably take a couple of hours. At 21:00 a 20 kt wind surprisingly hit from 340, causing the boat to round up and actually point NW towards the waypoint. This was followed by rain, obviously the edge of a squall. Since I was headed in a desirable direction and I knew it would be temporary, I made no adjustments to the sails and just went with the flow. At 21:45, on the backend of the storm, I experienced the vacuum and single-digit wind speeds. At 22:30 I was awaken 15m before an alarm because something didn’t feel right. The wind had shifted to 255 and I was being driven nearly due S. There was driving rain, obviously a storm, but I had to tack. Going out onto the deck to remove a preventer in the rain with the boat heeled over far enough for the sea to be rushing over the toe rail was not pleasant, except I did get a nice freshwater shower. Tacking was uneventful and I was soon sailing 288 relative to the waypoint at 273 doing 4.5 kt in an extreme close haul in 17 kt wind. Basically, I was exactly on the course recommended by PW and a hour ahead of schedule about 39 nm from the waypoint. Is the wind continued to rotate southward, the boat would pick up speed and rotate towards the waypoint. I felt good about the progress, but decided to stay awake should the effects of the storm be temporary and a correction be necessary. Indeed, I felt the boat slow and by 23:05 it was headed 325 at 2 kt in 8 kt of wind. I was in the vacuum left by the storm. I simply had to wait for it to pass to discover what the new reality was with respect to wind speed and direction. I was headed in the generally correct direction as I needed to recover latitude. By 23:25, the boat started moving again towards the waypoint 3.5 kt in 10 kt of wind from 200. The wind and the boat were doing what they were supposed to according to the forecast. By 00:45 the wind had stabilized enough that I could take 30m naps. I woke up at 2:15 while dreaming of a leopard attacking me. The boat was surfing over 7 kt in 15 kt of wind. It was pouring down rain. The wind was coming from due S and the rain was cold. I have not had to wear a jacket when working in the cockpit, but I had to return to the cabin and put one on. LlI put the boat back on course going 6 kt with 30 nm to go. It is 4:00, sunrise is at 7:03, and I am 19 nm from the waypoint. Like I did for Hiva Oa, I expect to arrive around sunrise. Since I have plenty of time, my plan is to sail around to the leeward side of the island, but if I get bewinded, I will motor. Once I am outside the channel, about mid morning, I will heave to and take care of some pre-arrival details, which includes sorting out the chain locker, inflating the fenders, sorting out the dock lines, and calling the Vava’u Port Authority on VHF 16 to announce my arrival. It is nearly 5:00. The winds have been light, variable, and unstable as I approach the island. I now have a new waypoint, closer to shore and 14 nm away. The wind vane has struggled to keep course, particularly when the wind is single digits, so I have switched to the (backup) TillerPilot, which is doing well. I will need it when I am motoring around the island anyway. I expect to be at the waypoint around 8:00. I see Danza, the boat that passed me the night before last is at the channel waiting for light. They must not have made it in time yesterday. At 6:00, 10 nm from the waypoint, I got hit by 22 kt winds that overwhelmed the TillerPilot and caused an accidental jibe. I corrected the course and switch to the wind vane. With some drizzle, it feels like a nearby squall. 10m later and it has begun to rain. Visibility may become an issue. The boat is doing 7 kt. It seems we’re going to finish this one with a bang. It is 6:35, a half hour before sunrise and light enough I can see the heavy cloud cover extending to the horizons except for a sliver to the N. 6 nm remain to the northern waypoint. I have had sustained 22 kt winds for the last 35m, driving the boat to near hull speed, 7.4 kt. I am letting the winds drive me a bit N as the boat is showing its two working sails unreefed and is heeled over. The waypoint should be the beginning of the lee side of the island, where I will drop the sails when/if the wind subsides. It is 6:48 and I have spotted Vava’u 5 nm away and surrounded in clouds. It is 7:30, I just passed the waypoint, and I am within half a mile of the northern tip of the island the boat is going hull speed (7.4) in 19 kt of wind. I’ve had to hand steer the last hour. The island is covered in fog and rain. I’ve used Radar to help sort out fog from land masses. A rainbow developed over the island during sunrise. As I rounded the northern tip of the island, still on a course W, the seas calmed, the wind dropped to 14, and the boat slowed to 6. There was a sound I did not recognize, that of the servo rudder slicing through the water. Well, it’s not done yet. At 8:20, it is blowing 25 kt and the boat is surfing at 7.6 kt. The leeward side of the island offered surprisingly little protection. There are some fairly large cliffs, but no mountains or tall hills. The entrance to the channel looks fully exposed to the wind, so I ducked into an indentation on the NW corner of the island to point into the wind and drop the sails. I floated there for a couple of hours taking care of issues before arriving (pumping up fenders, removing water from cockpit lockers, sorting out chain locker, etc.). I moved to the entrance of the channel about noon and tried to contact the Vava’u Customs authorities on the VHF. I then found an e-mail that I had apparently missed that said I should just find a mooring and move to the customs dock on Monday. I contacted Beluga Diving on VHF 9 and got instructions for a mooring ball. Fortunately, one was available and I snagged it about 14:00. The convoluted course to the anchorage was very interesting. I am looking forward to a good night’s sleep.
Comments: By 16:30, the wind had backed to the W enough that it was no longer possible to close haul due W and I started to sail south of the latitude for the N end of Vava’u. Since I do not know how long it will take for the wind to back to the S, I will tack in about 3h and regain some of the latitude. The course plotted by PW says the wind will be about 200 at midnight. So, if I head S for 3h and then tack and head N for 3h, I should be at the correct latitude and can reach W until aI arrive at the waypoint. Since I should only be 25 nm from the waypoint then (midnight), I will likely shorten sail to time my arrival after dawn. At 17:00, an hour before sunset, the TWD was 300 at 15 kt. When the direction reaches 270 or so, I will be heading almost due S. At that point I will tack. Depending on the wind conditions and how far I am from the waypoint, that may be a good opportunity to shorten sail. I couldn’t let the thing with the charger go. I ended up working on it for an hour. First, I wired the old charger to power and confirmed the settings. Then I transferred the settings to the replacement charger. It stated it was charging but the current wasn’t flowing through the shunt. I double-checked the correct negative wire was connected and I measured voltage coming out of the charger to the Li battery bank … only that is not what I was measuring. I was measuring the back voltage from the Li bank to the charger. Once again I was done in by a bad connection at a Victron device. Once properly connected, it worked fine and I put a charge on the battery bank. In the meantime, it is 22:00 and I am still sailing. I have 49 nm to go to the N end of the island., doing 5 kt on a 248 course (waypoint is at 267). Wind is 15 kt from 322 and I am sailing a close haul on this approximate heading for 2h more, when I will tack. I am guessing I’ll reach the latitude of the waypoint (18 30S) about 1:00 and will be about 32 nm away. At that point I should be able to sail due W and with an average speed of 4.5 kt I should be at the waypoint by 8:00. I will probably loose the wind in the lee side of the island and will have to motor the 15 nm or so to the entrance if the convoluted channel to the harbor. Navigating the channel will probably take a couple of hours. At 21:00 a 20 kt wind surprisingly hit from 340, causing the boat to round up and actually point NW towards the waypoint. This was followed by rain, obviously the edge of a squall. Since I was headed in a desirable direction and I knew it would be temporary, I made no adjustments to the sails and just went with the flow. At 21:45, on the backend of the storm, I experienced the vacuum and single-digit wind speeds. At 22:30 I was awaken 15m before an alarm because something didn’t feel right. The wind had shifted to 255 and I was being driven nearly due S. There was driving rain, obviously a storm, but I had to tack. Going out onto the deck to remove a preventer in the rain with the boat heeled over far enough for the sea to be rushing over the toe rail was not pleasant, except I did get a nice freshwater shower. Tacking was uneventful and I was soon sailing 288 relative to the waypoint at 273 doing 4.5 kt in an extreme close haul in 17 kt wind. Basically, I was exactly on the course recommended by PW and a hour ahead of schedule about 39 nm from the waypoint. Is the wind continued to rotate southward, the boat would pick up speed and rotate towards the waypoint. I felt good about the progress, but decided to stay awake should the effects of the storm be temporary and a correction be necessary. Indeed, I felt the boat slow and by 23:05 it was headed 325 at 2 kt in 8 kt of wind. I was in the vacuum left by the storm. I simply had to wait for it to pass to discover what the new reality was with respect to wind speed and direction. I was headed in the generally correct direction as I needed to recover latitude. By 23:25, the boat started moving again towards the waypoint 3.5 kt in 10 kt of wind from 200. The wind and the boat were doing what they were supposed to according to the forecast. By 00:45 the wind had stabilized enough that I could take 30m naps. I woke up at 2:15 while dreaming of a leopard attacking me. The boat was surfing over 7 kt in 15 kt of wind. It was pouring down rain. The wind was coming from due S and the rain was cold. I have not had to wear a jacket when working in the cockpit, but I had to return to the cabin and put one on. LlI put the boat back on course going 6 kt with 30 nm to go. It is 4:00, sunrise is at 7:03, and I am 19 nm from the waypoint. Like I did for Hiva Oa, I expect to arrive around sunrise. Since I have plenty of time, my plan is to sail around to the leeward side of the island, but if I get bewinded, I will motor. Once I am outside the channel, about mid morning, I will heave to and take care of some pre-arrival details, which includes sorting out the chain locker, inflating the fenders, sorting out the dock lines, and calling the Vava’u Port Authority on VHF 16 to announce my arrival. It is nearly 5:00. The winds have been light, variable, and unstable as I approach the island. I now have a new waypoint, closer to shore and 14 nm away. The wind vane has struggled to keep course, particularly when the wind is single digits, so I have switched to the (backup) TillerPilot, which is doing well. I will need it when I am motoring around the island anyway. I expect to be at the waypoint around 8:00. I see Danza, the boat that passed me the night before last is at the channel waiting for light. They must not have made it in time yesterday. At 6:00, 10 nm from the waypoint, I got hit by 22 kt winds that overwhelmed the TillerPilot and caused an accidental jibe. I corrected the course and switch to the wind vane. With some drizzle, it feels like a nearby squall. 10m later and it has begun to rain. Visibility may become an issue. The boat is doing 7 kt. It seems we’re going to finish this one with a bang. It is 6:35, a half hour before sunrise and light enough I can see the heavy cloud cover extending to the horizons except for a sliver to the N. 6 nm remain to the northern waypoint. I have had sustained 22 kt winds for the last 35m, driving the boat to near hull speed, 7.4 kt. I am letting the winds drive me a bit N as the boat is showing its two working sails unreefed and is heeled over. The waypoint should be the beginning of the lee side of the island, where I will drop the sails when/if the wind subsides. It is 6:48 and I have spotted Vava’u 5 nm away and surrounded in clouds. It is 7:30, I just passed the waypoint, and I am within half a mile of the northern tip of the island the boat is going hull speed (7.4) in 19 kt of wind. I’ve had to hand steer the last hour. The island is covered in fog and rain. I’ve used Radar to help sort out fog from land masses. A rainbow developed over the island during sunrise. As I rounded the northern tip of the island, still on a course W, the seas calmed, the wind dropped to 14, and the boat slowed to 6. There was a sound I did not recognize, that of the servo rudder slicing through the water. Well, it’s not done yet. At 8:20, it is blowing 25 kt and the boat is surfing at 7.6 kt. The leeward side of the island offered surprisingly little protection. There are some fairly large cliffs, but no mountains or tall hills. The entrance to the channel looks fully exposed to the wind, so I ducked into an indentation on the NW corner of the island to point into the wind and drop the sails. I floated there for a couple of hours taking care of issues before arriving (pumping up fenders, removing water from cockpit lockers, sorting out chain locker, etc.). I moved to the entrance of the channel about noon and tried to contact the Vava’u Customs authorities on the VHF. I then found an e-mail that I had apparently missed that said I should just find a mooring and move to the customs dock on Monday. I contacted Beluga Diving on VHF 9 and got instructions for a mooring ball. Fortunately, one was available and I snagged it about 14:00. The convoluted course to the anchorage was very interesting. I am looking forward to a good night’s sleep.