Pastime of Sydney- 2007 Adventures

GPS log reads 3,038NM (approximately 5,600Km).

We had a pleasant time in Coffs Harbour. Visited friends Peter & Ruth on their property in Kalang Valley and they kindly lent us their car for a few days.

Will is on semester break and joined us Sunday by train from Sydney. He then sailed back to Sydney with us.

Back on the boat, we sucked the fuel out of the diesel tank and filtered it before recirculating it several times. This took a whole day and we removed an amount of sand and other muck that should not be in a fuel tank. We also discovered that a screw had worked loose in the engine control and that was the real cause of no engine power when we had our fright on the first day. The engine control would select forward and reverse but would only leave the engine idling and not increase revs when the lever was pressed. It looks as if it came out just as we reversed away from the wharf into the strong wind.

We left Coffs on David's 60th birthday (Monday 24th). This was a day earlier than planned due to changes in the weather. We had an excellent trip down to Seal Rocks in light winds of 5-10kts. We had the Spinnaker up most of Monday and only took it down when the wind dropped at night fall. Tuesday morning, we had a Southerly change that we had expected. As it was right into us, we went well out to sea until a Sou'Easterly came in at noon. This enabled us to just lay our course to Broken Bay. We got in a bit after 2300 having averaged 6kts due to helpful current all of the way. We also kept all sails up the whole time which is a first on that passage. Normally we have to reef with strong winds but the conditions this time were ideal the whole way and very benign. We had many dolphins along the way.

All the best,

Dave & Penny

We got into the Harbour here at Coffs around 9PM. So, we made it in six and a half days- pretty pleasing. There were three bad sections (thunderstorms, front with drenching rain and gale-force winds and the final tacking scenario with the wind right in our faces. A total of 158hrs of which 136.5hrs were great sailing and 21.5hrs were bad. Of the good hours, 32hrs were psychologically bad but looking back aty it, this was simply our poor mental attitudes. Ah well, we will retrospectively adjust those attitudes!

Of the other boats which left Noumea- one went the day before us but only reached Bundaberg at the same time we reached Coffs and their passage distance was 100NM less than ours! Another boat left two hours after us but was due into Bundaberg a day later than us. So, we had a really great passage time.

Today, we narrowly avoided disaster. The wind is even stronger today. About 30kts all day. Customs asked us to come to a spot in front of the Marina Office. We did so, but waves coming into the harbour kept bumping us into the piers. The woman in the office was worried it was going to fall down! The bumps were disconcerting but really not damaging to anything. The poor Customs guy was a little embarrassed but it was not his fault. Anyway, we had a very cheerful and chatty Customs/Immigration/Quarantine experience.

When the time came to leave, we reversed away from the piers okay but the engine slowed and slowed. Even at full revs, we were barely holding our own against the wind (stern to wind) only 30metres from the walk way and rock walls. If the engine slowed any further, we were going to be blown under a suspended walkway which would cause major damage to us and it. David took the decision to swing around down wind and bring the bow into the wind to reduce windage. There was very little space to manoeuvre. This worked and we narrowly missed a fishing trawler and started towards our assigned Marina berth. As we got near it, we realised we were not going to make it. We spotted a spare berth closer and headed for it- yelling to people that we had lost the engine and were coming in and would probably hit the dock hard. Fortunately, several people gathered quickly to assist. Amazingly, with full reverse just slowing us enough, we just stopped in time. In fact, from a distance, people told us it looked like a perfect entry to the Marina pen. They did not know that it was the wrong pen and we had virtually no engine power & relying on our speed from the wind behind and the dying engine. Whew!

What happened? It appears that we have sediment in the bottom of the tank. The very bad seas have churned it up and the fuel line is partly blocked. There is just enough fuel getting through to run the engine at a little over 10% power even with the throttle at maximum. So, we are not going ANYWHERE until we have cleaned out the tank. We blew compressed air through the fuel system and changed all the filters before leaving Noumea. We suspect the fuel tank has not been cleaned for about 15yrs and it seems to contain sand and grit at the bottom. (No Mike DeB, there is no algae/fungus etc).

Then this afternoon, there was almost a similar but bigger disaster (not involving us).

A very large fishing trawler hit the reef on the way into the inner MArina Harbour and was blown sideways across the narrow channel. It appears that the propellers were damaged thus totally disabling it. Then, worse happened. The wind and waves blew the trawler free but with no power it started drifting towards the same area we had our trouble.

The crew were trying frantically to throw a line to a bystander on a nearby rock wall and also to a small moored trawler. They succeeded but all this did was move the trawler closer to damaging other vessels.

Then, within minutes, a small powerful fishing boat rushed over and with amazing skill pulled the bow around and then the stern so the 100 tonne menace would miss other fishing boats. They then positioned it so that the wind drifted it down to a vacant section of wharf. No damage to anything- a very professional performance. The small boat was darting from bow to stern of the trawler and back again pulling this way and that.

We will be going to Sydney as soon as the fuel system is properly fixed and we have a weather window. There are not many such "windows" at the moment.

Regds,

Dave & Penny

Saturday was good sailing. We are racking up the miles. Only 260NM to go as the sun set on Saturday.

Then, around midnight, after far-away lightning effects, storms were upon us with strong wind squalls and rain. These persisted for a miserable 10 hours after which the sky turned blue and we were again sailing well. We failed to get a reasonable portion of sleep as a result of the storms. Unlike our usual practice, we did not heave-to (stop) because we need to squeeze out every mile to minimise our exposure to the predicted bad weather Monday-Tuesday. So we sailed through it all and this probably decreased the time spent in the storms.

On Sunday the motion of the boat became quite jerky. We had experienced adverse current for a while but now it dramatically worsened to 2.3kts against us! Suddenly, our arrival time was drifting further and further away.

Our spirits sank lower as the predicted Southerly Buster for Monday became earlier and stronger. On top of that, the wind direction was likely to be totally unsuitable with big seas. So, this was our lowest point of the passage. We discussed attempting to change course for Brisbane but that had other associated difficulties. In the end, feeling miserable, we decided to plug on as fast as we could and just hang in there.

What made this particularly dispiriting was that we had carefully planned our route based on CSIRO data and there SHOULD have been current ASSISTING us exactly where the reverse was true. It can only be because the CSISO data was older (14 days) than it usually is (4 days) so the swirling eddies of current had presumably moved. If there had been no current, we would have made Coffs Harbour Monday morning in 6 days and so missed the bad weather. Sigh.

Finally, after 30hrs, the current started to drop away and the sea temperature increase. We got to a point where we actually had a little current with us! Our spirits rose from the depths as we cranked out mile after mile very fast.

At 2245 we had 126NM to go. We are not going to avoid the bad weather bud this great speed means we can minimise it to less than we thought possible.

Monday dawned with strong Northerly winds and we continued to sail with more sail than normally prudent. When the boat became overpowered, we would go down to another reef. It was a fast, wet and furious ride. We expected to be 42NM out from Coffs when the front hit. It arrived with a "bang" a 1420 (New Cal time) only 20mins after our predictions. The great news was that by then we were only 32NM from Coffs. We thought we could handle ANYTHING for that relatively short distance. We had gale force winds and we hove to & stripped down to storm sails. We then got going again and the boat was only just manageable at well over its maximum theoretical speed & crashing through the building seas with huge fountains of spray and water going everywhere. Penny and I were permanently and totally drenched.

One tack was reasonably comfortable but the other was horrible with the east coast current opposing the lage 3metre waves.

Regds,

Penny & Dave

Well, our weather predictions seem to be holding good. Penny discovered a door to door bus which took us to Customs, Immigration and the Capitainerie (Port Captain in charge of all port activities). We needed to visit all these (separate) places to get clearance for the yacht to depart as well as ourselves. This saved a long walk- particularly useful as Dave cut his foot moderately badly.

Once we had performed the formalities, we left the Marina and fuelled up with duty free diesel. We did not need much. Indeed, we used less than a car tank full of diesel since Coffs harbour!

The passage is approximately 900 nautical miles (about 1,700Km). We are coming in a wide curve to avoid sea mounts, make the most of various currents and also because we expect bad weather for the last two days.

We anchored in Petite Rade for the night. We had a great view of the cruise liner, Pacific Star, which went past a mere 100 metres away around midday. We were woken at around 2AM when it left port. The majority of the noise was from drunken passengers; the engines were a lesser noise.

We up-anchored after a good breakfast and set off through the Dumbea Pass. The sailing was good and fast with a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins "waving us off".

The first day's sailing was excellent and uneventful- 'though much faster than we had anticipated. The seas were moderately big and we did break two turning blocks connecting the self-steering gear to the rudder. One in the afternoon and another at 4am. It is not nice hanging upside down in a dark space, in a rocky boat at that time of day. Fortunately this was the last such problem for the whole passage. These turning blocks each seem to last about 2 years or 8,000NM before metal fatigue sets in. There are 12 of them.

Next day (Wednesday) was rather horrible as a large front went through. Gale force winds and torrential rain & we were not able to lay our course for most of the day. Things improved by the evening and we started to get back on track.

Thursday the winds were light so we pulled down the mainsail and repaired some stitching and the head board attachments which had broken in the bad weather. While we did the work, the wind vane (Flinders) continued to steer us on course with just the headsail. It is the first time we have performed this type of repair while still sailing.

As of Friday morning, it has been wonderful sailing weather with light winds of around 10kts and boat speed of 6kts. We are about half way. Yesterday, we had a couple of pilot whales with us and today Penny has spotted the most amazing small jelly fish floating past like bubbles on the surface of the water. Today was also Spinnaker day. We ran it for about half the day and it was very successful, 'though we always watch it like hawks as it is very big and things can go wrong quickly. All went well.

No ships, no 'planes etc so we are all alone out here.

Each morning we chat with several other yachts which left for Bundaberg around the same time as us. We provided them with weather forecasting and they are very chatty. One of them had the same bad weather as us and unfortunately the wife has fallen and hit her head leading to seasickness which she has never had before.

Nothing else to report- both are well and sleeping reasonably. The boat is racing along very nicely.

It is now Saturday.

Regards,

Penny & Dave

We got back to Noumea last Friday. We had an excellent, short, fast passage. The wind was around 30kts but as it was a broad reach (almost behind us), it was very comfortable. Here in Noumea, we have readied the boat for departure back to Coffs harbour. The washing is all done (by the laundry) and provisioning is finished. We MIGHT even have fixed a pesky leak that we have had for 9 years. There have been six contributors to the leak, previously found and fixed, but still it persisted. With some idle time at the Marina and a strong hose, we have found and fixed a seventh. Here's hoping it is the last one!

We had hoped to leave today but it appears a Tropical Low will form in a couple of days so we have deferred and might now leave early to mid next week. Should the tropical depression not form, we will head off earlier.

In the mean time, we are catching up with some things previously missed such as the Noume Museum and the Maritime Museum.

Regds,

Dave & Penny

We left Yate and the wind really blew once we were out in the open. We had to tack our way down South and around the bottom of Grande Terre. It was a thumping, bumping ride with a fairly big sea running. The top of the Dan bouoy (Man Overboard Flag) snapped off and was lost in the depths. It is fairly criminal how poorly made is some of this safety equipment. Plastic where there should be metal.

Anyway, we were pleased to get down to the Havannah Passage. You will recall that last time, the current was hard against us as we exited, despite our planning using the chart tables. So, this time, we used the Electronic Chart (C-Map) tables. They showed what we actually experienced the first time, so we thought they should be okay. But no, we got down there and first encountered nasty over-falls (breaking white water) with a very heavy set of current against us. We were doing a crisp 6.6kts through the water but only 1.3kts over the ground! The Goro lighthouse appeared stationary. A Frenchman we had spoken with had experienced the same- plenty of wind and engine at full throttle but only doing 2kts!

So, we decided to use the engine as well. This turned out to be a mistake. We got up to about 1.8kts, but then the engine slowed and died! We were back to about one knot. Fortunately, it6 was very windy (about 25kts) and we were able to make slow progress while compensating for the sideways drift towards the reef. If the wind had dropped away, we would have turned around and headed back out to sea. So, there was no real danger- just some frustration.

After about an hour, our speed started to pick up and the Goro lighthouse receded. We sailed into Port Boise and uneventfully anchored under sail. It took about 5hrs to find the problem. All the bouncing had stirred up muck in the bottom of the fuel tank and the fuel line and one of the fuel filters were partially blocked. So the engine would run at idle but not fast. On top of that, a bleed screw broke off on the engine and we had to make a new one.

Anyway, finally all was well and the motor tested successfully. In 9 years, it has only left us in the lurch twice previously- once with a similar problem and once when sea water got forced into the engine via the exhaust pipe (this can no longer happen).

The next day, because Port Boisie was so muddy (from heavy rain), we went to Baie de la Tortue (Bay of the turtle) which is very protected from the strong wind. We went ashore and met a Kanak lady who is caretaker. It is a very pleasant and modern resort but it closed down 6 years ago. The lady's dog, Mia, attached herself to us. The resort is immaculate but empty- what a waste! We walked across the disused and overgrown airstrip trying to find a path up the hills to old Jade mines and came across a Kanak resort which is also moth balled. Then we met another Kanak lady and her three children & five dogs. Unfortunately, David had left the balloons back at the boat, so no balloons for the kiddies. Three more dogs attached themselves to us. So, now we had four dgs! Very well behaved and they loved walking with us.

Next, at the bottom end of the island, we found another small settlement of one family. There, a white cat attached itself to the menage. Walking back, with four dgs and one cat in tow, we came across three fairly large venomous sea snakes, slithering along the path. We all ignored one another!

Finally, we pushed through trees and underbrush to the abandoned Jade mine and had good views of the Southern lagoon.

Here at the anchorage, we were joined by an Italian yacht. Mauro, the owner, is on his second trip around the world. This is his eleventh yacht(!!!) and is called Spartivento. All his boats have had the same name. As well as this expensive looking yacht, he also has a 55ft catamaran back home (50% French Riviera and 50% Italy). Clearly, money is not a problem.....

Tomorrow, sadly, we are back to Noumea, laundry services, restaurants etc.

All the best,

Dave & Penny

We had a comfortable trip down from Port Bouquet to Embouchure de la Yate. Anchored in a pleasant river mouth just before the sun set. The best news was a 1 metre long Mackerel which we caught around midday. Just as Penny was threatening Chick-Peas for dinner! Whew- just in time!

We were able to pack away plenty of beautiful fillets, sufficient for a week of feeds.

Today, we went ashore and explored Yate. Turns out that there are two villages with the same name. One is here and we got some veggies at the local hardware store (the only store in town). Then, we explored other streets feeling sure there must be some other shop around with bread, wine etc. A couple of men who were chatting asked us what we were looking for. We got the message across but they explained it would take much walking. Then one of them asked us to hop in his ute and he took us EIGHT KILOMETRES to a small store. He had not being going there- just took us out of kindness. Then we needed to come home. Claude had offered to wait. Perhaps we should have said "yes" and bought him something but we had not. So, we hitched a ride. The first car stopped and Jean-Lac took us most of the way in his dilapitated old car. It sure beat walking and was very generous of him.

Due to the unexpected trip to the shop, we got to see the big Hydro-electric plant up in the mountains. Very impressive. It joins the large number of wind turbines in the many wind farms around New Caledonia (including Lifou). We were going to take the rubber ducky up the river to the Hydro scheme but strong winds are preventing this.

Tomorrow we will head back around the bottom of Grande Terre.

All the best,

Dave & Penny

Well, we did not get to Port Bouquet as planned. The wind really got up and we dragged anchor in the small hours of the morning. It was pitch black and the wind was howling. The direction was such that we were being blown back towards a beach less than 100M away. So, scantily clad (but we WERE wearing clothes), we re-anchored successfully.

Next morning, we headed out the passage through the reef. The wind and waves were so strong that we could only manage 2kts with full engine power. On top of that, the wind had not come around enough to lay our course. So, back we came and selected a different part of the bay in which to anchor. This was protected from the sea by the reef but the wind howled around a nearby island. Noumea Radio started broadcasting gale warnings due to a tropical depression. We had winds between 40 and 50kts for the next 24hrs, intermixed with driving rain. For the first time in 18 months we took down the cockpit canopy to prevent damage and reduce our windage.

We were comfortable enough and read books, watched DVDs and played Scrabble. Penny equalised the overall Scrabble score with a narrow win over Dave.

A fisherman who lives in an abandoned village where we were anchored the first time kindly came in his boat and checked we were okay. Very kind of him.

Mid morning today, the wind had dropped considerably and we made our way down to Port Bouquet. It was good sailing though we got wet a number of times in the frequent showers.

Tomorrow, we will probably head the 50NM down to Yate towards the "bottom" of Grande Terre.

The fishing continues to be poor (non-existent) but perhaps tomorrow will be better as we are passing through numerous shallower reefs.

All the best,

Dave & Penny

Today, we headed about 20 miles down the coast to a pleasant spot where we are anchored off a beach, fringed with coconuts. Behind the beach are the remains of an old village. It is totally cut off to land access at the rear due to the steep mountains and perhaps this is why it was abandoned.

We had to tack the whole way in a boisterous swell and 20kts of wind. This was complicated by reefs all over the place. All went well and we arrived just before it started raining again- the rain started several hours ago and is still going. We did know this was the rainy side of the island and it is certainly living up to its reputation.

Tomorrow, we will probably head for "Port Bouquet" which is not really a port but a huge bay where we should be able to seek shelter from some nasty weather that is due in a day or so.

Regards,

Dave & Penny ------------------------------------------------- Do not push the "reply" button to respond to this message if that includes the text of this original message in your response. Messages are sent over a very low-speed radio link.

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About 8NM (16Km) from Ouvea, we had a big strike on our fishing line. This was firmly fastened to a cleat but the fish was so powerful, it ripped another 10 metres of line through the cleat, damaging it (the line) somewhat.

Penny leaped into action getting David his gardening gloves, the axe, the gaff and taking down one safety line and removing the seat cushions.

It took David over 30mins to get the fish close, whereupon we were able to see it was a very large Mahi Mahi- about the same length as David- but a little thinner. We got it close to the boat when it made a final dash for freedom and this time made it when the hooks came out of the jaw. It was about 20Kg which is near the upper limit (of 30Kg). Oh well, perhaps it was too big for us. We certainly would have completely filled the fridge. As it was, s/he will live to fight another day.

So, the poor fishing experience continues. Two lost- which is a record for us on one trip- and the only success being the rock cod- which was delicious but only one meal.

Dave & Penny

We left Ouvea nice and early for our longish 62NM sail back to the "main land" being Grande Terre. We were heading for a place about half way up the main island, called Kouaoua. We were lucky enough to hook a small spotted cod as we sailed across the shallow Ouvea Lagoon.

Once we left the lagoon, we really got moving. e had one reef in the sail and an excellent 15kys of wind right on the beam (i.e. at right angles to our path). This is our point of sailing for maximum speed. We zoomed along at around 7.5kts and indeed averaged 7.3kts for the entire distance between the Ouvea Lagoon and the main lagoon entrance. We averaged almost 7kts for the whole passage early afternoon rather than the expected early evening. Remarkable.

We reached our anchorage just off a small mining town and the "world's largest curved conveyor"- all 13Km of it. The village was very pleasantly laid out and there was an excellent supermarche. Everyone was very friendly.

The anchorage itself was stunningly beautiful. We were in a sort of fiord with towering, steep mountains all around. The tops were shrouded in mist.

a 30,000tonne ship arrived to keep us company but fortunately did not come and share our anchorage. They were pushing barges out to it and it was then loading nickel ore with its four cranes.

We were surprised how quiet the town was and the anchorage was very peaceful and totally still. We had a day's rain and just huddled up reading books below. The day's rain was sufficient to collect over 130litres of water and keep our water tanks quite full. In fact, we might not need much more water before returning to Australia.

All the best,

Dave & Penny

Our time on Lifou ended pleasantly. The wind was due to increase substantially in a few days, so we decided to head off on the Saturday for Ouvea, about 43NM away (76Km).

Before we left, another Aussie boat arrived. It is on route from the British Virgin Islands to Australia. The couple sailing it flew over there, bought it from a deceased estate, fixed it up and are sailing it home. They have a deadline of end of August because of tax and stamp duty. They stopped (illegally) at Lifou as they were en route from Vanuatu but get extremely sea sick. Lyn was seasick for a record 16 of 22 days at one stage and Nicholas is the same. There situation is not helped by the fact that they are sailing a Beneteau- these are known in the trade as BBBS (Bouncing Beach Balls). We bought them some fresh warm bread and they reciprocated with drinks as we chatted with the sun slowly sinking below the horizon. They had us in stitches with some of their stories of seasickness, Colombian Navy boats and all manner of interesting things. We also had our share of tall but true stories.

Lots of kids were playing on the beach so David became very popular when he handed out balloons to all of them. We also left a gift for the Grande Chef of the area. This is the traditional thing to do.

Saturday morning, we headed off. It was a fast and uneventful trip with us arriving off the Island of Mouli around mid afternoon. The entrance to this giant lagoon (about 50Km * 40Km) is only 100->200M wide due to lots of hidden and treacherous reefs. The electronic charts were inaccurate but the passage in was well marked. We anchored off a 25Km long white sandy beach. It was a little bouncy at anchor due to the strong wind. Ouvea is a long (about 50Km) atoll but is not very high (maximum 41metres) and very narrow (down to 40 metres wide in one place).

The next morning, we went to Church. This was a very colourful affair and the Melanesian/Polynesian singing was fantastic. Everyone was very welcoming. All of these little islands have these magnificent churches which are totally inappropriate for the sub-tropical environment. Every one of them is built in a French Colonial, style and they are nearly all more than 100 years old. Naturally, we were the only white people around.

It does not rain much here so there are fresh water wells every 50 metres behind the beaches. Apparently, there is a desalination plant to supply water in times of really low rainfall.

From what we can see, the people here are poorer than on Mare or Lifou. We are not sure why, because apparently there is more tourism to this atoll. Something else to ponder... The other things that are interesting about Ouvea are the rope factory where they make rope from coconut fibre. There is also a factory where they produce coconut oil and soap from coconuts. This is a fantastic idea because other parts of the Pacific collect Copra but the price is so low it is very uneconomical and there is no market. Here, the people are processing the coconuts to useful end products with good retail sales value. There is also a vanilla plantation which is very successful. It is good to see that these and most of the tourism ventures are owned and operated by local people and not by big multinationals which tend to suck the money out.

Today (Monday) we wanted to rent a car for the day and see all the other bits and pieces of the atoll but it was not to be. On Sunday, we had been for a long walk and found the rental location- an old tin shed by the side of the road but with no markings. Today, we waited there for over an hour and a half until someone turned up. It turns out they only have the one car and it was not available. Rather than hitch a ride up the atoll, we took the yacht up towards the middle of Ouvea, to a place called Fayaoue. We then embarked on another long walk, which was quite interesting. We found a Gite which is supposed to rent cars, but they simply deal with someone "up the road". So, up the road we went, but still no luck, so we gave up.

We had afternoon tea in a delightful little Fare (thatched hut) by the side of the road and overlooking the white beach and huge lagoon. The floor was all seashells. The girl serving was lying in a hammock as we gave our orders and finally she rolled out and cut our thick slices of Gateau and made the Cafe au lait. The other lady there was keeping her company & minding a little boy who got a balloon from Dave's deep pocket. We suspect we were the only customers that day so they were very keenly questioning us on where we are from, what it was like sailing here etc. We had a fun time.

Then, on the way back to the boat, we were met by an old man who insisted we come to his house and sit down and talk. There were several other ment there and (as usual) they spoke not a word of English but spoke their own language and French. They made it clear they did not think much of the French language but were happy enough to use it to communicate with the. They wanted us to stay for dinner, but we politely declined. We did take their photos and promised to mail them copies upon our return to Australia. They also wanted us to take photos ogf the ancient Church next door (it is being renovated) and send them back. This we did and will do. We left them with a calendar of the Northern Beaches. We left a nice Australian cap for the Grande Chef (who lives next door to the old man- however he is in Noumea). Thereupon, the old man declared that HE was the Grande Chef and took possession of the hat for himself! Fair enough- he is there and the Grande Chef is not.

As we came back to the beach, we saw with some alarm a bunch of school kids hurling real aluminium javelins in the direction of our rubber ducky. We found that they had dragged it further away from the throwing area, but even so, some of the kids could hurl their javelins a prodigious distance. We think that our rubber ducky at the end of the throwing area must have lent an extra incentive to their throwing efforts! We took the boat away and escaped before someone put it a superhuman throw.

Tomorrow morning, we are setting off for the East Coast of Grand Terre (the main island). This is about 60NM away and it will be a long trip to make in the daylight hours. We hope to rent a car there and travel a little further up the East (also known as the Kanak) Coast.

Dave & Penny

We spent a pleasant few days in We, the capital of Lifou and centre of government for the Loyalty Islands.

We had good chats with people about the Kanak culture and history. David fixed the electrics on the yacht belonging to the manager of the Drehu Hotel- top hotel on Lifou & owned by the provincial government. It is good to see the provincial government provides and runs many of the facilities, cutting out "middle men" and thus providing a good return for the people.

We did plenty of walking, 'though did pick up a lift. We also discovered a couple of bus services (good given the Lonely Planet said there are none). Indeed, the Lonely Planet is proving to be less good than normal so we will be sending them a pile of corrections and additions to join the same sort of thing from Vanuatu last year.

It is interesting that over 1,000 yachts check into Customs in Noumea each year. Of these, it would appear that a maximum of 100 or so visit the Isle of Pines and only a few dozen come here to the Loyalty Islands.

On Tuesday, we travelled the 43NM around to the other side of the island and stopped at Xepenehe (they are all acute e's for anyone who would like to pronounce it). Bought some excellent bread from the Boulangerie. As there was no beach, they have built an intriguing dinghy landing stage with a curved steel bridge over it. Perhaps the classiest landing spot wew have seen in the PAcific.

After a rough night at anchor, we moved the the South end of this giant Baie de Santal (Sandalwood Bay). There is another Aussie yacht here plus one from Noumea. The most yachts we have seen for a while. The water is crystal clear, the beaches are white sand, the village is a mixture of modern and traditional Kanak buildings. We went in search of Le Grande Chef or Le petite Chef today but did not find either of them. Perhaps better luck tomorrow. We snorkelled for almost two hours. We have seen better, but it was good none the less. We are rather spoiled when it comes to underwater beauty. As we finished snorkelling, a young lad made a coconut sailing boat and launched it. It sailed off into the ocean, passing about a metre from us.

During the day, the school kids came down for sailing and kayaking lessons in the Bay. School was never so good when we were kids. Of course, the kept straying out to the yachts for a closer sticky-beak. t is sad that this culture used to be a sea going one but that has now almost disappeared and now they are learning again through school and plastic kayaks and sail boats. Very good it is now happening but very different from PNG, Solomons, Vanuata and others where kids are paddling and swimming as soon as they can walk. This afternoon, we went ashore and before long, the Boulangerie lady drove up in her little Citroen and sold us a loaf od still warm bread. The whole back of her car was stacked with loaves. So now we have had bread delivered by boat, by car and we have bought it on foot.

That's all for now. The wind is getting up (a lot) but this is a well protected direction from the trade winds. We have been having fantastic sailing winds and excellent weather. Far better than last year's sailing season in these parts and further North.



All the best from Dave & Penny

We were up at 0140AM on Wednesday morning 8th August. The aim was to have current with us and friendly waves in the notorious Havannah Passage and then arrive in time to see the nasty reefs on the island of Mare.

The first part of the plan did not work out because we had up to 2kts of current against us in the Havannah Passage. Fortunately, the wind was pretty powerful as well and we were doing over 7kts through the water so the adverse current did not slow us down too drastically.

We had a boisterous 72NM sail to Mare. It was quite rough but we roared along averaging around 7kts and got to Mare in 11hrs- well under our best possible estimate. We anchored off a white sand and pebble beach in absolutely crystal clear water. It is the clearest water we have seen anywhere in our travels.

We were pretty tired after the early start- even though we did not do much on the sail- just small adjustments to Flinders, the wind vane. So, a rare afternoon sleep was in order.

Next day, we headed off to walk to Tadine, the main village. First stop was a remarkable "Natural Aquarium". It is a large pool, with steep sides. It is fed from the sea via underground tunnels which are over 200M long. There is good coral growing in the pool and many small brightly coloured fish. Apparently sea turtles sometimes visit.

Then there were the caves in the sheer limestone cliffs along the side of the road. Large stalagtites and stalagmites were clearly visible. It would be a climbing and abseiling paradise but any other access would be nigh on impossible.

Next, we came to the grave of Yeiwene Yeiwene who was 2IC to Jean-Marie Tjibaou of the FLNKS (representing the Kanaks). They were assassinated in 1989. The grave was also a memorial for the reconciliation between the families of the dead men and the (also dead) assassin. Very moving and lots of other history tied up with it.

Next, we saw a "Trou Bleu"- much like the natural aquarium- but very much deeper. Basically, a steep sided hole fed from the sea several hundred metres away by hidfden underground tunnels. There was a rope in case you fell in (no other way out with the sheer sides).

Tadine itself was a cute little village, with a couple of 20 person Churches, a supermarket, a good College and good looking Primary School. We checked out the small harbour and determined that it could fit one or two yachts for Market Day (the next day).

We had lunch at a mobile "restaurant"- actually a battered old van. We ordered and then sat on the grass and finally a couple of seats which became free. Everyone was EXTREMELY friendly. Unlike Noumea, we were the only white faces around. The food took about 50mins to come but that was okay. We picked up snippets of the local language "nengone" as well as French). NO Anglaise around here.

Then the long slog home. Dave was confident of a lift- considering it would be like the Isle of Pines. But no lifts came. So, a pleasant 11-12Km walk.

That night, we saw a yacht come in and anchor in a treacherous area nearby. How they avoided running onto reef is a mystery.

Bright and early Friday morning, we up anchored (after disentangling the chain from several Coral Bommies) and anchored in the tine harbour at Tadine. The Market was excellent. Prices were good and there was a reasonable variety of goods. We struggled a bit with the French prices but muddled through with much laughter and giggling.

That afternoon, the other yacht came into the harbour and anchored nearby. It is a NZ boat (but originally from Germany). We gave the three fellas all the local info that we had and they went into "town". When they returned, they decided to anchor closer to the wharf. Like them, we thought this was okay because the inter-island ferry had just left and a coastal freighter had been there the day before. WRONG!

We were going to get up at 0540 this morning and head for Lifou, the next main island 52NM away. At about 0525 there were huge engine noises and much splashing. A freighter, the Havannah, had arrived and was turning into the wharf. it missed us by heaps but came within metres of the NZ boat which stupidly was showing no lights and had their dinghy floating a long way behind. We felt rather sorry fro the crew of the freighter who had to work hard to get into the wharf with these other folk in the way AND not showing the legal lights.

We up-anchored and headed for Lifou. For the first time we had extremely light winds and had to motor-sail. We had great assistance from the Equatorial Current and got into Lifou at about 1530- ironically, beating the Havannah by about 30mins. We are glad they did not have to tangle with two yachts in the same day.

A helpful man from French Guyana helped us upon arrival. There had been no response to our email to the Harbourmaster nor to repeated radio calls. This is because he has gone fishing for the weekend. Yes, it is a VERY laid back place!

Since then, Lulu has returned from fishing and helped us out. We also met the Tourism man (Eduardo) who was riding his old bike down the road. We had a great chat. He is a Kanak who studied at a French University, spent 15 years in Europe, has been to Australia and done lots of things. We will nbe meeting him again!

All the best,

Dave & Penny

We arrived in Port Boise, near the bottom tip of the main island, mid afternoon yesterday. It was a good trip, with frequent showers but many whales spouting and splashing- as well as the usual dolphins. Winds were light but we sailed along quite fast and are in a beautifully protected section of this Bay, which is quite isolated. We had intended to leave for Mare, one of the Loyalty ISlands at 0200 but the constant rain deterred us and we are now leaving 0200 Wednesday morning with a hopeful arrival off Beach Pede on Mare in the mid afternoon.

Today, we have enjoyed our 36th wedding anniversary, sipping French Champagne and nibbling biscuits and cheese. Also cleaned off the rubber ducky after over a month in the water and fixed a broken wire to the compass light.

We need a fish and yesterday, hooked one but it broke off the hooks and got away. So, today we have replaced the remainms of the hooks with stronger and bigger stainless steel hooks procured in Coffs Harbour.

Fishing locally off the boat has only attrected a couple of one metre sharks in which we are not interested.

More from Mare....

Dave & Penny

Firstly, we should explain that the Island is about 115Km from Noumea and about 55Km South-East of the bottom of the main Island (Grande Terre). We also forgot to mention that we saw whales spouting on the way.

There are two giant sea turtles, just over a metre long, which visit us each morning and evening (swimming around the boat). We have named them "Pierre" and "Claudine".

Claudia has delivered delicious home-baked bread as well as a Pizza. She brings them over in her rubber ducky. Excellent service and fantastic eating. Yum!

Penny's knee survived the walk up the 262metre Peak Nga and the views over the whole island were spectacular. That afternoon, we went snorkelling which was great.

We'd done a fair bit of walking around the day before so have had several nights of very good sleeps.

The reserving of the Velos (cycles) went well and we spent a long day cycling around. The Vao Market was a bit small and there was not much left just 90mins after it opened. No fruit left and hardly any veggies. We did buy some delicious home made Papaye jam and an excelent wood carving (to add to our heaps of Solomons wood carvings!)

We saw the pirogues (large dugout sailing canoes) sailing, visited many bays, visited ruins from the convict days and looked at a number of local dwellings. People are shy but friendly. Lifts are offered if they see you walking. The language barrier restricts our communications somewhat.

We plan to leave on our sixth day- Monday- as the Westerly change will have come and the wind will be favourable. We are heading for Port Boise and then onto Mare in the Loyalty Islands. We'll need to leave around 0200 for Mare to get out of the sometimes-nasty Havannah Passage.

All the Best,

Dave & Penny

We forgot to tell you about the Englishman in the small yacht. We won't mention his name. He left NZ expecting to get the usual SE Trade Winds in this part of the world. He had seemed unaware of all those nasty lows sweeping across NSW every few days. He was actually heading for Australia but ended up here instead. We heard him asking for permission from Noumea Radio to anchor but they refused. He must have been so tired after 25 days of pounding seas and adverse winds. His wife had already flown to Australia to await him.

Noumea Radio were otherwise very good to him, patching him through from his radio to NZ and Australia so he could tell people he was safe (he has no long distance radio) and all that at no charge.

When we last saw him, his wife had joined him. We hope he gets a look at some good long range forecasts before setting off (planned Sunday) as when he is planning to leave is the next big swag of unpleasant Westerly winds- if he left, he might end up in PNG or the Solomons. In contrast, a French boat came in while we were there. Sailed by a man and his one-legged wife. They have sailed from France and already visited 35 countries. They waited 6 weeks before leaving NZ and also did not make Australia when the winds went around to the West but at least they got to New Caledonia in 7 days rather than 25!

Dave & Penny

Friday 27th July, we tacked our way back to Noumea into a strong South Easterly and a solid chop. We were hopeful of getting our sail and the part from Quebec- which had arrived into Noumea 10AM the day before. The sail was not ready and DHL needed paper work for Customs but had not got around to asking for it even 36hrs after the part arrived.

The few delays we have experienced have added up and we have now decided not to circumnavigate Grande Terre but rather to head for the Isle of Pines, the Loyalty Islands and the East Coast of Grand Terre and explore these in reasonable detail. If we headed up the West Coast, given the weather, it is likely that we will run out of time.

As we were going to be "stuck" in Noumea for a few more days, we decided to rent a car and head North for the weekend. We decided this could be a 36th Anniversary present, a few days early. We would also be able to explore the West Coast from the land- given we would now only be exploring some of it from the sea.

We had a great time- covering over 600Km. The first night, we stopped in a small village which was at the heart of the strife between the French and the Kanaks in 1878 and again 1984. We stayed in an old prison (modernised somewhat) and really enjoyed it. Dinner was a surprise. We ordered at the plastic covered tables with paper napkins etc- a typical cafe atmosphere. The ceiling is decorated with over 5,000 caps and hats from all over the world. Most are baseball-style caps but there are fireman hats, gendarme hats and many others. David had a bit of trouble ordering the wine- they kept trying to give us different kinds of beer! Anyway, after a while, a lady came and requested us to follow her- big mystery! We went to the back of the establishment to find a very large dining hall filled with antiques and pleasant decorations. It was also a part of the old prison- now a fine banqueting hall. The food and service were just as good- a big surprise.

Anyway, by the end of our weekend excursion, we had a much better idea of the West Coast and saw the South, and Northern Provinces.

On Monday, our sail arrived and the sailmaker seems to have done a good job. She missed some of the uV affected stitching but we were able to fix this with our awl (useful present from son Paul). DHL advised that the package should be cleared that afternoon and available Tuesday.

Tuesday morning, there was a knock on the hull and the package arrived. There was a very strange fee of 55 Francs (around A$0.75) which we happily paid. Then, we were OFF! Paid the marina people and topped up with fuel (we have used very little since Coffs Harbour). We headed SE to Bonne Anse, about 35NM away. We had an excellent sail and saw a giant sea turtle and a Mackeral flying high from the water- but not onto our fishing line. We even got right through the Woodin Canal without motoring (it is usually protected from the wind). Halfway down, we were amazed to be "buzzed" by a Spitfire aircraft! It was a little above mast height and flying the other direction. Wish we could have got a photo but it all happened too fast. It had RAF roundels and who knows where it came from? Maybe New Zealand?

We overnighted in Bonne Anse ("Good Cove"). The forecast was for South Easterlies- not the best for getting SE to the Isle of Pins but good once we got there.

We were just settling down when a French yacht arrived and anchored right in front of us- drifting back over our anchor. They did not even "test" the anchor to bed it ina nd make sure it was secure. We tried to communicate/protest but to no avail. Well, we would awaken them early with our horn if we could not get our anchor up for an early departure.

Dave & Penny

Wednesday morning we were up early. Unfortunately, we could not get the anchor up because the French boat was right on top of it- very rude of them. Fiortunately they were awake and we were able to get them to move- very politely. They seemed totally oblivious of their folly even when they saw us pulling up the anchor from where they had been.

We were close hauled and tacking all the way to the ISle of Pines, but the winds were mainly 15kts with a couple of stronger squalls so we made fast progress. We averaged over 6kts for the 54NM we recorded on the GPS so we were happy and anchored by mid afternoon.

We had been picking up a ship as we got within 10NM of the Island. This seemed strange until we noted that it was the Pacific Star- a Cruise liner. It was anchored in the opening of Kuto Bay. We sailed across its bows which were opnly 50 metres away (yes, they were anchored otherwise we would not have done this!) We had an excellent audience of tourists looking down from high above. We were going at maximum speed (for us) almost 8kts under sail so we are probably now featured in a number of boring touristy photos. Fortunately, the ship left about 20mins after we passed so the Bay here is no longer filled with a couple of thousand visitors.

This is a beautiful spot with white sand beach, crystal clear water and giant turtles swimming around the boat.

We had a peaceful sleep, aided by a little Aussie wine.

Today, we went for a walk and saw some interesting things- including ruins of the convict era. We found a place that rents bikes and reserved two for Saturday. The fellow spoke not a word of English so we needed to do it all in French. Hooray- success! Of course, Saturday might come and we might find we've rented something other than velos, but we think it will be fine.

Tomorrow is snorkelling and more exploring. We might take the yacht to some of the nearby reefs and places. The extra time in Noumea allowed us to fix a broken connector on our scanning sonar so it will be very useful having it in some of the places we might visit.

It looks like there might be a Westerly change on Sunday so we may need to leave this anchorage by then. We will decide what to do closer to the time. There are a dozen yachts here but not room for all of them in the alternate anchorage in the next Bay.

One neat thing- a German boat nearby is a floating baker shop. Claudia will be baking us bread and making a Pizza for us to cook tomorrow night! She has been doing this for 12 years, presumably all over the world.

Dave & Penny

Well, the old fogeys spent this evening sitting in the cockpit, admiring the gorgeous view, watching the sun set and sipping A$3.30 per litre wine while listening to Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and others.

Oh, it's a tough life but someone has to do it and it might as well be us.

We left Noumea on Sunday morning, heading North. We have visited a number of pleasant bays and islands. It has been very windy but we've found somewhere comfortable most of the time. Today was an exception when we went to Grand Pandanus Island but it was not tenable in the wind and waves. So, we ended up tacking back to the East in 20-30kts of wind to a comfortable anchorage. We have been ashore each day for a walk and these have been enjoyable.

Tomorrow, we return to Noumea hopefully to pick up our fixed sail and also a spare piece for the Cape Horn wind steering. A French welder has already straightened and welded the broken part. However, the Cape Horn Company is also sending a replacement from Quebec. This is absolutely amazing as the unit is eight years old and we have sailed around 20,000NM with it! What fantastic Customer Service! We would rather have the replacement, strengthened part than the welded one for the trip back home.

Our French is slowly improving. We also receive emailed copies of the local weather forecasts and armed with our French dictionary and grammar work them out quite swiftly. Clearly, different people write them because every few days there are different phrases that the others do not use. MUCH more interesting than Australian weather forecasts and with much more evocative language. From now on, we will be much more interestyed in "Souffle" clouds than just ordinary non-gastronomic ones.

Regards, Penny & Dave

We only spent two nights in Noumea and then headed off for several days touring and snorkeling around the lagoon. Snorkeled each day and the water is a pleasant temperature. We seem to have brought the first fine weather for a while so the days have been a very relaxing 25degC.

We were able to get someone started on welding up the stanchion and Cap Horn piece. In the mean time, the Cap Horn people are sending a new part even though the wind vane is 8 years old! They are the BEST imaginable for customer service!

We braced the stanchion with a broomstick and also cleaned out the autopilot which seems to be working okay- at least in the less tempestuous waters of the lagoon. So, things are under pretty good control. We will say goodbye to Will tomorrow (Thursday) as he returns to Uni. When the Cap Horn part arrives, we will set off NW to circumnavigate Grande Terre and also visit the Loyalty Islands.

The Crew ------------------------------------------------- Do not push the "reply" button to respond to this message if that includes the text of this original message in your response. Messages are sent over a very low-speed radio link.

The most concise way to reply is to send a NEW message to: "Pastime of Sydney"

Bonjour!

Relaxation has set in. Overall, we were happy with our passage. The speed was very acceptable (6.5 days). We were not seasick and below decks remained totally dry. We had a day and a half of lousy weather with maybe 20hrs of gale force winds plus big seas which seemed to take a long time to abate. Will and Dave hand steering for 55 hours was a significant challenge and rather tiring particularly when the seas were around 4 metres on a 4 metre swell. They warn that maximum waves can be "twice the height" and indeed there were one or two of these where everything combined and then was bigger again. However, none of this was boat or life threatening. Likewise, the lightning never got closer than a mile away which was comforting (unlike our fearful return from Lord Howe in 2005). So, overall very pleasing and we are delighted to be here with no deadlines for a couple of months.

Today is Bastille Day and we wondered what the French would do. The main event has been a huge military show with band, fly pasts, a couple of thousand uniformed soldiers and sailors and all the local police, fire fighting and other services. There was even a bunch of proud Aussie returned servicemen. About 40 in all. The only non-French or non-Kanak group, so we wonder what their history is? There were thousands of sight seers lining the streets.

It was a bit surprising to see tanks rolling down the main street! Anyway, a stirring light hearted performance and celebration. It is always good to see people who are passionate about their country. Of course, the indiginous people will have been less amused and enthusiastic and undoubtedly we will be hearing more of their side of things when we leave Noumea. After the show, Sodeb'o left for parts unknown. Oh to be able to sail more than 400NM per day- we are jealous.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we will leave Noumea for several days in the South Lagoon before Will leaves to return to study.

He keeps "forgetting to mention" his results, even to his sisters and brother! He got two High Distinctions and two Distinctions (which were each only a mark off a HD as well). Well done Will- hard work rewarded!

More news for you, perhaps when we have left Noumea.

We note that yet again there are gale warnings for parts of the NSW Coast. Wow, what a winter. These low pressure systems have also been significantly affecting New Caledonia weather, though today is hot and cloudless. The 27 deg ocean is certainly easy to take!

Regds,

The Crew

After six days with no ships, no radio contacts, no whales and no dolphins, we arrived at anchor approximately 2330 on Thursday. We finally ran out of wind some tens of miles short of Dumbea Pass and also damaged our headsail mainly through accumulated wear and tear. The sailmaker had checked it before we left Australia but perhaps did not anticipate the conditions. No worries, we have a spare and we took down the old one and put up the new one. It was wet work with the bow (and crew/sail) occasionally underwater but all went smoothly. Navigation through the reef system was easy.

We emailed Port Moselle and found that we could not come into the port that night because of "Security Concerns" and so anchored in an adjoining Bay. Penny was a little concerned with the location. David wanted it because the wind had risen considerably and the location mentioned by the Capitinerie was exposed to the SW and mentioned in our cruising guide as untenable in SW. We were careful to anchor 100 metres outside an anchoring exclusion zone and there were no issues mentioned on the chart. However, the old cruising guide did mention a Naval Exclusion Zone nearby. Anyway, Penny was not surprised when there was a sound of an engine at 0600 our time and we were told we could not anchor there. Wow, it was hard to wake up! The fellow was pleasant and we negotiated an extra hour as we could then go straight in for Customs etc. We think he thought we were in the no-anchoring zone even though our GPS said we were okay; on the other hand, perhaps we were in a Naval Exclusion Zone. Fortunately, we were not wearing "Rainbow Warrior" Tee-shirts. When we got into the Port, we discovered a huge trimaran in the Visitor spot. THAT's why we could not enter at night. This is the biggest trimaran in the world (33 metres long and beam 17 metres) and had just done Newcastle to Noumea in two and a half days! It took us more than twice as long and less distance. This thing averages the same speed as a good sized ship. It is the talk of the town and being nearby we have examined it closely. What a vessel! It is called "Sodeb'o" and is Aussie.

There have never been so many people walking past "Pastime of Sydney"- wow are we popular.......or is it the trimaran further down the pontoon? Noumea has its own "Pasha Bulka" for a short while.

Clearing Customs became a bit of a saga but really did not interfere with our activities. Immigration came quickly and were good. Quarantine did not get the message and came hours later after some prompting from the Port authorities. Customs just kept failing to finish our clearance. Finally, after many phone calls, the fellow there said "Oh, no paper in the fax machine!" So, all day, multiple copies of our forms were banking up in the fax memory! We finally got our clearance near the end of the business day.

We have already removed the broken stanchion and damaged piece of the wind steering and someone is (hopefully) looking after those things for us. They will not delay us getting "out and about" within the neighbouring islands. We attempted contact with the local sailmaker but no joy yet. Still, no hurry with that either. With help from daughter Tess, back in Canberra, Will now has a very cheap ticket for return to Australia on Thursday.

There is a bit of an issue with gas. The French changed the rules a few weeks ago and now will not refill any gas bottles that do not come from the EU! It is causing people huge hassles but we've decided we will just be conservative with our gas usage and not attempt all the complicated conversions being attempted by others. A NZ boat next to us has already got deeply involved and found that a critial part cannot be purchased any where else in the world other than France and New Caledonia. Ah, the French! We often carry a couple of spare bottles for places such as PNG and Solomons but left them out for New Caledonia. We had an excellent dinner. Huge and wonderful menu. Good food (better than last time in Noumea). Fireworks display for Bastille day on the 14th. Well, time now for a good sleep.

Regards, The Crew

Well, we feel better than anticipated, so here is an extra blog.

We have made excellent progress and have much appreciated the better seas. There is still a big 4M swell so the weather South must have been rather bad. The ocean here is now 26.8C which is very inviting. Beats Sydney!

Will and I had a strenuous night. We have been gybing downwind but just keeping the headsail filling while avoiding gybing off the back of swells and waves. Last night was particularly interesting with clouds obscuring the stars and no moon most of the night. What we were doing was dinghy sailing in the dark (and without the wind instruments which are usually very useful at night). Well, it all went off okay and we are now about 57NM from Dumbea Pass which leads into the Lagoon and ultimately to Port Moselle. All going well, we will be in with time to get cleaned up and have a sleep before Customs etc arrive in the morning. We're running about 9hrs ahead of our best schedule, despite all the "happenings". With Bastille Day Saturday, we should be able to organise some things before things close down. Like finding Stainless steel welding facilities.

Still some last minute brushing up to do on the French. Perhaps the truth is that there is a huge amount of work still required but we have been doing some each day.

Regards from all, Dave

Well, the good news is that we had a good run on Monday night/ Tuesday morning with 145NM under the keel. The seas were still very rough but the wind was down to around 25-30kts except in the frequent squalls, promising future improvement. Indeed, we had a reasonable lunch yesterday and Penny cooked up a scrumptious evening meal. The odd rogue wave kept us on our toes. I started to read a book for the first time since Sunday and Penny got out her MP3 player with talking books. Then along came a BIG wave to spoil the fun! We got completely drenched, tonnes of boat came to a dead stop and the water soaked the sails further than 25ft up the mast!

David made a big mistake at dinner time by adding an extra little prayer for the autopilot. Literally 60secs later, it died. This is a NEW unit, rated for bigger boats than this and it has either stripped gears in the gearbox or teeth off the drive belt. Sigh!

So, with a bit over 300NM to go yesterday evening, we started hand steering. Unfortunately, Penny's legs are too short to reach the bracing positions either side of the wheel. So, she could hold us steady in moderate conditions but it is impossible with these big swells and waves. So, the honour falls to Dave & William to hand steer the rest of the way. It will be somewhere between 50 and 60 hours.

Now, Wednesday morning, the winds are down a bit and the sea is also a bit less with fewer rogue waves. It is still challenging but manageable.

We will not be updating this blog any further until we are safely inside Port Moselle which will be some time early Friday morning (depending upon the wind direction).

The Crew

Monday night was very rough all night, but fortunately the wind has abated a little. We are still under storm sails and going quite well. A bit of a disaster this morning around 0300. Flinders is dead! A bolt has failed- probably metal fatigued after 8 years of hard work. I replaced its companion last year but forgot to do the other one before this trip- too much rushing. Unfortunately, the control arm is somewhat mangled and a couple of bolts are broken as well as a couple of welds. We can probably fix it in Noumea and will order a new part from Quebec ASAP. In the meantime, we hope the backup electronic autopilot keeps working. It can handle the conditions now, but not bad stuff.

At this rate we will be in Thursday night but might keep a little slower for the autopilot's sake and try for Friday morning. We certainly do not wish to hand steer the rest of tyhe way, but at least we had Flinders (the wind vane) for what was hopefully the worst stuff.

The Crew

Around 1700, we wisely decided to eat. It was to be the last food for a while! We could see a significant front approaching, with low black cloud and lightening flashing everywhere. We got out our lightening chains (which hang into the water from the shrouds) and reefed down to storm sails. It hit around 1900 and was rather horrendous with driving rain, 4M seas, lightening and thunder. The wind howled over the boat. We could not sail and so heaved to. We had to do this twice for a total of about five hours that night. We finally got going again in big, rough seas and wind to about 40kts. Unfortunately, during all this, one of our stanchions which holds up the lifelines and one end of one solar panel- snapped off, at deck level. We lashed it up as best we could and will need to get some welding done in Noumea. But, it is okay for now.

Next day, we were assaulted by frequent squalls and twice again needed to heave to as the boat was unmanageable. Flinders our wind vane was again its wonderful self- steering through very large and uncomfortable seas once we got going again.

We had been expecting a front from examination of our GRIB (synoptic chart) files. We had not expected it to be so strong as we were well North of the low causing it. Amazingly, the gale warning for our specific area came FIFTEEN HOURS later from the weather bureau. We expect they saw the satellite photos after the event and then "warned" about it. The warning was probably in time for the East Coast but way too late for the High Seas.

Regards,

The Crew

(a little thinner not because of seasickness (which thankfully we do NOT have) but it is too rough to do anything much but hang on. YUK!

Hi all,

As night three approaches, we are making good progress. It's a bit bumpy at the moment because we are very close to the wind. We expect that to free up overnight and the wind strengthen somewhat.

Still forecasting Friday arrival or perhaps the night before if the speed continues like this.

Regds,

The Crew ------------------------------------------------- Do not push the "reply" button to respond to this message if that includes the text of this original message in your response. Messages are sent over a very low-speed radio link.

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We are about to have night two at sea. Yesterday went pretty well. We were sailing in a "washing machine" for a while as we crossed a stretch with 4.5kts of current opposing a 3M swell. Not very nice but we are through it now and on a constant heading for a couple of days with a half knot current assisting.

Yesterday saw whales, lots of dolphins and four ships. Today, just clouds and two birds!

That's all for now!

The crew

We cleared Customs at 1500 Thursday and need to leave Australia by 1500 Friday. We hope to leave Friday morning. We will wait until the currentl strongish winds subside and head off. The next low pressure system is due Monday or Tuesday so we need to be several hundred nautical miles away by then.
See ya!
Dave, Penny & William

We enjoyed the stay in Newcastle. Took the long walk to gape at the new attraction, the 40,000 tonne Pasha Bulker grounded on the beach. There were thousands of people watching. That evening we tuned into the VHF radio and had an intimate listen to the salvage efforts. All very methodical and largely calm. They did very well getting the ship refloated.

Monday morning, we set off for Coffs Harbour- about 450Km North of Sydney and warmer.

We got into Coffs Harbour at midnight on Tuesday. The sail from Newcastle started out well, with strong winds from the South West. Then, at nightfall, they petered out to nothing and we motored for a number of hours. Some wind in the morning which then shifted to a totally un-forecast NNE- so more motoring.

Then the East Australian Current kicked in and we had up to 2.2kts of current against us for the final 20hrs or so. This meant that one third to one half of our speed was lost to the current. During the day, we went in close to the beaches in the BAys and escaped some of the current. We had views of the Coast which we have not previously experienced.

There were many positives. We kept dry, which was excellent in the cold weather. We have been wearing four layers of clothing which have kept us warm. However, it would have been a totally different story if we were wet. We had fantastic displays of wildlife. Many, many whales disporting themselves and keeping us interested. We had dolphins with us almost the whole way. About 40NM from Coffs Harbour, just after a beautiful moon rise, there were a couple of very loud "bangs"- like rifle shots. Then some very loud splashes. We quickly discovered four whales cruising alongside only 30 metres away. On e of them leapt right out of the water several times. They each weighed many tonnes and it was good they kept a respectable distance. It could have dented us a bit to have a whale land on deck!

Overall, a slow trip but uneventful.

Here in Coffs Harbour it is very pleasant. Our friends of old, Peter and Ruth, kindly picked us up Wednesday and took us to do some shopping and then on to their fabulous property up near the kalang River. It is about 75Km from Coffs and very peaceful. They have made great p[rogress building a cottage and clearing weeds since we were there at the end of our Solomons trip last year.

There is a gale warning South of here and strong winds for the Coffs area so we are thinking of leaving tomorrow, Friday, for New Caledonia. We will likely have some biggish seas from tinme to time- left over from the current weather system and then there seems to be another one coming through next week. We hope to be moving North away from the second Low as it comes through. So, we are hoping for a speedy passage across the East Coast current and into some more favourable ones a couple of hundred nautical miles offshore.

Bye for now,

Dave, Penny & Will

Monday morning and we are about to set off again for Coffs Harbour. Saturday was very windy though without instruments we are not sure what the numbers were. The yacht was up to 9.5kts several times. We decided to come into Newcastle and spent a very pleasant Sunday walking and looking at the 40,000 tonne Pasha Bulker stranded on Nobby's Beach.

On the way, we saw a pod of very large whales less than 100 metres away. We also spotted a large seal towards Newcastle.

In port, we checked the top of the mast and were not able to rectify the wind instruments. Did drill a hole in the bottom of one radar reflector- it was full of water!

Anyway, the wind seems to die down a bit from the 30kts of Saturday and Sunday and we are hoping to be in Coffs Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.

Best Regards,

Dave, Penny & Will

We picked up the boat on Thursday night. They slid the cradle down into the water on rails but it got stuck with the yacht sitting up about a metre too high. Then, the Marina people used their power boat with a 50HP outboard to ram the cradle on the other side to move it into deeper water. It would not budge so the ramming got more and more vigorous. Of course, it was on the other side of the boat so we could not see if they missed the cradle and hit the yacht.....Still, it slid into deeper water and no harm seemed to have been done.

We filled up with water and the second last lot of "stuff" and put Pastime of Sydney to sleep on her mooring for the night. Then, this morning, we loaded aboard the rest of the provisions and ourselves and set off for some test sailing (the first for months!) and putting things away. It was 1130 and finally we were on the boat, on the water and almost on our way!

There are gale warning out today but we hope to set off tomorrow (Saturday) for Coffs Harbour a couple of days sail up the Coast. This will shake out any cobwebs. There are already some pre-existing cobwebs because our wind instruments and anchor light are not working. Sigh! All stuff at the top of the mast and David has already spent a couple of hours up there with no luck. We will just have to do without wind instruments for the trip- this is a pain in a vessel driven by the wind but we have done it before. Everything else is working well, including a new, third reef, which we just recently added and only got to test today for the first time. David also finally has his own reading light- we have been promising it for about five years!

Well, it is early to bed for us tonight! More later.

All the best,

The Kerrs

We have changed plans somewhat. Looking at the winds and ocean currents, we had decided to leave for Lord Howe Island and then swing up to Noumea rather than going from Newcastle. We rang Clive Wilson, long term expert on the island and former Harbour Master. After his description of the last few low pressure systems which blasted them, we decided to change our minds and get a bit further North out of the way of these lows (which uncharacteristically keep coming every few days). So, we are now going to Coffs Harbor and then clearing Customs/Immigration straight to Noumea. We'll head East for a couple of hundred miles and then go more North to take advantage of the current and also because the wind direction becomes more Easterly towards New Caledonia.

Well, we continue to be frustrated by the people from "Careel Bay Marina"; their business cards say "experience the difference" and we are certainly doing that- compared with our Shipwright of the past nine years- Mark Humphries. Unfortunately, Mark's landlord of 23 years died and the offspring made life so difficult that he had to stop his business. They probably want to develop the site. Same with the excellent Mona Vale Fruit Market- in business on that site for 26yrs and another fruit market was there for 14yrs before that. Landlord will not renew the lease so they are shutting down completely. If your business depends upon rented premises and cannot easily move, beware!

Anyway, it is two weeks tomorrow since the "Experience the Difference" people said that they could slip our boat and perform the simple task (which is a 1 to 2 hr job) in about two days. They finally slipped it yesterday and said the job would be done this morning. Little do they realise we can study their activities with binoculars from our house!

At 1pm I called- was told "...the guy has just arrived and is collecting your parts (which we provided) and starting now. He actually collected the parts at 2.08pm and did nothing more. I rang again at 4pm. "He is doing it right now". When I asked when it would be finished, he did not know and said he would call me Thursday morning. Ha! I'm the one who is always calling him. When I looked through the binoculars again, I saw someone do something on our boat 10 minutes later and stop after a further 10 minutes. No more work today!

The car remains packed full of "stuff" and there are piles of food in the kitchen.

VERY frustrating and it is going to restrict Will's time in New Cal.

Dave & Penny

Preparations have been hectic for weeks. Penny has now purchased all the provisions- no small feat. However the weather has been too wet to load things onto the boat.

Dave still has about 13 things left on his "To Do" list. There were 56, but we made a decision to skip some of the less important things.

Then, a few days ago, we discovered salt water in the Saildrive. This is like the gearbox on a car and connects the engine to the propeller. So, we have to get the boat lifted out of the water (in a bit of a hurry) and replace some seals and O-rings. Unfortunately, our long-time shipwright Mark Humpheries has closed his business after his landlord of 25 years died and the kids/heirs- who know nothing about marinas, shipyards and other things- made it impossible to continue. So, we are negotiating with a Shipwright in Careel Bay who is quite close (several hundred metres) but who is also extremely busy. The boat was supposed to come out Tuesday 19th for the two hours necessary but it is now back to Thursday due to the very poor weather- rain and high winds. It is possible there will be further delays because the weather has yet again worsened for the third time in ten days.

Regards
Dave & Penny