Day 4 Passage to New Zealand “I go up, I go Down”
For the last 4 days my world has been a non stop motion of climbing swells and then going down swells. I feel like I am on a giant teeter-totter with no end in sight. Yesterday well making black beans and rice in the pressure cooker I fell backwards and stopped my fall with my back right heel and today it is black and blue. I also slipped down the companion way and twisted my left big toe. I never thought I could twist a toe but it does happen. Anyway the rest of the crew is earning there passage bruises and are enjoying the motion of the ocean until today. I have finally found Jess, and Jades point at which they wished the rocking would stop, haha WIN! On anther note we had a slow day today only 133 nautical miles completed in 24 hours but I am pointed very hard into the wind trying to make east progress before I run out of wind. Apparently in one of the worlds most dangerous ocean crossing I am about to run out of wind 300 nautical miles offshore, “that sounds about right”. So I am trying to position myself with the wind at my back so I can run down wind into Opua with a spinnaker flying and hopefully with five to six knots of wind I will make five knots of speed. O yeah, Jess is baking bread and it smells great, all our bread we bought the day before we left Fiji had molded on it the next day. SON OF B!
Current Position: 03:10utc, 27deg 32.4min South, 173deg 52.7min East, COG 161deg, SOG 5.5kts, WS 20kts, WD 110deg, Swell 2 meters, Water Temp 79deg F, Air Temp deg F, 1016MilBars
Keep on Keeping on,
Jacques
Day 3 Passage to New Zealand “Battle in the Bathroom”
Yes, another close hauled sailing day at 20 degree heel, which means we are sailing into the waves and wind at 40 degrees off our port side. Dragonsbane is once again bouncing up and down all the way to New Zealand in 2 meter swells with 24 knots of wind. I am sure that you are asking yourself about the title of this blog and I shall explain. But first you have to know that well passage making on a ocean with waves crashing over the decks and Dragonsbane jumping up, down, sideways, and backwards it makes the practice of shaving your face a some what lethal sport. I for one will have a long haired flavor saver I call my red haired beard.
This afternoon after a few days without a shower I decided it was time to have a wash cloth bath. Now I know that some of you are thinking that a few days is one to many. Well let me tell you why I put up with the stink from under my pits. In order to wash your body I like to strip down to my birthday suit and lock myself into the head/bathroom. Now as Dragonsbane bashes her way through the ocean I like to get a good rhythm of her moving all over. I then fill the little sink with water/soap and anticipate my first washing maneuver. I usually start with my face so all dirt flows down. This requires a two hand maneuver witch is a problem because you have nothing to brace yourself. So I time the swell, wash fast and feel myself being slammed into the door knob and then I lose my balance and hit my head on the low ceiling in front of myself. Ok, good job still standing and my face is clean, screw the rinse as the ocean does that in the cockpit. Now my back, I like to do this maneuver by leaning back on my shoulder blades well having one leg up on the sink for bracing with anticipation of any crazy shift in the boat. Now this sounds like a fool proof plan but it’s once again a no hander situation. I like to use the wash cloth behind my back moving it from left to right and so on. Now because I started the process with my head, the floor, walls, and the edge of the sink is very wet and soapy. Well washing my back Dragonsbane moves sideways and down causing you to brace with your feet but you slip and land on your butt, soap on the door now and a bruised shine from the sink, bump on the back of my head, but your back is somewhat clean. Ok so now the part that you all have been waiting for the front side down to the toes. This is the point that I give up with bracing and balance. I wet the wash cloth and time the swells, wash with great vigor from my chest down to my waist. I then carefully polish my fun zone and risen well. At this point its just a few motions down one leg and the other. During this frontal maneuver your body becomes a pendulum with in a box bouncing from wall to wall, pointy object to pointy object. After completing the wash cloth cleaning maneuvers you should only have a dozen or so bruises and a very well prepped bathroom to be cleaned when you get to shore.
Current Position: 25deg 18.5min South, 174deg 16.5min East, COG 200deg, SOG 8.4knots, WS 24knots, Swell 2 meters, WD 134deg ESE, Water Temp 84. deg F, Air Temp 62deg F, Completed 180 Nautical Miles in 24 HOURS NEW RECORD
Still Clean,
Jacques
Day 2 Passage to New Zealand
Once again I can report that we have completed 156 nautical mile day and are track to make it to New Zealand by Monday 18th of November. The wind has been maintaining 20 to 24 knots in the last few hours but early this morning we did have a spell of 12 knots winds that appeared to clock to our nose. I thought like always the wind would turn to the direction of were we want to go. But after tacking out the 2 reefs in the main, raising up the staysail, and a full jib we were back up to to 7 knots of boat speed passing the low wind speed slick. We now have 2 reefs in the main, full staysail, and reefed jib making 7 to 9 knots in 23 knots of wind. Lots of ocean water coming over the decks but nothing to worry about. We are holding on to our pants but we are flying!
Current Position UTC03:33, 23deg 07.0min South 175deg 51.3min East, COG 198degs, SOG 7.6kts, WS 20 to 24kts, Swell 1 to 2 meters, WD 135deg ESE, Cloudy/overcast.
Key Abbreviations
COG: Course Over Ground/Heading
SOG: Speed Over Ground/boat speed in Knots
WS: Wind Speed/Apparent Wind Speed
Thanks for Checking up on Dragonsbane and Crew,
Jacques
Out on the Blue Water Once Again
It feels great to be out on the blue water again with waves crashing over the deck of Dragonsbane as we sail south to New Zealand at 7 knots. We have been reaching speeds sustained speeds of 8 to 9 knots so far as the winds blow 20 to 25 knots. In our first 24 hours of sailing we have made good ground of 165 nautical miles with 941 nautical miles remaining. Not a bad start to our voyage even if we all felt a little sick when we started.
We had the bright idea that after we fueled up and topped up the fresh water tanks we would take our last 20 dollars of Fiji money and buy dollar snacks from the bar. This sounded like a great way to spend that last little bit of coin and get some good junk food. Well we all got 2 ice cream bars, 2 bags of chips, 1 soda, and because we were running around all morning we didn’t eat lunch or breakfast. So guess what we did, we ate all our junk food on the way out to sea. As soon as we were in the 1 meter swell it became very obvious that you don’t start out a 10 day voyage with ice cream, chips, and soda. Good news is everybody is feeling better this after noon and we are excited for what’s to come.
Current Position: UTC 03:10, 20deg 34.0min South, 176deg 51.0min East; COG 201deg, SOG 8kts, WS 24knots, WD 132deg ese, Swell 1 to 2 meters, Cloudy over cast ski
God Bless,
Jacques
Off to New Zealand
We only have to get fuel and fresh water and we are off to New Zealand. It should take 10 to 14 days given good weather and seas. I am excited and looking forward to the passage and like always I will post everyday showing our progress.
Take Care,
Jacques
Gearing Up For The New Zealand Voyage
The last three days have been spent repairing, cleaning, and overlooking Dragonsbane right down to the last bolt. I have been watching the weather windows to make our 1400 nautical mile voyage to Opua New Zealand. We will be departing Suva, Fiji on Monday 11/11/13 afternoon for New Zealand. We will sail through the south Pacific Cyclone belt and down to were the gale winds of northern New Zealand blow by at 50 knots. I have been looking forward to this challenge for a few months and its great that it is finally here. It should be a wet and wild ride down. Like always I will post my position and whats going on each day.
Take care,
Jacques
Early Start, But a Few Problems Fiji
I woke up thinking that it was five in the morning because of daylight savings time and I actual woke up at six so I already started my day behind. My plan was to get up early and sail to Namena Marina Park to do some finally scuba diving. Realizing the time I quickly grabbed the dinghy and Jess helped me get it on deck. Then we put everything that could fly around the boat away. I fired up the engine and Ben went forward to retrieve the anchor but the windless push button would not engage the windless electric motor. So Ben and pulled the 200 feet of chain up and stored it. Mean while I went back to the helm to discover that the Garmin Chart plotter was not receiving any GPS signal. So I pull the wires off the back cleaned them and plugged them back in and it fired up and worked correctly. I motored through the 100 yard coral passage and out into the ocean. The wind that we hoped for was not there and we had to motor. SO well the ocean was calm I went up into the anchor locker and took apart the wireing on the windless and snapped a power bolt stud off because it was froze in salt. I spent six hours upside down in a small box called the anchor locker and sweated my butt off. The good news is that after drilling the bolt, retapping and installing a new bolt I was able to put a strong patch on the windless. I also cleaned and replaced any bad wire connections. The really crappie thing is that the windless was not working because a small nut holding on the negative wire on the push button switch was a little lose and caused it to stop working. So after six hours fixing the windless that I broke, it only took 30 second to tighten the nut on the push button which caused the problem in the first place.
After all that fun in the sun we approached the North entrance to Namena Marina Park but all the passage markers were missing. So I relied on visual navigation and prayed that my charts were correct. Well I could not see the reefs and the passage was narrow. The chart indicated 30 feet to clear the reef into the lagoon. The actual depth in the passage was 122 feet and I never saw the reef or coral heads. I guess I picked a deep passage then shown on the chart maybe. Who knows, but I cleared through and found the anchorage off of a private Island. We are looking forward to Diving early tomorrow and then off to Suva before we make our big passage to New Zealand.
Thanks,
Jacques
3 Waterfall Experiences and 1 Rock Water Slid Taveuni, Fiji!
After a long night of being anchored off the west coast of Taveuni Island during a lightning storm and wondering whether not Dragonsbane would be lit up like a bug zapper. I woke to the slow rolling motion of Dragonsbane rocking it out to the northern swell kissing the west coast of Taveuni. My mind on the shore a few hundred feet behind us I chose to free dive the anchor chain and my favorite anchor the “MASON”. I dove to make my mined at ease because today the 4 crazy sailors will walk the Jungles of Taveuni in search of the 3 famous waterfalls that are fresh with Fiji water. But first, the adventure of holding my breath to 47 feet to see if the anchor is dug into a sandy rocky bottom. I put on my bright shark attracting green fins, black mask and jumped off the bow into the warm Fiji ocean swell. I followed the anchor chain until I lost its view in the depths of the ocean. Dive man, dive, to 47 feet and swim 140 feet to the end of that chain. From left to right I see sandy bottom but Dragonsbane chain tongue is making a 90 degree turn around a coral head the size of a VW bug car and then lays straight back through a maze of stones and coral with the anchor hooked to her crown in the sand. Now some old timers say being wrapped on a coral head is a bad thing. Well I think it is good anchoring tactics when on a windward shore getting ready to hike for a day through the jungle like jolly green giants in a field of sweet corn. So knowing that Dragonsbane will not be dragging her steel tongue across the sand bottom to the coral riddled shore we jumped into the dinghy and landed on the black sandy shore. Carried the ugly dock up to a tree and tied her off. The local school children were out for recess next to the beach and as soon as we left I looked back as the ugly dock was being used as a Fiji trampoline, good thing there were young children not Fiji Giants.
We walked the road to the north in search of a hitch ride or something to the waterfalls of Taveuni. Based on my inner stress of Dragonsbane being on a windward shore I decided to pay for a ride and stopped the first local taxi man. His name was Sammy and he had a diesel powered 4 wheel drive van that could take us were we wanted for a few bucks. We jumped into his rock tuned out van and stopped for fuel and snacks. After getting fuel, roti wraps, and spicy cookies we were off on a rough, pot holed road to the Taveuni. On October 31, 2013 a group of 4 named Dragonsbane signed in at the park HQ and ascended up into the Jungle Mountains looking for a waterfall to jump off of. Being the smart folks that we are we refrained from jumping into the first magic clear, blue fresh water swimming hole we came to. No the 100 foot white waterfall did not coax us into its misty froth. We continued up the mountain side to the second smaller water fall and still did not give into Taveuni’s little gems. We frog hopped over the greasy moss covered stones and up into the muggy misty goat trial to the pristine roaring waterfall called the 3rd one. The 3rd was heard from a far and when we dropped down from the mossy covered trail we looked up to see a waterfall spilt into two with white water drowning out the voices of others. In the crotch of the two falls was a perch that hung out over the blue water hole 30 feet below. I dove in and tested the depths below the perch and could not touch bottom so I waved Ben off the perch and flying he went into the air. He disappeared into the roaring pool and then popped up smiling, go for it man. I climbed up the moss covered rocks and hopped over the waterfall that had carved a stream deep and narrow through the rock into mid air.
As I stood on the preach I thought about how the out come of hitting rock would play out I leapt to my water catch and submerged my fears into the cool, clean fresh water. After some time Jess and Jade took there leap of faith and dived off the cliff between roaring white water. After a few hours of playing in the water and eating P&J cracker sandwiches we hiked back to the 1st waterfall. I stripped my cloths off and ran into the receded cavern behind the waterfall and ran as fast as I cold off the 20 foot drop into the waterfall white roar. I submerged into the energy of the water pounding the pools surface hitting my face like a 40 knot ocean storm. The misty spray was intense and I swam hard and fast for the middle of the falling water. I made it to the middle and waterfall pushed my head and body down deep. I just told myself to swim forward and go with the flow of energy. I was spit out in front of the great frothing beast and swam to the warm shore full of perfect round black pebbles and relaxed as Ben, Jess, and Jade followed suit.
After an hour of play we tromped back wet and happy with delight. We jumped back into Sammie’s Van and asked to be dropped off at the famous 200 foot rock water slid. A two hour van rid over bumps, pot holes, and a million hand waves to locals later we turn onto another mud, pot hole road. The road took us past the Fiji prison and locals homes to a small mud trail that leads up into the hill. We paid Sammy, he told us to hike ten minutes up the trail and we would be at the rock slid. Sam was right, 10 minutes later I looked up the stream and saw a perfect tube slid that was carved out of rock. Like a kid I ran up to the top and slide in. As I started being forced down the shoots I thought about rock raking up my back but the good news is that it did not happen. I shot down the rock slid and laughed all the way down. Ben followed by Jade, and Jess to the end were we went back up 10 more times.
We dressed and hiked back to the main road put out our thumbs and had a ride in five minutes back to town. We picked up ice, bread, walked back to the ugly duck dinghy were the kids helped us put it into the water. I pulled on the pull cord several times to start the outboard but it would not run. I then notice that the emergency kill switch was removed and I looked at the shore to see 10 kids laughing. I put the cord back on and pointed at the kids as they ran off laughing and the ugly duck started up and took off. We enjoyed the evening with fresh caught yellow tuna cooked up and gin & tonics.
Another great day!
Jacques
From This World to the Next!
From land to sea I travel on the back of Dragonsbane to the Rainbow Reef with the help of a old Fiji man named Jack Fisher. Jack Fisher took us to the white wall were I strapped on my scuba gear. It felt like a 100 pounds of weight and stress that I have felt in my short 30 years on this complicated world. As I looked down into the depths of unknown creatures and monsters with big teeth I felt the hair stand up on my neck. I took a leap of faith into the dark iron blue ocean and sank down. I sank down in a twisted swirl and smiled as I became one with my new world of bone crushing pressure and monsters that smiled with big white toothy smiles. Yes, the 100 pounds of weight and stress melted away and I was in the next world under the sea. But to get to the other side I had to dive through a black cave that showed me the way to the white wall. I sank deeper into the ocean through the dark cave opening and looked into the scary depth and saw the light at the end of the tunnel. I descended to sixty feet to the bottom of the cave that was covered in coral fans and big tropical fish to a small opening. I swam through the open and came into the bright light of the white wall. The white wall was covered in white coral and bright colored fish. I descended to 100 feet and looked high into the ocean above and watch the bellies of bright big fish swim along the white wall. The ocean held me tight in her grip at that depth and I felt the world hugging me and I was at peace drifting through a world of balance, no thoughts of anything but peace.
But from the world under the sea I rose to the surface to meet the clear blue sky, the warm hot sun on my face, and roar of the ocean hitting the coral reef a few boat length behind Dragonsbane. Jack Fisher smiled and laughed in his old man way and asked, was it nice? With little excitement I said it was perfect, and I silently went about my way filling the scuba tanks and geared up my friend’s next dive. My Friends Jade, Ben, and Jess enjoyed there own journey through the black cave to the white wall. For Jess she completed her first deep dive to 90 feet. Ben and I saw a sea snake at 70 feet. Ben took a picture but the snake was being boring so a good push with the camera got it moving around right to his face. Funny thing is that the Fiji Sea Snake is the most poison snake in Fiji and Ben punched it at 70 feet. Jade and Jess dived together and played in the depths doing rolls and taking pictures in the cave. Well I was top side I learned about Jacks 7 wives and how he made lots of money in his day and then lost it all to women. So After a full day of diving stories we anchored in front of Jacks house and drank beer. I then took a sea bath under the stars naked as a blue jay and watched a storm off in the distance flash by.
Good Night Friends,
Jacques
Let today be great!
The Fiji Adventure Begins
Two days ago I left the very busy port of Savusavu to a small quite bay called Nasasobu. Nasasobu Bay is right next to Dakuniba Village where Chief George lives and over see all the land and anchorages. After a 40 nautical mile sail from Savusavu we made our way through a very narrow passage in the reef to get to Nasasobu Bay for the nights anchorage. As we passed through the swell the waves were crashing against the reef only a few boat lengths away but we made it through with no problem. We dropped the anchor in a calm bay with a mud bottom. The high mountains of Fiji surrounded us and a small house tucked up on a hill over looked us. A man in a kayaka approached us and welcomed us to the bay and invited us for Sevusevu drink. We stowed away our gear and dropped the dingy into water and paddle off to meet the local people that live on Nasasobu Bay. We had no idea what to expect or how the customs of Fiji should be handled but went anyway.
The tide was low that evening as we paddle to shore and tied our dingy to a Mangrove tree. The mud stuck to our toes as we waded to shore and then climb up the steep hill to the mans home. A large group of men began saying hello in there native language and had big smiles to see us. We took off our shoes at the door and walked in and sat on the floor of there home. Each person introduced themselves and was informed of the homes owner who was George. George owned all three homes that over looked Nasasobu Bay and the entire family lived there. We sat in a circle as the Sevusevu was prepared in front of us. We were told to relax and wait for the Sevusevu to be prepared and served before we spoke. I was served the first cup from a hand made coconut cup and was asked if it was high tide or low tide, this meant do you want a full glass or half glass. I choose high tide because I like the taste of Sevusevu which is the same thing as cova that I spoke about in my last blog. We had at last 10 cups of Sevusevu and my mouth was very numb and I felt very relaxed. We discussed where we were from and how long it took to get to Fiji sailing. We asked about there schools, work, living, and cultures. It turned into a dozen people talking with us and exchange culture ideas. They wanted to know how many cows I owned and how big my farm was, I told them I had none which confused the young man I was chatting with. After a long evening of drinking Sevusevu I was asked to tell a story, so I told them of the great winters and snow from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I told them about ice fishing and how we drilled wholes in the ice to catch fish. They all laughed and enjoyed the tales of Upper Michigan. As soon as I was done talking the woman said the sevusevu was finished and to have a good night.
We woke this morning and went over to Dakuniba Village and brought a offering of Sevusevu to Chief George. We approached Chief George’s home and a nice lady invited us in to see Chief George. We sat on a large hand made mat and Chief George sat with us, I placed the Sevusevu dried plant on the ground in front of Chief George for him to decided weather or not he wanted to offer his protection and grant us permission to stay on his land. He picked up the Sevusevu and I think gave us a blessing and then tossed the Sevuseve in the corner and welcomed us to his village. We then waited with Chief George and asked questions about his village and how the fishing was. Then one of his grandson came in and took us to the water fall and some accent stone carvings. The grandson told us that no one knows what there meaning is but his great grandfather said that one day when the meaning of the carvings is known there will be great riches for the village and its people. Then he told me about how the Japanese have come this year to there village, took soil samples and thought that there was oil and gold on there land. They think that they will make a lot of money soon and are very excited. I really want to tell him that letting in the Japanese or who ever would destroy all there land and leave them with nothing in the end but I bit my lip and just said ok. It’s a shame how these beautiful places and people are corrupted by the outside world.
We then went back to Dragonsbane for lunch and then went back to Georges house for a hike over the mountain to Viani bay were the worlds famous rainbow reef is. We were told that the hike should take 1 to 2 hours and some of our new friends would take us to Viani bay. We started hiking through the Mangrove swamp and got full of mud and then to high ground were we walked through a coconut farm. Soon after that our new guides were very lost and we found out it was there first time hiking over the mountain to Viani Bay. I really kicked myself for not bring my compass. Anyway we hiked up the ridge of a tall mountain and reached the top in a few hours. We had to bush whack our way through tall grass that was over our heads and then through Jungle forest to get to the top of the next ridge and saw down into Viani Bay. Looking out you could see for miles in all directions and the reefs that surrounded the island. The skies were clear and the air was hot but it was so beautiful up on that mountain. We then bushed whacked our way down the grass covered hillside back into the Jungle and followed a creek to the ocean into Viani village. We went to our guide’s friends home and waited for him to give us a boat ride back to Nasasobu Bay. The hours went by and the woman of the house cooked us supper and gave us fresh lemon tea to drink as we sat on the floor eating cracker jam treats for dessert. Finally at 10pm the boat showed up. Under a very clear star bright night sky we zipped across the reefs and watched the ocean water sparkle with bright flashes of bioluminescent. The bioluminescent would explode all around us at the same time and look like thousands of flashing lights going off. Then we would look back and see stars shooting across the sky. It was a perfect end to a long day and it only cost me a gallon of gas. We are off to bed now so we can go scuba diving on Rainbow reef tomorrow.
Take care,
Jacques
The Adventure In FIJI!
The time is 7:22pm and I am 30 feet from shore moored to a short 1 inch line that keeps me comfortable away from shore. I glance to my right and see the hot spring flow into the ocean giving off a fog of hot steam. Then in front of me I see our new friends form the UK and say hi “HI”. The day has been full of rain and yesterday it was full of rain. The weather is cool around 80 degrees and high humidity. As I slowly spin in a circle in a ballet twirling around with all the other sailboats in our little mooring field I smile knowing I am not going anywhere to night shacked to a mooring line. Now I am reminiscing with my crew or my good friends about our adventure yesterday. But before I can tell the tail I must fill my blue bubbly glass with more Gin and Tonic with a splash of fresh lemon, so no limes in Fiji. Nobody knows why there are no limes but I like the lemon as it really spices up the GIN. Did you know that Fiji make a great London Dry Gin that is better then there Bounty Rum? Well it is quite a find and I feel like I am floating around in the Gin perched on a ice cube looking up at the cloudy sky smiling hoeing for a glimpse of the star sky for the night.
So I digress back to the discussion of yesterday’s adventure. After a very stress free encounter with immigration, customs, health, and bio security I am now very much a sailor in Fiji and would like to say thank you to all officers for such a wonderful experience clearing into Fiji. Anyway back to the adventure, we decided to join our friends Jory and Lauren on a bus trip to the north side of Vanua Levu Island to the city of Labasa. The trip took 3 hour to get there packed into a bus with local people for only 5 dollars Fiji which is about $2.50 USD. Anyway we toured through the bus windows as we stopped every few miles to drop off locals and saw the landscape of the island. High mountains and fields of sugar Cain covered the land. Houses made of tin and wood with pigs and cows were the norm. All the local Fiji people were very friendly and warm. When we arrived in Labasa I was taken back by the overwhelming amount of the India population that over whelmed the local population by my guess five to one. The city was very busy with fast moving traffic and shops filled with everything from raw beef to vacuums if you need both at the same store.
After doing some window shopping and seeing what the city had to offer we wondered to the fresh market and walked through the endless buildings and tents of fresh fruit, vegetables, and spices. From there we walked across the street to a local gathering place were a man offer us to buy a live goat for $300 dollars per goat, we said no thanks. But a local women did convince us to have a seat and drink Kava “Latin for intoxicating pepper, is a crop of the western Pacific, the roots of which are used to produce a drink with mild sedative and anesthetic properties”. The kava tested like wood chips but did make my mouth go numb and I felt very relaxed. I enjoyed our conversation and wondered how I would feel in the morning after drinking local water and brown root juice. Good news I felt fine the morning considering the verity of local food consumed yesterday. So after a day of window shopping, drinking kava, local Roti wraps, and people we boarded the return bus at 3;30pm and made it back by 7PM. After a day of hot buses, food and adventure I enjoyed my first hot shower in 4 months that evening. I forgot how wonderful a hot shower is, O the small things in life.
Like normal today was spent it on boat project. I spent a full day spelunking in the bellows of Draognsbane bilges changing out a float switch and cleaning the nasty grease from her bilges with the help of Jade and Jess. Ben, bless his brave soul buffed the hull of Draongsbane in the rain standing in a dinghy holding onto a power buffer. Anyway Dragonsbane is looking closer to ship shape and I am looking forward to our passage to New Zealand in a few weeks. But first we have to cruiser Fiji and see the hidden things that she holds under the sea in the Jungles.
You never fail if you never quite!
Jacques
Fiji Landfall
Well, after a few days of squalls and taking showers on deck as we sailed long at 8 knots we have arrived. Savusavu, Fiji is a wonderful place and the prices are so cheap. Anyway I wanted to let you all know that we made it. Take care Friends.
Jacques
Day 3 Passage To Fiji
LAst night was full of dark skies and squalls. The Squalls did not pack much wind, only blew up to 20 knots but were filled with bucks of rain. After the squall would pass the wind would die down to 4 or 8 knots and come from any direction. This is kind of passage weather is very annoying because it requires constant sail changes and reefing to handle the changes in wind speed. After a long night of being wet and sleepy I awoke to no wind this morning. So we fired up the motor and went for about 2 hours till we had 8 to 10 knots of wind again. We hoisted up the spinnaker and have been rocken that sail sense noon today. We are making slow progress at 4 to 5 knots but in the right direction. I am hoping that we will make it to Fiji by night fall tomorrow. The only cool thing to note about last nights sail was the jellyfish on the surface of the ocean would exploded like a flash going off as we sailed by them. I believe that they were giving off bioluminescent. The flashing jellyfish made night navigation difficult because the rain was so heavy at times it would make the ocean foam white around us and it would make it very hard to see the real horizon or the splashing of the rain. Then throw in exploding Jellyfish bright white flashes and you think that you are being run down by ships. So I turned on our radar and could tell that there was no ships and relaxed. Very odd night and looking at the squall filled skies ahead of us tonight I know it will be fun navigating through the Fiji Island pass at night. Don’t worry I will have the radar on and charts set.
Current position: 5:28utc, 16deg 31.5min South, 178deg 47.1min West, COG 290, SOG 5.7kts, wind speed 10kts, cloudy skies
Thanks,
Jacques
Day 2 to Fiji Passage
Our passage to Fiji has been quite splendid with our first 24 hours of sailing making 153 nautical of progress. Wind is still behind us pushing Dragonsbane easily and roily across the ocean expanse. It is lovely to have three watches and 8 hours of rest between shifts. I also like the meals that are being prepared underway as Dragonsbane rolls from side to side which helps stir in the flavors of mixed rice and curry. The girls enjoyed there first watch with out Ben and I pointing out the mistakes they made. They did a fine job and even tacked the sail during the 4 hours of ocean watch. I think I may have made two more mad cruisers that have been bitten by ocean sailing bug. But for now I am smiling even with the gray cloudy sky overhead about the miles ahead, wondering about nothing.
Current Position: 04:25utc, 17deg 25.8min South, 176deg 55.0min West, COG 270deg, SOG 6kts, Wind Speed 18kts, Swell 1-2meters, Cloudy Gray Skies.
Easy Swell Everybody,
Jacques
Off To Fiji
After going round and round with Customs and Immigration documents we are underway, Ben, Jessica, Jade, and myself. We left the Vava’u Pass at 13:30 today 10-14-13 and estimate that we should arrive in Savusavu, Fiji by Thursday if the wind stays our of the southeast. Currently we are making 6.5 to 8.5 knots of speed with wind speeds of 18 to 24 knots with clear skies! I am happy to be underway again and I am looking for to a new country and its challenges! I hear the shark diving is very good in south Fiji so I hope to dive with some Tigers and Bulls. Anyway I will keep you all updated as we sail our way to Fiji through the coral chain of reefs and unmarked objects that scatter the ocean crossing from Tonga to Fiji. We already passed a volcano on our way out today.
Current Position: 05:25utc, 18deg 32.0min South, 174deg 41.0min West, COG 286deg, SOG 6-8.5knots, Wind Speed 20knots, Wave height 1-2meters, clear skies.
Hope they have Rum in Fiji,
Thanks
Jacques
Why Drink Rum When You Have Wine? Shit The RUM!
It has been a few long days and nights sense my last thought on my blog and well, a lot has happened. Its funny when I was home I could say in the last week I went to work for 10 hours a day and sat in traffic for at least a hour or two each day. I am sure that you would all be very interested in that blog. The life of a east coast rat racer, big whoopee. Sorry I didn’t stay long enough to get the white picket fence and BMW fuel efficient car in Baltimore. I traded in for a sailboat, a father that said lets go for the horizon and see what happens. My mode of transportation is a sailboat that gets 1000 nautical miles per 30 gallons, suck it PETA. Anyway I digress, the Rum has flowed because Fiji only always 2.4 liters of rum per boat. O yeah I am leaving with the best crew Jess, Ben, and Jade for Fiji 427 nautical away on Friday, look out for the passage blogs. Why Fiji, because I can and want too. So I have alot of Rum and with it, it has been a short journey down the rabbit hole of Tonga. Here in the Land of Tonga I have Scuba dived the worlds best coral gardens, snorkeled through breaking swell only 2 inch’s of ocean between my belly and flesh taring coral. Narrow passages between ship sinking coral reefs. Deep dark blue waters that holds the great hump back whale that breaches the ocean ceiling to show me that I am a small and insignificant part of the world. Surfing behind a dingy and shredding up the salt water with Jelly fish filled bays hoping not to fall in a pit of stinging tentacles. Hitch hiking along ocean islands on the backs of open flat bed trucks. I am once again lost in the moment of tranquility and planted with feet in the cockpit of Dragonbanes that allows me to see this transformation of what I was to what I am now. For now Dragonsbane and me sleep 12 feet over a coral reef with the little tropical fish swimming and feeding. The sunset is of reds and cloudy shadows that bask my face with a warm heart feeling. With my tobacco pipe in hand and crew I love, I suck down the days events with a large pearly white smile laughing at our mistakes and our joys of a free spirited world. We all wonder what we will do with our life after this life style. Its a thought of what does one do when you have balance and joy. I say who cares about the modern drive for more, I am happy!
Off To The Horizon Friends,
Jacques
I Love Learning How to Live the Good Life
Our new crew member Jade a girl from New Zealand who has never sailed before but is a dive instructor has brought us the title of this blog “I Love Learning How to Live the Good Life”. I don’t know if this is truly the good life but it is a great start on how to let it all go, from our rat race back in America. No more feelings of needing shiny objects, toys, joys of expensive wine and beer. I live to love the sea, the depths of its hidden beauty sixty feet below with only 40 minutes of air to see behind its blue curtain. I live to sail another day with covered decks of salt and slashed hands. The salt burns the cuts but the red bleached sunrises warms the face and makes my pearly white teeth shine. Unlike the rat race back home I finally feel free to sail over the edge of the horizon and fall off it into a new world. I wish to thank my dad and my mom for there passions in life and to let me find myself fifteen thousand miles form the place I was born and raised. I know what makes me happy now and I could never tell you what will make you happy. Only you can find that out for yourself, but I can tell you it starts with a journey not a self help book. I guess like my friend Jade said, its about learning how to love the good life by experiencing it by yourself and through others.
Enjoy Life, you only get one,
Jacques
The Coral Reef Vava’u
Woke early yesterday and dinged over to the coral gardens. But before we could jump in we had to wade through ocean swells breaking on the shallow reef. It was tough getting over the reef because the surge of water would push you off your feet on to the sharp coral. After fighting through the swell and watching Jade jump into the current and rushed out to the sea were the coral garden is I jumped in. A few minutes later we were hovering over some of the most beautiful coral I have ever seen. Every color I could imagine was mixed into the coral with millions of tropical fish. We spent a good hour snorkeling the reef but a big storm started to build up the swell that was breaking over the reef that we had to get over to get back to the dinghy. So being the adventures group that we are we looked for a little gap in the reef to body surf over the coral reef through the break swell. Ben said he would check it out and well we all followed. As the swell lifted us up it broke into a white capped wave and sent us rushing over the reef with just inches between our bellies and the razor sharp coral. Ben and I got caught in a breaking swell and the coral beneath us inches away disappeared in a white storm of bubbles and foam. We just sucked in our guts and swam over the coral and made it safely across.
After such a exciting morning we switch up head sails on Dragonsbane and sailed back to town to get some meat and provisions. We are planning on going back to the grandsons with scuba tanks and getting some good photos and film.
Thanks,
Jacques
Skinny Dipping and Fixen Dragonsbane in Tonga
For the last few days I have been enjoying my new crew Jess and Ben from Alaska, Jade from New Zealand, as we see the world from the cockpit of Dragonsbane. I have sailed into the Tonga Island of Vava’u and had a local rum punch at the Bounty Bar as I enjoyed the open mic night as sailors whispered poems and played on there guitars. I then rose the next morning and sailed off our anchor with out using the engine and anchored in a place called Maurelle. Maurelle is located off a white sand beach where I had a BBQ and fire as wild pigs walked by. As the morning sun rose the next day we dingyed over to the Swallow Cave not knowing what to find. The cave was so big that we could motor right in. I dropped backwards off the dinghy and explored the brightest sun beams of light in the cave to the darkest shadows and looked for all the life within. As my eyes adjusted to the shadows and dark I could see the light reflecting off the colored limestone walls and when I looked up I could see carved stone and beautiful shapes. My friend Ben climbed up the wall and jumped into the cave water below. We then motored back with big smiles and drunk on life experience. We ate dinner on the beach as we drank large glasses of kava. “Kava” is a local tea that is used during meetings that will make your tongue go num and put a big smile on your face. I thought it tasted like ground up tree roots. But my tongue did go num and I felt pretty good.
With red bleached skies we join our boat parties the next morning and went scuba diving off the back of Dragonsbane in Mariners Cave. Mariners cave is only accessible by diving 12 feet down and then swimming into a dark cave for 10 feet then coming up into a fog filled cave. As the swell pushes water into the cave it compresses the air and makes it turn milky white fog. Then as the swell goes out it becomes clear as air in less then a second. I dived the cave and enjoyed swimming underwater through the lower cave entrance and watching all the clown fish look at me. After diving all morning we motored back to the anchorage and enjoyed an evening of cocktails and dinner.
The next morning we ate breakfast and decided to sail off our mooring ball with the spinnaker using no engine. We raised the spinnaker and let the wind catch us as we fell off downwind and sailed away to the coral gardens of Tonga. We are in Nuapapu off the Island of Lape. Tomorrow we will hike over the island and walk across the coral reef and jump off the reef wall into the coral gardens. I have been told by all my sailor friends that have seen it all, this is the best snorkeling the world can offer. I will put that to the test tomorrow. But like normal the days have been filled with fixing the Garmin equipment, greasing winches, clean bilges, fixing doors, rewire connections, splice ropes, fix, fix, lots of stuff. But Skinny dipping at night watching the bioluminescence spark off our bodies with music filling the air from Dragonsbane is pretty sweet, O yeah the Rum feels good too!
Cheers,
Jacques
What a Wonderful Place, Tonga
We are currently in the process of gunk-holing around the Islands of Vava’u. Basically Vava’u is a mass of of small Islands that are all connected by underwater reefs or by land bridges but they can be explored by boat. We are currently anchored in Port Maurelle which was the First place that the Spanish Navy landed. As we sailed from Neiafu which is the city in Vava’u group we sailed by a hump back whale and I was shocked at the size of the whale. It swam next to us for a 1/4 mile and then disappeared. After that wonderful afternoon we spent the evening around a beach fire, ate lamb chops, and potatoes that our friends on Calico Jack gave us, Thank Travis and Joanne. You can see Calico Jack blog at http://www.sailcalicojack.com . So today we are going to go explore a cave that you snorkel into and then do some scuba diving with Calico Jack. Hope all is well with you.
Cheers,
Jacques
Short Passage to Vava’u
We left yesterday for the Northern Island of Vavu’ Tonga. The weather is cloudy and winds are light but at 12 knots I am making speed at five knots. We should make landfall sometime tomorrow morning and check in with immigration one more time. I hope everybody is doing well back home.
Current position: 19deg 33.3 min south, 174deg 8,2min west. COG 319deg, SOG 4.9kts
Take Care,
Jacques
Off to North Tonga
Well if you have not guessed it I made it to Tonga and have been having a blast with the new crew. We are heading out this evening to make a 2 day passage up to North Tonga Island called Vava’u. I will try and get a passage post out as we go. The weather looks good, should be about 15 knots.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments and I will try to blog more. Here in the capital of Tonga the internet is very slow and sometimes stop working so I will have to wait on the photos. The people here are very nice and the capital is a very small town but has a lot to offer. I am also hoping to go swimming with the hump back whales here as well. I will get some photos.
Take care everybody,
Jacques
Passage to Tonga Day 3
Well still hanging in here as the wind builds up to a 26 knot average. We should make landfall by 2pm tomorrow afternoon if all goes well. Oth Adam and I are doing fin and we are enjoying the wet ride up to this point.
I would like to wish Emily H. and Johnny O. a Happy Birthday. Wish I was there with you both to celebrate.
Current Position: 19deg 21.1min South, 173deg 32.8min West, COG 198deg, SOG 7kts, WS 27 knots
CHeers,
Jacques
Day 2 to Tonga
The weather is getting a little better but my weather files show the wind kicking up again this evening 25 plus knots. The swells are smaller today but they still seem to sock Adam and I every watch in the cockpit. The good news is that I put up more sail and I am making 7.5 knots of speed. Another big thing today is that I went into the future. I crossed the international date line and back in the States its Tuesday but for me its Wednesday. Hope the weather gets better but we are making good time as long as the wind stays out of th east.
Current Position: 16deg 54.1min South, 172deg 7.9min West, COG 197deg, SOG 7.5knots, Wind speed 23knots, Waves 2 meters,
Cheers,
Jacques
dragonsbanevoyage 