Damn the weather

Didn't I say I was so looking forward to seeing NZ and the Capes? Well all bloody day I've been surrounded by this thick sea mist, like fog making everything damp and cold, and where the hell is New Zealand? And the wind hasn't picked up so we are grinding our way along trying to get to North Cape and hang a right but its taking for ever. I may as well have have gone over the top of the Three Kings LAst night and forgone the sight seeing but this time yesterday we had a brilliant wind. How fickle it can be. I think I mentioned getting in by Xmas!

See what happens overnight.

Sapphire Out

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Cant see anything yet

Overnight the boisterous conditions continued and about midnight I needed to gybe onto starboard to get out round West Island - not that I could see it , but that's what the GPS was indicating I needed to do. Once I had cleared that, around 2.30 I gybed back onto port and aimed at North Cape, and started having some sleeps. I was too nervous before that thinking if the alarm failed I would wake up on rocks, but North Cape was 8 hours away, and apparently shipping doesn't come between the Three Kings and the Mainland. When dawn broke it was a scene of grayness and damp - a heavy sea mist was making everything damp and obscuring the horizon but looking back I did get a faint glimpse of some of the islands we had passed earlier. Nothing else to see and to add to the gloom the wind had died again, not completely but we're only making 3.5 knots. Fog all round.

I'm heading towards Cape Reinga, now 12 miles off, which seems rather close given where we've been lately, but nothing is yet visible on the horizon because of the poor visibility. To think that a month ago I would have regarded 12 miles as being way out to sea!The mist has gone but its a hazy grey day with low cloud and no sun so far. Once I can see the Cape I'll gybe across onto a more favorable angle and maybe pick up a bit of speed.

I'm feeling rather tired and worn out this morning so these light conditions are probably a good chance for me to rest up and recuperate. I've put away the chart of the Tasman sea that I have been plotting my position on and unrolled the charts for Northland's coast. I've also just put the kettle on and I'm going to have Milo and some biscuits.

Sapphire Out

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Big Day Out

We managed 120 miles in the last 24 hours, and all of it sailing. But its hard work as I've mentioned before. The difficulty about having the wind behind is the ever present risk of an uncontrolled gybe. That's when the boat changes its angle to the wind such that the wind can suddenly "see" the other side of the sail, and the sail is then thrust across to the other side of the boat with an almighty bang which can not only damage fittings, but kill people whose heads are in the way. So going down wind you are constantly checking where the wind is in relation to the sail and steering to lessen the chance of an accidental gybe - in fact you don't usually go exactly straight downwind you tend to angle the boat a little one way or the other. Compounding the difficulty of going down wind is the wild rolling of the boat from side to side and often also the pushing of the following swell, making the boat veer one way or the other. A windvane finds this all difficult and consequently we have had three uncontrolled gybes the first of which ripped a fitting out of the bottom of the boom. This fitting is where the Gybe Easy and Vang are attached to the boom and suddenly they were gone - well at least they were no longer attached to the boom and helping to control it - and this is in quite big seas and wind up to 23 knots. So I clipped on and went forward staying very well clear of the boom and found the bit that had been ripped away - a bolt had been snapped and the fitting pulled out of a groove on the underside of the boom. Among my spares I found a perfect fit replacement bolt and after using my Vise Grips managed to get the stump of the broken one out and reattached the fitting to the boom and all was well again. Might not sound like much but it was another one of those panicky crisis moments when you think "Shit, here we go..." And I suppose one just gets out there and tries to sort it out - and its a nice feeling afterwards to have retrieved the situation.

I had the headsail only half rolled out for most of the day as it was too much sail otherwise and the boat was being stressed unnecessarily, but with it half rolled up, things settled nicely. Eventually though I put it away altogether as the seas got bigger and the rolling got worse and worse so the headsail was flopping in and out and banging and flapping every third wave. So now we are just running with the headsail, still close to 6 knots most of the time, still rolling like blazes, but hey this is sailing!

Actually its been magnificent today.

My only other problem has been the Three Kings Islands. They're a little cluster of uninhabited - well, islands - about 30 miles off Cape Reinga and the most comfortable course in these conditions puts me right through the middle of them. So I've been trying to decide how to get round them - they're still 50 miles away - but passing either to their north or to their south poses some issues for me. If I set a course to pass south, I know I'll get more accidental gybes and I don't want that. If I aim to pass to their north I'll have a much less comfortable ride for the next 6 hours or so because we'll be sailing parrallel to the swells, so rolling side to side even more, plus there's some nasty looking shallow bits that way that I would have to stand well clear of as well. What Ive decided to do is go south as much as possible but as we approach the islands, say when I'm 5 miles off, I will hand steer for a few hours more directly south and make sure we don't have accidental gybes, and make sure we miss the Islands. They're are a Protected Nature Reserve and no one is allowed to land there without a special permit.

I expect I'll be clearing them in the early hours, then passing Cape Reinga and North Cape then heading down the eastern side of Northland to the Bay of Islands - Monday still looks good.

Sapphire Out

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128 to North Cape

The wind is in and we're running with it on a broad reach. No reefs as yet but gusts over 16 knots lately. The boat takes more punishment for little extra speed, so shortly I'll review the situation. Gray sky as its cool so I am wearing longs over my shorts, and a fleecy jacket.

We made 100 miles in the last 24 hours which isn't bad considering the VERY slow start. Getting close to shipping lanes as well now so have to be extra vigilant, but as yet nothing new to report.

Sapphire Out

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Never Boring

Every day out here brings a fresh round of frustrations, challenges and rewards. Today the challenge was the Modem failing and I was most relieved when I worked out how to get it going again. The frustrations today were the weak and inconsistent winds, certainly in the morning anyway. But the rewards - well one was to observe the large ocean swells as they rolled toward me through the sea when it was barely wrinkled by the wind. As Sapphire rose up to the top of each one, there would suddenly be a distant horizon, flat and straight and sharp, and I could quickly scan the distance, but immediately in front was a low and long valley and into it we would slip and the peak of the next wave would roll forward and higher and become the new horizon, coming ever closer till once again we rose up its long sloping side to another summit. These were not huge waves, mostly maybe 3 meters but occasionally bigger and there was nothing threatening about them , they were just vast and silent and powerful.

Another reward was to see an albatross. Petrels and shearwaters are the birds commonly seen, but when the albatross appeared it was unmistakable -those vast wings, majestic and beautiful and barely moving as the albatross patrolled those valleys in a series of long sweeping curves. It approached Sapphire closely only once but it reappeared twice nearby.

I also was rewarded with a glimpse of a whale near the boat, perhaps a false killer whale, certainly much too big to be a dolphin but not as big as the humpbacks we see off the east Australian coast. This one just emerged about 50 feet away,shiny and very black, took a breath and then went back under the water. Later I noticed distant splashing from a group I could barely make out but it was what I saw on my way to Lord Howe Island but that time the False Killer whales came much closer.

Right now the wind has truly returned and blowing around 12 to 15 knots,with occasional gusts to 18 knots, much like it was this time last night. Last night however the wind eventually died away altogether but I am not sure that will happen tonight - maybe we will catch up on some of those lost miles. We have fewer than 200 miles to go to North Cape and as I previously mentioned should be clearing that on Sunday and hopefully arrival in Opua monday sometime.

Sapphire Out

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Coarse Language

Frustrating Day because the wind died and of course I've used up my spare diesel so I am just trying to sail as best I can in very light wind. What happens for anyone who doesn't know, is that the wind just manages to fill the sails and they jerk out and yank the sheets (ropes OK?) and clang goes the fitting on the deck and then the sail collapses and the fitting bangs again and then the boom swings back and forth noisily...and you wander off the course you're trying to follow and then a bit of breeze arrives and you think oh at last heres the wind and, wow we're doing 3 knots and three minutes later it dies completely just as you were about to go and get some water so you rearrange the Hydrovane and the sail slaps back and forth and the fitting on the deck clangs a few more times and then you see there's still absolutely no wind at all but there's a little zephyr stirring the water about 10 feet from the boat and wonder why the hell arent we in that bit of breeze....and so it goes. And all the while youre telling yourself the wind will kick in any minute.

And then I went to check email and couldnt get the Pactor Modem to work. I couldnt download email or send email or get weather reports. I turned it all off and tried again. I restarted the computer and tried again and still nothing would work. So finally I dug around and found the CD that the software is on and reloaded it and it seems to be working. Well its working if youre reading this but just be on notice - next time it goes bung on me I might not be so lucky.

So just in case this is the last message from me, I expect to be going around North Cape on Sunday and hopefully arriving in the Bay of Islands on Monday. However if the wind stays like this I might be here till next christmas. Everything is fine with the boat.

And one bit of exciting news : I saw an Albatross several times this morning, absolutely incredible bird. It made all the hassles seem trivial.

Sapphire Out

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Workout.

Being in a yacht thats sailing through moderate swells and waves and is heeled over doin a good speed is like being in a gym doing a workout that tests every muscle in your body, anad it carries on all day. I mean right now we are on starboard and doing 6.3 knots in wind up to 14 knots through those swells which were glassy yesterady but now are rough - and just to move from A to be requires a lot of physical effort - I have to brace myself with my knees and back just to sit here and type, and my posture is constantly having to adjust to the changing angle of the boat to the sea. The best thing to do is wedge yourself into a corner somewhere and then you dont have to do anything to stay there, and thats what I do usually ouside the companionway, but then things have to be done...Its really hard work and quite tiring.

So today has been a day of great sailing, very gentle start in light wind that has picked up to be moderate and steady and Sapphire is punching into the swells that are coming at us off the starboard bow. Ive already put a reef in the main and that seems to be all thats needed right now to keep us going at 6 to 6.5 knots, making up for lost time! My Garmin GPS says that at this rate will be going around North Cape during Saturday night but lighter winds are forecast so hopefully it will be Sunday during the day. I so want to catch a first glimpse of NZ on the Horizon and sail past Cape Reinga light and North Cape in daylight. Most Kiwis have been there, to the very northernmost tip of our long wonderful country and gazed out to sea, north to the Three Kings Islands, and down below at the meeting of the waters, the rugged Tasman Sea and the mighty Pacific oceans. This place has huge spiritual significance for our indigenous people, who believe the spirits of the dead depart from here and journey back to Hawaiiki, their ancestral home. I had a visit from several Dolphins this morning and they frolicked about Sapphire for a few minutes, but no yachts or ships to be seen anywhere. I replaced the tall red vane on the hydrovane with the Stubby version because the Tall one was getting smacked by the wind turbine and shredding the cloth. But the stubby one, being shorter but also wider, misses the Vanes, and actually having used it properly for the first time ever today, I think it does a better job than the tall thin one that you will have seen at the stern in photos of Sapphire on the Blog. I am sure that the Targa, and the outboard motor mounted on the pushpit rail must affect windflow around the stern of the boat and onto the vane and I think somehow Stubby manages it better. The wind is expected to ease off eventually but if it stays like this we will make great progress overnight, but at the cost of my tiredness, because things have to be adjusted and checked more often. I'm having rice and chili beef and beans for dinner. This is a meal that probably only lone sailors should eat.

Sapphire Out.

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